“Revealing” Canon C300 Test Video

[Canon Rumors]

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<strong>More C300 eye candy and praise</strong><a href="http://www.jonathanyi.com/">

Jon Yi</a> has provided a fantastic “test” video from the new Canon EOS C300. His conclusion, “C300 = awesome”.</p>
<p>There’s some great info about ISO performance and workflow. A worthwhile watch.</p>
<p><em>There’s a little bit of language and “skin” in the video, so if you’re easily offended, don’t press ‘play’.</em></p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32067654" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>From Jon Yi</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>In early Fall 2011, I shot some footage with a pre-production model of the Canon EOS C300 for one week in NYC. I created an article and a video for Canon based on my experiences with the camera. The video is meant to poke fun at most camera test videos I’ve seen over the years. Canon, not thrilled with my sense of humor, does not credit or condone this video, but I think it shows a lot of the camera’s strengths.</p>
<p>You can read my full article about the EOS C300 here:<a href="http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/c300_for_cinematographers.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/c300_for_cinematographers.shtml</a></p>
<p>I believe that Canon made a beautiful camera that is sensible, reliable and portable in a way that I’ve always dreamed a camera could be. It prioritizes great skin tone and has higher ISO sensitivity than any other camera out there.</p>
<p>I know there’s nothing I can say to change the minds of the RED fan club. For the rest of the skeptics, I think once you get your hands on it you’ll understand how great this camera really is. Please buy this camera in January and go film some good skin tones in the dark. You’ll love it.</p>
<p>Thanks go out to all my friends for helping me with this.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong><a href="http://blog.planet5d.com/2011/11/revealing-new-canon-eos-c300-test-video-from-jon-yi/">Visit Planet5D</a></strong>Â & <strong><a href="http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/c300_for_cinematographers.shtml">Jon Yi</a></strong> for more on the video.</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>

 

[tomscott]

This looks incredible

 

[AG]

All camera tests should be like this, that was hilarious.

Looking forward to seeing these cameras in person. Really tempting but makes me wonder what the Hybrid DSLR will be able to do.

 

[lonelywhitelights]

the C300 isn't impressing me to be honest, as far as physical results are concerned nothing here I haven't already seen from a 7D or 5DII, or D3S

It's impressive with the amount of options you have and the amount of control you have especially with sound, much more so than a DSLR but again.. the results are no different, maybe on a larger scale production you'll see better results.. hmm

 

[Mappy]

Too bad they didn't specify the "HD SLR" they used for the side-by-side shots The difference in image stabilisation is huge. I wonder how the 7D/5D II video shooters feel about this comparison.

 

[pakosouthpark]

this is a really good video to see the differences + its funny!
yeah im wondering which hd slr was used..

 

[distant.star]

I know nothing about video -- but this was stunning to look at. I can't wait for folks to start making movies with this camera.

 

[samueljay]

the C300 isn't impressing me to be honest, as far as physical results are concerned nothing here I haven't already seen from a 7D or 5DII, or D3S

It's impressive with the amount of options you have and the amount of control you have especially with sound, much more so than a DSLR but again.. the results are no different, maybe on a larger scale production you'll see better results.. hmm

I think the point is that you wouldn't be able to get any usable video at those apertures in those lighting conditions with a DSLR, where as the C300 provides really nice video like that at higher apertures in low light.

Too bad they didn't specify the "HD SLR" they used for the side-by-side shots The difference in image stabilisation is huge. I wonder how the 7D/5D II video shooters feel about this comparison.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that what was shown in that scene was more to do with reducing rolling shutter problems than IS. The C300 looks absolutely incredible. If I was rich, I'd have one on pre-order in a heartbeat, it has very visually appealing noise at high iso's, very much like film grain rather than digital noise (as was pointed out in the video).

 

[crazyrunner33]

Too bad they didn't specify the "HD SLR" they used for the side-by-side shots The difference in image stabilisation is huge. I wonder how the 7D/5D II video shooters feel about this comparison.

I shoot with the 7D and a T3i with Magic Lantern and I am extremely impressed. The Moiré comparison has me sold on this camera. I've ran into this situation before in an interview except it wasn't the coat, it was the forehead of the person of the person I was interviewing. I'm also impressed by the reduction in jello from vibrations, this doesn't become an issue for me except when shooting with a telephoto lens. The wonderful high iso performance is the cherry on top, the noise at 20,000 iso on the C300 is something you would see at around 800-1600 iso on a 7D or T3i.

What I really want to see is a comparison between the C300 and the 1Dx and other future DIGIC V HDSLR shooters since we already know that the Moiré is reduced along with the jello effect. Iso performance will also increase due the lack of line skipping. The improvements with the DIGIC V will also be reducing noise on top of that. Time will tell.

 

[dr croubie]

I've ran into this situation before in an interview except it wasn't the coat, it was the forehead of the person of the person I was interviewing.

"Excuse me, we're having a problem with your forehead on our camera, can we get you a new forehead from our wardrobe?"

As much as I'm not a videographer, I loved the video (once I got it to play, from the external site and HD Off). Definitely impressed by the low-light performance (waiting for the C300s, FF compatible but probably EF-mount only). But some lenses they were shooting with had horrid straight-edged bokeh, I wonder which lenses they used?

 

[Doodah]

Looks promising.

