With 32 years of DP and camera experience, cinematographer Jay Kriss is stepping up the quality of his cinematic product with the Fujinon HAe10x10 E-Series digital cinema zoom lens. Along with producer Sydney Duvall, Kriss is part of the production team at Inspirit Creative, which regularly shoots features, documentaries, and stock footage.

	Cinematographer Jay Kriss

Kriss is using the HAe10x10 primarily with the Panasonic AJ-HPX3700 P2 HD VariCam. "With the Fujinon HAe10x10, we're changing the way we produce our work for features and television," notes Kriss. "The glass is where it all begins, and this Fujinon lens raises the production value our work by a factor of 100."

One of the projects for which the HAe10x10 was purchased is Harvesting the High Plains, a feature-length documentary currently in production for public television. A period piece focusing on the development of the wheat industry in western Kansas, it tells the tale of how the great American desert was transformed into the bread basket of the world. "For a project like this, depth of field is very important along with the speed of the lens," says Kriss. "The HAe10x10 is an extremely fast lens and it opens opportunities for us that are amazing."

Duvall is enthusiastic about the dramatically different look the new lens will provide. "It's unprecedented," she said. "Hopefully, with this lens, we're going to be a trendsetter and bring some new energy into the industry by getting back to what filmmaking is all about: the quality of the image."

Inspirit Creative recently purchased the HAe10x10, along with the Fujinon HA18x7.6BERM Premier Series lens and the Panasonic HPX3700 P2 HD VariCam camera package through Digital Video Group Inc. of Mechanicsville, Va.

For Kriss and Inspirit Creative, capturing the highest quality image is of paramount importance. "We want to adjust our image at the lens as opposed to using programs inside the camera—or worse, fixing it in postproduction," adds Kriss. "The only way to do that is with an extremely high quality lens. Our goal is to develop a lens package, led by the Fujinon HAe10x10, that allows us to take the image to the next level."

In addition to documentaries and features, Inspirit Creative shoots an enormous amount of stock footage for cinematic purposes. For the next two years, Kriss will be shooting all over the country for stock clients including Framepool and Global ImageWorks. "The Fujinon HAe10x10 allows us to shoot images that can easily be integrated with 35mm film, 16mm film, or any of the HD formats that are out there in standard compression," he says. "The nice thing about having this package is that is makes us independent. We don't have to go down to the rental house for a lens. We're set and ready to roll."