Canon's HD zoom lens with image stabilization smoothes out 3-D production
Jun 6, 2011 8:00 AM
Designed for 2/3in HD cameras, Canon’s HJ15ex8.5B portable HD zoom lens can stabilize a wide range of vibration frequencies.
Canon’s HJ15ex8.5B portable HD zoom lens is ideally suited for 3-D production jobs, thanks to its built-in optical image stabilization technology that makes good-quality stereoscopic 3-D production possible. By eliminating any shaking or movement in one or two of the cameras on a 3-D rig, the images are more enjoyable to watch.
As the first portable HD zoom lens with built-in optical image stabilization, introduced at NAB 2010, the Canon HJ15ex8.5B is compact and weighs only 4.4lbs. This makes it good for mounting on 3-D rigs of all types.
Designed for 2/3in HD cameras, Canon’s HJ15ex8.5B portable HD zoom lens can stabilize a wide range of vibration frequencies. Examples range from the low-frequency vibrations encountered on a camera operator's shoulder in a jostling crowd situation, to tripod-mounted operation on shaky platforms, to the higher-frequency vibration that cameras are subject to when operated inside aircraft and motor vehicles, on motorbikes and in boats. The lens provides four selectable image-stabilization modes to allow operators to optimize the degree of correction under diverse, and sometimes unique, shooting conditions.
Canon's exclusive VAP-IS technology used in the HJ15ex8.5B portable HD zoom lens incorporates a novel optical group made up of two flat glass elements joined by a sealed bellows containing a high-refractive-index liquid, selectively placed in front of the lens' overall optical system. According to the company, during shooting, any physical jolt or vibration detected by two motion sensors inside the lens signals a high-speed microcomputer. Calculations are made, and two digital outputs in turn create proportional control signals that drive two voice-coil motors that apply a yaw and pitch squeezing of the bellows.
The associated distortion of the liquid instantaneously alters the direction of the transmitted light rays in a manner designed to counter the incoming light-ray displacements created by these disturbances. The system has been optimized for fast closed-loop correction that provides almost real-time compensation for image instabilities arising from all forms of lens-camera operational unsteadiness.
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