The lights now in use are 'guide fittings' - these are dummy sets that allow the lighting designer to fine tune the throw, spill, intensity, hot-spots, etc. Aspects like layer height, colour correction, heat dissipation, overlaps, etc will come into the design zone later. Still later, the signals/optics chaps will come down with their toys to check how everything comes together for the TV cameras. Flourescent is generally bad news for television... adjusting to the flicker is a broadcast engineer's nightmare, you know You must note that, as far as the area where the action takes place is concerned, the lighting design is always dictated by television. In very basic terms, this design depends on: a) the total number of cameras watching the action, b) the new technology, if any, planned to be used, and c) the quality of light required (and not the quantity) I have very little information on the specifics demanded by the Beijing Games technical committee but Gilles Page, one of the world's top sports lighting designers, did say that the organisers' specifications for lighting installation was 40% higher than previously used for standard cameras (this is a bit less than the usual 1.5 times). Interestingly, apart from HMI instruments, high-intensity vapour lamps, cool spots and high-power LEDs, China is also using an inexpensive light source to augment the electrical installation - as they say, no one lights like the sun (This system uses hundreds of fibre-optic light pipes, each more than half-a-metre in diameter, fixed in the ceiling... and the light is clean and truly amazing ) Take a look at one sample: http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/venues/stg/headlines/n214196465.shtml As for badminton's requirements, China is bound to focus a lot on this sport, simply because it is the powerhouse. If super-slow-mo is being installed for badminton (they have confirmed it for athletics, gymnastics and basketball - probably because of the large US audience), I'm sure the inner thirds of the courts will have at least 2,000 lux.
Hmm.. ..interesting infos..But just a bit curious, can you share or is/are there any link(s) which confirm that the lighting equation in 2008 OG will be different and/or they're going to use newer camera/equipments?? Or you have inside infos??..And if they're different, how much different will they be in comparison to the cameras/equipments used 4 yrs ago in Athens??..thx
What Oldhand refers to is light pipe technology. Light pipe technology is available in North America for residential and commercial buildings.
What I've shared is no more than industry knowledge At the minimum, I'd be quartered, guillotined and pulped (and not necessarily in that order) if I were to give out any specifics The Non-Disclosure Agreements used by the Beijing Games organisers are unpleasantly strict. So far, the companies involved in the Olympic infrastructure projects have not been allowed to refer to their work, much less commercially brag about it (another term for advertising ) Of course, that will change. We should be able to talk more about the 'inside' as we go along
Interesting to come back to this. The HK Open has changed venues and the lighting is different. I think they are using 1600 lux. In fact, it was set higher the first time they tried it (last year) but the players complained the lights were too bright.
so how bright was it in terms of photo-exposure-speak? Trying to gauge the difference between a BWF-setup tourney vs local events here
ISO 1600, 1/640th, f2.8 for the show courts. Outer courts need ISO 2000 to maintain those same settings.
