Prime Television Launches New Cutting Edge Minicam

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9th February 2004 – Prime Television, the UK’s leading supplier of minicam equipment, announced today the launch of two NEW state of the art minicams to the UK market: the UK’s first compact 3-Chip, true widescreen, Pan & Tilt camera and the Matchstick Minicam, the smallest, high quality minicam available in the UK market today.

Three years of work have resulted in the 4th generation Pan & Tilt camera, which now has a superior 3 CCD chip block and 14 bit digital processing for better quality pictures.  For those wanting to shoot with minicams in widescreen Prime Television now brings you a world first.  This camera provides true 16:9 widescreen images.  Up to now shooting with any minicam for 16:9 broadcasting meant using ARC (Aspect Ratio Conversion) in post production.  This is now a thing of the past.

The resolution is now better than a Sony PD150 at more than 530 lines, with a 1/5th inch CCD and over 3 million pixels (over 1 million per colour). The lens incorporates 12:1 optical zoom.

The camera works in conjunction with a newly developed controller, which provides the operator with many new and enhanced functions including:

• Memory store buttons in order to return to preset camera positions
• Proportional zoom – automatic pan & tilt speed control according to focal length
• Manually adjustable speed control
• LCD screen to display menu functions
• Control for up to 8 cameras by one operator
• Manual / auto focus
• Manual white balance and assignable pre sets
• Manual and auto iris

In this latest incarnation the high quality pictures makes these cameras suitable for more applications than ever possible with the previous model.  Prime Television uses these cameras for light entertainment, documentary work, sports and live events – even in adverse conditions – they are fully weatherproof.  True economies of scale are possible using one operator for up to four cameras and the cameras may be hidden for covert applications.

Prime Television is also launching the new Matchstick Minicam.  This best in class minicam provides the same quality as most “lipstick” style minicams but in a unit that is a fraction of the size. Weighing in at only 42MM long and 7MM in diameter, this minicam packs a big punch with a 1/4th inch CCD and over 470 TV lines resolution from 480K pixels.

The camera is connected to a CCU via a 3.5M super thin, control cable which can be extended to over 23M long.  The CCU provides control of white balance and shutter; and can be powered from a 12V source or mains, making this minicam equally at home rigged into buildings or in a bag, clothes and vehicles.  The camera can be supplied with 2.2MM, 4MM and 8MM lenses, with a prism adapter if required to see around corners.

About Prime Television
Prime Television supplies cutting edge minicam equipment to the worlds’ leading broadcasters and production companies. A combination of technical expertise, support, advice and tight project management ensure all its productions are a success.

The West London based company’s work ranges from small body worn mini-cams for secret filming, sports and extreme activities to large scale hidden camera OB set ups, utilising state of the art remote control Pan & Tilt cameras - and often a large amount of hidden cameras, microphones and cabling. Recent credits include: Stitch Up, There’s Something About Miriam, My New Best Friend and The Sack Race for companies including BBC, Tiger Aspect, Celador, Brighter Pictures and Endemol. For more information visit www.primetv.com