First time with tethered camera at live event, Advice?

[Douglas John Kropla]

Hey guys,

it looks like I am shooting two concerts next month and will be tethered with triax cable. I don't know the cameras yet. My first question is are mobile backed cameras supplied power through the triax cable? My second question is how much do I tip my cable puller after the show:) Any advice on this kind of shooting would be greatly appreciated.

[Osvaldo Silvera SOC]

Hi there, triax or Fiber will power the cameras and then the truck will control the iris and paint the cameras on the fly. It will also provide you with communications and Tally light on the camera. You'll be able to connect their headsets directly to the back of the camera.

As for tipping your cable puller, nothing. it's their job.

 

If you've never run a concert with a cable before, I would recommend finding a 6ft jumper triax cable if it's a fiber shoot instead of triax, find a fiber jumper. It will do the came as the big thick cable but won't pull anywhere as much as the main cable. Triax used to be the way, and sometimes some venues and live trucks still use them, alot have moved on to Fiber optic cable, which in most cases is a bit more flexible and easier to work with.

Ask them if you will need to zoom and focus on your own.

Lots of small differences in Live work.

Have a great shoot.

[Douglas John Kropla]

Thanks Osvaldo. Could I build a 6ft Triax jumper or is this cable prohibitively expensive? I will ask the director tomorrow about the zoom/focus. Still don't know what camera will be used.

[Osvaldo Silvera SOC]

Hi, The 6ft Triax or Fiber jumpers are like 650 dollars, which is fine if your going to be doing alot of broadcast tethered stuff. Alot of the broadcast trucks are starting to go Wireless for Steadicam ( All Mobile Video is one)

Definitely find out if it's Triax or Fiber, some folks call them the same thing, but they are not.

As for the Zoom and focus. Do you have a bartech Focus unit?

If you do, you can get the hardwired Focus box from Jim for like $100. and tape it to your gimbal. And in a pinch for the zoom, you can attach one of the Tripod handle Zoom controllers to the gimbal, then run both wires around the top of the post and one to the bartech receiver and then to the underside of the zoom lens on the broadcast camera. You'd be holding the Zoom handle instead of the gimbal, so that will take a small bit of getting used to.

Whether it's a SOny 1500 or an Ikegami 79 EXIII, etc.. all those broadcast cameras will be basically the same, a zoom lens that you can attach a zoom controller to, and the Triax or Fiber ( preferable) will feed power to the camera and Return video, as well as Tally and communications.