As part of a series of new product releases at IBC2024, the German startup Proton Camera Innovations has unveiled its latest offering: the PROTON FLEX, a miniaturized camera specifically designed for live production environments where heat and space management are critical.
As part of a series of new product releases at IBC2024, the German startup Proton Camera Innovations has unveiled its latest offering: the PROTON FLEX, a miniaturized camera specifically designed for live production environments where heat and space management are critical.
Garbsen, Germany — 2nd September 2024
Technical Description
The PROTON FLEX boasts a compact profile of just 28mm x 28mm and weighs only 37g. Its innovative design separates the lens from the main camera body via a flexible flat ribbon cable, optimizing performance in tight and thermally challenging conditions.
By separating the lens with the sensor on one side from the video processing chip with the power supply on the other side, the PROTON FLEX achieves the best performance from both elements, whilst maintaining a discreet profile that can be flexibly integrated in a range of operational contexts. For instance, in the case of motor sports and helmet-mounted applications, the divided lens/video processing construction allows for better weight distribution, whilst for applications where operational temperatures are a concern, the PROTON FLEX can withstand like similar cameras outside temperatures of up to 75°C. In essence, the PROTON FLEX provides a level of operational flexibility which significantly increases the creative potential of the camera, offering broadcast operators options limited only by their imagination.
All of this comes with no compromise to visual clarity and sharpness. The standard lens, that can be easily replaced by other lenses, offers a 97°-degree view, whilst the 12-bit sensor and camera body operate to deliver exceptional image quality. The PROTON FLEX incorporates two separate PCBs (Printed Chip Boards), leveraging the power of a VEGA microprocessor to deliver crisp Full-HD 1080p images.
Proton Camera Innovations: Smallest Broadcast Camera at IBC2024
Areas of application
The PROTON FLEX – like the other members of the Proton line-up – is ideally suited to live broadcast with a particular applicability in sports productions; whilst it has been designed to accommodate environments where weight distribution, reduced space and temperature are an issue, its counterparts – the PROTON RAIN and original PROTON CAM – are designed to accommodate weather-sensitive/durability-centered contexts and size-sensitive applications respectively, with the original PROTON CAM taking the title of smallest camera currently available on the broadcast market. In this way, the range as-a-whole provides both flexibility and specificity, allowing users to tailor their camera choice to their exact needs, and innovate in previously unexplored creative contexts and spaces.
Speaking of the reception the range has received thus far, and expectations for the upcoming IBC, Marko Hoepken, CEO for Proton, said: “We continue to be amazed at the ways in which people are using our flagship PROTON CAM. We developed it with creative potential as the central consideration, but even we hadn’t anticipated how it would be used and how visually stunning some of the result would be; both in terms of the unusual, exciting and visually progressive framing/shot types that are being achieved, as well as the technical quality of the image produced”.
He continued: “Now, with these extensions to our range – in the form of the PROTON FLEX and PROTON RAIN – we allow users to leverage that potential in even more challenging contexts; sensitive temperature, rugged terrain, or weather-dependent conditions. We are really excited for the upcoming IBC Show, and the opportunity to showcase our in-house developed and controlled innovations to both existing and potential customers, as well as our industry peers”.
About Proton Camera Innovations GmbH
Proton – a new entrant in the field of miniature cameras – leverages its team’s extensive experience in camera miniaturisation to deliver the industry’s smallest and lightest broadcast-standard cameras currently on the market. Incorporating its own chip technology with a larger sensor than competitor models, the Proton’s cameras deliver wider shots, higher dynamic range, improved low-light performance and lower energy draw. With the addition of stereo audio, tally light, exchangeable lenses these cameras are perfect for sports broadcast, live events, drone attachment, PoV and body-mounting or any number of other creative and immersive live production applications where versatility, robustness and space are key determinants of success.
News source – Proton Camera Innovations GmbH
