Wayne, N.J., April 11, 2011 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Optical Devices Division has teamed up with renegade historical documentarian, Jon Alpert, to demonstrate how Fujinon’s PL mount lens, the 14.5-45mm T2.0 can maximize Sony’s new PMW-F3 Super 35mm camcorder.

Since the early 1970s, Alpert has been documenting, and often making history, from Viet Nam to Cuba to Afghanistan. Making films for NBC, PBS, and HBO, Alpert has won 15 Emmy Awards. “With documentary shooting, I need one lens to do it all,” he said.

“The lens has to be wide so we can get close to the subjects, and I need a lens that is fast because we work without lights. The Fujinon Premier PL zoom is that lens. Its extraordinary construction and image quality are astonishing.”

Alpert shot three different projects that will be shown within Sony’s booth (C11001) at NAB, being held April 11-14th in Las Vegas. All of the video was shot using Sony’s new PMW-F3 Super 35mm camcorder and Fujinon’s 14.5-45mm Premier PL mount zoom lens. One piece of footage is from a music video, shot with a green screen; the next is of can and bottle collectors in a dimly lit underground redemption center that will be part of an HBO documentary called Redemption; and the last piece is footage taken during a visit to a New Jersey farm.

The Fujinon Premier PL Mount zoom lenses are designed for current and emerging digital cinematography and 35mm motion picture film cameras. They feature fast T stops and exceptional optical performance. Uniform gear placement and front barrel diameters enable quick and efficient lens changes. Focused on the expanding documentary and independent filmmaker market, Sony’s new super 35mm digital production camera, the PMW-F3, has high sensitivity and a shallow depth of field. It comes with a PL mount adaptor to provide operators with more flexibility in lens selection.

Jon Alpert has been using Fujinon lenses for the past 40 years. Currently, his standard lens of choice is the Fujinon wide angle zoom XS8x4AS to complement his Sony PMW-EX3 camera. “We need light, fast, wide zoom lenses that won’t send our organization into bankruptcy,” he said. “Fujinon makes those lenses. I hope that Fujinon will make a lighter version of the PL lens so that I can use it as a one-man band.”

In addition to his work as a reporter and filmmaker, Alpert serves as co-director of the Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV), America’s largest and most honored non-profit community media center, located in New York City’s Chinatown. Since 1972, DCTV has taught over 50,000 students, most of them members of low-income and minority communities, the basics and finer points of television production. The center holds over 150 free or low-cost video and electronic media training workshops for about 2,000 students each year. In addition to Alpert’s reporting accolades, the center has won two National Student Emmy Awards, five New York Emmy Awards and top prizes at dozens of film festivals and competitions across the country and around the world.