NEP Deploys Over 100 Canon HDTV Lenses to Cover Super Bowl XLVI

More than 100 Canon HDTV field and portable zoom lenses will be deployed for both domestic and international coverage of Super Bowl XLVI by production facilities provider NEP Broadcasting. NEP will deploy three mobile production vehicles and more than 100 HDTV cameras, each of which will have a Canon HD lens mounted on it.

“The Super Bowl is the biggest, most widely viewed sporting event in the country,” says George Hoover, senior vice president of engineering at NEP Broadcasting. “Such an event demands total reliability in the equipment we use, which is why we have again chosen Canon HDTV lenses for Super Bowl game coverage. We have used Canon lenses for previous Super Bowls and for this year’s entire football season because of their image quality and reliability, and because of Canon’s excellent service and support.”

Among the many Canon HDTV lenses that NEP Broadcasting will utilize at Super Bowl XLVI are XJ100x9.3B and XJ86x9.3B long-zoom lenses designed for “hard” HDTV field cameras. Both feature Canon’s unique second-generation built-in Shift-IS technology, which ensures steady shots at telephoto distances or wherever the zoom range is set.

“When you’re zoomed in really tight with the long-zoom lenses and you’re moving down the sideline in the cart, the capabilities of Canon’s Image Stabilization are of great importance,” Hoover notes.

Portable Canon HDTV lenses (mounted on a variety of EFP-style cameras, Steadicams, and jib arms) at Super Bowl XLVI will include the HJ14ex4.3B, the world’s widest-angle lens in the professional realm of 2/3-inch lenses; the HJ22ex7.6B, Canon’s longest-focal-length portable HD production lens; and the HJ40x14B, a highly telephoto portable EFP lens that also incorporates Canon’s Shift-IS system.

“Canon will be on-site in Indy leading up to the Super Bowl, fine-tuning to make sure every lens at every camera position is operating at 110 percent of every operator’s requirements,” Hoover says. “When you’re doing remote TV, it is a fact of life that a lens can get damaged. Fortunately, on-site support from Canon is backing us up to deal with such things.”

“The reliability of Canon HDTV lenses over time – regardless of weather and environmental conditions – is very great,” Hoover adds. “When you’re shooting professional football you can be in covered with snow and rain one day, and then heat and humidity the next. With Canon, you know that your HDTV lenses will hold up not only today, but tomorrow as well.”