Videocraft upgrades and expands inventory with FUJINON 4K

Videocraft are experts at designing and integrating clever production and post production solutions for a wide range of applications, whether you are after a single camera or a full studio, the company prides itself on being able to provide rental options to suit any job and budget. Recently the decision was made to upgrade and expand the company’s 4K product inventory to meet demand from clients wanting versatile lenses with longer zoom ranges that can perform at the highest level with the newest 4K camera systems. For those they turned to FUJINON and their UA125x8 – one of the world’s longest 4K box lenses with the world’s highest zoom ratio* on the market today – and multiple UA46x13.5 lenses.

Videocraft sales director, James Taylor, explained, “Firstly, we had made the decision that all of our lens purchases needed to be 4K or better, as we wanted to have lenses to match our newest 4K cameras. Of course, optical performance is critical and we have found the optical performance of FUJINON lenses to be excellent. In the case of the UA46 lens, its very compact size and light weight makes it very easy to handle, especially in systems built up with smaller ENG style camera systems. When it came to the UA125x, we were looking for a versatile premium 4K lens and in the case of the UA125, a box style lens that goes from 8mm at the wide end all the way through to 1000mm without having to use an extender is a real game changer. Of course, all of these lenses have image stabilisers built in, so you can use these long focal lengths successfully.”

Videocraft’s ‘go to’ contact at FUJIFILM Australia for the 4K lens upgrade was their National Business Development Manager, Simon Murphy who said, “Videocraft needed to upgrade from their old HD lenses and ideally wanted to go 4K and with a long box lens. Our FUJINON 4K UA lenses have the quality they needed at a price that was within their budget.”

Having been in production and post production for over 50 years, Videocraft know exactly what it takes and what the market requires to create a successful show or event.

Taylor continued, “These new lenses are just what we needed for our broadcast clients. They deliver excellent image quality and totally reliable performance that we would expect from FUJINON. Our initial work with these lenses has been at various sporting events and they have performed beautifully paired with our super slow motion cameras. As a result, our clients have been very pleased with the results.”

Videocraft uses its new lenses in many environments with live sport often at the top of that list. That said, Taylor was quick to stress the versatility of the new lenses in other situations too.

He added, “The UA125, in particular, is also very well suited to staging events, as its low light performance even at long focal lengths is exceptional. The versatility of both lenses is excellent and as a result, we have mostly been using them for super slow motion tight shots, as the lenses give us the long focal lengths without having to resort to the 2x extender. The truth is these lenses love any live sport, the UA125x is great for staging and IMAG work and the UA46x is also a great long focal length lens that can easily go with an B4 mount ENG camera to make a very compact package, especially considering that the lens can get to just over 620mm without using the 2x extender.”

FUJIFILM Australia’s General Manager, Electronic Imaging & Optical Devices Division, Shaun Mah, said, “The UA125x8 is a very versatile lens as is the UA46x13.5. As a result, Videocraft are one of very few rental houses in Australia and New Zealand to own one of the world’s longest 4K box lenses with the world’s highest zoom ratio* on the market today and I’m delighted to report that they are very happy with the results.”

It’s fair to say that James Taylor, one of the industry’s leading and most experienced professionals, gives his new FUJINON lenses and the value they have added to Videocraft’s inventory a big thumbs up. He concluded, “We have been very happy with these new lenses. They have enabled Videocraft to expand our offering to our clients with the one of the world’s longest 4K box lenses with the world’s highest zoom ratio* on the market today. Just as importantly, these lenses also offer the level of reliability and optical performance that matches our latest 4K and UHD broadcast cameras. The team at FUJINON were also very responsive to our needs and were able to deliver what we needed for this project in record time.”