The Story of the Cinema EOS C300 From the People That Made It

Canon’s Senior Director of Professional Engineering Solutions Larry Thorpe Tells How the C300 Was Born

After attending the release of Canon’s newest camera, HD Magazine published a great audio interview with Canon’s own Larry Thorpe on the development of the new C300 camera.  Their in depth interview goes into the concept and creation of the C300 and its capabilities. Thorpe, Senior Director of Professional Engineering and Solutions, is definitely one of the most qualified to speak about Canon’s newest camera.  After all, he has been with the project since the beginning.

Thorpe speaks extensively about not only the specs but the abilities of the C300 (especially the sensor’s capabilities).  Through the interview, he talks about how the C300 was developed, explaining why Canon decided to offer a two mount solution. Thorpe also addresses one of the main complaints about the C300: it’s 8-bit output, and tells you why the output may be much more than it seems. From concept to creation, Thorpe breaks down what makes the C300 tick.

Check out HD Magazine’s interview below, and don’t forget to see their story at www.definitionmagazine.com.
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The Canon Cinema EOS System: C300 and C300PL

In an event with as much fanfare as any Hollywood movie premiere, Canon EOS finally released what we’ve all been waiting for, The Canon EOS C300.  Not truly a DSLR and definitely not your traditional cinema rig, this tiny wonder will lead their full frontal assault on RED and Arri.  Here’s the specs thus far:

The rest of the Cinema EOS system includes Canon’s own high-end cinema zoom lenses… first their two zooms, the PL-mount versions of which were previously announced and exhibited earlier this year back in April at NAB 2011. All resolve to 4K:

• Canon Zoom Lens CN-E14.5-60mm T2.6 L S (wide zoom, EF version)
• Canon Zoom Lens CN-E14.5-60mm T2.6 L SP (wide zoom, PL version)

• Canon Zoom Lens CN-E30-300mm T2.95-3.7 L S (telephoto zoom, EF version)
• Canon Zoom Lens CN-E30-300mm T2.95-3.7 L SP (telephoto zoom, PL version)

And three yet-to-be-released primes, all resolve to 4K but all are EF-mount only:

• Canon Prime Lens CTZ-029 (24mm)
• Canon Prime Lens CTZ-030 (50mm)
• Canon Prime Lens CTZ-031 (85mm)

• Richard Crudo’s  ”Max is Back”
• “Sword” by veteran director Felix Alcala
• “XXIT” from ASC Sam Nicholson
• “Mobius” from Vincent Laforet

After the shorts, Martin Scorsese took the stage to show his enthusiasm for what he feels is an end to large bulky camera systems that actually impede the production process.  Finally, there was a panel of the filmmakers involved in making the previously mentioned shorts.

So, did the event live up to everyone’s expectations?  For me it confirmed the fact that Canon is adapting their EOS system in the form of a cinematic camera that looks to not only go after RED, but Sony and Arri as well.  Of course this is all very exciting, but even if it does come with an EF mount, it’s still way out of the scope of the budget of many of us who have embraced HDSLR because of it’s low cost/high quality imagery.

What happened next was a total surprise to everyone, and it was the news of this guy:

For more information about the new Canon Cinema EOS System, go to their website at:   www.canoncinemaeos.com