News

Canon Displays Expanded Line of HD and SD Lenses at NAB 2005 (14/4/2005)

Canon, a world leader in imaging and optics, today announced six new products that will debut at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas, April 18th - 21st. Among the new products launched are three field lenses for economical productions in both HD and SD; a lightweight HD ENG lens; an HD remote control lens designed specifically for the Sony HDC-X300 HD remote control POV camera.

"The broadcast industry is now moving into high gear in their transition to Digital Television and Canon is expanding both our SDTV and our HDTV lens product lines to support their related investments in digital production systems," said Larry Thorpe, national marketing executive, broadcast and communications division at Canon U.S.A., Inc, a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ). "At NAB 2005, we anticipate broadcaster's emerging interest in HD newsgathering and the need for lower cost telephoto lenses for a broad range of production applications."

According to Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon U.S.A., Inc., "Canon is showing a comprehensive range of technologies for the creation and display of high-quality video. Canon's line up includes the digital XL2 mini DV camcorder with disk-recording option, to the new Realis SX50 - one of the smallest, lowest-cost LCOS projectors on the market."

Continuing its tradition of quality and reliability, the new and existing Canon products on display at the NAB 2005 show include:

Optics

-- Field Lenses: Canon's line of DIGI SUPER field lenses has a history of being first in the industry in terms of long lens quality and performance. In 2005, Canon will add three new lenses to their impressive line to provide even more options for all users and applications--and at less expense. These lenses, which do not require image stabilization include: the XJ60x9BIE-D High Definition HDxs lens, and the PJ62x9BIE-D and PJ 62x13.5BIE-D Standard Definition IFxs lenses. All three feature shorter zoom ratios and are affordably priced. They will be displayed at NAB 2005 along with Canon's established family of field lenses.

-- HD Studio Lenses: Canon's popular HD Studio lenses are also being displayed at this year's NAB. These include the first ever compact studio lens, the DIGI SUPER 22xs (XJ22x7.3BIE-D), which provides superior optical performance for HDTV or SDTV portable cameras in an extremely compact box-style design. Rounding out the line are Canon's premium DIGI SUPER 25xs (XJ25x6.8BIE-D) and the cost-effective DIGI SUPER 23xs lens (XJ23x7B IE-D).

-- ENG/EFP: Canon's full line of HDTV and SDTV ENG/EFP lenses offer a wide range of choices from wide-angle and standard to telephoto. All have been used extensively for newsgathering, sports production, documentaries, and stabilized helicopter systems. The newest lens in the line, will be the HJ17ex7.6B ENG lens series, including a switchable 16:9/4:3 version. These HD lenses will be smaller, lighter, and lower-cost than the current HJ17ex7.7B EFP lens and are intended to support the emerging industry interest in HD ENG. With the addition of the HJ17ex7.6B lenses, Canon now offers seven portable HD lenses, all of which will be on display.

-- Enhanced Digital Drive Technology: This unique technology, available on Canon's full line of e-HDxs High Definition and e-IFxs Standard Definition portable zoom lenses, employs three Canon ultra-high-precision, microprocessor-driven digital servos with 16-bit optical encoders to control iris, zoom, and focus along with position memory, and user-defined digital functionality.

-- High Definition Electronic Cinematography: Other lenses on display include Canon's increasingly popular line of six HD-EC prime lenses and three zoom lenses. The HD-EC line includes Canon's unique Anamorphic converter, which fits easily between any 2/3-inch electronic cinematography prime or zoom lens and camera, making it possible to easily record a CinemaScope(TM) size (aspect ratio 2.35:1) image with an HD cinematography camera.

-- Remote-Controlled HD Lens: The new KH19x6.7 KTS Remote Controlled High Definition lens for half-inch cameras meets the specifications of Sony's HDC-X300 and new HDC-X310 camera, which is being introduced at NAB 2005. The KH19x6.7 KTS offers complete control capabilities of zoom, focus, and iris (functions identical to those in Canon's current line of remote-control lenses). The KH19x6.7 KTS Remote Control Lens will also operate as part of Sony's "Auto Focus" system.

www.canonbroadcast.com