Angénieux zooms captured Royal Wedding in 3D

France: As is traditional, stories regarding the kit used at big events can emerge quite a time after the event itself is long over. One such is the use of Angénieux zooms in BSkyB’s 3D capture of the occasion.

Three Element Technica Quasar rigs were mounted with three pairs of ARRI Alexa cameras, two pairs of matching 16-42 mm Optimo DPs and one pair of matching Angénieux Optimo DP 30-80 mm lenses.

Robin Broomfield, 3D Operations and Development Manager for Sky said: “We only had three camera positions. The choice of equipment was based on reliability and quality (it was obviously important to have a good archive as ‘future proofed’ as possible.) On Sight [the production company contracted to produce the coverage] did a great job of providing the equipment and staff necessary to achieve this and were involved early in the planning stages.”

Sam Higham, Facility Manager of On Sight, said: “Filming a live event in 3D can be challenging, especially when it has such historical importance as a Royal Wedding. The brief from Sky 3D was simple. They wanted both the highest quality images with the flexibility to capture the widest variety of material during the event. For these reasons, and also because the time taken to change prime lenses would have meant the risk of missing an important moment, we chose 3D-ready Angénieux Optimo DP matched zoom lenses. The lenses performed brilliantly, allowing the operators to use multiple focal lengths, with the confidence the lenses would track perfectly for 3D. The results were stunning.”