New Countdown Studio

The wheel on the side is the focus control (you operate the zoom with your left hand and focus with your right - the zoom is the control in the middle of the photo)


The box and buttons with the focus looks like it has focus presets on it, the various dials are labelled WS, MS, CS etc.

However on other TV shows I've seen recorded, the controls on that side have seemed (from what I can tell) to be a viewfinder select. The camera operator can select to see gallery output or the output of the other cameras.

The box attached to the focus wheel is known as a 'shot box' in which the operator can save preset shots. It controls both zoom and focus demands when recalling shots.

http://www.digibroadcast.com/used-equipment-c211/lenses-c214/fujinon-esb-6a-e12-used-shot-box-c-w-mca-6b-clamp-p16862

They are heavily used in the U.K. but almost no other countries use them as far as I understand.

I've had to rig thousands of the things in my time and remember we used to get into issues when pairing analogue shot boxes with newer HD box lenses. They could crash zoom in at any point, an issue when it happens live on air!!

!! I always assumed I'd mashed something by accident on the few times I've had it happen to me.

But altogether useful when you're recording University Challenge.

I used to encounter it all of the time when using the older shotboxes designed for Canon J20 lenses and we eventually found out from Canon that it was a mismatch in the data the unit was expecting from the newer lenses.

After it happened to a particularly fretful camera supervisor on air I recall that we always hired in the newer shotboxes designed for the XJ27s and then we never had the issue again.

AMAZING surprise!! Thank you @gem7thompson Can’t believe it’s been 2000 episodes! Loved every minute @C4Countdown ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7emzVuxQ3B

— Rachel Riley 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) September 19, 2017

Here's to two thousand more, Rach.

Read that as "old GRANNY photos" - there'd be plenty of those in the Countdown studio!