CNN Takes Canon's Widest Wide-Angle Lens
News Net to Use Equipment for HD Reporting
by George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 5/13/2009 3:13:55 PM
Canon's new HJ14ex4.3B portable HDTV lens, billed as offering the widest angle of any portable 2/3-inch lens available in the professional market, is already getting some traction. In a major deal, CNN will use the lens for HD newsgathering.
"We had a terrific reaction at NAB to the lens," said Larry Thorpe, national marketing executive at the Broadcast & Communications Division of Canon U.S.A. "We just closed a big one with CNN for 37 units, and we're in discussions with a number of other companies."
The new lens is the first major introduction of a high-end wide angle portable lens by Canon since the 2001 launch of the HJ11ex4.7B wide-angle lens. "The HJ11 was extremely popular with the production community," said Thorpe, particularly for high-end HD drama and documentary production, news-gathering and studio work, where it allowed wide shots of the entire set. "We expect the new HJ14 to have similar appeal."
In the eight years since HJ11 launched, a number of advances in optics and optical design tools allowed Canon to significantly improve the lens performance while providing an unprecedented wide angle, Thorpe said. "It is the best wide-angle lens we know how to build."
The new lens has a minimum focal length of 4.3mm, an improvement over the 4.7mm length of the HJ11 lens, and an angular field of view of 96.3 degrees in the 16-by-9 format. It also has a 14 times zoom range, which greatly expands the range of its use for HD productions.
Besides providing a wider angle and higher zoom ratio, advances in design tools, glass material, optical coatings and design techniques, such as the use of aspherical elements, have allowed Canon to improve the lens's performance.
The lens offers less geometric distortion -- an issue with all wide-angle lenses -- minimizes chromatic aberrations and curtails ghosting artifacts produced by strong light sources, Thorpe said. It also offers higher resolution at both the center of the picture and the edges.
In addition, the new design has made the lens easier to use and improved its ergonomics.
"We made a number of improvements based on the feedback we got from users," Thorpe said.
Depending on features, the lens is priced at $35,100 to $36,900.Rogers Names Mohamed CEO
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