A stereoscopic 3D camera rig, the Pro Ultra Rig designed by South African Russell
Bowden, has broken into the international market with sales to UK company Pro 3D, a
rentals house in Portugal, a company in Singapore, and a joint venture between a
Belgian company and a British company that has set up a film training centre in China.
Bowden has also sold the rig to two UK independent filmmakers.
To the best of Bowden’s knowledge, the Pro Ultra is the only computerised 3D rig
currently available on the international market. The rig’s onboard computer allows the
cameraman to input the 3D parameters for each shot. On other rigs this process has to
be done manually.
“With my system the metadata of every shot is captured on the computer. This is very
useful in post-production and also really handy if you need to re-shoot something,’
notes Bowden.
The first two sales for the Pro Ultra were via the Internet. Bowden then successfully
ventured into the UK market by exhibiting at the BVE Show in London, where he shared
a stand with Jigsaw Systems. All other sales have been word of mouth.
“Locally, the 3D market is lagging far behind the UK and the US as South Africa has very
limited 3D outlets, only cinemas at present,’ says Bowden. “However, there is currently
a lot of interest in 3D wildlife and I’ve sold the Pro Ultra to local wildlife filmmaker Peter
Lamberti and a custom built rig to Graham Wallington.’
Bowden developed the Pro Ultra over three years. “My interest in 3D was sparked when
I purchased a 2K camera from Silicon Imaging – at the time they were developing a
system to record 3D. My investigations found that there were no rigs on the market
into which you could programme the interaxial calculation. The interaxial (distance
between the centre of the two lenses) is critical to capture a good 3D image.
“I decided to research the matter and found a set of 3D calculations for stills
photography from the 1920s. The mathematical principals that underly all 3D
calculations relate to the setting of the interaxial and the point at which both lenses
converge on the subject matter. That convergence point is very important as it
represents the plane of the screen onto which the footage will be projected. Anything
behind the convergence point will appear behind the screen and anything in front of the
point will appear to the front of the screen.’
Bowden plotted the 3D stills calculations onto a spreadsheet and created his own
parameters for motion picture applications. He then worked out the optimum size for a
rig that could cover all types of cameras, from film cameras down to small digital
cameras such as the Canon 5D.
Says Bowden: “The Pro Ultra is quite a compact rig compared to what is available on the
market. This was evident recently when I was invited by sports broadcaster ESPN to do
3D trials in Orlando, US with other 3D companies including 3Ality and P&S Teknick and
Element Tecknica,’ explains Bowden.
The Pro Ultra can be configured in either a “mirror mode’ or “side by side mode’ as
required.
