After evaluation Seven Network chooses Fujinon 4K lenses

Preparing to relocate to a purpose-built HD TV production facility at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh, Australian public broadcaster Seven Network turned to Fujifilm Australia and Fujinon for 4K barrel lenses to use under robotic control.

John Albiston, Head of Broadcast Engineering & Development, Seven Network, explained, “Many of Seven’s lenses used in the field have provided over 20 years of  excellent service.

“The initial aim of the new lens purchase was to ensure the same extended life of reliability with the same excellent results. The new lenses also had to be 4K, extremely high quality and work seamlessly under robotic control.”

After a comprehensive assessment and evaluation, Albiston and the Seven team chose multiple Fujinon UA14x4.5BERD-S10, UA18x5.5BERD-S10 and UA23x7.6BERD-S10 4K lenses, equipped with an S-10 drive specifically designed for the lenses to be used with robotic systems provided by the likes of Shotoku, MRMC, Ross Video, Vinten/ Radamec, Telemetrics and KXWELL.

The Fujinon lenses provide improved focus and zoom operability and include breathing compensation technology (BCT) as standard. This compensation mechanism synchronises the zoom movement with the focus movement to automatically correct for changes in the angle of view, thereby minimising breathing and keeping the image size constant.

The S-10 also enables the user to change a 2x extender remotely by using an ECU-2C Extender Change Unit and thus, is ideally suited for crane use in a studio.

Seven’s new S-10 drive units and FUJINON lenses are also effective for CG synthesis and come with a 16-bit encoder, capable of making a high-resolution output of lens data including zoom and focal position information.

They can be linked with various other systems such as a virtual studio system for combining CG images with live action footage.