With more than 25,000 students Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is the state’s largest undergrad school. At its Department of Electronic Media Communications, however, student training is strictly one-on-one when it comes to learning how to use the latest television production equipment to create real-world broadcast-quality programming. Included among the department’s impressive complement of leading-edge imaging technologies are advanced HD portable ENG and EFP lenses and professional file-based HD camcorders from Canon U.S.A.
MTSU recently took delivery of a new 40 ft. $1.7 million mobile HD production vehicle, which is used by the student-run EMC Productions to cover football, basketball, music performances, awards shows, news events, theatrical performances, and parades for local broadcast and cable stations and a national cable network. Separately, “class” shoots of collegiate baseball, softball, and volleyball provide hands-on student training for actual academic credit. Central to all of this production work is the university’s choice of HD portable lenses for the truck’s complement of ENG and EFP cameras, as well as its selection of small high-performance integrated file-based HD camcorders. A longtime Canon user, MTSU chose a family of 2/3-inch portable lenses that include two Canon HJ18ex28B portable HD super-telephoto EFP lenses (with 2x extenders), five Canon KJ17ex7.7B portable HD ENG lenses, one Canon KJ10ex4.5B portable HD wide-angle ENG lens, and two Canon XF305 professional file-based HD camcorders to deliver the imaging quality required by the university and the distribution channels it feeds.
MTSU’s five compact, Canon KJ17ex7.7B portable HD ENG lenses have also proven to be extremely flexible performers, helping the university to produce broadcast-ready HD video in a number of different applications.
Versatile HD Camcorders
Further broadening MTSU’s production flexibility are its two Canon XF305 professional HD camcorders. The XF305 is equipped with a Canon 18x HD L-series zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent zoom range of from 29.3mm to 527.4mm.
MTSU’s Canon XF305 HD camcorders are also used ENG-style by students to shoot “packages,” location video interviews for player profiles that are played back during the games. The affordability and ruggedness of the XF305 HD camcorders enables students to learn (and occasionally make mistakes) without risking a more expensive ENG camera.
