Finish Line in Eugene

Thanks for the information... seems to be a good system.

Another little issue about a finish line.

The camera has to in exact level horisontal too.

Otherwise you might "cut" the curtain in which the runners should pass. You will still be able to see the perfect line on the picture.

"Do some research" - I did the research. I looked at the Hayward finish line on my HD DVR from this year's and last year's Pre Classic, timed by Omega. No black crap on finish line; just white. So, Omega doesn't need them either.

You were wrong. Now you can do some research yourself. Many Pre Classic videos on the meet Web site.

You are welcome to the education.

Anderson, that's just flat-out wrong. At the Trials, there were three (3) cameras on the infield side of the finish line, all angled down somewhat from the same vertical pole.

The cameras on the grandstand (lane 8) side of the finish line is often very high up at Hayward, but at the Trials there was also one on a tall pole.

Next time you're sitting on your sofa in your grandmother's basement watching a real meet on TV, watch carefully and you might notice where the photo finish cameras are located.

"True horizontal" would mean that you would need to place the camera at about chest height. Then you might not even see the finish line stripe in the photos. Duh.

You are welcome.

Damien Sandow II wrote:

Anderson, that's just flat-out wrong. At the Trials, there were three (3) cameras on the infield side of the finish line, all angled down somewhat from the same vertical pole.

The cameras on the grandstand (lane 8) side of the finish line is often very high up at Hayward, but at the Trials there was also one on a tall pole.

Next time you're sitting on your sofa in your grandmother's basement watching a real meet on TV, watch carefully and you might notice where the photo finish cameras are located.

"True horizontal" would mean that you would need to place the camera at about chest height. Then you might not even see the finish line stripe in the photos. Duh.

You are welcome.

You severely misinterpreted this statement. He doesn't mean horizontal compared to the finish line, he means horizontal compared to the lane lines, IE level. He's correct, that the camera does need to be without any side to side tilt, but you cannot determine this by watching it on tv. Again, this is an instance where the new finish line helps, you're more likely to not cut through the line.

The cameras obviously have to be angled down, but if you're standing in lane one, looking down the line, you need to see the cameras level with the surface.

This is so ridiculously obvious though, and so easily done by a pro timer, it's not even worth mentioning. A small torpedo level solves this issue so simply it's time to move on.

As with all line camera systems one can not see clearly where the track ends and the finish starts. One can only see the black block but cannot tell if it is the begin or the end of the block we are seeing.

We developed a small beam video camera system that allows us to monitor 8 lines instead of one when we do a recording. Hence we are able to draw our finish line over the 8 video lines and we know for sure that we see the begin of the black block and not just a random point. Even if during a race meting the camera is slightly turned there is not a problem.

As long as we are able to see the line in our image we can redefine the finishline in our reporting application and always produce a correct finish photo.

Due to our new rules breaking approach you only need one man to perform recording and reporting.

The system we developed is tested by the Dutch Authority for timing issues (VSL) just as the IAAF stated as it should be done. Our system got an VSL certificate in july 2011.

If you like to see some of our work just visit:

http://www.jahoma.nl/timereg

A bunch of rookies no doubt. We need UCLA engineers to design a timing and measuring system for T&F that measures a records simultaneously every athlete and implement on the track and field to a 1,000,000th of a second and to 1/100th of an mm and gets rid of 90% of the old geezers on the infield.

"and always produce a correct finish photo" Not if the head is blocking the chest outer-most crown.

________

There's absolutely no truth to the idea that a) the cameras were misaligned, or b) Flash Results did something wrong.

They were using cameras that can be used to time NASCAR and F1 races, operated by people with years and years of experience.

I do timing for tiny high schools in one of the smallest states in the USA, and I can get the camera aligned on the finish line within 1/4 of an inch of the beginning of the line within 15 minutes. What you're talking about it isn't that hard.

The simple reality here is that the image says they both ran the same exact time. At the highest resolution the cameras can be used at for track events (3000 fps), they were tied.