Following a trend being carried out by many companies in the past month, Canon Broadcast is bringing the HD lens technology it showed at the recent NAB Show to customers who did not attend the annual technology exhibition. By many accounts, there were thousands of broadcast professionals who did not attend (attendance at the show was down 20 percent from 2008).
Last week at NEP Studios in New York City, all of the major camera manufacturers brought their latest studio cameras at a Canon open house for area professionals to test out for themselves. Representatives from Grass Valley, Hitachi, Ikegami, Panasonic and Sony all gave short presentations about their camera strategy to a crowd made up of employees from such major networks as ABC and ESPN.
Of course, there were plenty of Canon HD lenses on display as well, and Larry Thorpe, national marketing executive, broadcast and communications division, Canon U.S.A., gave a detailed presentation on the resources and effort that goes into making an HD lens. This included its new HJ14ex4.3B HD ENG lens, which offers the widest angle of view (96.3 degrees) of any handheld lens on the market today.
“This was a good chance to get this important HD camera and lens technology in front of those who could not attend the NAB show in April,” said Thorpe. “We think it was very successful, from the standpoint of creating a casual atmosphere for customers and manufacturers alike to share some insight into how they are approaching the current tough economic climate we find ourselves in today.”
Among about 10 employees in attendance from ESPN were Bob Swider, senior operations producer, and Tom Gianakos, associate director of event operations, who both did not attend the convention in April and said they appreciated Canon’s efforts to show off the new technology in a casual, nonsales atmosphere.
“At NAB in Las Vegas, there’s so much distraction that it’s often hard to see and discuss the cameras in the way we like to,” said Swider. “I think what Canon is doing should be done more by other manufacturers. Everybody is stressed for time and by manufacturers coming to us, or inviting us to events like this, it helps strengthen the relationship. Everybody wins.”
Other Canon events are planned for different parts of the country in the coming months.