New England Aquarium is using Fujinon's HA 13x4.4BERD Super Wide-Angle ENG-style lens for shooting underwater and topside nature scenes for its IMAX productions. The Aquarium's 3D theater has a six-story flat screen for IMAX and HD prosentations.
"The flexibility of the Fujinon lens' wide-angle and zoom capabilities gives us a complete view of the coral reef environment and allows us to fully capture its beauty in HD," said Jeff Herzog, production coordinator for global marine programs at New England Aquarium.
All post work is done in-house; editing is uncompressed 10-bit 720p. The images are then digitally projected on the IMAX screen.
Herzog also said that the lens works with the Montreal-based Amphibico's HDAmphibicam underwater housing, which uses HD aspheric optics with full zoom-through, and 120 degrees field of view.
New England Aquarium is now showing a short on endangered sea turtles in HD as a trailer for IMAX features. Greg Stone, vice president for Global Marine Programs at New England Aquarium is finishing up a documentary about Teddy Tucker, a shipwreck discoverer.
