Sony’s PMW-TD300 3D shouldercam dominates trials from major broadcasters

Sony Professional today celebrates a landmark year for 3D production as the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow becomes the latest in a long line of flagship shows to trial 3D using Sony’s PMW-TD300 professional 3D camcorder. Since the launch of the camera at IBC last year, it has been used on a wide range of productions, including the Five Nations Rugby League Championship and Strictly Come Dancing, as major broadcasters experiment with 3D outside of live sports and landmark events.

Sony has seen considerable interest in using the PMW-TD300 to shoot alternative content since shipping in September as broadcasters look for a more cost effective way of creating 3D content. Last year, BBC Bristol worked closely with Sony, hire company Presteigne Charter and the BBC’s Digital Village for a 3D trial of the Antiques Roadshow, taking immersive 3D programming to a new genre. 3D postproduction specialist, Stephen Pelluet, who pioneered the trial alongside director Vinny Wright, commented: “Our vision when filming the Antiques Roadshow in 3D was for the viewer to feel like one of the crowd, wandering around, eavesdropping on the conversations and exploring the beautiful locations. Having a shoulder mounted camera like Sony’s TD300 allowed us to capture dynamic and flowing shots with ease, which would have been much harder to achieve with a 3D rig set up. The results were really impressive.”

Based on the familiar shape of Sony’s PMW-320, the simultaneous 2D and 3D recording capability of the TD300 makes a compelling proposition for broadcasters and production companies as they can effectively shoot both 2D and 3D at the same time. Professional 3D cameraman Graham Howe, who has worked on many 3D productions with the TD300, commented: “I’ve had huge amounts of work thrown my way since the launch of the TD300, in shooting a broad range of productions from live sport and music events to entertainment, documentaries and even children’s TV. Broadcasters are quickly recognising the commercial benefits and cost effectiveness of using a camera that is incredibly familiar to use and that can shoot concurrently in both 2D and 3D, which will continue to drive interest in Sony’s TD300.”

Sony Specialist Dealer Presteigne Charter was first in line to take delivery of the camera in September and Business Development Manager Steve Boland commented: “Sony’s TD300 has rarely been out of work and is already booked out for much of 2012. With production companies and broadcasters looking to build a library of 3D content to populate their dedicated channels and services, the TD300 provides a high quality cost effective tool that fits in seamlessly with existing workflows.”

Sony Professional’s PMW-TD300 is a professional single lens 3D camcorder with a compact, shoulder-mount design. The camera’s dual three 1/2-inch type Exmor CMOS sensors provide high quality 3D recordings at 1920 x 1080 resolution on to SxS cards using the XDCAM EX codec.

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