SYDNEY—Fujinon has announced that the Seven Network has selected its 4K lenses as part of Seven’s Sydney-based news operations planned relocation to a high-definition television production facility at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh.
The Seven Network is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia and the largest commercial network in terms of population reach.
“Many of Seven’s lenses used in the field have provided over twenty years’ excellent service. The initial aim of the new lens purchase was to ensure the same extended life of reliability with the same excellent results,” explained Seven Network head of broadcast engineering and development, John Albiston. “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.
“We purchased Fujinon 4K models with an S-10 drive specifically designed for these lenses to be used with robotics,” Albiston continued. “The S-10s have well and truly fulfilled our requirements and worked seamlessly both in the field and in our metropolitan studios under robotic control.”
The new S-10 drive unit and Fujinon 4K lenses used by Seven offer perfect compatibility with major robotics systems such as Shotoku, MRMC, Ross Video, Vinten/Radamec, Telemetrics and KXWELL, the companies said.
They provide improved focus and zoom operability and include breathing compensation technology (BCT) as standard. This compensation mechanism synchronizes the zoom movement with the focus movement to automatically correct for changes in the angle of view, thereby minimizing breathing and keeping the image size constant. This function also eliminates the need to reset the angle of view after focusing, providing a high level of operability.
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, Fujinon said.
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.
“Our Fujinon 4K S-10 capable lens field application involves general news acquisition where they give us robust service and superb operational features including great zoom range and speed,” Albiston concluded. “The Fujinon 4K glass is, notwithstanding the many HD applications in which they are used. These new lenses also excel in the studio under Mosart control room automation where high accuracy digital servos eliminate any discernible dither when zooming. These lenses are a major step forward for our crews. All in all, the Fujinon UA14x4.5BERD-S10, UA18x5.5BERD-S10 and UA23x7.6BERD-S10 4K lenses with S-10 drives are excellent and the best lenses in the market for our requirements.”
