The thrill of speed: influence of the camera

[MembriyO]

Onboard footage from the Sonoma demo run... Very high quality + stabilization

[roon]

fom onboard cams are about 50k. Sky did a piece on them not so long ago

https://streamable.com/lhrga
https://streamable.com/lhrga

If the twenty on-board camera and telemetry feeds were streamed, third-party and public/open-source coverage would skyrocket. Instead of relying on ten guys in a trailer curating the show live.

[Juzh]

fom onboard cams are about 50k. Sky did a piece on them not so long ago

https://streamable.com/lhrga
https://streamable.com/lhrga

If the twenty on-board camera and telemetry feeds were streamed, third-party and public/open-source coverage would skyrocket. Instead of relying on ten guys in a trailer curating the show live.

Both those things are in fact streamed. Onboard feeds trough the f1tv and telemetries trough the f1 app. If that's what you meant.

[Mandrake]

Onboard footage from the Sonoma demo run... Very high quality + stabilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aaGypnNgwM

This is what we need!

[Richard]

Onboard footage from the Sonoma demo run... Very high quality + stabilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aaGypnNgwM

That is stunning, it's so dynamic. I guess the image stabilisation gives us a stable viewpoint which means we can see how much the cars are moving around on the track.

This thread reminds me of a classic film with an onboard camera, link below. IMHO the sense of speed is largely due to the soundtrack, it seems much slower with the sound off.



Here's a "making of" piece:

[JordanMugen]

What do we all say about it?

The focal length and heavily stabilised onboard camera in F1 definitely seems to remove the sensation of speed.

Check out this Super Formula onboard with different focal length and lesser quality stabilisation...


Even though the car itself is framed the same as an F1 onboard, due to the different focal length^ the sense of speed is so much greater than F1 as the scenery flashes past the sides of the frame, and the sense of the car being dynamic -- shaking, vibrating -- and rolling/pitching/diving is so much greater due to the less effective stabilisation.

^[In photography you can change the perception/field-of-view of the background, despite the subject being the same size in the frame, by using a different focal length but then moving the camera forward or backward to compensate. Think of the "vertigo" effect in Hitchcock's vertigo.]

If I had to hazard a guess, I think the Super Formula onboard is using a shorter (wider angle) lens but placed closer to the driver, compared to the F1 onboard. Thereby creating a greater sense of speed, as the apex in the distance seems further away at first and then rapidly races up to the camera.

I think reducing the quality of the onboard cameras, is certainly something Liberty could consider to create a sense of speed!

I feel like, sadly, with F1 onboards you never really get a sense of what the car is doing because the image is too stable.

Onboard footage from the Sonoma demo run... Very high quality + stabilization

I don't think the sponsors would be pleased with *such* a wide camera angle!

You could make the sponsor logos and car appear bigger in the frame, but keep the same sense of speed, by keeping the same lens but moving the camera further forward / closer to the cockpit.

It seems the widescreen format isn't actually any wider than the early footage, they simply chopped the sky out. Widescreen is meant to give a bigger picture, not smaller

Tell that to all the films (most of them!) that are filmed in open matte: filmed in 4:3, then the bottom and top of the image are literally chopped off... Not only down to 16:9 TV format but all the way down to about 21:9 (to precise, usually between 2.3-2.35:1). The version of Back to the Future (IIRC) on Laserdisc was released unmatted, so you could see all the extra picture at the top and bottom of the frame that wasn't there on the theatrical release!

The number of movies filmed with anamorphic lenses to actually use the widescreen to fit more into the picture (like early Cinemascope films) is, sadly, very, very small as far as I know.

[strad]

with F1 onboards you never really get a sense of what the car is doing because the image is too stable

Totally agree.
I like the Super Formula better myself.

[Ringleheim]

I think it has more to do with the newer camera technology doing a much better job at picture stabilization.

The older footage bounces around a lot more and is more jittery in general; conveys a greater sense of speed.

[Mandrake]

@Jordan Mugen, this is a great example of a good onboard view.

My first thoughts are "it's sped up" just because I am used to the slower and less impressive F1 camera...

[hollus]

This is Rosberg nailing his line at the beginning of his Q lap in Monaco 2013:





This is Rosberg driving at the limit at the beginning of his Q lap in Monaco 2013:






This is Rosberg wrestling his car at the beginning of his Q lap in Monaco 2013:





Blur and blur+shake effects, courtesy of photomosh.

[AJI]

This is Rosberg nailing his line at the beginning....

Reported to Liberty Media for making F1 too interesting

[PlatinumZealot]

On boards don't do it for me. I preferred the outside views of the 2000's.

[flattyre]

They've finally done it.



I noticed it with Norris' onboard at Hungary, too. No idea if it's been tried it before, though, as I haven't been watching every GP lately.

[JordanMugen]

Onboard footage from the Sonoma demo run... Very high quality + stabilization

This is what we need!

This thread reminds me of a classic film with an onboard camera

By all means other onboard cameras using SD cards or onboard film cameras like in Grand Prix (1966) have better quality, but the onboards used live have to fit within the bandwidth that can be sent back during the race. So bandwidth is quite the limitation.