Question Time

Have you tried following the eyes?

Has anything go forward in a replacement?

Other than rumours that they wanted Julie Etchingham to do it but she wasn't interested (according to the DM) no. If Kirsty or Emily get it its almost certainly a sign that Newsnight won't be continuing in its current form

I thought this was an oddity of the last programme I saw from a week or so ago, as I know sometimes the venue means they don't have the flexibility they might have elsewhere. However, I took a look further back and it looked to me as if they'd gotten rid of having a steadicam in the production. As a result the whole show seemed much more inflexible, with the end credits (and bit after the guests are introduced) consisting of pan and zoom shots of the audience, with lots of fixed camera shots in between.

Saying that, there were still a fair few fixed shots last night but the steadicam op was also present, so I may have it completely wrong!

Slightly off the main topic, but perhaps someone can answer a question regarding the cameras used in QT.

Most of them seem to be the same size as those generally seen in studios, yet I have noticed that QT also uses two very large cameras (one behind the audience and one behind the set) which look like the sort of thing you would normally have seen in the 1980s/90s.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2n6gd4g.jpg

Most of what you see is a large lens, the camera is the same size and type as those nearer the stage, that have smaller lenses. There is no substitute for having to let lots of light into a zoom lens, you can’t alter physics and optics

Is it possible that cutting to a static audience shot gives them more flexibility with regards to timing?

Those are large box-lenses (which are also used in studios - but not BBC News studios where most people see cameras in-vision) which are more common on sports and events OBs and in larger studios as they have much higher zoom-ratios (100:1 wouldn't be unusual and you can go a lot higher than that).

Because they are so much bigger than the small 'ENG-style' lenses often used on lightweight cameras they are either used on 'full-size' cameras (which are a bigger body that can't be operated handheld and will always be mounted on a ped, a heavy-duty tripod or a sit-on crane etc.) or much more commonly in the UK they are used with lightweight cameras sitting in cradles that emulate a full-size camera. The use of cradles means studio and OB suppliers only need to have light-weight camera bodies in their stock and can flexibly deploy the same camera heads in both roles.

Box lenses can have much larger zoom ratios - i.e. they let you get a lot tighter from the same distance - so if you need to shoot a close-up or mid-shot from a long distance, you will normally use one. Where you see the two cameras next to each other, the one with an ENG-style lens will probably only be able to shoot wider shots than the one with the box lens on it. Looking at it, the ENG-style lens-equipped camera doesn't have an operator, so is probably a wide lock-off.

The camera behind the guests peeping out over the top of the set is almost certainly shooting audience questions and reactions (and needs a box lens to get decent close-ups from that distance)

The bulk of what you are seeing is the box lens. Nothing 80s or 90s about them - they now come in 4K flavours

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/uhd_digisuper_122/ Here's a state-of-the-art 4K 122:1 lens. That is likely to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. ENG lenses are usually less than £50k (and sometimes a lot less - but will be much lower zoom ratios - nearer 22:1 or less, but often wider angle at the wide end)

Here's a typical set up, the camera (which is dark grey) itself is consumed by the lens and lens cradle (both of which are white)

Blimey! Quite possibly the most informative and self explanatory post ever in the history of TVF! Thanks!

Who knew! The camera is in fact quite tiny in itself.

Ha .... Entertaining

“I have accomplished more in 25 years than almost any presenter in Question Time history.”#bbcqt pic.twitter.com/YWgRHTVYsL

— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) September 27, 2018

Kirsty Walk 4/1 favourite to take over.