SYDNEY, Australia—Gravity Media, a global media production, creative service and facilities company, has added several Fujinon 4K lenses to its inventory, using them to cover Australia’s Repco Supercars Championship races. 

“Our requirements were to upgrade the fleet of our large lenses from HD to 4K standard, with an industry leading manufacturer, said George Hennessy, Gravity Media’s Broadcast Project Manager – Supercars. ”Our criterium was based on the robust and dynamic environments of both outdoor fast-moving sports such as Supercars and Touring Car Racing (TCR) in locations around Australia through all months of the year. After a full and comprehensive assessment of all available 4K large lens options, Fujinon's UA125×8BESM and UA107x8.4BESM lenses were deemed the best and those that met our requirements perfectly.”

As well as covering Supercars races Gravity Media said it also has many productions in light entertainment with studio-based shows that require the camera and lens to operate and perform in highly dynamic lighting conditions with contrasting set and lights demanding the very best the industry has to offer.

Hennessy continued, “The motorsport calendar of Supercars and TCR takes the season of racing from sub-tropical to sub-Antarctic locations and experiencing all weather extremes. Heat haze with high humidity in some locations with cold winter weather and foggy conditions in other areas of the country require broadcast lenses not only able to perform in optimal conditions, but more importantly also in highly challenging atmospheric conditions when they are called to still perform and cut through these environmental challenges. 

"The cameras we use with the lenses are not only for the live action, but also extreme slow-motion replays with both foreground and background framing to shot composition vital to the production’s storytelling narrative," he added. I’m happy to say the new FUJINON 4K box lenses suit and meet these styles and requirements perfectly.”

Fujinon’s UA125×8BESM achieved both the highest magnification 125x and 4K optical performance of any zoom lens and the UA107x8.4BESM was specifically designed to produce 4K UHD performance from the latest 4K 2/3″ Ultra HD cameras. Both lenses are ideal for live sports coverage particularly when they are used together in a production, the company said. 

Most recently Gravity Media used the UA125 and UA107 lenses at Supercars races in Darwin, on the Gold Coast and in Adelaide. 

“On the Gold Coast Street circuit we used six of our new Fujinon lenses on field of play cameras to shoot field coverage of the Gold Coast Street Circuit," Hennessey explained. "Typical shots included fast panning and long throw zooming to tight shots from 400 metres down to 15 metres in distance. The Fujinon lenses gave good throw and could easily go further if needed. 

"The lenses performed brilliantly with zero issues despite very high temperatures and significant humidity," he added. "It was the same story for the Adelaide 500 where we used eight of the Fujinon lenses in a similar way for similar shots and again, all of the lenses performed perfectly and without any issues.”

MONTREAL—As part of an ongoing effort to have today’s top 4K/UHD and HDR gear ready for our clientele, we recently added several Fujinon zooms to our lens arsenal. We went with Fujinon because we needed the best-in-class lenses for our new 4K Hybrid Broadcast Flypacks (“Blackbear 8, 9, and 10”).

The flypacks have already been put to work on some of the year’s most high-profile concerts, including Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” tour, Pink’s “Beautiful Trauma,” The Eagles “History of the Eagles,” and Justin Timberlake’s “Man of the Woods” tour. The latest lenses added include six Fujinon UA107x8.4BESM 4K UHD Box Field lenses, part of Fujinon’s Premier UA Series of 4K/UHD 2/3-inch lenses. The 107x 4K/UHD lens has the longest and widest reach currently available for UHD shooting. In addition to its reach, it has just unbeatable image quality. We also recently added UA24x7.8BERD and UA14x4.5BERD UHD Premier Series 2/3-inch lenses for the new flypacks.

‘MONEY SHOT’

We place the 107x lens on a Grass Valley LDX-86 camera and position the camera at the front of house on live concerts. This constitutes our “money shot”—the straight-on front shot of the artist ranging from head to toe to an extreme close up. In a concert touring production, the front of house position can be about 70 feet from the stage in a theater to 350 feet from the stage within arenas and stadiums. Having a lens with the reach of the 107x gives us the ability to provide a consistent show from venue to venue. We now have an additional 8x magnification that gives us extra reach on our long shots. And we have the flexibility of moving cameras further away from the stage, which is a big help to concert promoters. The seats behind the camera setup are unusable so moving them back opens up more usable seats in the venue.

Clients have been asking for the latest 4K and HDR production tools, and we knew we had to have the best possible lenses available to meet the demand. We zeroed in on the Fujinon 4K lenses because we needed lenses that would match the 4K capabilities of our Grass Valley LDX 86 cameras. The specs and performance on the Fujinon Premier UA series—specifically designed for UHD applications—are superior to anything else out there right now.

GROWING LINE UP

As our concert touring division continues to expand we’ve really come to rely on several Fujinon lenses to support these large concert tours. We’ve worked with many major artists domestically and internationally, including The Weeknd, the Lumineers and Chance the Rapper. Fujinon lenses have become a staple for us in support of these tours. So far, we’ve built seven packages with Fujinon lenses complementing LDX-86 cameras.

Along with the new Premier UA Series, we have Fujinon high-definition XA99x8.4BESM ultra-wide field production lenses, HA14x4.5BERM Premier super wide-angle ENG lenses, HA18x7.6BERM Premier series standard ENG lenses, and HA23x7.6BERM Premier telephoto lenses—all of which complement our Grass Valley LDX 86 4K cameras.

They’ve really proven themselves. Their reliability, innovation and serviceability allow us to confidently support the biggest acts in show business. With an inventory that moves from show to show on a daily basis, we’ve come to depend on the repeatable performance these lenses offer. The service we get from them is unmatched. And the end product speaks for itself every night, with the enjoyment of millions of fans throughout the world.

David Lemmink is director of engineering for Solotech working from their new DeKalb, Ill. facility. He has more than 35 years of experience designing, deploying and maintaining broadcast systems used by the biggest names in the live entertainment industry. He can be reached atdavid.lemmink@solotech.com.

For more information on Fujinon, visitwww.fujifilmusa.comor call 973-633-5600.

VALHALLA, N.Y. — NEP Group has stocked its new M-15 4K/IP mobile unit with a complement of new 4K Fujinon 4K UHD lenses, including eight Fujinon UA107x8.4BESM 4K box field lenses, three UA24x7.8BERM 4K UHD lenses, and three UA14x4.5BERD 4K UHD wide-angle lenses.

Now in its final stages of completion, the M-15 is a 4K-capable truck configured to support 4K production, IP delivery, and SMPTE ST 2110 standards, which specify the carriage, synchronization, and description of IP streams for real-time video production and playout.

[Read: What SMPTE-2110 Means For Broadcasters]

Until M-15 is ready to hit the road, the mobile production provider is using the new 4K lenses on its M-5 HD truck to cover Seattle Mariners baseball games for the Root Sports Northwest network. The company claims the new 4K lenses are producing high-quality imagery in combination with the Grass Valley LDK Series 4K UHD camera package available on M-5.

“The cost/performance ratio of the entire Fujinon 4K lens range makes them ideal for this new [M-15 4K production] truck. For now, [they’re] already creating outstanding images of the Mariners games on the M-5,” said Glen Levine, president, NEP U.S. “We always do a thorough cost evaluation, but we will never sacrifice quality to cut costs. These lenses offer great quality while being cost-effective.”

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