Camera Corps will be supplying its Q-Ball remote-controlled cameras for the winter 2013 series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! The reality show airs on ITV in the UK and channel 3e in Ireland. Gearhouse Broadcast will provide technical infrastructure for the production, working alongside Camera Corps technicians David Sisson and James Todd who will install, operate and reposition the robotic camera systems throughout the show.
“This is one of the largest shows in the world, with more than 600 staff working in shifts round the clock for three weeks,” said Gearhouse Broadcast COO Kevin Moorhouse. “It is transmitted from one of the hottest and wettest locations on the planet, in the tropical rainforest of New South Wales. “Camera Corps has worked with us very efficiently and effectively over many years to ensure that we capture consistently high-quality video, indoors or out, with full protection against rain, high humidity, high ambient temperature or low light.”
He continues: “Camera Corps will be integrating more than 90 remotely controlled cameras to follow the action inside and around the camp. These include 16 Q-Ball robotic pan/tilt/zoom heads, 20 HD-MiniZooms with infra-red night illumination, 30 MiniShots, 26 Hitachi DKH-32 and three Toshiba IKH-R1. The Q-Ball heads incorporate a low-noise pan/tilt drive with precise speed control which allow the director to request live follow-shots. We get consistently high picture quality from the Q-Ball and HD-MiniZoom cameras, including all the detail viewers expect when watching in HD.”
Housed in a cast-aluminum sphere, Camera Corps’ Q-Ball head comprises a 1080i camera with 10:1 zoom optics plus a fully rotatable pan and tilt head. High-precision motors enable the operator to adjust the camera angle from any location, with smooth adjustment of vertical and lateral tracking speeds.
“The cameras will be operated from remote pan/tilt/zoom joystick panels located in the control room,” said Camera Corps’ David Sisson. “We will also be installing Camera Corps ‘Simply SMPTE’ electro-optical and single-mode fiber links which allow HD-SDI from the camera heads to be carried much greater distances than can be achieved over standard copper cable. A popular element of the series is the bushtucker trial which invites contestants to reach out one way or another to the wildlife of New South Wales. One of our tasks is to ensure the local insects and snakes don’t set up home inside our camera housings. The Q-Ball is very effectively sealed against incursions of that kind.”