 

[mjbehnke]

That was an Excellent video.... Funny too. I really like the amount of DOF it gets. And to be able to shoot at 20000iso.... That's really cool.

 

[gene_can_sing]

Holy crap, the low light on that camera is amazing. So amazing. 20,000 ISO? For video, that is ridiculous. Normally when I shoot night stuff, it has to be wide open and I try not to go past 1250. 3200 it starts looking like a mess.

But wow... 20,000. impressive.

But I can't afford it anyways.

 

[armando]

that's a crazy huge improvement!!

They might have been poking fun, but honestly that's real world

this will be great for youtube cat-videos

 

[Fandongo]

Too bad they didn't specify the "HD SLR" they used for the side-by-side shots The difference in image stabilisation is huge. I wonder how the 7D/5D II video shooters feel about this comparison.

I would say don't shoot with a jiggly tripod head.
If you're an excessively jiggly person, get a good IS lens.

DSLR + glidecam + rollerblades on horribly bumpy cobblestone = smooth as butter.

I'd also say check out the wide bike shot @48fps 720p.
Still dirty like a DSLR in 720.

Negligible high iso noise is cool.
It's cool on the hacked gh2 too.
This camera matches exactly what i expected of the 5d3.

Unimpressed.
TO THE MAX!!

 

[CowGummy]

Not a video shooter myself, but I loved that clip!!
Why can't all product reviews be done like that? Informative and entertaining at the same time - brilliant review.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Looks pretty awesome, slays the DSLR. Then again for 10 orders of magnitude greater price, it had better. All the nasties are gone. Hopefully the new 1DX, 5D3 video will also remove some of the nasties though, although probably not as much of the rolling shutter (being serious for a moment, a lot of what he called rolling shutter artifacts on his test were actually other issues like when the street lamp kept popping into and out of existence along with some of the tree branches and stuff as the car bounded along, that was the ugly skipped line sampling issue).

Oh and "No Ants Were Harmed"! Yay!!!!

But I think may favorite part of the test was the skin tones test. That was so, soooo good.

 

[catz]

One thing that I found surprising was that I did not see the resolution to be any better than my 5D mark II on this video. It looks like the moire/aliasing is mostly gone, but in this specific scene where it was compared to a HDSLR (possibly to 5D mark II as the moire resembles more the 5D than that of 60D on that scene).

I would be fine with this quality of image, but at that price, I would have expected similar fine detail as RED. For comparison clip from Scarlet posted by somebody: http://vimeo.com/32843511
Looking the comments, it looks like it is not even 1080p but it still looks more detailed than 5D mk II or the C300, and actually in the executive scene the HDSLR looks more detailed than the C300 except for the horrible moire it has (and these details are not false details created by the aliasing because the aliasing false details show up mainly as horizontal lines (and combinations of them that cause rainbows because aliasing occurs before de-bauer) that should not be there.

Based on the examples from C300, I am leaning towards a conclusion that it might be possible to achieve similar image with 5D mark II by installing the Mosaic Engineering anti-moire filter on it. The anti-moire filter costs 300 which is not so big investment over the 5D mark II compared to the out-of-indie/prosumer-reach price of the C300.

I am waiting for 5D mark III, maybe it will offer some resolution improvements over the current HDSLRs *and* may fix the moire issue (if we are lucky). If that would happen, then the 5D3 will be a dream coming true and it will find its place on my "must-have" gadgets purchase backlog and will then receive higher priority than a new Mac. I hope Canon comes out with the 5D3 before Apple comes up with the next iMac refresh. Algorithmically reducing image size from 18Mpix sensor to 2K will result sharp images if no line skipping is used, but rather the pixels are calculated together. The image will be without moire and aliasing if it is done right and does not require any optical antialiasing filter. It requires lots of horse power for the ASIC that does the conversion, but I am hoping that this will be the case with DIGIC 5.

 

[Jedifarce]

One thing that I found surprising was that I did not see the resolution to be any better than my 5D mark II on this video. It looks like the moire/aliasing is mostly gone, but in this specific scene where it was compared to a HDSLR (possibly to 5D mark II as the moire resembles more the 5D than that of 60D on that scene).

I would be fine with this quality of image, but at that price, I would have expected similar fine detail as RED. For comparison clip from Scarlet posted by somebody: http://vimeo.com/32843511
Looking the comments, it looks like it is not even 1080p but it still looks more detailed than 5D mk II or the C300, and actually in the executive scene the HDSLR looks more detailed than the C300 except for the horrible moire it has (and these details are not false details created by the aliasing because the aliasing false details show up mainly as horizontal lines (and combinations of them that cause rainbows because aliasing occurs before de-bauer) that should not be there.

Based on the examples from C300, I am leaning towards a conclusion that it might be possible to achieve similar image with 5D mark II by installing the Mosaic Engineering anti-moire filter on it. The anti-moire filter costs 300 which is not so big investment over the 5D mark II compared to the out-of-indie/prosumer-reach price of the C300.

If the C300 price drops to a more reasonable price range of 5k-10k I'd purchase it. The minimizing of the rolling shutter is nice and the high ISO for shooting video at night is great.

My initial thought about the the ice cream scene was "wow, even though they dropped the f-stop from 1.2 to 5.0 they didn't have to adjust the ISO." Until I noticed they pulled the 1.2 ND filter off the lens giving them back 4 stops of light. Oh well...

 

[cbphoto]

What a refreshing camera review!