Wilderness Films Acquires Large Inventory

An international broadcast and television entity has built up an impressive inventory of new model HD lenses for rental at its operations throughout Asia.
Wilderness Films India Ltd (WFIL) recently acquired dozens of the new super wide angle lens from Canon - the HJ14 X 4.3, in both IRSE and IASE full servo versions. These will be put to use for rental on National Geographic, Discovery and other international productions, including the numerous series that WFIL has embarked upon post MIPTV 2010.
Apart from the HJ14, WFIL has acquired an extensive inventory of Canon HJ40 X 14 long tele lenses, for wildlife work. On the medium tele-side, WFIL has numerous HJ22 lenses from Canon as well as HA22 and HA23 lenses from Fujinon. WFIL carries many wide angle HA13 lenses from Fujinon as well.
Apart from the standard EFP zooms, WFIL also features a small inventory of HJ17 and HA16 lenses, but these are not popular in India. With the Commonwealth Games all set to be held in October 2010, in New Delhi. WFIL is receiving extensive bookings for its equipment for the busy period ahead.
Wilderness Films productions for wildlife generally carry a HJ14, HJ22 and HJ40 lens with each camera unit, while international productions filming in India require even more lenses, as often two or more units go out at once. There was a particular production in 2008 when Wilderness Films had to send out 35 lenses for a single 15 camera shoot for two weeks!
Wilderness Films is also looking to expand its rental inventory, to take on the onslaught of D-SLR cameras in the HD field. For the first time, they are thinking of acquiring some sets of Master Prime, Digi Prime and Ultraprime Zeiss lenses, for use in soon-to-be-ordered Arri Alex cameras, and employing suitable adaptors (for PL mount lenses), on SRW 9000 HDCAM SR cameras.
The company realises the opportunity from the Canon EOS 5D and the 7D cameras, and the new trend of high-end film projects opting for these cameras in place of far higher end Arri cameras. As a result, not only is Wilderness Films actively acquiring a wide inventory of Canon D-SLR cameras and primes and zooms, but they are now planning to acquire high-end Zeiss and Cooke prime lens inventories. In this regard, WFIL is speaking to Zeiss to try and get their involvement and active participation in this effort.
(BMcN)