Despite it being the third time I've seen the carotid endarterectomy procedure live in person, I am still amazed at the level of precision on display in the operating room.  Having recorded various surgical procedures over the years, we have perfected an efficient means of achieving the necessary field of view, while maintaining our distance from the surgical team.

In order to get a clean and close-up view of the surgery, we set up our small jib with a Sony HD camera mounted in a position directly above the table.  Aside from sterilizing all of our equipment ahead of time (and having to wear the bunny suits), we had to ensure that there were absolutely no pieces that could possibly detach from the jib at any time.  Furthermore, we had to allow complete freedom of movement for all surgery personnel underneath the jib arm, which meant that we needed to use the jib in its fully built position.  We mounted a lens control device at the operator end of the jib, allowing for zoom, focus and record functionality without direct access to the camera.

The surgical work lights are extremely bright - so bright, in fact, that we had to employ a neutral density filter AND close down the aperture to approximately f8 in order to ensure proper exposure.  Doing so carries with it the benefit of a deeper focal field, meaning that as minor adjustments to the jib height were made, we were able to more easily maintain focus.

It's a humbling experience to watch a highly skilled surgeon at work on the human body, and it's a privilege to be trusted to capture the procedure for purposes of training new surgeons.