According to sports cinematographer, Domenick Satterberg, the best combo for shooting the Super Bowl VII, is his beloved ARRI AMIRA paired with a hell of a cinema glass, which is the Fujinon 25-300mm cinema lens. Here are some thoughts below.
ARRI AMIRA + Fujinon 25-300mm = Epic SBLVII
We’ve written before on the very special (and professional) setup of sports cinematographer Domenick (Dom) Satterberg. Dom prefers using top-tier cinema cameras and lenses for getting the most cinematic shots even when filming sports events. That would constitute a solid reference for the term ‘Cinematic broadcasting’ which means, getting the best images, look & feel, and bokeh, even in sports. Dom said before, that he sees the AMIRA as the best camera for sports cinematography, because of its reliability, interface, viewfinder (which is a critical component when shooting sports), and of course, image quality. For the Super Bowl VII, Dom has paired the AMIRA with the mighty Fujinon 25-300mm cinema zoom.
ZK25-300mm T3.5 to T3.85 Cabrio
Combining the film and ENG worlds, the Fujinon ZK25-300mm T3.5 to T3.85 Cabrio Lens is a 12x zoom for Super35 cameras, and it features a PL mount. That means, it can be perfectly paired with the ARRI AMIRA. The long zoom range allows you to shoot medium-wide to long shots without changing lenses, and it holds its maximum T3.5 aperture from 25 to 273mm, almost the entire length of the zoom, losing less than half a stop as it reaches 300mm.
Furthermore, the focus ring features 280 degrees of rotation, providing for accurate focus adjustments, and the 120-degree zoom rotation is consistent with other lenses in the Cabrio line. The rear PL mount features electrical contacts for sharing ARRI LDS and Cooke /i Technology lens data with the camera. The price of the lens is $40,000 USS, and it weighs 19.6lb /8.9 kg.
One-man operation
Dom likes to operate this heavy setup independently. When filming SBLVII, he had no focus puller to handle the complex focusing on fast football players. However, he assembled a smart focusing setup that helped him to achieve perfect focus, even when sole-operating the AMIRA and the Fujinon 25-300 (watch the video above). Anyway, according to Dom, it’s really worth it: “Shooting slow motion sports with this zoom lens is an absolute dream, but it comes at a cost. The pure size and weight of this amazing lens has its drawbacks but I can easily overlook those flaws because of the sharpness and quality this lens produces” he stated. Nevertheless, it’s very difficult shooting ENG-style with it, and hence, this setup can be mainly utilized for static shooting, but you have to know what you’re doing.
Post Game Questions
- Would you shoot sports with this mighty cinema setup?
- Do you think that cinema cameras and lenses have a place when filming sports events?
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Fujinon ZK25-300mm T3.5 to T3.85 Cabrio Lens (PL Mount)
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