Ursa Broadcast Lens Control

Hey guys,

so I'm looking at the Usra Broadcast and either a Fujinon XA20SX8.5BRM or a Canon KJ20x8.2B.

what is the ideal setup for controlling zoom, iris and all that jazz?

if you have a better recommendation for a lens I'm open to opinions. our stage will be 40-70 feet away from the camera.

thanks guys!

First off having the camera Rutherford than 40 feet means you are at the 170mm end of the zoom, which adds a lot of camera motion to the shot. This requires a tripod/fluid head twice the size recommend for normal shooting to lock the camera solid. At 79-feet max zoom is only going to give you a 3/4 person shot max. At 49-feet you get a 1/2 body shot, still no tight head and shoulder shot. Personally, I retry to keep the camera no further back than 25 to 30-feet, then you can pull back the zoom, and use a smaller rig.

As for the zooms, both are entry level ENG zooms, and should work OK. For remote, you are only going to get zoom and iris control, both are manual, no Servo focus lenses. For remote focus, you need a focus Servo Zoom, and a new Fujion in this category starts at $20K.

Fuji is coming out with a new 4K ENG zoom made just for the Ursa Boradcast, and you can buy the lens and camera in a package when it gets released. Meanwhile, B&H has a Ursa Boradcast and Fuji XA ENG zoom offered in kit form, which saves $600 off the individual prices.
Cheers

Thanks, Denny!

We are a church and our cameras have to be that far away sadly. we are never going to shoot 4k so I'm trying to find the best HD lens for this setup. I was waiting till I figured that out to decide on a tripod and fluid head... which i haven't started on yet... lol

My opinion, these are the wrong cameras for a church service setting. All you need a several small PZ head Servo cameras mounted to a wall, and ceiling close into the “stage” area and you have full remote control of the camera heads. These are unobtrusive cameras that very few people will even notice, and they orivide an excellent HD qualify signal for live streaming or local recording. We use these camera setups to cover public meetings for a local cable TV station.

For comparison, the Cost for an Ursa Broadcast with a good Servo Zoom/Focus lens (B&H Package deal) $10K, Camera body only is $3500, a basic ENG Zoom (XA 20x8.5) Manual focus, Servo Zoom is $5K, a EVF $1500, top handle $85 (needed for EVF) BM Studio Monitor $1800 (or SmallHD 5-inch Focus SDI Kit $600), so the camera kit alone is going to be $10-15K, plus $5K for a useable steady tripod/Video head setup.

Another option is a small camcorder like the new Panasonic AG-CX350 4K, which has a x32 Zoom, Lanc and remote options, fully self contained, OLED EVF, and can be used with a small good video/fluid head tripod. It has HDMI and SDI outputs for live switching. HD signal is 4.2.2. 10-bit, so is more than adequate for your application. Price is $4K ready to go.

Cameras like the Ursa Boradcast are for large manned (by experienced camera operators) productions where the 4K quality is needed for post production, and live broadcast switching productions, were the local audience is not the primary audience, and for big situations like concerts and sports events, where their is room for these large cameras, and in these situations they use large box lenses and $15K+ camera stands/tripod setups. They have trained camera operators who know how to shoot long lens shots.

If you want to stay in the Blackmagic production workflow, consider using the small Micro Studio Cameras setup on small robotic heads, which again can be placed closer to the stage area in unobtrusive locations, and run remotely. You can mount the B4 ENG zooms to one or two cameras on robotic heads for getting different shots in the fly, and two or three fixed cameras setup for the main podium and an overal wide shot of the stage area.

For me, (my opinion) turning a church service into a three ring circus with big obvious cameras, etc, is not what people go to church for. Trying to turn a local church into a major boradcast production facility to copy the big TV Church productions is also too much.
Cheers

This is our broadcast location and we have trained camera ops. We're just looking for a better quality jump across the board and this is one of the steps were doing for that.

We don't need box lenses and I need to find a good middle ground lense and a good tripod to put it on.

OK, good. No, box lenses are for sporting and live concert type events, where you need a lot of reach.
You rep,ied this was a Church, just assumed something smaller, sorry. The Fujion zoom packed withnthe Ursa Boradcast at B&H, is available separately, if you a ready have the camera. Check out the B&H website for details.
Cheers

Any other Lenses/tripods you recommend?

I gather you're looking for a studio configuration style kit? Here's a link to the accessories for that lens, on p.2 you can see how the configuration is setup.

https://www.fujifilmusa.com/shared/bin/ ... %20BRM.pdf

I'd take a Canon 70-200mm over the Fuji all day long if it meant I could get closer than a
"cowboy".

Good Luck

Hey Jayme,

Not sure what your budget constraints might be, but if you can add another $1000, I would suggest getting the extender version of either lens (like the XA20SX8.5BERM - where the E is added to designate the one with the extender).

This will give you a lot more flexibility to zoom in tighter on something, when needed. Assuming that you've got enough lighting on the stage, you may be able to get away with running the entire service with the extender on. Just remember that when the extender is on, you may need to open the iris more or add a little gain - and sometimes you can't get to the end of the lens without the image getting really dark, really quick, but the extender at least gives you some options that you don't have without it.