Stereoscopic 3D Rigs

The new Polecam 3D was employed for BSkyB's stereoscopic broadcast of this month's Ryder Cup.

Sept. 13 was Stereo 3D Theme Day at IBC, and the show itself was something of a showcase for stereo 3D support gear. What used to be an obscure task usually served by custom gear is now entering the mainstream. It's not just Hollywood blockbusters that are getting a third dimension these days, so manufacturers are understandably rushing in to fill a growing niche.

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A few recent announcements from manufacturers speak to this broadening of the field of stereoscopic production. Polecam, for instance, announced earlier this month that BSkyB used its gear to shoot the Ryder Cup in stereo. A new Polecam 3D mounting plate held aloft two Toshiba IK-HD1 cameras to capture the action from high above the first tee at Celtic Manor, showing sweeping views of the crowd and golfers teeing off. Polecam remote control panels allowed engineers in the truck to control the rig from 2 kilometers away.

For its part, Element Technica recently announced that cinematographer Steven Douglas Smith selected its lightweight Neutron 3D rig to hold two Silicon Imaging SI-2K cameras for a recent in-house project for the Navy, which recreated a recent missile launch that brought down a crippled satellite.

Element Technica debuted its new Pulsar 3D rig at IBC. Designed for medium-sized cameras, it's shown here supporting a pair of Red Epics.

At IBC, Element Technica showed its full range of 3D rigs. The company was showing a pair of Red Epics mounted on its Pulsar rig, which made its world premiere at the show. The rig is designed for medium-sized cameras. A pair of Red Scarlets were mounted on Element Technica's smallest stereo rig, the Neutron, which debuted at NAB 2010. The larger Quasar rig, introduced at last year's IBC show, was also on display. All three rigs can be configured for either side-by-side or the two forms of beamsplitter setups (one camera points either up or down at the mirror).

At IBC, Band Pro's Munich office announced a deal to represent the Kernercam rig from Kerner 3D Technologies in the European market.

Also at the show, Band Pro's Munich office announced a deal to represent the Kernercam rig from Kerner 3D Technologies in the European market. The rig comes in three sizes; the medium-sized Kernercam KC7000 was exhibited at IBC. As it allies with Kerner 3D, Band Pro Munich has also expanded (in an extremely limited way) into renting 3D gear. "Band Pro is only a sales house; we do not rent any equipment," explains Seth Emmons of Band Pro. "The only twist on this is that Band Pro Munich provides production engineering services, which include creating the entire camera and workflow package. Part of this service can include having Fred Meyers [formerly of ILM] on set to consult or oversee the equipment and engineering needs. In this capacity one could hire the Kernercam rig from Band Pro Munich as part of the Production Engineering package, but it would not generally apply to any other products that Band Pro typically sells."

At IBC, Band Pro Munich was also showing a Freestyle Rig from P+S Technik, showing Silicon Imaging SI-2K cameras in the SI-3D system, which includes a 1 Beyond Wrangler Mini recorder/monitor and Carl Zeiss DigiPrime lenses. "In contrast to the Kernercam rig," Emmons says, "the Freestyle with the SI-3D system allows for a smaller package and even the possibility of going handheld, or at least quickly changing camera positions." The recent Saw 3D employed SI-3D rigs.

Of course, one stereoscopic star of the IBC 2010 show obviates the need for a rig entirely. The dual-lens, integrated-body Panasonic AG-3DA1 was shown on the floor in Amsterdam, and Panasonic announced that by that point it had received 800 orders for the camera—only a small minority of which came from broadcast organizations.