Ikegami totally lost their way in the move to HD... They seem to have pretty much disappeared in Europe in camera terms... The Alexa-live hybrid camera was a nice idea - but Sony have effectively killed it with the F55 Live it seems.
Many stations in the US seemed to have installed the small Ikegami box cameras similar to Sony's HDC-P1. The cameras are cheap, they don't require a base station, expensive triax runs and produce good quality pictures. Stations that want quality still go for the Sony HDC series or now Grass Valley's LDX-86 (which is in place now at WNBC).
P1s (and similar) are quite common in Europe in studios that have fully automated camera mountings, and thus don't need all the additional facilities and functionality that a regular studio/OB camera would have (like talkback, reverse vision and prompt feeds down the camera cable, flexible viewfinders, nice ergonomics for handheld use etc.) Given that they are effectively an HDC-2500/1500/HSC-300 quality camera in picture terms (albeit without SMPTE/Triax connectivity) they are a good fit. They are also widely used in locations where their size makes them less obtrusive (such as 'effects' shots on state occasions)
That said - you can only route the HD-SDI outputs from these cameras over relatively short runs, so you normally have to convert to fibre for many deployments (though you can use cheap fibre rather than SMPTE obviously)
The other obvious area they are used is Steadicam (where you usually use an RF back and external VF integrated into the harness) - where they first appeared in 3D rigs, but are now using in 2D. Sony also have a UHD equivalent based on the HDC-4300.
I have seen some cheapskate broadcasters try and use them manually. The results are usually not great for operators.
Ikegami make them - but as I said elsewhere, Ikegami are kind of dead in Europe in camera terms these days. They are now in the same death-zone as Panasonic and Hitachi in camera terms. You only ever see Sony or GrassValley (aka Philips) in broadcast use, even at the lower end.
This is partially because big broadcasters will do procurement deals to allow them to get larger discounts on a single model of camera across their entire estate. (The BBC did this with the Sony HSC 300 for Broadcasting House, and I believe have installed HSC-300s in some English regions, which are currently still SD, to replace ageing first gen 16:9 SD cameras). You also save significantly on spares and service if you have a single model deployed.
I know that operators massively prefer Sony over GrassValley in ergonomics terms, and that many vision operators, and particularly vision supervisors, prefer the Sony camera control system. (GVGs had a little too much lag at one point)
Most new trucks in the UK appear to be being built around HDC-4300 or LDX-86N UHD cameras (with IP beginning to be deployed in anger in new trucks such as Arena's OB X, Y and Z to avoid quadlink HD-SDI) However studios are still basically HD (though I think Timeline may have a UHD studio in their BT Sport operation now - where previously they would have used a UHD OB truck parked outside)
Last edited by noggin on 26 November 2016 10:59am - 3 times in total
