I was at the US Open tennis match yesterday watching Federer being taken down by Djokavic. If that wasn’t sad enough, all of a sudden, while going into the 5th set, my seat moved up and down while listening to a loud noise. What was happening? An earthquake? Did Roger hit a serve at my head and I lost consciousness?
No, it was the 3D camera man, Mike, adjusting his view. Apparently, his hydraulic camera setup was connected to my seat section so when he moved, we moved. When Mike wanted to perform close-ups of the crowd, he adjust his seat and camera which put vibrations under me and my family. They laughed at me when I jumped up. But, of course it piqued my technology support interest right away. I spoke with Mike during the next player break so get more info.
Mike, the camera man, said that this is the first time that the US Open had 3D video for homes. Panasonic has become the official 3D sponsor for the next 3 years of the US Open for tennis. It was interesting though that Mike was using a Sony HD 3D video camera, not Panasonic. In any case, Mike said that taking the video shots were similar to the regular video recordings of years’ past. The only difference is that he has been asking to take more close-up shots to showcase the in-your-face 3D views. The hydraulics have been newly implemented this year to take 360 views of the crowd. The consumer video camera for 3D is very new as you can check out more info on 3D consumer video cameras here. Yes, the tech support may be a bit spotty at first since you’ll be a guinea pig to test the first 3D video camera out there. But, if you’re a computer support gadget like me, you’ll enjoy the ride!
