Shooting Sports on ARRI AMIRA and Fujinon 25-300mm Cinema Lens

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.

Filming the Super Bowl VII. The ARRI AMIRA and Fujinon 25-300mm Cinema Lens. Picture: Domenick Satterberg

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.

Filming the Super Bowl VII. The ARRI AMIRA and Fujinon 25-300mm Cinema Lens. Picture: Domenick Satterberg

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.

Filming the Super Bowl VII. The ARRI AMIRA and Fujinon 25-300mm Cinema Lens. Picture: Domenick Satterberg

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

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fvfvfvfamazing 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.

Filming the Super Bowl VII. The ARRI AMIRA and Fujinon 25-300mm Cinema Lens. Picture: Domenick SatterbergPost Game Questions

1. Would you shoot sports with this mighty cinema setup?

2. Do you think that cinema cameras and lenses have a place when filming sports events?