the best equipment and the best crews ...

that’s the philosophy of United Broadcast Facilities

Hilversum is a location which boasts a long tradition for excellence in broadcasting. And it is also the location of United Broadcast Facilities (UBF) and its parent company United Broadcast Facilities International, whose activities are dedicated to maintaining Hilversum¹s proud tradition.

UBF started off as an ENG rental facility company around the end of the eighties at a time when commercial broadcasters first started transmitting on Dutch cable television - a  development that began to mark the end of Dutch state involvement in broadcasting.

Over the years, UBF has evolved into a full service company for the broadcast market, employing over 350 people - many of them cameramen and sound engineers -  and owning 7 OBVs, 8 SNGs, 47 ENGs, 17 edit suites and 7 studios. Additionally, many of the productions are carried out by freelance cameramen and sound engineers.

Today, UBF customer decisions on using a certain technical level for a production are made mainly with the available budget in mind. Every level of quality has its price. Yet ,within these restrictions, UBF still maintains its philosophy of working with the best possible equipment and  crews. UBF works with ENG sets that all consist of identical items - so the lenses in set 1 of  are of the same type and make as the lenses in set 35. In the OBVs, video mixers and monitoring are also all of the same type and make. So the customer knows exactly what kind of equipment to expect - regardless of the set number or the OBV size he has rented.

Standardising on Canon

For ENG as well multi-camera, UBF has always chosen Canon lenses. Currently, UBF owns 100 lenses in the ENG division and 70 lenses in the OBV. The ENG division alone uses these lenses in some 12,500 productions yearly, of which 260 are made abroad.

"This means the lenses have to be reliable and of excellent quality. Canon lenses have proven to be both, as the UBF service engineers and lens specialist in the technical service department will tell you These are the people who maintain the lenses in top condition and provide a fast service should technical problems occur on location. And In the unlikely event of ever needing them, the people of the Canon Europe service department are only just around the corner.

These rental lenses lead a tough life and are often used under difficult circumstances all over the world. The elements can pose a big threat - and users sometimes an even bigger one!  Last year  a lens had to be exchanged for another one on a production abroad because someone dropped it on the floor".  

The last word on Canon

We let Vincent Ruijter, head of the UBF Camera Division, have the last word. Vastly experienced, Vincent has travelled  the globe filming for The Discovery Channel, National Geographic and many others. "I have used a Sony DVW 790-WSP camera fitted with a Canon J-20a x 8-B4-WRS and a 9a x 5.2-B4-WRS and it gave me the picture quality of a high end broadcast lens". Vincent's experience of Canon lenses is of being sure of getting the picture quality  - whatever the conditions he has to shoot in.