Last week was amazing as I was privileged to go down to the U.S. Virgin Islands and play in and film parts of the Choice Wireless Tennis Tournament. And making this year special was the level of play in the Open division. Dominik Hrbaty (highest ranking #12 in world) played in the Men’s singles and put on quite an exhibition of his prowess – even though he lost in the singles finals! Some great tennis! Some of the clips are available to watch on YouTube, just to give a flavor of the tournament. Here’s a link: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
A challenge in filming was the shorter than normal setback between the fence and the baseline, and the fact that on the “show” court, the fence was only 8′ high. Fortunately, I had brought along the ProView Extender and was able to get a decent height of 10′ on this particular court. On the courts with a normal fence, I was able to get a 12′ height.
Another something I encountered was the wind noise. This was a little annoying, as it could get quite breezy, and the the Kodak Playsport Zx3 does pick it up. Several solutions are available, amongst them turning down the microphone volume and putting an audio filter over the pickup. The latter is going to get some experimentation soon.
All in all, it was really cool to be able to come up behind the various courts and mount the camera, even during breaks and between points, something not all mounts can do! And the tournament is just special, so I’m not going to tell you about it for fear it will become too popular!
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