F1

FOM’s new rotating onboard camera

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 23 total)
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  • #133839

    IndyCar have had rotating onboard cameras for years but FOM have finally caught up and put one on an F1 car – here it is on Alonso’s car during first practice:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1GNNnIc-s

    I like it, though as it’s mounted on the side of the car it’s only got a 180-degree field of view, whereas an IndyCar one can pan through 360 degrees. Still fun though.

    We have seen something similar before, though not at an official F1 session:

    Red Bull reveal interactive 360-degree video of their F1 car in action

    #244451
    TommyB
    Participant

    Nice we’ve finally seen one but I bet you any money in three of four races time we’ll never see it again.

    They bring out these amazing things – helmet cam, ghost camera – then a few races later, gone.

    #244452
    the_sigman
    Participant

    Wow, very nice!

    #244453
    RobTsintas
    Participant

    I think it’s pretty lame. The innovative thing to do would be to have a bank of cameras pointing in all directions at once, so the right one can be chosen for a particular moment. Not a slow-panning camera that uselessly points sideways at the barrier half the time! Cutting edge this is not.

    #244454
    Mads
    Participant

    I don’t think this is the way forward.
    I often miss a rear facing camera on the cars, but this camera is simply too slow to rotate. And even if it was as fast as light, the guy controlling it, would not. So the only useful thing for this would be when a car overtakes another down a straight to view the car being overtaken all the way… but then when that car jumps to the other side and dives down the inside under breaking, this camera will be pointing everywhere but where the action is.
    I think fixed cameras are better.

    #244455

    I don’t think this is the way forward.
    I often miss a rear facing camera on the cars, but this camera is simply too slow to rotate. And even if it was as fast as light, the guy controlling it, would not. So the only useful thing for this would be when a car overtakes another down a straight to view the car being overtaken all the way… but then when that car jumps to the other side and dives down the inside under breaking, this camera will be pointing everywhere but where the action is.
    I think fixed cameras are better.

    I agree. As much as I appreciate FOM introducing new elements like this into their coverage, I tend to find these rotating cameras more impractical than practical in the heat of the moment.

    #244456
    andae23
    Participant

    My main concern is that in the long term, they will ditch fixed onboards entirely and basically become Indycar. The sad thing about it is that I really love just watching the drivers do their jobs. The rotating cameras will just be a massive distraction from that, I guess.

    #244457
    Enigma
    Participant

    I’ve never been too fond of the rotating cameras in Indycar. I haven’t seen much of those today but I’m not too impressed. Still onboard cameras have always been my favourite angle in F1.

    #244458
    US_Peter
    Participant

    I agree with most here. It adds nothing but a lot of footage of barriers whizzing by. I’ve always hated it in indycar. It’s not state of the art, it’s distracting and usually misses the real action. If they really want to improve the show, bring back the zip line cam that we saw at Silverstone two years ago. That provided a really unique perspective and allowed a following shot through a whole series of corners in a way that didn’t distract. I hope they don’t stick with this useless rotating cam.

    #244459
    Max Jacobson
    Participant

    I don’t like them, either. The panning is just too slow.

    What would be good would be a google street car-type arrangement as was hinted at by @robtsintas, but that would likely require micro cameras as the teams wouldn’t be willing to take the packaging penalty otherwise.

    Helmet cams I think definitely should have been developed further, as they are about as close as we can get currently to what a driver actually feels inside the car as an audience.

    #244460
    RobTsintas
    Participant

    If you haven’t already seen this: an example of what a bank of cameras plus a beefy computer can achieve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM4tbYNv6KU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    #244461
    mantresx
    Participant

    @robtsintas Very nice, but how about an object tracking camera like this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5YQVvW-hQ

    F1 prides itself on innovation and technology, then why doesn’t the FOM try something really crazy like that.
    Tracking the car around the corners and bumps would reveal much more detail than just high speed cameras alone, but realistically we should consider lucky with just onboards in HD :(

    #244462
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @mantresx Something like that would be pretty pointless in a F1 race.

    #244463
    Fisha695
    Participant

    It’s not even really an Indycar thing, the current cameras in Indycar are actually cameras that were developed for NASCAR and later used in Grand-Am as well.

    #244464
    Euro Brun
    Participant

    Part of me is thinking “great, that’ll add another two minutes to the excess of first corner replays blighting the opening laps”.
    I think it’ll be pure luck if that camera catches anything. Agree that it pans far too slow and that the 180 degree field makes it pointless.

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