IBC 2012 – Canon’s Peter Yabsley about the EOS C100 idea

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In this last video from IBC 2012 we’re posting Clayton Burkhart has a conversation with Peter Yabsley from Canon about the new Canon EOS C100.

The Canon EOS C100 was definitely one of the most interesting cameras of IBC 2012. Peter Yabsley gave us the details in this interview and elaborates why there is such a big price difference between the C line cameras and how the different models are really for different target groups.

Let’s see if what Sony comes out with tomorrow will be able to compete with Canon’s C line of cameras.

This is the last chance to participate in our IBC 2012 twitter contest as we’ll pick the winner tomorrow.

The Canon EOS C100 is expected on November 30th and will cost $6499.
You can pre-order it here:

Edelkrone announces new "Pro" Follow Focus

Kadir from edelkrone gave us a tour through their product line-up at NAB 2012 (LINK).

One of the products we saw was the Focus One which introduced a very nice design idea:
The marker is not facing sideways, but towards the camera operator. Very useful indeed for all those one man band shooters out there. I’m sure most of you do that: use a follow focus without a focus puller. In a way that’s weird, but I guess it’s less weird with the Focus One and the new Focus One Pro.

The Focus One Pro is priced very competitive at $289. That’s a pretty low price for a follow focus and if it’s just half as precise as edelkrone says then it’s a product worth getting noticed.

So what’s the difference between Focus One and Focus One Pro?
It looks like the Pro version has two adjustment screws. One for the know and one for the tiny gear on top. The tiny gear on top is a reverse gear. So if you use Nikon lenses but are used to Canon there’s now a very easy way to switch between forward and reverse direction by simply getting the tiny gear in or out of the way of your lens gear. Inventive!

Shipping begins on July 9th: edelkrone.com

Dan Chung says Canon 1DX is sharper than the 5D3

Dan Chung from dslrnewsshooter has had a chance to compare the Canon 5D mark III and its big brother the Canon 1D X. Both have very similar video features but there seems to be a slight difference how video is recorded.

The 5D mark III has been slashed for its soft image. It’s proven that the GH2 is sharper. Canon told us that the softness is a result of disabling in-camera sharpening for the 5D mark III.

When I used the 5D mark III for my NAB 2012 coverage I wrote that I was actually quite happy with the detail it provided after sharpening in post. But regardless of my personal opinion there’s a definite need for a sharper image among HDSLR’s and the 1DX seems to provide that.

There’s a lot of technical evaluation on nofilmschool and eos hd about Dan’s video and in a way everybody seems to be relieved that there’s improvement. But is the difference really that significant? You can go to vimeo and download Dan’s video for your own evaluation.

I downloaded the source and found a moment for both cameras when the Manfrotto logo on her shirt seemed best exposed. I applied some sharpening to the 5D mark III. It seems like indeed the 1DX has slightly more detail to show as the logo seems more readable on the 1DX footage.

The Canon 1DX is $6799 at B&H:

[UPDATE] A more in depth analisys by cinema5D member jcs (see comments):
“5D3 image sharpened at 33 + minor curve adjust, 1DX sharpened at 16, both Neat Video noise reduced.
After processing, during playback and full screen, hard to see much of a difference in quality: the 1DX has slightly more detail, but looks digital vs. the slightly less detailed 5D3 which looks more like film.”

FCP Plugin for 5D mark III’s new REC.709 color space

I’ve received the following info from Canon inc. Japan:

The movie color conversion matrix (RGB -> YUB) for the EOS-1D X and 5D mark III has been changed to BT.709 (sometimes referred to as REC.709) for Full HD and HD movies (On previous EOS products it was BT.601). SD movies remain as BT.601.

Therefore it is recommended that editors use the new version of the EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro (Ver. 1.3) that supports a BT.709 color conversion matrix when using Final Cut Pro 6.x/7.x for editing.
What does this actually mean?
BT.709 is a broadcast color space that uses RGB values of 16-235 (rather than 0-255 as per a still image). It is the standard colour space for HD footage.
The downside is that if not properly converted (i.e. converting 5D III footage to ProRes for editing) footage will be more susceptible to gamma issues with NLEs than the 5D mark II was. This will result in “crushed” blacks (dark areas without detail) and a darker gamma on a computer screen which uses a 0-255 color space. If transcoding with software other than the EOS-movie plugin (such as 5DToRGB) set the gamma to 1.22 to get the correct display of tones.

Basically so far Canon HDSLR’s did not conform to the BT.709 standard which is “recommended” for HD. While color spaces are mostly confusing and a cause of trouble for less broadcast experienced editors the fact that the 5D mark III now conforms to this standard makes it more easily acceptable for HD broadcasters.

Download the new EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 V1.3 here: LINK
More info on REC.709/BT.709: Wikipedia