By associate editor Elliot Smith:
Beyond HD have been attracting a lot of attention at this year’s IBC with a striking… stand? Parking lot? outside the main halls. Lots of attendees were curious about a James Bond-style gyrocopter and a striking matte black Porsche Cayenne with a gimbal and rather large camera suspended over the front bumper.
Here Keith Harding from Beyond HD gives Newsshooter’s Dan Chung a guided tour of their full conversion camera car. This example features a Letus Double Helix gimbal mounted to a custom vibration damper that reduces the effect of braking and acceleration on camera movement. The gimbal is shown here with an Arri 235 film camera mounted – you might not want to use that exact model but it does show the setup is strong enough to mount pretty much any camera on the market. The Beyond HD crew have tried it with RED cameras, Arri Alexas and a Blackmagic Ursa. Being able to support these larger units obviously opens up a range of creative possibilities for productions at a (relatively) low price point: alternatives would run into six figures.
The company is able to take a donor car or supply one themselves, and the conversion work is done in Poland for around £20,000 (excluding camera and gimbal). All the extra electrics are integrated into the car’s existing loom and this example features three monitoring positions (the driver still has to concentrate on the road). The rig also disassembles for transport in a roof box meaning you can drive to your location rather than having to tow the car on a trailer. The conversion service is available now and takes around four weeks. You may want to check with the owner of the vehicle before sending it for conversion.
