NAC Image Technology

best image quality, the largest memory capacities, the smallest camera heads, the fastest download times and the most inclusive software packages in the industry. When it comes to reliable, digital, high-quality, high speed camera systems, make the safe choice with NAC and you’ll see the visible difference in your business. Did you know that NAC had 7 cameras at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? Monday, August 25th, 2008
NAC’s UK business partner for applications involving entertainment and broadcasting, ARRI Media, sent their Digital High Speed Manager Andy Hayford to Beijing in April with a single camera for a test shoot of a marathon. “We filmed a real race, but for us it was primarily a practical, logistical and communications rehearsal to see if various things would work, including having a high-speed camera on a vehicle,” explains Hayford. “The Hi-Motion was on a gyro- head mounted on a car and was one of up to seven separate cameras – some on motorbikes and helicopters – that were all transmitting digital HD to antennas on the camera car. In the front footwell was a camera operator who operated the two gyro-heads on the car. In the back was the Hi-Motion technician and a director with a small vision mixer who was cutting between all those different feeds. No-one’s done it quite like that before, but it worked really well.”

The client, BOB (Beijing Olympic Broadcasting), was ecstatic with the results of the test run and confirmed their booking of seven Hi- Motion cameras for the games. The cameras were scheduled for use in the marathon, the triathlon, cycle road racing, indoor velodrome cycle racing, mountain biking, fencing, table tennis, athletic field events, badminton and gymnastics. According to Hayford, “ For a lot of those events audiences will not have previously seen footage any slower than the 3x slow-motion typical of sports coverage.”

The Hi-Motion (from NAC and distributed by ARRI Media) is capable of recording true 1920x1080 HD images at up to 300fps. The Hi-Motion is gaining popularity with sports broadcasters for the incredibly detailed slow-motion images it delivers. The cameras can be seamlessly integrated with standard outside broadcast (OB) systems and are frequently used for technical analysis during live action and breaks in action, as well as for dramatic highlight montages. Hi- Motion cameras continuously record a 22-second loop to an integrated RAM recorder while simultaneously providing a live feed. As soon as that live feed is cut by an operator, the preceding 22 seconds of footage are available for instant replay, slowed down by a factor of 6x or 12x.