ELi5 How a cameraman at a sports event able to track a fast moving ball with such a great focus on it?
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Another bit of tech in these cameras that operators can rely on, in part, is highlighting hard edges. It basically outlines something that’s in focus, which helps improve visibility of small objects, and gives the operator confidence that the subject is in focus.
Thankfully most sports are played in the bright outdoors. The wider the aperture, the more likely an object will move in and out of the field of focus during play.
I am a camera OPERATOR (we don’t say cameraman anymore in Ireland) I regularly work on hurling matches (the fastest field sport in the world) there is a large amount of intuition gained by practise in keeping a tiny ball in focus as it rockets through the sky. You also have a lot of help from engineers in the truck, who can allow more or less area to be in focus. For artsy crowd shots, it’s less area in and the opposite for a ball in the sky. It’s fun. I recommend anyone with a strong back and a love for the outdoors to try out the industry
There was a fascinating counter example when one of the networks end up winning a bid on a bunch of PGA (golf) tournaments even though they hadn’t covered golf in years.
Going from memory, but I think the lost the rights to broadcast a bunch of MLB (baseball) games to ESPN which was finally catching on.
The first tournament was a disaster to watch. The ball was almost never in frame and the editing was quite amateurish.
By the third event they hired/stole two cameramen from another network and had them train other cameramen. The ringers were also put on the two important holes.
So it comes down to a LOT of practice and a couple hints from experts.
Beck prior to the launch of the ACC Network, I was a camera operator for a streaming service for some of North Carolina’s not revenue sports. Absolutely no experience, the producer was a complete asshole.
Baseball and softball were pretty easy because of my experience playing, based on pitch location you could pretty accurately guess where the ball would be going if it was hit. Volleyball and soccer? Absolutely impossible
I heard that the golf ball image was showing the negative on the operator’s camera meaning that it appears gray instead of white which made it easier to follow.
I have actually worked as a cameraman at hockey matches that got aired on local tv. This was over a decade ago.The way to make sure we had the tiny puck in the shot was mostly educated guesswork. The viewfinder on the camera’s we used could hardly show the tiny puck. We all wore headsets to hear the directors instructions. He assigned some camera’s an (easier) medium shot in which you have a broader view and the more experienced operators were assigned the close ups. Getting the close ups was hard. You focussed on a player that had the puck and when he swung to hit it you just guessed where it went. Sometimes you’d lose the puck entirely and then the director would instantly cut to the medium shot, allowing you to do a quick zoom out, find the puck and get a close shot again. It was hard work that required a lot of concentration and experience. Keeping a ball in focus works the same way.
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It all comes down to having a parfocal lens. A parfocal lens enables the camera operator to quickly zoom in and out without losing focus. It also needs a motorized aperture and focus remote control.
[Here is a great video explaining how this is possible.](https://youtu.be/RkTaMyatsTo) There is actually more to it aside from the lens.
I work in sports. Not as a camera operator but as a Technical Director. It mostly comes down to experience and practice. But camera operators understand the sport and the body language of the players. Players movement, direction and position are just as helpful at tracking the ball as the ball itself.
They use parfocal “box lens”. Those big, rectangular lenses are for this job. They set the focus on an object, and it stays even if they zoom in or out. This video explains it really well: https://youtu.be/RkTaMyatsTo
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