FOM’s new rotating onboard camera
- This topic has 22 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 5 months ago by Force Maikel.
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- 1st November 2013, 19:01 at 7:01 pm #133839Keith CollantineKeymaster
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
1st November 2013, 19:07 at 7:07 pm #244451TommyBParticipantNice 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.
1st November 2013, 19:26 at 7:26 pm #244452the_sigmanParticipantWow, very nice!
1st November 2013, 19:54 at 7:54 pm #244453RobTsintasParticipantI 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.
1st November 2013, 20:02 at 8:02 pm #244454MadsParticipantI 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.1st November 2013, 20:16 at 8:16 pm #244455Magnificent GeoffreyParticipantI 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.
1st November 2013, 20:43 at 8:43 pm #244456andae23ParticipantMy 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.
1st November 2013, 21:05 at 9:05 pm #244457EnigmaParticipantI’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.
1st November 2013, 21:59 at 9:59 pm #244458US_PeterParticipantI 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.
1st November 2013, 23:32 at 11:32 pm #244459Max JacobsonParticipantI 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.
2nd November 2013, 0:00 at 12:00 am #244460RobTsintasParticipantIf 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
2nd November 2013, 1:56 at 1:56 am #244461mantresxParticipant@robtsintas Very nice, but how about an object tracking camera like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5YQVvW-hQF1 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 :(2nd November 2013, 4:50 at 4:50 am #244462AnonymousInactive@mantresx Something like that would be pretty pointless in a F1 race.
2nd November 2013, 7:35 at 7:35 am #244463Fisha695ParticipantIt’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.
2nd November 2013, 8:49 at 8:49 am #244464Euro BrunParticipantPart 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. - AuthorPosts
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