We are pleased to share that Talamas Sales and Rentals, a broadcast equipment rental house in Boston, recently took delivery of the new FUJINON PL 85-300 (ZK3.5x85), making it the first in the region to receive the HDTV PL mount zoom lens.

Dave Talamas, president of the rental house, expects strong demand for the PL 85-300, following in the footsteps of the PL 19-90, with which they’ve had tremendous success.
Talamas credits the design of the two Cabrio lenses with providing exactly what the market needs: fast, lightweight, multipurpose lenses offering ideal focal ranges at a price point sweet spot.

While demand for the PL 19-90 has been very strong and feedback has been positive, Talamas customers were asking for something a little bit longer. When the PL 85-300 became available, the Talamas team knew the new lens’ longer focal length would be of great use for beauty shots, nature cinematography, sports documentaries, and other applications.

Talamas Chief Engineer Anthony Bottaro considers both lenses to be crossovers, as they combine the look, resolution, and other picture attributes associated with large sensor PL mount zoom lenses, but with the compact, lightweight “run and gun” functionality ENG/EFP shooters expect.

This lens seems to be particularly appealing to ENG shooters who like to be agile and follow the action. Talamas Senior Video Technician Daniel Ardizzoni tributes that to there being a digital servo handgrip right on the lens for zoom control in combination with today’s small, lightweight digital cameras.

While those shooting ENG-style are right at home with the servo unit attached to the lens, both Cabrio lens models are designed to allow cinematographers to detach the handgrip and shoot instead with industry-standard cine motors and matte boxes, as well as FUJINON wired or wireless controllers. The digital servo on Cabrio lenses has 16-bit encoding to ensure that lens data output is extremely accurate.
The FUJINON PL 85-300 offers a focal length of 85-220mm at T2.9 and 300mm at T4.0. Weighing 3.0kg with servo and 2.5kg without, the lens offers flange focal distance adjustment, 200-degree focus rotation, a short MOD, a macro function for close-ups of objects and the images captured cover a 31.5mm diagonal sensor size.

Have questions about the PL 85-300 or any of our other professional lenses? Leave a comment here, on our Facebook page, or tweet us.

Technological innovation in broadcasting is alive and well. New services for broadcast now go beyond HDTV, multicasting and mobile DTV and incorporate interactive experiences. One such experience that is already coming into living rooms is 3D.

Like any technology, the success of 3D relies on viewer acceptance. And nothing will speed acceptance more than quality programming. This means it is essential to understand the mechanics behind 3D shooting.

Lenses, of course, perform the vital act of image capture, which is the stepping stone for everything that follows. When it comes to 3D, lens controllers, as well as the lens design construction and the manufacturing processes used take center stage.

Controllers ensure that the various lenses track perfectly, both electronically and optically. They also help the cameras move in and out more easily and in perfect synchronization, which is critical in 3D shooting. Another critical element is setting depth of field properly, especially in close ups, over the shoulder shots and other narrative scenes. It is the difference between having a 3D program look cartoonish or having it appear as though it is actually taking place in the viewers’ living rooms.

Lens construction and the manufacturing processes are essential as well. That’s because 3D shoots involve two cameras, so each lens must be of the same focal length, with zoom and focus positions moving in perfect synchronization. If this doesn’t happen, the picture will not come together properly. Aligning the optical axis exactly can take work, primarily because the beam splitters and image sensors may not align accurately.

Lenses from Fujifilm Optical Devices are constructed in a way that ensures the synchronization process happens smoothly and successfully. That’s why some of the most distinguished 3D houses have converted to Fujinon lenses.

Generally, lenses of the same specification are closely matched. But when they are measured with a collimator—a device for aligning lenses—they often differ slightly, which means shooters can end up wasting time searching for two accurately aligned lenses.

Fujinon lenses are optically and electronically matched, with precision zoom and focus servos that allow the control system to synchronize the left and right camera lenses for 3D, and offer pinpoint operational accuracy. This can simplify the process, and reduce set-up and shooting times significantly.

For more information on Fujifilm Optical Devices, go to www.Fujinon.com, or follow us at www.Facebook.com/FujifilmOptical and www.Twitter.com/FujifilmOptical.

In only a couple of days, 90,000+ broadcast and video professionals will converge once again on Las Vegas for the annual NAB Show. While the gathering in Sin City has become familiar to most, ever-changing technology continues to make the show look quite different with each passing exhibition.

Within the past decade, we have gone from standard def to HD, and last year 3D was in vogue. Station engineers are still around but they’ve been joined by a level of IT professional that would have been more apt to be strolling down the aisles of Interop rather than NAB a few short years ago.

But, as the old saying goes, “Change is good.” That is certainly the case with this year’s NAB. A global platform (attendees are expected from more than 150 countries, according to show management), NAB has a concentration on 3D once again, but also mobile apps and transmedia will make their presence known. Personally, I’m excited to see how the world of digital media will continue to revolutionize our industry. No doubt, some of that change will be on display by the approximately 1,500 exhibitors, of which Fujinon is one. We will be addressing the trends in the marketplace with our new optical products.


One thing that I believe NAB management has done successfully the past few years is to define the areas of interest so it is as easy as possible for attendees to make the best use of their time. This is no easy task, given that the show covers so many topics over a landscape of more than 800,000 square feet. Areas such as the various “PITS” (People Integrating Technologies and Solutions) worked well last year and it’s good to see them again at NAB 2011. Given the whirlwind pace of change in our market, it’s also good to see the educational program have such depth.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same” is another well known saying. That applies to NAB 2011. It remains the show of our industry but it continues to have a different look and feel. I’m interested to hear some other thoughts, so stop by our booth (C7525) and let me know what you think of the show. And check back here, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages, for show updates.

In this edition of lens technology, we’d like to concentrate on something that can be taken for granted but should never be overlooked. That would be achieving optimum focus.

Nothing enhances the in-home HDTV experience more than high-quality images. And nothing ensures acquiring the best possible images more than proper focus. Now, automatic focus systems have been available in consumer products for well over a decade. But these systems simply were not good enough for professional broadcast applications.

That is why NHK, one of the top broadcasting companies in the world, teamed with Fujinon back in 2000 to create a technology that would help achieve optimum focus. From that partnership, Precision Focus Assist System was developed.

Precision Focus is designed within a lens and allows the lens to go directly to the primary point of focus. It achieves this optical focus position by using a contrast method. Two CCDs are optically spaced between an image plane in a lens. The two CCDs measure and compare image contrast, and then the Precision Focus system makes any adjustments to maintain optimal focus. It even ensures optimum focus on an object as it is moving, and also maintains focus in any zoom position, from the narrowest to the widest.

By making sure optimal focus is achieved at all times in any setting, Precision Focus allows the operator to concentrate on other things, such as framing, to achieve the best possible shot. This all allows viewers at home to have an incredible in-home experience while watching their favorite programs.

To learn more about how lens technology is improving focus, visit Fujinon.com.