GEAR:
CANON EOS C200
NEW GEAR ALERT | CANON EOS C200 CINEMA CAMERA
Is it the best cinema camera for a run and gun video production company?
February, 2018
We recently made an investment on Canon's new EOS C200 Cinema Camera. The video above is some test footage from our first time testing the camera before we take it on a job. This has been our biggest investment to date and we are nothing but excited to start using this video camera for our upcoming weddings in 2018. Is this a bit overkill for wedding videography? Short answer is yes. We invested in this camera for the future of our business and to ensure our clients they are getting the highest quality video production AND we are camera nerds! We would not recommend this camera to someone who is just starting out or looking to start filming weddings. This is very much a pro video camera. If you are just starting out and need recommendations, leave a comment below. We would be happy to answer your video gear related quesitons! There are several reasons why we decided to buy this camera. I will list a few below.
Reason 1: Canon's incredible Dual Pixel Auto Focus. This is the main reason we have stuck with Canon through all the years. We could have jumped ship and switched to Sony or Panasonic like everyone else, but we held out. If you notice, everyone is starting to make the switch back to Canon... The Canon C200 is the first cinema camera that shoots raw and offers Dual Pixel Auto Focus that can be used with the touch screen LCD (LM-V1). In my opinion this makes this the best run and gun filmmaking camera on the market. This makes it more appealing than their older brothers the Canon C300 & C500 (for some people), and I have been reading a lot of filmmakers are selling their RED cameras and switching over to the C200. The amount of creative control Canon's dual pixel auto focus gives you. I believe DPAF trumps a lot of other specs that other cameras offer. If I can throw my 1DX or my C200 on a Ronin and pull off crazy shots with out having some one pull focus, that is a win for me!
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Reason 2: Canon's built in EVF. I was blown away by the quality and functionality this EVF offered. If you look at the competitor the Panasonic EVA 1, that camera doesn't even offer an EVF and its in the same price range! Checking exposure in broad daylight has always been a struggle for us when we are shooting out doors.
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Reason 3: Clog! We are new to shooting Clog. If you do not know about log profiles, it is basically a super flat picture profile that gives you more ability to color grade in post. Clog also gives you more dynamic range. It helps with retaining detail in highlights and shadows. The video above was shot in Clog 3 and it was so nice to color grade! What do you think about our colors in this video?
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Reason 4: Built in ND Filters. The days of screwing on ND filters is over! Being able to slide an ND filter in front of your camera sensor at the push of a button is an absolutely beautiful thing. Getting a shallow depth of field in the broad daylight can be a tough thing to accomplish with out an ND filter. Having them built in is going to save us a lot of hassle!
Reason 5: Canon's color science. If you watch any YouTube videos, you will hear a lot of people talk about Canon's colors. Every single one of those people are telling the truth. Canon's color science is incredible and is another reason we have stuck with them through the years.
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Reason 6: Built in XLR Audio inputs. Having the ability to line in higher quality microphones directly into the camera will save us time in post. We will not have to line our Rode NTG2 into our Zoom H4N and sync the audio later. It is also very nice to see they added a built in microphone for scratch audio. They also added a 1/8th inch jack for smaller microphones. So if you are using a Rode Video Mic Pro or similar style microphone, you will be able to line this microphone directly into your C200.
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Reason 7: Canons new Cinema Raw Light. This codec is no joke! Shooting raw gives you the most flexibility when it comes to changing white balance, saving blown out highlights and much more. Shooting raw is new to us, and we look forward to having a 4k 60fps in a 10 bit & 12 bit codec! At the time of writing this article you can not convert raw files directly in Adobe Premiere Pro. They recommend editing proxies and attaching raw files when the edit is complete. Final Cut Pro X recently allows the capability to convert Cinema Raw Light. Canon also offers a software to convert raw files called Canon Raw Development. I am no expert when it comes to Cinema Raw Lite or other raw codecs from other camera manufactures. I will blog the experience as a develop my workflow for editing raw. If you are in need of more information about Cinema Raw Light Click Here: Cinema Raw Light
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Conclusion:
This is an overall workhorse of a camera. We are nothing but excited to start shooting and bring this on our shoots. We are bringing the C200 on it's first commercial shoot this weekend. I am excited to see how this camera preforms on wedding day. We are primarily wedding videographers, but we do a fair amount of commercial video production for small and medium sized businesses. The 8 bit .mp4 codec seems to be very manageable. The file sizes are much smaller in comparison to the Canon 1DX mark ii motion jpeg codec. So that will give us ease on shoots. We will not have to worry about over shooting and bringing home terabytes of footage!
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