July 28, 2010
Buck McNeely considers himself to be one of the luckiest guys in the world. Shooting with FUJIFILM Optical Devices U.S.A., Inc. (formerly known as Fujinon) lenses for the past 20 years, he has been able to combine his passion for hunting and outdoor activities with his vocation of producing adventure-based television to create his internationally syndicated TV series, The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely.
Over the last few years, McNeely has organized and shot elk hunts in Colorado, bird hunts in Mexico, a fishing trip in Costa Rica, and several deer hunts on his ranch in Missouri. McNeely has led expeditions in Siberia, New Zealand, Argentina, Africa, Brazil, Iceland, and all over North and South America. In 2007, the series began producing its episodes in HD, and now shoots using a Panasonic AJ-HDX900 DVCPRO HD camcorder with FUJIFILM's Premier Series HA22x7.8BERD and HA25x11.5BERD HD ENG-Style lenses.
"For most hunting applications, the Fujifilm HA22x7.8BERD HD ENG-Style zoom lens is perfect," he said. "It has a smooth zoom that is strong enough to get the glass on anything under 200 yards with good images. The 2x extender certainly helps when you're filling the frame with something at that extreme range."
For a recent fishing expedition to Costa Rica, McNeely found the HA22x7.8BERD was a versatile lens that could quickly accommodate changing shooting requirements. "I was able to get good footage of me standing five feet away from the camera catching a fish, and then zoom to a fish breaking the water 40 yards away from the boat," he said.
McNeely's expeditions usually include one or two cameramen. On occasion, he'll also be joined by his two sons, Max and Rex, or a celebrity guest. "I've had Ollie North, Gen. Chuck Yeager, Barbara Mandrell, Frank Stallone, Gov. Jesse Ventura, Kurt Warner and other football players, politicians, and actors on the show," said McNeely. "We film what happens, come back, look at the footage, then I'll write the script around the footage and tell the story of that adventure."
The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely was launched on a Missouri cable access station in 1985. As a mass communications major at Southeast Missouri State University, McNeely started the show as a college project. Over the years, it has aired on ESPN, USA, Fox Sports, and other networks.
"We built the distribution base on over 530 TV stations in the U.S. and internationally into the largest syndicated adventure series in the world," said McNeely. "The best part is we're not done yet. We have future productions in various worldwide locations. As we build out our next generation of HD content, FUJIFILM lenses are an integral part of my camera package."
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