video camera to cover 3 angles

[ZuG]

Hello,
I am trying to mount static camera(s) to video a football match (5 a side). I want to be able to mount a few cameras above one of the goals on a wall to cover each part of the pitch.
Is there some sort of device available that has 2 or 3 cameras pointing in different directions and recording at once? I can only really mount them on the wall behind one of the goals so I cannot put one at each end of the pitch..

From that angle, I can't record the whole of the pitch with one camera so before I go and get three separate cameras, is there a better way?
Thanks!

 

[Nexus]

Not that I'm aware of, what you are asking for is very specialised, and if a solution does exist, it isn't likely to be cheap.

I think what is more important is as to what exactly you are trying to achieve?

I assume what you are asking for is basically a camera sat high on a wall behind one of the goals, but it is then basically recording three different focal lengths, so allowing you to cover different areas of the pitch?

Even more importantly, what are you intending to do with the footage?
Edit together a full length 5 a side game?
Just highlights?

I think the issue is that having cameras behind the goal line is a weird angle. Think about how you watch football on TV, its a camera from one side of the pitch, it also pans to ensure it covers all the action. So ideally you want a camera at the side of the pitch so that it looks natural to the viewer. If you are playing on a smaller pitch being 5 a side, you might be able to get away with it being static as it might be able to cover the whole pitch. Other than that, in football coverage, they will cut to close ups and different angles, largely down to how many people they have covering it. Most of those tend to be quite fluid cameras, they aren't noticeably static.

Obviously it all depends on what you are intending to do, but it probably warrants somebody to film one angle, and perhaps another for doing closeups and thats just my thoughts without any background knowledge of your intentions.

 

[asim18]

Is there some sort of device available that has 2 or 3 cameras pointing in different directions and recording at once?

2 or 3 tripods and a clapperboard.

EDIT: heard you want to put the cameras on a wall. You don't even need tripods then, just stick em down with some duct tape.

 

[ZuG]

I am using some open source software to track objects and ultimately I want to take the 3 streams and automatically create one video stream. Every camera shot the ball (the object being tracked) is in will be the one that is used in the final video. I may possibly also look at creating some further logic, such as, when the ball enters a particular area of the pitch count it as a 'highlight' to create a shorter highlights clip of a match.
However, all of this will be post-processed so I just need the 2 or 3 cameras recording at all times.

I think I may get away with 2 cameras but I will have to check the angles involved. I was just hoping there was something already out there but I cannot find anything.

 

[Bones]

You could use Gopro Hero2's with the new Wifi backpack. They have a huge fov and are also very robust so will take any knocks. The new wifi backpack will allow you to control multiple cameras from a wireless remote which could go in your pocket while you are playing. That would be my suggestion. what kind of budget are you looking at?

 

[Nexus]

Is there a particular reason you are using tracking to create a video? Is it something you are researching, or testing or what have you?

While I think GoPros are great, I'm not sure its right for this application.
For one, they use such a wide angle that anything which is far away from it looks really far away. That could be problematic with tracking software and also harder to cover different areas of the pitch like a 3 camera setup would.

As Bones says though, what kind of budget do you have for this?