For the Bledisloe Cup Sky NZ upgraded both their camera and lens fleet with the purchase of multiple new Fujinon lenses.

Sky has been active worldwide for many years in facilitating equipment and coverage of live events for both host broadcasters and those requiring unilateral feeds.

In New Zealand, the company owns and operates six major, HD outside broadcast vehicles and standard definition vehicles capable of handling complex outside broadcasts.

Nick Haines, Sky technical manager says, “SKY has a long term commitment to Fujinon products so when we increased our fleet of Sony cameras with some new HDC-4300s it was a logical to return to Fujinon for their latest lens offerings.

The company says that they particularly liked the instant compatibility of the new lenses with their existing cameras.

In the release, Sky states that they have had a long history of reliable support from Fujinon Australia.

Haines continues, “We purchased multiple Fujinon XA77x9.5 BESM and HA23x7.6BERD lenses.

“It became very apparent in our testing of next generation cameras that our old lenses, whilst being cutting edge at the time of purchase, weren't going to provide the top quality image we are looking for from our new cameras.

“The fact that the new cameras are 4K capable definitely showed up artefacts we had never been able to resolve before.

According to Sky, the XA77x9.5 telephoto field lens sets the bar for performance, making it perfect for large venues and sporting events.

It also features a newly developed EBC coating to reduce ghosts and flare, and increase light transmission.

The HA23x7.6BERD is an HD Telephoto Lens ENG style for news, sports and other applications requiring increased magnification.

This lens provides a digital servo zoom and focus, for full servo studio control, jibs, tower cams, teleconferencing and other applications where remote control of zoom, focus and iris via RS-232 serial data or traditional analogue control is desired.

Haines saying, “Basically we were looking for great quality lenses that would also provide us with a reliable product and would deliver everything we required under the very trying conditions we have in NZ outside broadcast.

“These new Fujinon lenses did just that and are now in use across our fleet of six HD OB vans.

“Having used the new lenses extensively during the Bledisloe Cup the main comments we've had back from the field all relate to a noticeable improvement in sharpness and lower loss than any of our existing equipment."