Camera Issues -- So close yet so far.

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Will Hanashiro

Had FIRST kept their lighting the same from regional to reagional, day to day, even hour to hour, then team 66 would not have had to program it so that the camera picked up all shades of green. Had the lighting been consistant, I am confident that this never would have happened, and I believe that they would have CAPPED THE CENTER GOAL ON A REGULAR BASIS.

Let's be honest, you really don't know anything about lighting. It is impossible to give exact lighting at the same event hour by hour. Lights run at different temperatures which provide different colors. Different venues, different light sources, different bulbs all lead to a not so perfect world. FIRST had certain set lighting points that had to be met at a minimum. As far as I know those were met a t every regional (they were at the 5 I attended).

Should everything be perfect? It would be nice. However every floor at every venue was different. Did this stop people from running? No. Are football fields perfectly level, hockey rinks ice the same, baseball diamonds the same dimensions? No they are not but they are still used and the game goes on. Let's not put FIRST down on things that they cannot control. The lighting in the dome changed from last year because of an event before we arrived. The lighting people had to come up with lighting that would meet FIRST's minimum requirements. They did a good job. I deal with lighting at our church and know through training seminars and hands on experience that lighting is not an exact science. What works today may not be the same tomorrow. Let's try to improve things not always be tearing them down especially when they are things that are tough to control anyway