Robotic camera systems, from basic standard def to high quality TV studio gear are now the first choice when equipping classrooms and council chambers. Vaddio, among others, supplies studio quality HD cameras at modest cost, along with the usual transmission and control systems. There are now lots of reasons to use these Vaddio, Sony, Panasonic and Canon cameras instead of tripod mounted cameras with operators. Most common reasons? Simple install, precise camera movements and director plus operator control over systems that used to require a crew to run.
First, there is only a single operator required to position and control all of the cameras. This is in contrast to manual operation, which requires each camera to have a dedicated operator. Often additional personnel are required to direct the shoot. This can be powerful motivation to go with a robotic camera system.
Second, robotic cameras are definitely less intrusive than manually operated cameras. They can be mounted up out of the way, often back wall, ceiling or under balcony, no longer distracting from the service.
Third, robotic camera are now ultra precise and can repeat many preset positions. A preset position is a pan, tilt, zoom and focus setting stored in the robotic system. The director or operator can send the robotic camera automatically to any position by pressing the preset buttom on the console, or Vaddio made touch screen. Vaddio systems generally can store and recall 12 camera positions per camera.
Examples: minister, bride, groom close-ups, wide shots of the congregation, aisle or special event shots.
Here is an example of the typical single chapel setup, allowing for streaming, DVD replication, monitoring, touch panel control of all cameras, presets and switching. Note that the distance camera to console can be up to 500′ over CAT5.
This is the type of systems now installed by integrators in the Bellagio hotel chapels, the Chapel of the Flowers, Hotter than Hell wedding chapels and throughout the North Las Vegas city hall, among others.