I realize that there are more important things to complain about in the world. Nevertheless:
I wonder if others have noticed the mediocre camera work in some of the NBC coverage of the Olympics?
The recent thread on archery in this subforum inspired me to watch one of Olympics archery events. The camera would focus first on a closeup of the archer and release of the arrow. Then a closeup of the arrow hitting the target. Nothing to show the distance involved or the flight of the arrow. Without a view of distance and movement, there was no drama and no real sense of the degree of difficulty. I didn't watch for long.
Then there is the tennis coverage. Very few replays, if any, except when a call was challenged. There were some amazing shots that would normally be replayed in tennis and in most sports, even fast-moving basketball games, by television camera coverage, but not in the Olympics via NBC. There was also some of the idiotic camera work as with archery, where the camera would show a closeup of the server, followed by a closeup of the returner, without the wide angle view that makes it worth watching.
I doubt that the person behind the camera was at fault. Probably some editorial decision was made that viewers would be mostly interested in closeups of the Olympic athletes, so show as many closeups as possible.
In fairness, the camera work of swimming was ok. But then it would be almost impossible to do closeups of swimmers, who are mostly submerged and in constant motion, and the caps and reflecting goggles that they wear are almost as effective disguises as ski masks.
Again in fairness, the gymnastics camera work has been pretty good.
I wonder if others have noticed the mediocre camera work in some of the NBC coverage of the Olympics?
The recent thread on archery in this subforum inspired me to watch one of Olympics archery events. The camera would focus first on a closeup of the archer and release of the arrow. Then a closeup of the arrow hitting the target. Nothing to show the distance involved or the flight of the arrow. Without a view of distance and movement, there was no drama and no real sense of the degree of difficulty. I didn't watch for long.
Then there is the tennis coverage. Very few replays, if any, except when a call was challenged. There were some amazing shots that would normally be replayed in tennis and in most sports, even fast-moving basketball games, by television camera coverage, but not in the Olympics via NBC. There was also some of the idiotic camera work as with archery, where the camera would show a closeup of the server, followed by a closeup of the returner, without the wide angle view that makes it worth watching.
I doubt that the person behind the camera was at fault. Probably some editorial decision was made that viewers would be mostly interested in closeups of the Olympic athletes, so show as many closeups as possible.
In fairness, the camera work of swimming was ok. But then it would be almost impossible to do closeups of swimmers, who are mostly submerged and in constant motion, and the caps and reflecting goggles that they wear are almost as effective disguises as ski masks.
Again in fairness, the gymnastics camera work has been pretty good.
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They should have delayed the Summer Olympics till after the election when they got nothing to cover. 440 relay on ice would be fun to see! Hi diving on six inches of ice too! Much more entertaining if you ask me!