I'm assuming from that cap that the viewfinder for the camera operator is in 4:3, and that he/she doesn't have to worry about framing for 16:9, merely to just keep the presenter and/or whoever else centre to the 4:3 shot?
To me, that viewfinder is indeed in 4:3 but the picture is in 16:9 letterbox. You can see the bars above and below the picture in the viewfinder. The cameraman/woman must be able to frame it in their head!
Most viewfinders I've used are set to letterbox with "safe" bars to the left and right. You can usually set the vertical hold to squish the picture to your liking, or keep it anamorphic 16:9.
On a lot of shopping channels including bid tv, they use autocue to pipe an output feed to the camera. So essentialy the presenter can see themselves talking to the camera. Take some getting used to I expect.
That's how they manage to point at and interact with the graphics on the screen.
The cameras on Graham Nortons Channel 4 programmes had both an autocue and a studio output. The latter was provided by a small flat screen (PC type) monitor on top of the camera
The cameras at Central News are all from Thomson, TTV1657's.
As for Meridan and their studio's its interesting about Whitley that they don't have back projectors. Did they before they left for there?
From when Northam opened (in 1969) there were four studios 1,2, 3 & 4 respectively - 6000, 2800, 1140 and 350 sqft..
Initially regional news came out of Studio 3 (1140 sqft), but when TVS took over moved into 2 (2800 sqft). then it hopped back and forth between the two for a while, and remained in 2 for some time. In 1990 it moved back in 3, but was soon back in2!. The South edition eventually ended its last remaining years in Studio 3, whilst the Thames Valley, Meridian West? that used to be at Newbury came from Studio 2 until they both moved out to Fareham. All studios there are small - 700 sqft each!
Does anyone know how old BBC World's camera's are, it looks like they've used the same one for years!, the quality of the picture dosen't seem to be as good as BBC News 24 or BBC National News.
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
Yep - BBC World, BBC News 24 and the BBC One News studio are all LDK based. News 24 and BBC One News definitely use LDK100s - though ISTR that when News 24 launched from the area now used for BBC World, the LDK100s weren't quite ready, and a few other LDKs were supplied. Not sure if they were replaced by full-delivery LDK100s when World moved in.
The LDKs are excellent cameras - and have lasted far better than the Thomson 1657s (and IMHO deliver better pictures when well operated) which were installed in the main block TV Centre studios at roughly the same time. The 1657s are being replaced by Sony BVPE30s (the Newsnight/Newsround/Working Lunch studio has already changed over) relatively quickly - Thomson cameras have never been that highly regarded (which is why all but the 1707 and the 1657Micro variant were ditched as soon as Thomson bought Philips/BTS who make the LDK series)
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
and what's the deal with the one that points at the desk ono news 24 and fades in and out of green all the time?
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
When News 24 first launched from the current BBC World studio, the lighting levels were higher, and the cameras could be operated with -3dB of gain (i.e. negative gain). Cold fluorescent lighting was used though - and it wasn't brilliant in lighting terms.
The negative gain had two benefits :
1. It delivered very noise-free pictures - which in turn means that aperture correction looks cleaner.
2. It has roughly the same effect as running with ND filters in to reduce the light level incoming, which means you can run with a wider aperture, and thus a smaller depth of field. This meant the background was more optically blurred and less distracting, than if the lens was run with a small aperture and a large depth of field.
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
and what's the deal with the one that points at the desk ono news 24 and fades in and out of green all the time?
Not sure - I've always imagined it was a result of neon discharge lighting interacting with the mechanical shutter used in LDKs. (LDK cameras use Frame Transfer CCDs, which require the CCD to be optically masked with a mechanical shutter during read periods)
The cameras at Central News are all from Thomson, TTV1657's.
Aah - reasonable cameras. They were the bread-and-butter camera in non-news (and the Newsnight/Working Lunch/Breakfast/Newsround) studios at Television Centre since the mid-to-late 90s. (They were the first generation of 16:9 camera installed)
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As for Meridan and their studio's its interesting about Whitley that they don't have back projectors. Did they before they left for there?
Don't think so - but ISTR that prior to the move the ITV regions were still in an interim branding phase. They had adopted some of the ITV News branding, but incorporated it into their own studio sets to a degree.
Quote:
From when Northam opened (in 1969) there were four studios 1,2, 3 & 4 respectively - 6000, 2800, 1140 and 350 sqft..
Initially regional news came out of Studio 3 (1140 sqft), but when TVS took over moved into 2 (2800 sqft). then it hopped back and forth between the two for a while, and remained in 2 for some time. In 1990 it moved back in 3, but was soon back in2!. The South edition eventually ended its last remaining years in Studio 3, whilst the Thames Valley, Meridian West? that used to be at Newbury came from Studio 2 until they both moved out to Fareham. All studios there are small - 700 sqft each!
700 sqft is about the same size as the old Look East Norwich studio - though that had a small extension annexe studio, which allowed you to put cameras further back than if it had just been a 4 wall 700 sqft space.
It is a real shame that Meridian have gone from three decent sized studios at Northam, New Hythe and Newbury, to three sub-standard tin-sheds at Fareham. Craft skills on the show - like lighting and sound - have matched the drop in the studio quality...
I believe the cameras used for BBC World's news service are Thomson/Philips LDK100's which are the same as those used for BBC News 24. They are a very good camera, however because they are 'live' for 24 hours, the studio lighting is at a lower level than say a studio lit for maybe an hour or so. They therefore run the cameras on what is known as 'Gain up' at +6dB. This will affect the quality but it will be marginal by the time it has gone through the losses of the transmission change.
ITN use LDK100's/200's as do GMTV. they are a very good camera.
Hang on - News 24's studio is live for much longer so how come they don't use a gain up?