BSC Expo in London was the best ever. More than 5500 visitors gathered in the Battersea Park Evolution exposition space on Feb 1-2. If there was a theme, it was full frame and large format lenses. Panavision had 11 or 12 series of large format sphericals and anamorphics at their lens bar. Michael Cioni’s 4-screen display let you compare the same scene shot with 4 different lenses.
Leitz Cine let loose three prototype Leica Format Leitz Primes: 18mm, 65mm and 75mm all T1.8. Cooke had the latest 65mm Panchro /i Classic (full format) and Full Frame Plus 1.8x anamorphic /i lenses. ARRI Signature Primes are delivering on schedule and ZEISS showed their latest 135mm T1.5 Supreme.
Whitepoint Optics from Helsinki showed their rehoused and redone Hasselblad lenses on a 65mm motion picture film camera in the Movietech booth, along with Super Baltars redux. Nic Sadler showed Cameleon S35 and FF anamorphics via Brian Caldwell. Gecko-Cam displayed their lines of lenses, including Vintage Ultra Primes, Stealth rehoused Super Speeds, Genesis with modern and vintage looks, and many more.
Carry-on cases rolled around the floor with prototypes from a number of startup companies.
Panasonic premiered their new mirrorless S1 full frame camera that is capable of 4K 10-bit 4:2:2. Ronford showed a modification of their Atlas head to accept an OConnor baseplate.
Like an oasis of calm on the mezzanine above the expo spice market, CVP displayed equipment in an architecturally stunning, muesum-worthy space separated into themes:
- Lens bar
- Lens test area with charts
- Macro land with little live critters scampering around in front of Raptor, Infinity Optics and other close-up lenses. The snails did not scamper.
- Studio lens setups and rigs
- Handheld setups
- A wall of monitors
- Post production – DaVinci Resolve
- Gimbals, remote heads and wheels
Of course, this oasis of calm grew busier than the nearest pubs in the afternoon, as the bar was open.
More details to follow.
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