Print Page 8/20/2012

One of the many Canon lenses used by CSP Mobile

SACO, MAINE—CSP Mobile Productions specializes in covering major league and college sports throughout the United States. We also provide on-location HDTV production facilities for such clients as broadcast and cable networks, corporate communicators, pay-per-view producers, and Internet content providers.

This fall, we’re planning to debut HD2, our third new HD production vehicle in two years. It’s a highly advanced 53-foot expando truck that’s equipped with a full complement of advanced gear. It’s wired for seven eight-channel video servers, and has an advanced HD production switcher, a digital audio console, 28 frame syncs, and more. It’s also wired for 16 cameras, each of which will have a Canon HD lens on it.

We use Canon HD lenses exclusively, primarily due to their reliability and also Canon’s service. We’ve had very few problems with Canon products, and on the few occasions where we’ve had to contact Canon—most of which were due to a dropped lens or an element that had been broken in use—their service has been phenomenal. They always made sure the issue was resolved immediately, which is of the utmost importance in our business.

We purchased one Canon XJ100x9.3B, two XJ86X13.5B, three XJ72x9.3B imagestabilized long-zoom HD field lenses, one Canon HJ14ex4.3B wide-angle portable HD lens, and one KJ20x8.2B portable HD lens for HD2. We also acquired two KJ20x8.2B portable HD lenses that we’ll be adding to our other two HD trucks.

At the NAB Show, we told Canon we were also looking for less costly HD lenses for a smaller project we were doing and they showed us their new, cost-effective KJ20x8.2B. To be honest, when Canon told us the price, I didn’t think it could possibly equal our other Canon portable lenses. However, we were pleasantly surprised when we started using it. We ran the KJ20x8.2B right alongside with our Canon HJ22ex7.8’s to see what our clients thought, and they were also very happy with the performance of the KJ20x8.2B, its servo controls, and other features. The zoom distance that it delivers for our particular application—major league sports with handheld cameras down on the field—has worked out really well. While it’s not an HJ-Series lens, most of our clientele are pleased with its performance. The Canon KJ20x8.2B lens will be a nice alternative as an extra lens to go along with our HJ22ex7.8’s on HD2. It’s a cost-effective way to provide an extra handheld. With the features that the KJ20x8.2B has, I’m overwhelmed with what it can do for the price.

We’re very particular about the production equipment we order for our HD mobile trucks—including HDTV lenses—as our clients expect high-quality productions from us. We just had all of our lenses serviced during the past few months (they’re about a year and a half old, so they were due). Canon came right to our site, went through all of the lenses, and did all the servicing for us, so we didn’t have to ship them. The level of service that Canon provides is not found everywhere.

Len Chase is the president/co-owner of CSP Mobile Productions. He may be contacted at len@cspmobile.com.

For additional information, contact Canon at 800-321-4388 or visit www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/lenses/broadcast_lenses.

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