YES Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Orleans-based WYES-TV, has migrated one of its broadcast trucks from SD to HD production. It features eight Ikegami HD cameras, a full complement of HD lenses from Fujinon and a new 56-fader Calrec Omega console with Bluefin processing. The revamped truck made its debut at the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets’ victorious home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers in November. Since then, the company’s latest 53ft HD production truck, the HD2, has been on the road supporting two or three shows a week.
The HD2 now carries a new lens package that includes one XA101x8.9ESM super telephoto field lens with image stabilization and four XA88x8.83ESM telephoto lenses. YES Productions now owns a total of 21 Fujinon HD lenses.
The new mobile unit also travels with an additional three HA23x7.6ERM high-performance ENG lenses mounted on the Ikegami HDK-79 HDTV portable cameras. Four Fujinon HA13x4.5ERM super wide-angle lenses will travel with YES Productions’ other mobile truck, the HD1, which is used to cover the Professional Bull Riding Series, seen on the Versus Network.
“The key when shooting bull riding is to get down in there, close to that bull,” said Jim Moriarty, VP and general manager of YES Productions, adding that his crew has lost lenses by getting too close to the action. (Fujinon provided loaner lenses while they quickly repair the damaged ones.) “The wide-angle field of view the Fujinon lens provides is huge. It captures so brilliantly the moments before that animal is about ready to jump out of the chute; you can practically feel the air move when they snort in the gate.”
With two mobile HD units, YES covers the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, Louisiana State University college football games and more than 100 other college and high school sports events broadcast annually by Cox Sports, the regional sports cable network serving the Southeast.
For more information, visit http://www.fujinonbroadcast.com/.
