Some Olympic Goodness

I think one of the coolest things ever in camera technology is the olympic diving camera.

If you watch the olympics you’ll see the diving camera shot.  It’s the one that’s a realtime shot that somehow falls with the diver and even follows down into the water.  It’s not the slo-mo shot, it’s falling at the same rate as the divers do.

Well, that’s because it’s a camera falling into the water.  If you look to the right on the screen next to the diving platform, you’ll see a track that looks like it has plastic on it — that’s the track for the camera.  You can even see the camera operator in some of the alternate angles as he or she lets go of the release cable.  And the best part?  It falls at the same rate as the divers because gravity doesn’t play favorites!  Go physics!

The dive camera was set up by steadicam inventor Garrett Smith.

Also, much has been said about the olympic opening ceremony’s bluescreen but come on, how cool was that giant LED screen? And the synchronized countdown drumming and tai chi including 2008 people running in concentric circles then performing a jump with a twist.  Wow.