ES Broadcast Hire has welcomed a new brood of Sony HDC-3500 UHD camera channels to its rental fleet, as part of a major investment in the latest cutting-edge broadcast technology. In all, the company has acquired 42 new HDC-3500s, taking the total inventory for the camera well beyond 100 channels available for hire from ES Broadcast Hire offices in the UK, Spain, France, Germany and the US.
   

At the same time, eight HDCU-5500 units – the base station for Sony’s HDC-5500 and its shallow depth of field, Super 35mm counterpart, the HDC-F5500 – have also been added, along with two HDCU-5000 dual transmission camera control units.

The HDCU-5000 offers both ultra-high bitrate (UHB) transmission for the HDC-5500 and can also deliver 3G transmission for HDC-3500 and HDC-3100 cameras. Its UHB capability enables 2x slow motion in 4K or can allow pictures to be transmitted from two 4K cameras simultaneously via the same CCU, for example a main camera and a POV input.

The addition of the 10 CCUs effectively doubles the capacity of the 5500/F5500 roster, with each camera now permanently paired with a dedicated CCU.

With several HDC-P50 cameras also arriving, the acquisition represents the latest upgrade and expansion to what is believed to be the world’s largest fleet of Sony UHD channels – and, alongside a very sizeable Grass Valley and Panasonic camera line-up and vast collection of Canon and Fujinon broadcast lenses, one of the biggest holdings of UHD equipment in the industry.

Warren Taggart, managing director of ES Broadcast Hire, commented: "In the nine years since Sony released its first dedicated UHD channel, the HDC-4300, 4K adoption has ballooned. As the quality of imaging technology has advanced even further, the 3500 has taken up the mantle of go-to camera, and this investment reflects our commitment to providing clients around the world with cutting-edge solutions to enhance their productions.

"The development of our 5500 and F5500 roster also underlines our dedication to providing best-in-class imaging solutions that enable levels of creativity and quality in live production that go beyond anything we've seen before."