Bigger is not always better, I thought, as we heaved the Canon 100x lens out of the van.
Bigger is heavier, bigger is more expensive... but I have to admit bigger is better when it comes to performance and versatility.
The assignment was to document Concorde's last landings at Heathrow on High Definition. The dilemma was that with traffic congestion and security I could not move between camera positions, I would have to settle for one position and stick with it all day.
Just the job for the 100x lens!
I opted for a media scaffold position 300 yards from touchdown and 1 kilometre from the terminal building. This would give me wide shots of Heathrow, the crowds a good angle on the final approach and touchdown.
But details of the terminal and reaction of airport workers would be a challenge.
The scaffold platform was rather lively to say the least as it was 200 feet long and occupied by as many gate crashing plane spotters as the worlds media. Hard to tell the two apart really! Fortunately the 100x comes equipped with the popular image stabilisation system well loved by users of the 86x and just as effective on the 100x
The total weight of head, camera and lens was around 60 kilos, the value? a cool £250k!
The f900 HD camera requires the viewfinder rail and a arri mattbox plate removed, standard practice with fitting box lenses to the f900.
The lens was powered by separate battery via convenient 4 pin socket.It can be powered through the camera but I was using a thirsty HD LCD display from the camera supply.
Ones first impression is that the range is awesome. The Focal length range is from 9.3mm to 930mm
A wide shot of the whole airport to head and shoulders of a pilot, without the doubler!
In fact I rarely used the doubler so I maintained highest possible quality with little or no ramping. Later in the day I stayed for night shots of the airport where f1.7 at around 300mm produces some extraordinary shots. This is an important point as for some applications one should consider this lens not for its zoom range but for its fast aperture.
For instance the 40x is f3.65 at 300mm
Backfocus control is conveniently placed and easy to operate, just as well as backfocus is such a critical issue with HD.
It is not surprising that with such a large front diameter that flare takes its toll. The wide angle precludes an effective fixed lens hood. The only solution would be some kind of motorized hood. One needs greater control of flare in HD than SD.
My application was for large screen presentation, but for TV broadcast one can be a little less concerned
The resolution and contrast for a lens this size are superb. But as one would expect the lens is slightly softer/flatter than smaller HD zooms which are, in turn slightly softer than HD primes. I might add that I did not conduct a test and that these were my observations back in the edit suite. I'd say 90% of the flattening was down to not being able to control flare from the hot sky. It is a good sign that you can see the effects of uncontrolled spill into the lens as this means the lens is really delivering lots of shadow detail.
On enlarging the images in the computer there is virtually no Chromatic aberration.
It was 3 weeks later when Concorde left Heathrow for its final resting place in Filton. The challenge in this location was having to shoot a flypast, the final landing then quickly move to the disembarkation point at the opposite end of the runway.
The first media shuttle bus would quickly fill with press photographers and I didn't want to lose time derigging the lens as there were Royal dignitaries at the reception point, who would wait for no one.
The lens of choice for this assignment was the lightweight HJ 40x
After Concorde had landed and taxied we simply slid the lens support (with camera and 40x lens attached) from the tripod. The camera with lens still attached can be easily carried, most comfortably by the camera strap. This "Rambo-cam" configuration gets plenty of attention from onlookers!
No need to derig and repack lens into a flight case, we were on the first media shuttle bus from the media platform to the reception point with only a "run bag", "rambo-cam" and tripod. An incredible thought that we were "running and gunning" yet producing high fidelity images suitable for large screen presentation.
Had we been shooting 35mm we would have required a truck to carry a number of lenses and heavy duty tripod. No single 35mm lens comes close to equalling the 40x range or speed. The 40x with a HD camera is an quantum leap when compared to what 35mm film can offer.
The HD 100x and 40x could be considered as landmark lenses as they have higher resolution than equivelant film lenses.
The intriguing question is where do they go from here?
Copyright Michael Brennan