Bexel, a provider of broadcast services, has added the HJ15ex8.5B portable HD zoom lens from Canon to its equipment rental inventory to address the growing need among Bexel’s clients for image stabilized HD acquisition.
The 2/3in HJ15ex8.5B is the first portable HD zoom lens with built-in Optical Image Stabilization. The lens uses a refined version of Canon’s patented Vari-Angle Prism Image-Stabilizer (VAP-IS) technology to achieve a high level of steadiness all the way from wide-angle to telephoto settings.
Weighing a mere 4.4lbs, the lens provides four selectable stabilization modes to allow camera operators to optimize the degree of correction and includes a wide range of vibration frequencies. Examples range from the low-frequency vibrations encountered on a camera operator’s shoulder in a jostling crowd situation, to tripod-mounted operation on shaky platforms, to the higher-frequency vibration that cameras are subject to when operated inside TV news helicopters, motor vehicles, motorbikes, or boats.
VAP-IS technology consists of a prism that is flexible in two dimensions. The system has been optimized to operate at high speed, achieving close to real-time compensation for image instabilities arising from all forms of lens-camera operational unsteadiness. The new lens helps eliminate image unsteadiness when operating with any of the major HD 2/3in cameras and camcorders.
