9 minute read
Dependable Rugged Gear for ‘Run and Gun’ News Crews
From lighting to power supplies and camera support, gear is getting lighter, more affordable and reliable
By Craig Johnston
SEATTLE—The natural condition of TV news is “run and gun”—get to the story as fast as you can, get it on the air, and off to the next one. The problem is, the gear has to keep up.
Makers of ENG equipment work long and hard to make theirs fast to deploy and rugged enough to take a licking. Here’s a sample of what’s keeping news crews humming these days
LIGHTING
ARRI touts its Orbiter LED lighting as ideal for ENG crews because of its color sensor control capabilities. The operator can match the Orbiter’s color to ambient light at the click of a button, saving time not having to dial in color temperatures for exteriors or adjusting +/- green to match existing lighting on locations.
The lighting fixture also provides changeable optics, which provide for quickly switching from hard-edge light to a flattering softbox wrap, and everything in between. A removable control panel and built-in wireless means there’s no need to worry about lowering the light stand to make small adjustments. Simply connect the control panel via its 5m wire or go full wireless with industry standard CRMX wireless control.
The Orbiter’s IP 24 water resistance rating means that it can be used rain or shine. ARRI offers heavy-duty pelican cases and reinforced fabric cases with customized padding for the Orbiter and its Open Face Optics.
While Litepanels’ Astra has been the choice of many news crews for awhile, now the company also offers its Gemini lineup for Litepanels Gemini 1x1 LED more power, according to Michael Herbert, product manager for lighting, Vitex Product Solutions.
“We’ve seen ENG crews buying our Astra fixtures for years and years,” he said. “You can take them out of the back of the van, put them on a stand, plug them in and you’re ready to go. It’s got a 46 degree concentrated beam angle to get the throw of light you need. You can choose to soften it, but if you just need to get something going straight away, you go out, plug it in, switch it on and you’re in business.” Crews that want to step up to a more powerful light with a more featurerich menu for their ENG operation can look to Litepanels Gemini fixtures. It provides 3000 LUX of brightness at 10 feet at full intensity. And when speed is of the essence, the operator can simply turn it on, adjust intensity and color temperature, and shoot the story.
beyond a station’s local market.”
Bolstering broadcasters’ expectations that they can reach deals with vMVPD operators are recent reports from Park Associates analytics firm that emphasize the continuing appeal of conventional video programming.
“Adults 55 and older disproportionately favor a linear experience while viewers 1824 prefer watching content from YouTube, social media, and the like,” Parks Research Vice President Jennifer Kent told TV Tech. “Consumers value live content because it is engaging, sometimes interactive, and personal to their interests.”
She cited a recent 50:50 joint venture between Comcast and Charter Communications (the two largest cable operators in the U.S.), to develop a nationwide streaming platform. Although the competitive strength of such a unified service may affect broadcast network initiatives, Kent says that the arrangement “may help Comcast and Charter pull ahead in subscriber growth and gain an edge in the crowded OTT market.”
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Amid this regulatory rigamarole, Wall St. is also monitoring the impact of the vMVPD relationship with local broadcasting.
Laura Martin, senior entertainment and internet analyst at Needham & Company, doesn’t believe streaming is undermining local affiliates, contending that stations “will get paid if they have viewership,” but is not specific about how those payments will be made.
“The affiliate has value,” Martin said, but adding that direct-to-consumer viewing is all about generating specific data, so “local TV will be forced to compete on the local data.” It has to be “really good data about what kind of content attracts and keeps a viewer. It must pull its weight.” l
Gary Arlen is president of Arlen Communications and a long-time observer and commentator on converging intermedia and telecom technology and policy.
A convenient battery plate on both the Astra and Gemini allows on-light mounting for Gold Mount or V-mount battery packs.
For news crews looking for flexibility in balancing light wherever they’re shooting, Craig Chartiar, business development marketing manager at Bold Distribution, recommends Lupo.
“I would go with a 1x1 ULTRA hard panel that Lupo has come out with because it gives you the most punch to balance with the natural light that you’re fighting out-of-doors,” he said. “If I was going to do that same interview indoors, I wouldn’t necessarily use the hard panel. I would probably go with the SUPER 300 panel with a soft bank on it.”
The ULTRA panel has twice the output as a SUPER panel, according to Mark Mather, director of sales North America, Bold Distribution. “The reason this was able to be produced is that the technology of the raw LED lights have been getting better and better. It puts out twice the light,” he said. “Both of these lights and others in the Lupo line all have an app you can download into your phone that allow you to turn the light off and on, brighter or darker, and you can change the color temperature.”
