How Brad Pitt’s ‘F1’ Movie Got Sony to Custom Design a Camera With a Detachable Sensor
Check out this cool custom-designed Sony camera that is able to detach from its sensor to fit into the tiny confines of a race car.
F1 Custom Sony Camera
While it’s nothing new for a camera company to work with big-budget feature films to customize their cameras and gear for the needs of the production, this is still a cool example of how talented DPs and camera technicians can work together to come up with creative solutions to interesting shooting problems.
In this case, we have the Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda behind the lens of the Joseph Kosinski-directed new F1 movie which stars Brad Pitt. Working directly with members of the Sony team, Miranda and Kosinski were able to develop a custom Rialta system rig that was able to effectively untether the body of the camera from the sensor so that it could be mounted inside a Formula One race car.
A Custom Solution for a Tight Problem
In a recent interview with Variety, we get all the details about this custom camera and how it was used for the upcoming F1 movie featuring the Formula One World Championship and created in collaboration with the FIA, its governing body.
A similar solution was used for shooting footage in the tight cockpits in Top Gun: Maverick, however according to Miranda in the interview with Variety, the need for shooting in a Formula One race car was even more extreme as “the actors didn’t fly the aircraft. On Formula One, the actors were driving the cars … So we needed to have a small enough camera system where we could make sure that [Pitt] could drive and see while we get the shots we want.”
We don’t have any cool behind-the-scenes images to share of this unique camera setup just yet but are quite intrigued to check them out as the film nears closer to release. No word from Sony or anyone involved with the project if this custom camera will become available to all of us non VIP-shooters yet either.
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