By Staff, March 29, 2006
Since a little over a year ago when Water Productions, a Canadian sports television production company, made significant high definition equipment upgrades, the company has taken its new Fujinon HA18x7.6BERM HD ENG/EFP lens fitted to a Panasonic Varicam from one extreme weather condition to another, being buried in snow one day and hanging from boats the next.
Applied Electronics, a reseller based in Toronto, sold Water Productions the Fujinon HA18x7.6BERM lens, which has a long focal length (137mm, 274 with a 2X extender) and a wide angle of view (64.5 degrees at 7.6mm). The HD ENG/EFP zoom lens from Fujinon is ideal for high definition news and remote video production and designed to complement 2/3-inch high definition video cameras.
Their latest adventure for "Sledsence" took Water Productions to the 24th Annual Grand Prix Ski-Doo -- de Valcourt, Canada's premier snowmobile race
. The crew captured everything from close-up interviews in the morning to shooting 120mph snowmobile racing around the oval ice race track in the afternoon.
It rained on the first day of the race, causing high amounts of condensation. The following day, when they shot their B-roll, the temperature dropped to -22°C (or -8°F), with 40-mile-an-hour winds all day.
To ensure the durability of the lens under such rugged conditions, Water Productions uses Fujinon's back focus chart to back focus the lens each day. There are a lot of running shots, where the shooter is seated on the side of a boat going 40mph. And in saltwater environments, there is always salt in the air, which becomes trapped in the equipment.
A prolific and well-traveled production company, Water Productions will soon cover snowmobile tours in Dear Lake, Newfoundland; Reykjavik, Iceland; and Helsinki, Finland. After shooting in Helsinki in April, they'll fly to Anchorage, Alaska for a watercraft show. In May, they are scheduled to travel to Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca in Peru.
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