Designing a wireless battery powered camera on fashion show

2024-10-01

For Chanel's Spring-Summer 2025 show, I faced a unique challenge: setting up cameras that would be installed days before the event, with no access to them until teardown. The requirements were clear, but tricky:

• Install the camera four days before the show.
• No cables could be used.
• No power available on-site.
• No SDI connection possible.

This setup had to be done before the decor was complete, and once installed, there would be no way to physically access the cameras until everything was dismantled after the show.

The Solution

The plan was to design a system that would:

• Run entirely on battery power.
• Stream video via RF (radio frequency).
• Provide remote telemetry control (shading, recording, etc.) through RF as well.
• Have a way to remotely power on/off the camera and streaming equipment to conserve battery.

In the end, we deployed two different camera kits to explore different technical possibilities.

You can see here in the center, two small holes, one for the Proton, one for the Blackmagic.

And the RF reception of Domo and Vislink:

Kit 1: Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2

For the first kit, we used a Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2. The goal was to stream in 4K while also recording locally as a backup.

Here’s how the setup looked:

• A Domo encoder to handle the 4K video stream over RF.
• A local SSD connected to the camera to record the video footage.
• A RIO unit to control the camera over IP, enabling remote adjustments like shading and recording.
• A Halow-U module connected to the RIO, providing RF-based remote control for camera settings.

To manage the power remotely, we used a wireless relay system like this one, allowing us to cut the power to the entire setup when not in use to save battery.

Kit 2: Proton Camera

The second kit was based around a Proton Cam, offering a different approach:

• A Vislink Dragonfly was used for streaming in HD (as the camera itself is only HD).
• The Dragonfly was plugged into the second port on the RIO unit, though only for power, not control.
• A RIO was used for powering the camera and controlling it over a serial connection.
• A Halow-U module was again used to control the camera remotely.

For this kit, we had a more integrated power management system. Using the 12V GPIO on the RIO, we could remotely control:

• The power to the camera on port 1.
• The power to the Dragonfly on port 2.

This allowed us to optimize battery usage, powering off the system entirely when not needed and turning it on only during rehearsals and the live show.

Key Takeaways

Both kits worked flawlessly, allowing us to power off the systems after installation and then remotely power them on as needed.

However, each setup had its strengths and weaknesses:

• Kit 1 (Blackmagic) was more powerful, supporting 4K streaming and local recording, but it consumed more power, making the relay system a necessity for remote power control.
• Kit 2 (Proton) was simpler, using only HD streaming without local recording, but the 12V relay system worked perfectly due to the lower power requirements of both the camera and Dragonfly.

One thing we could have done differently with Kit 1 was to use a dual-channel relay on RIO port 2. This would have allowed us to control the entire kit’s power without relying on the RIO’s internal power supply, which struggled with the higher power demands of the Blackmagic and Domo setup.

Conclusion

This project demonstrated the power of creative engineering and remote control systems in high-end fashion production. The different setups offered insights into how to optimize power usage, control, and video quality, even when physical access is limited.

The result? A smooth, flawless live broadcast of Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2025 show. You can check out the final result here.