Canon To Receive Technical & Engineering Emmy Award for 4K Zoom Lenses

Canon U.S.A. has announced that its parent company Canon Inc. will be recognized at the 69th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for its complete lineup of 4K field production zoom lenses for large-format, single-sensor cameras, which includes all of Canon’s CN-E, CINE-SERVO and COMPACT-SERVO lines of zoom lenses.

Presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards honor development and innovation in broadcast technology and recognize companies, organizations, and individuals for breakthroughs in technology that have a significant effect on television engineering.

“We are grateful to receive this esteemed recognition for our comprehensive collection of 4K zoom lenses for large-format single-sensor cameras,” says Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A. “As resolutions leap from HD to 4K and beyond, it is important to recognize the lens’ role in resolving those pristine images and the importance placed on manufacturers and optical engineers to keep pace and match the sensor technologies of the more advanced cameras and sensors in the market today. The images we admire on screen all start with the lens.”

Among those lenses recognized with this prestigious award is Canon’s far-reaching CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 Ultra-Telephoto Zoom Lens, the world’s longest 4K ultra-telephoto zoom lens. Canon announced the CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm Zoom Lens in October 2014 and it began shipping in early 2015. Since its launch, the lens has been a part of many live broadcast, and innovative television productions including National Geographic’s groundbreaking live television event, Earth Live.

“The CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm lens was the ideal piece of glass for what we were trying to capture while shooting Earth Live,” says Al Berman, Executive Producer, Earth Live. “Often when shooting wildlife in their natural habitat, videographers don’t have the opportunity to be up close and personal with their subjects, but Canon’s CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm made it as if we were right there with them. It’s probably the best wildlife lens on the market.”

Canon’s CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 Ultra-Telephoto Zoom lens was a response to an international plea for a long zoom, Super 35mm lens to extend creative flexibilities in 4K / UHD natural history and documentary productions. The design challenge that Canon faced was significantly elevated by the urging from potential users that the lens be easily portable in the demanding in-the-field situations faced by those originating wildlife productions in remote locations. The necessary focal range was predicated on the expressed desire to fully frame a subject having a height of four to five feet from a distance of 350 feet. This requirement dictated a focal range of 1000 mm. An additional consensus recommendation from the production community was for the lens to be no more than 15 pounds in weight and 16 inches in length. Canon mobilized the most advanced computer simulation tools to seek the necessary optimization in both the optical system and the optomechanical systems to achieve success.

The design of these lenses leveraged Canon’s decades of expertise in such system designs as well as the deployment of the latest in glass materials to achieve a balance of telephoto 4K optical performance and acceptable image brightness within the physical constraints. The 4K optical performance of the lenses are carefully managed across the entire image plane to ensure superb subjective sharpness especially on the wider angle settings.

The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards will be presented on October 25, 2017, during the SMPTE 2017 Annual Conference in Hollywood, CA.