Toby Sali, co-founder of BB&S Lighting, looked to a pair of his company’s light fixtures as the solution for fast working ENG crews. “You could go with either the compact beamlights or the compact beamlights Fresnel,” he said. “Those are the two lights that you can put on a stand, and they put out a beam to 15 or so feet to the announcer. With the Fresnel it’s adjustable. And the Bi-Color is color temperature adjustable.”
The Fresnel fixture provides for more flexibility. “It goes from 12 to 15 degrees, so you’re able to make an adjustment with it,” Sali added. “You can have a narrow beam and be out there 15 to 20 feet. Or you can have them up closer but lighter.”
The fixture’s optical system is designed to be free of light spill, and is designed to do all the things that a reflector-based downlight will not. The light is available in a variety of fixed beam-angles (7-degrees to 14- degrees). A 140W brick battery pack can run a compact beamlight all day long.
POWER SUPPLIES
“When you think ENG, you think speed and quickness to respond,” said Bob Carr, sales director for PAG America, “so obviously weight and the ability to deploy and power many things for many uses is critical. PAG batteries, using the linking technology allows you to use the batteries for all the mobile needs such
ARRI Orbiter
as cameras, audio, lighting, streaming and whatnot.”
PAG’s linking technology lets camera operators to stack several PAG battery packs together on the back of the camera. “Because we have the linking and combine that with the Micro Charger, it allows you to get a charge into your batteries whether you’re by a wall outlet, in the car or on the run,” Carr said. “And because ours have two USB ports, you can use it as a power bank. Power your computer, your phone, and whatever as well. We believe that lightness and the smallest package allows people to carry the right gear for the right time.”
Carr adds, “our design is set up in such a way that it can take any direct drop. And the good news is that if you were able to break the housing, the modular design allows you to save the cells and the electronics, I can just pop on a new cover.”
For ENG crews who depend on professional batteries for professional solutions, Anton Bauer offers several options.
“Our batteries have very high outputs,” said Andrew Hutton, product manager for batteries with Vitec Production Solutions, parent company of Anton Bauer. “We can provide a continuous 12V output, which is quite handy when people are using the battery to power not
Sachtler’s Aktiv head on a slider
Anton Bauer battery packs
just the camera but possibly lights and other equipment as well.”
To provide even more power capability, Anton/Bauer provides shark fins or hot swap plates. “You would buy a plate to go on the back of the camera, and it looks very much like a shark’s fin,” Hutton added. “With two battery packs mounted on the back of the camera, it will deplete battery one completely before switching over seamlessly to battery two, with no dropoff. That then allows the operator to remove battery one and replace it with a new battery.” This allows the camera to shoot continuously.
“All of our batteries have to pass the drop test, which is specified by UN 38.3. It’s normally three feet as the minimum you need to pass. Across all of our ranges we do have the ability to work in extreme temperatures in ENG. Ours will work from minus 20C to plus 60C at 100 percent output.”
CAMERA SUPPORT
Shotoku Broadcast Systems developed its SE tripod range to provide support and high functionality for the ENG and documentary shooter. “The SE80 and SE150 both feature a high-quality drag system to ensure smooth onair moves, and a multiple level counterbalance system to provide accurate balancing for a wide range of cameras,” said Kembu Makino, deputy head of overseas sales group for Shotoku Broadcast.
To meet the flexibility required in this category, the SE systems are available in either an aluminum two-stage tripod, or a carbon fibre two-stage tripod configuration. “Large, easy to reach lock-in levers allow positive and smooth deployment of the tripod and an integrated leveling bubble guarantees fast, accurate system setup,” Makino said.
All SE models are supplied with either ground or mid-level spreaders and a foldable dolly with directional wheel locks is also available for studio applications, and both are shipped standard with a single panbar with a large ergonomic rubber grip. A second panbar is offered as an option on both.
Sachtler’s Flowtech tripod is for crews looking for quick setups, according to Barbara Jaumann, product manager for Vitec Production Solutions.
“The Flowtech has just one lever to control two sections of the tripod; the lever is at the top on the bowl, so you don’t have to bend down to control the middle section,” she said. ”The difference between it and all other tripods is that the Flowtech gives you really nice control of the weight, because it’s high up, and closer to the camera. This makes a big difference in setting the camera up.”
To complement the Flowtech tripod, Sachtler has developed its Aktiv fluid head— the Aktiv12T and 14T heads have a greater payload range and more counterbalance steps than the DV12 and Video15 heads they replace, allowing the operator to work faster when mounting, leveling and locking the tripod system.
“As far as ruggedness, we’ve tested the Flowtech and Aktiv systems all over the world,” said Jaumann. “We tested it with buckets of sand, dirt, and water. And we have a temperature chamber in the factory where we did hot tests and cold tests, just to make sure it works in a wide range of circumstances.” l
