Canon EOS C100 review – an underestimated cinema camera

For this video specifically: All sponsoring income from this video will go to the “rainbow of hope” children’s home in Moldova.

The most affordable of Canon’s “cinema cameras” the EOS C100, has been around since late last year when I had a chance to test it in a real world environment (see video above).
In the light of recent camera announcements at NAB and the current C100 price drop I’d like to share my experience and tell you why I think the EOS C100 is one of the most important and underestimated cameras of 2013.

Everyone tells you that each project requires a different tool. Well that’s certainly true and sounds very professional, but if you’re interested to read about the C100 your budget probably limits your shooting style and choice of camera to only very few valid candidates currently available.

In this price range you are like so many others still looking and waiting for a camera that truly supports and helps you express your filmmaking ambition, be it documentary or fiction or anything in between.

Here’s a camera I can truly recommend. It has no big red labels screaming things like 4K, 12bit, or 3D for that matter (that was last year’s hype), in fact it has nothing too fancy about it: It’s HD, it does 30p max and has a mediocre file compression system. But don’t be fooled by technical specs, because this camera is superb within its boundaries and a surprisingly strong, well rounded tool from top to bottom.

Let me give you some examples:

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R.J.’s Speedbooster adapter for Nikon – only $200

We really loved the Metabones Speedbooster adapter, a device that transforms any aps-c sized sensor to a full frame lookalike and gives us one full additional stop of light. Here’s R.J.’s take on the Speedbooster with a version for Nikon cameras.

Word is out that Metabones’ Speedbooster for MFT mounts is delayed until later this year, which is unfortunate as there are many MFT cameras we would like to boost that way.

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Sony FS700 – review & corporate film

I’ve been working with the Sony FS700 for several weeks before shooting this corporate film in September.

Slow Motion
The Sony FS700 brings one unique and very exciting feature, the slow-motion mode that allows you to grab 240 frames worth of HD images per second. At this pricepoint slow motion has never been accessible, it’s wonderful to be able to experiment with this new tool.
But there are limitations too: This might not be visible on Vimeo, but the already very weak AVCHD codec of the FS700 (lots of artifacts generally) doesn’t get any better during slow-motion. Also the controls and any external SDI monitoring is disabled in slow-motion mode, so if you’re not connected via hdmi then all you have is the tiny screen on the back of the camera and no technical information at all. It still works somehow though, you’ve got to check after recording.

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Sony Production Awards – Submit your films, win an FS700

[UPDATE: We just realized this seems to be Europe only. Sorry US residents.]

Sony wants your (up to 5 minute long) shorts and gives out 4 NEX-FS700 camcorders and the grand winner of the so called PROduction awards will receives one of the first “4K kits” which includes the accessories needed to makes the Sony FS700 4K capable.

Granted the teaser video for this contest has a tad of last century weird, but that could probably give you a feeling of having even better chances to win. Another incentive: It’s free to submit your work and it can be uploaded easily, so no troublesome process to get started.

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