EMG / Gravity Media has upgraded its lens stock, aiming to keep their equipment in line with new broadcast innovations and ensure the flexibility needed for varied shooting scenarios.
Production services company EMG / Gravity Media has undertaken a refresh of its lens stock, aiming to keep their equipment in line with new innovations in broadcast systems. Executive Director for Media Services & Facilities Pete Newton commented that such upgrades at EMG / Gravity are driven by a combination of strategic planning and technological advances occurring in the industry.
The company has now purchased a large line-up of FUJINON lenses including the UA125 and UA107 box zooms for long distance work, with the UA23x7.6 and UA14x4.5 wide-angle zooms. “Our main requirements focussed on image quality and versatility in zoom capabilities, which we need to accommodate the varied shooting scenarios we work in,” Pete said.
Image Quality and Versatility
“Competitive optical performance is essential for high-resolution, sharp images with accurate colour reproduction and minimal distortion. We also wanted lenses with a robust, dependable construction that can withstand heavy use in different environments.” The new FUJINON lenses also needed to be compatible and work directly with EMG / Gravity Media’s existing inventory of Sony HDC-3500, HDC-4300 and HDC-5500 2/3-inch system cameras.
The Fujifilm team was prepared to meet all of those demands, as well as EMG / Gravity’s further expectation of a comprehensive support package that includes maintenance and ongoing expert advice. “Our decision to choose the FUJINON lenses was partly influenced by our long-standing relationship with Fujifilm Australia,” said Pete. “FUJINON lenses have consistently met our standards for quality, performance and reliability. They were a natural choice for this upgrade.
“Meeting our requirements means the lenses will improve our production capabilities – we have already had positive feedback from our internal team and clients. Their versatile zoom ranges, such as those the UA125 can achieve, and their ability to suppress distortion enable us to capture a wide array of scenes. Their durability increases their flexibility in different environments and minimises downtime.”
Sports and Entertainment
Most recently, EMG / Gravity Media used the lenses to cover the 2024 UEFA EURO Football Championship, and will use them for their ongoing coverage of a range of European football leagues, including the Italian and English leagues.
Gravity Media’s work became especially diverse when they joined forces and expertise with EMG at the beginning of 2024, forming a production partnership. The new combined company includes more than 100 outside broadcast trucks and flypacks and over 30 studios and production facilities across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, US and Australia.
As well as supporting high-profile sports events like UEFA EURO, the Olympic Games, Formula E, Australian and US Open and Tour de France, they now handle entertainment projects including The Voice, Australian Idol, Strictly Come Dancing and The Masked Singer, plus live events.
Four Zooms
The FUJINON UA107 lens is useful for capturing detailed shots over long distances, making it a good choice for sports broadcasts or other situations where recording close-up shots from a distance is important. It is is a box-style field lens with 107x zoom range, optical image stabilisation and imaging with 4K optical quality.
The UA125 lens is similar, also employed for extremely distant subjects but, with its very high 125x zoom range, it is specially tuned for wider scenarios such as large-scale sports events, outdoor productions or other distant action taking place across expansive landscapes.
Also made for capturing expansive scenes, the UA23x7.6 servo zoom lens works in settings where space is limited. It is useful for indoor shoots, interviews and events where a broader field of view is advantageous. This lens includes 16-bit performance data output for precise position detection in virtual production.
Finally, the UA14x4.5 4K ENG/broadcast portable zoom lens can be used to capture immersive, dramatic perspectives, able to give 2/3-inch cameras an angle of view from ultra-wide to telephoto. It works well both for landscapes and for interior shots, and scenes that need a wide field.
All four of these lenses are compatible with 4K image capture and have a 9-blade iris that produces a natural-looking, pleasing bokeh when rendering bright objects. global.fujifilm.com
