LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., June 22, 2011 – Serving the TV industry’s voracious appetite for HD programming is Chicago-based Trio Video, a leading mobile production company that provides facilities and crews nationwide for broadcast and cable clients, entertainment companies, professional sports teams, and major corporations. Among the half-dozen advanced mobile units Trio Video operates is Tempo, a 48-ft. trailer (with a 29-ft. expandable side) that is outfitted with an array of advanced HD equipment carefully selected to provide the finest picture quality along with reliable operation amid the demands of HDTV location production. Included in this equipment array are six long-zoom HD field lenses and five portable HD zoom lenses, all of which are from Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging.
“Out in the field, we need all of our equipment working all the time, and our vendors have to be available 24/7 in the event that there’s an issue,” stated Peter Kimball, Trio Video’s director of program development and production. “Canon provides us with that level of reliability, customer service and support, and that’s what convinced us to go with Canon for Tempo.” Canon lenses mounted on Tempo’s HD cameras include two XJ86x9.3B and four XJ75x9.3B long-zoom HD field lenses, three HJ22ex7.6B long-zoom portable HD lenses, and two HJ14ex4.3B wide-angle portable HD zoom lenses.
Equipped with Canon’s sophisticated built-in Optical Image Stabilizer, or “Shift-IS” system, the XJ86 and XJ75 long-zoom HD field lenses are designed to provide cameras with rock-solid images even at telephoto distances. The XJ86 is available in three versions (including Auto Focus and extended telephoto), and is Canon’s most popular long-field HD zoom lens in the emerging fleets of HD mobile television facilities, and is used for leading U.S. sports telecasts. The XJ75 long-zoom HD field lens is also designed for flexible coverage of all forms of sports and entertainment events, and combines the best in leading-edge optical, mechanical, and digital technologies to provide excellent performance with modest size and weight at a lower budget level.
Both the XJ86 and XJ75 long-zoom HD lenses are part of Canon’s DIGISUPER line of high-performance field and studio lenses. All feature an advanced, computer-aided lightweight design, specialized multilayer coatings on each optical element, and Canon’s second-generation digital servo systems for improved ease-of-operation as well as superb tactile control of zoom, iris, and focus; precision repeatability of settings; and microcomputer compensation of lens-focus breathing (the inadvertent alteration of field-of-view when operating the focus control).
Portable HD lenses chosen by Trio Video consist of two of the newest products in Canon’s HDxs line, which combines the highest optical performance with the most advanced technologies. The HJ22ex7.6B is the longest-focal-length portable HD production lens offered by Canon (without an image-stabilization system). Offering an unusually broad range of creative options, the HJ22 portable HD lens is designed for long-distance shooting combined with wide-angle capture in a lightweight (4 lbs.) form factor. Providing exceptional wide-angle performance, meanwhile, is the HJ14ex4.3B portable HD zoom lens, which combines an extended 14 times zoom range with a minimum focal length of 4.3mm and an angular field of view of 96.3 degrees at the wide end of the 16:9 HD aspect ratio, making it the widest-angle portable HD lens in the industry. The 14x zoom range of this lens reaches to 60mm (120mm with extender), which greatly expands creative options for the acquisition of crystal-clear, and virtually distortion-free HD video images. Canon’s mastery of computer-based optical design techniques and new multi-layer optical coating technologies ensures superior imaging performance without distortion.
“We’re impressed with the high quality of images that all our Canon lenses put out,” Kimball affirmed. “Whether it’s tight or wide, we get consistently great looks throughout the focal length.”
Both the HJ22 and HJ14 portable HD zoom lenses also feature Canon’s unique Digital Drive unit built into the hand grip, enabling camera operators to pre-program precise and repeatable settings for iris, focus, and zoom positions and speed, if desired. The Canon-developed ultra-compact rotary encoders inside the Digital Drive units that make this feature possible can also output this positional lens data via a connector so it can be used with virtual studio systems.
“Our industry is based on volume and reliability,” Kimball added. “When we show up with Canon lenses, we know what to expect, which is that they’ll work flawlessly. That’s satisfying to us, our customers, and their viewers.”
About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2010†, with global revenues of more than US $45 billion and is listed as number five in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies 2011 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.
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†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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