Paul Cronin is a director of photography who specializes in high-speed, extreme-condition footage at sea for his company, WhiteCap Video. He said he depends exclusively on Fujinon lenses for his work.
The shoots for his high-end boat reviews require a sense of the elements along with gear that can face the tough conditions of humidity and temperature while capturing steady shots. Cronin uses the Fujinon ZA17x7.6BE HD ENG lens on his Sony XDCAM HD PMW-500 camcorder and the Fujinon TS-P58A image stabilizer.
Cronin said Fujinon lenses are always sharp and more stable in back focus. When he needs to go wide, he uses the wide-angle adapter. This gives the videographer three lens choices: ZA17x with wide adapter, ZA17x alone, and long and stable shooting with the ZA17x and TS-P58A. With the stabilizer, the focal length is increased by about 25 percent. He said this covers all categories of shots for his current clientele.
For shoots like a recent one in Knoxville for Bayliner Boats, Cronin is on chase boats, keeping pace with the boat they are reviewing at 55 mph. He stands up holding the camera and can be anywhere from thirty feet to five hundred feet from the subject. This is when the stabilizer is golden, he said.
Requiring a couple of minutes to put on and take off, the Fujinon TS-P58A image stabilizer is a sandwich-style optical stabilizer for use with most Fujinon 2/3-inch ENG style lenses. It’s compact and mounts between the lens and camera.
