Premier League Broadcasts Ref Cam for the First Time, Captures ‘Sick’ Goal https://petapixel.com/2025/08/26/premier-league-broadcasts-ref-cam-for-the-first-time-captures-sick-goal/ #broadcastcamera #premierleague #broadcast #bodycam #refcam #soccer #News

Rapper Randomly Twists Knobs on a Live NBA Broadcast Camera

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For-A Unveils First 2/3-Sensor Camera to Shoot 4K at 1,000 FPS

For-A has announced a new dual-sensor 2/3-inch 4K camera that allows for up to 1,000 frames per second with "no sacrifice on brightness" of the image that comes with traditional single-sensor cameras using broadcast lenses.

For-A is a Japanese company that develops, manufactures, and sells professional video equipment for various applications. Its latest camera, the FT-ONE-SS4K, is designed for live broadcast but features a unique, patented design that allows for Ultra-HD 4K video to be recorded at up to 1,000 frames per second using a new imaging system that uses two sensors and a prism.

The idea of multiple sensors in a broadcast camera isn't a new one, but it has fallen out of favor in recent years. Multi-sensor cameras were once the go-to for use in broadcast and used three separate sensors to capture blue, green, and red color ranges. As explained by Red Shark, practically all sports broadcasting, a majority of news, and more or less anything that's ever been shot in a multi-camera studio had been shot on cameras with 2/3-inch, three-chip sensor designs.

This style of camera is more complex and breaks from the modern preference of shallow depth of fields, but on the flipside offered a camera that could perform better for its sensor size. Single large sensor cameras do have their advantages, like depth of field and better dynamic range.

"The thing is, it's quite possible to achieve similarly improved photosite size on a smaller (effective) sensor by using three," Phil Rhodes writes on Red Shark. "We get three times the sensor area for photosites, but we don't need to project an image that's actually any bigger than the size of one of them."

Because smaller projected image sizes require smaller lenses to achieve the same f-stop and framing, the advantages are considerable for broadcast purposes. Still, they are less common lately and have generally fallen out of favor in lieu of single-sensor cameras. But the switch wasn't without consequence, as the lenses originally designed for those multi-sensor cameras were just adapted for use on single-sensor cameras.

Typically, high frame rate videography already requires faster shutter speeds and therefore reduces the amount of light that a sensor can capture between each frame. Compounding on this issue is that many broadcasting organizations now use cameras that utilize a PL-mount, which is common with the filmmaking cameras often employed by broadcast organizations. In order to use the previous 2/3 B4 lens mount that was originally found on the older multi-sensor cameras, a converting optic is required between the camera and the lens which usually results in further light loss.

For-A explains that the new technology it is using in the FT-OONE-SS4K uses two sensors behind a prism block, which it calls a "revolutionary technology" that eliminates the need for a converter by accepting B4 mount lenses natively as well as supporting high-resolution high frame rate capture. The company claims this is the first 2/3-inch sensor camera that can shoot 4K at up to 1,000 frames per second.

"The FT-ONE-SS4K 4K ultra-high-speed camera uses a new imaging system with market standard 2/3-inch B4 mount, not a single chip with a PL mount like competitive cameras," For-A Americas President Satoshi Kanemura says.

"There's absolutely no sacrifice on brightness. While a single sensor loses 2.5 stops brightness using a lens conversion adaptor, a 2/3-inch platform provides a deep depth of field, allowing the user to easily focus, even at over 100x zoom."

In short, For-A says it has managed to combine the benefits of both multi-sensor systems and single sensor cameras into one.

For-A says the FT-ONE-SS4K is ideal for sports producers who need to offer simultaneous live 4K Ultra HD output and 4K Ultra HD (up to 1,000 frames per second) super slow-motion playback output within a conventional studio camera workflow.

The technological advancements in this area are likely foreign to the average person, but new technology in camera and sensor development can have rippling effects on what can or should be developed for everyday use in the future.

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Watch a Major League Baseball Player Shatter a Lens with a Foul Ball

Major League Baseball player Tyler O'Neill hit a foul ball off at just the right angle to send it flying into the lens of the backstop camera. The damage caused a slight delay in play as the grounds crew dealt with the bits of shattered glass.

As reported by DPReview, O'Neill -- an outfielder for the Saint Louis Cardinals -- ripped the foul ball off an 0-1 pitch delivered by Miami Marlin's pitcher Sandy Alcantara during the two teams' April 6 meeting. The pitch came in at O'Neill at 90 miles-per-hour and was classified as a "changeup," or pitch that appears to the batter to be a fastball but moves much slower than a pitcher's maximum velocity.

Because the ball arrived much later than O'Neill anticipated, he only tipped the ball as he swung the bat out in front and fouled it directly behind home plate. By happenstance, it made direct contact with a broadcast camera.

In the video below, you can even hear the loud "crack" as the ball shatters the front of the lens.

BREAKING: broken pic.twitter.com/rcuNEbzytG

-- Miami Marlins (@Marlins) April 6, 2021

As DPReview notes, the lens it destroyed appears to be a Fujinon WCV-L85 0.8x Wide Angle Converter Lens attached to the front of a Fujinon UA18x7.6BERD broadcast zoom lens. The converter retails for $1,800 while the lens comes in at a much higher $22,495. Luckily, it appears that only the wide-angle converter was destroyed by the ball, making the pain of having to replace the part a bit easier to stomach.

Below are a couple of frames that show a before and after look at the damage:

Because of COVID-19 protocols, the broadcast team's technical crew wasn't allowed on the field, meaning that two batboys had to hastily sweep the shards of glass of the track and the back wall before play could resume. O'Neill would strike out on the next pitch, but the Cardinals would go on to win the game 4-2.

"I've never seen it," said Cardinals manager Mike Shildt to MLB.com, "but it's one thing that's great about our game. You can go to a ballpark, and you have a good chance to see something that you've never seen, regardless of how many times you've walked in the stadium. One of the beautiful things about our game."

Sports and cameras have a bit of a dicey history, and this isn't even the first time a baseball player has found a way to destroy broadcasting equipment. In 2010 during a Yankees and Rangers game, a player broke his bat and the pieces flew directly into a $90,000 Canon broadcast lens which resulted in a $20,000 repair bill. In 2013, Danish professional golfer Thomas Bjorn sent a ball directly into the front of an ESPN broadcast lens, destroying it.

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