Abakus Lenses & Optics for High Definition B4-mount Cameras

These award-winning ultra-wide lenses have the ability to cover the whole of a stadium in a single shot with minimal distortion in any one sector of the shot due to the F-theta design. There are three High Definition (HD) or Standard Definition (SD) ultra-wide lenses for B4-mount cameras known as :

The Abakus Stadium (210° picture diagonal) - as wide as you can get!

The Abakus Arena (140° picture diagonal) - robust with sensible front lens protection and

The Abakus Theatre (100° picture diagonal)- for use in large internal environments.

All the lenses take one or two fixed standard 40.5mm internal filters in a rotating filter holder, now supplied as standard, making the lenses ideal artistic/fun lenses to use.

Abakus also manufactures the Eyepiece Extender shown above for use on these cameras.

Download pdf Brochure of B4 Mount Lenses

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Stadium Lens

(Picture courtesy of Lemac, Australia)

The Abakus High Definition Stadium lens is a fast (f1.8) lens which enables ultra-wide vision shots. The angle of view is greater than 180°, the diagonal angle being a full 210°, making it possible to include a huge arc of vision on a single shot. With this type of lens, technically known as an F-theta lens, distortion in any one sector of the shot is minimal. When viewing a curved scene, such as inside a stadium, curvature is minimal even at the edges. This makes it the ideal lens for shots at events such as pop concerts, soccer, athletics, motor races and theme parks.

This lens is revolutionary in the market due to the breadth of arc of vision. There are no TV lenses available with anything like as wide a vision as this. Previous general views in stadia were often taken from high up, with the use of a crane, giving only a birds-eye view and where roofs of the stadium tended to interfere with the overall view. The Abakus Stadium lens can be used at any level and can thus pick up more detail and be among the crowd, or give a players view of the stadium, to pick up the excitement and atmosphere of any event.

Although the Abakus Stadium lens was initially designed to enable High Definition (HD) quality, specified versions are available to suit Standard Definition (SD) cameras. Also, with the use of our Abakus Super-16 Adapter the lens can be used for super-16 cinematography. (See Stadium Lens for super-16.) All with no loss in quality.

Awards:

October 2000. SatisFacit award winning Abakus Stadium lens

Created in 1991, the SatisFecit awards are given each year at the SATIS show (le Salon des Techniques de l'Image et de Son) to a manufacturer or distributor of technologically innovative new products emerging on the French market. Our French distributor EMIT presented the Stadium lens in 2000 on behalf of Abakus and it won the lens innovation section for this revolutionary new product.

September 2000

Abakus Stadium Lens made its professional debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Here the lens was suspended looking down on the main arena and was used most effectively for the culmination of set pieces during the opening ceremony. The Abakus Stadium lens is ready and waiting for a multitude of exciting uses to be devised by camera users with imagination and artistic vision.

Technical Specification

Stadium Lens Front Protection

A wrap-around, front protection cover is now available for the Stadium lens for use in extreme environments where there is risk of damage to the front lens element.

The design challenge for protection for the front element of the 210° diagonal angle of view of this unique B4 mount ultra-wide lens has been met! A wrap-around, front protection cover is now available lens for use in extreme environments where there is risk of damage to the front lens element.

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The Abakus High Definition Arena lens is a fast (f1.8) lens which enables high quality wide vision shots. The angle of view is greater than 120°, the diagonal angle being a full 140°, making it possible to include a wide arc of vision on a single shot. With this type of lens, technically known as an F-theta lens, distortion in any one sector of the shot is minimal. When viewing a curved scene, such as inside an arena, curvature is minimal even at the edges. This makes it the ideal lens for many different types of shot at events such as pop concerts, soccer, American football, rugby, hockey, tennis, baseball and theme parks.

This lens is unusual in the market due to the arc of vision. General views in arenas are often taken high up from a catwalk, giving views where the arena roof tended to interfere with the overall view. The Abakus Arena lens can be used at any level and can thus provide greater interesting detail among the crowd, or give a players view of the arena, to pick up the excitement and atmosphere of any event. The front of the Abakus Arena lens can be fitted with 105 mm filters or optical flat windows for rugged applications or just sensible protection.

Although the Abakus Arena lens was initially designed to enable High Definition (HD) quality, specified versions are available to suit Standard Definition (SD) cameras. Also, with the use of our Abakus Super-16 Adapter the lens can be used for super-16 cinematography. All with no loss in quality.

Technical Specification

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Theatre Lens

The Abakus Theatre lens is a fast (f1.8) lens which enables wide vision shots. The angle of view is 85° , the diagonal angle being a full 100° , making it possible to include a wide arc of vision on a single shot. When viewing a curved scene, such as inside a theatre or opera house, curvature is minimal even at the edges. This makes it the ideal lens for shots at indoor events such as orchestral concerts, pop concerts, theatre drama, opera, indoor military display and indoor sports events such as "gladiators", tennis, basketball and ice hockey. The Abakus Theatre lens can be used at many venues, giving an audience, players or actors view of a theatre or auditorium to pick up the excitement and atmosphere of any event and provide the camera with a wonderful range of shots.

The Theatre lens is one of the series of new lenses from Abakus which have wide arcs of vision and which control distortion in a revolutionary manner. They have been designed to meet the high specifications required for High Definition Television (HDTV). However equivalent lenses can be supplied to special order for Standard Definition TV (SDTV) cameras without any loss of quality. In addition Abakus have also adapted the lenses for super-16 cinematography so they can be used with a wide variety of cameras.

Technical Specification

Abakus Eyepiece Extender Product Code 265

Small, light-weight, TV cameras originally designed to be hand-held or shoulder mounted are normally produced with short eyepiece viewing systems. These enable an operator to view what is "seen" in the camera viewfinder. The problem is that the hand-held or shoulder mounted mode of operation is prone too much more shake than when the camera is operated from a tripod or other fixed mount. In high quality situations this type of movement is not acceptable and the preferred mode is to fix the TV camera to a tripod or equivalent. However when the camera person is not directly holding the TV cameras, the original small eyepiece viewfinder is too far away from the eye to use easily.

The Abakus Eyepiece Extender has been designed to increase the comfort and efficiency of professional camera people who operate their TV cameras mounted away from their bodies on tripod etc. The Abakus Eyepiece Extender relays the viewfinder image closer to the operator's eye so that the TV camera is not knocked or jolted during operation. The overall effect is to improve operator efficiency during the shoot by making operations ergonomically better by using the Abakus Eyepiece Extender so that the image is closer to the eye. This saves time and therefore money.

We can supply adapters for Sony, Panasonic and Thomson cameras.

Technical Data and Specifications

We can now supply a wide field adapter (product code 760) so that our eyepiece extender covers the larger image of some HD colour viewfinders.

The field of view is increased to over 70 mm, whilst still retaining the 20 mm of eye relief.

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