Feature Presentation

Sideline Camera at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

You've seen that look on every players face as they stare at a spot on the line and then at the umpire, thinking ,"Looked like that ball was out to me." So was it in or was it out? If you've watched any of the last three US Open tournaments then you know the answer thanks to FastCAM Replay. At 500 frames/second, this high speed digital camera is fast enough to capture the impact of the ball on the court lines.

Paul DelGrego (right) and Operator Joel Friedman Get Ready For Action on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Paul DelGrego is the president and founder of FastCAM Replay, the company which has pioneered the use of high speed digital video at professional sporting events. We spoke to Paul about the camera and how its usage in sports began.

We began by asking Paul if he had always been interested in science, photography, film, video or television broadcast.

"I liked science and photography, but actually I was really interested in sports, especially baseball. I played in Little League, American Legion in high school and was named most valuable player. My favorite subject to photograph was baseball!"

"In college I studied marketing, communications and minored in media (mass communication such as broadcasting or the "news media") at the University of Connecticut. After college I went to work for a large computer company, Burroughs, which later became UNISYS. I worked in marketing and it was very technical."

"In 1990 I was hired by Eastman Kodak." (The Eastman Kodak Company has pioneered advances in camera, photography, film and video technology for 120 years.) "Kodak was just starting to develop high speed digital cameras at that time and I was hired for my experience and knowledge of computers." Digital cameras actually record the image electronically (like the electronic memory you would find in a computer), while traditional cameras use film or video tape. (Film is a plastic sheet which uses a light sensitive chemical to capture an image while video tape is magnetic tape that records the image.) High speed refers to cameras that capture significantly more than 30 frames/second. Your family video camera records at 30 frames/second - there are 30 separate pictures played one after another in a second.

In mid-1990, the first camera was available. I was assigned to work in industry and in academia (educational institutions, like universities). So, with my marketing and media background I spend a lot of time thinking up new applications for the camera.

We asked Paul to tell us about the history of the camera's usage in tennis? How did this all start? Who had the idea to use the high speed camera on the tennis court lines? "It was really Stu Meyer (who was at CBS then), Don Pike from Kodak and myself that developed the idea and configured the equipment." Paul and his colleagues had to determine how the cameras and cables would work together - in some instances they had to customize (build to meet unique requirements) some of the equipment. "In 1996, the CBS television network decided to try one of the cameras in tennis and golf. We also used it in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. It was about then that I became an independent sales person for Kodak. We tried the cameras at the US Open in 1996. Although people like that concept, that particular camera wasn't that successful. By 1997 there was a new camera and I started FastCAM Replay. CBS gave us a three year contract."

FastCAM Replay Operators With the Sideline Camera on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Their Control Room Is Below and Behind Them, Under Arthur Ashe Stadium.

FastCAM Replay Operators With the Baseline Camera.

The FastCAM Replay camera is similar to the high speed digital cameras our team worked with at the 1997 and 1998 US Open and at the USTA player development center in Key Biscayne, Florida. "The cameras have the same 3 chip and sensor technology, but have a different controller. The camera you used was a tape based system while the FastCAM Replay camera is digital. It can store a few seconds of data and then has to be downloaded to another device."

"How does this all work?",we asked.

"For the line calls in tennis the cameras are mounted in a stationary (does not move) position. We were lucky; the new US Open stadium in Flushing Meadows was under construction in 1997. We were able to incorporate mounts in the stadium walls when the facility was built. Since the cameras remain in one position there is no videographer (camera person) manning the camera. There are six different cameras in the stadium and the cameras' images are seen on 6 monitors in the FastCAM Replay control room. The videographers in the control room have headsets on and are in direct contact with the television director in the broadcast room. There is a feed from our control room up to the booth. Although there are 6 cameras in different positions on the court, there are only two feeds up to the broadcast booth. The director tells the videographers which 2 cameras views to send to the broadcast booth. The crew has about 10 seconds to get the network the feed.

Camera Operators in FastCAM Replay Control Center, Underneath Arthur Ashe Stadium During 1999 US Open.

Besides tennis the camera has been used by FastCAM Replay to capture the action in bowling, boxing and hockey, with future plans to use it in motor-racing, golf and horse racing. We asked Paul to describe what the audience sees.

"In boxing we're able to capture the impact of each fighter's blows in very slow motion. For boxing, the FastCAM Replay crew uses a robotic control. The cameras are strategically placed around the ring while the camera operators are located in another area. The crew remotely controls the camera, panning (moves left, right, up, down) and zooming (makes the picture bigger or smaller) the camera to get right up into the action."

"In hockey it's focused on capturing the puck entering the goal. Its difficult to see the puck at speeds over 100 miles/hour."

"In golf, we envision multiple cameras - one showing the impact of the ball by the club and another the golfer's swing." One of the challenges in using the camera in golf is the size of the golf course. Unlike a court, track, rink, or boxing ring where action is confined to a set area, the field a golf course covers is immense. "We're working on ways to make the camera system more portable and deal with difficult camera angles from a sand bunker." (A sand bunker or trap is an embankment or a dugout on a golf course.)

"At a motor-racing event like the Daytona 500 where speeds reach over 200 miles/hour, the camera will be used to capture information on crashes. The camera will assist in determining the cause of the accident and which driver(s) was at fault. "In bowling, the camera is used to replay the collision between the individual pins and the ball and the pins. The technology will be used in horse racing to record the action at the finish line especially in close races."

What's the reaction been to the technology, from the audience and tennis officials?

"The camera is not used in any official capacity - its simply enhances the enjoyment and entertainment of the match. Of course we'd love to see it endorsed for all of tennis. I can tell you that the response from the line judges has been very positive. From the very beginning of its usage they have rallied around it. Standard cameras are 30 frames/second, Beta (television broadcast) can be 90 frames/second, but at 500 frames/second you can just catch action that can't be seen with the lower framed/cameras. It's the latest technology."

Finally, we asked Paul his thoughts on the changes in television broadcast in the next 3-5 years, especially in tennis.

"One of the biggest changes in broadcast will be HDTV (high definition television). This is a television signal that has much higher resolution (a clearer sharper picture). These television sets are not very common now and only very few events are broadcast to take advantage of these television sets. But we envision that the US Open will be broadcast in HDTV and we'll have to have the high speed digital camera technology to keep up with these advances."

The Tennis Sport Science team would like to thank Paul DelGrego of FastCAM Replay. Paul has worn another hat on our project as well. In 1997, as the Kodak representative at the US Open, Paul came out and helped the team during our video data capture.