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We're live from Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, where Canon's holding its gala event — and the company's just unveiled its first foray into digital cinema: the Cinema EOS C300. The beast is equipped with Canon's DIGIC DV III image processor, a 9.84-megapixel sensor (8.29-megapixel effective) capable of Super 35 format, and your choice of 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50 and 59.94fps recording at ISOs ranging from 320 all the way up to 20,000. Canon says it captures 1,000 horizontal lines of resolution. It's got two XLR inputs for audio and can shoot 160 minutes of video onto a 64GB CF card running a 50mbps bitrate at 1080p (29.97 with 4:2:2 color sampling. Both PL and EF mount bodies are available, depending on whatever lens system you prefer. The system is full manual focus — not a trace of AF here — and that's just how the pros like it.
Want to see what you're doing? There are a couple options: a 0.52-inch 16:9 electronic viewfinder with 100 percent coverage or a detachable 4-inch display; they're roughly 1.5-megapixel and 1.2-megapixel, respectively. The body clocks in at 3.2 pounds and would fit in a 7-inch cube with room to spare — slightly heavy, yes, but not too bulky, and we're talking about some serious gear. Think it might be your next rig? You'll pay approximately $20,000 in late January for the EF model, and Canon's shooting for a late March launch for PL lens users. That's a body-only price, but a few things come standard: the main grip, a top carrying handle with microphone mount, and that external 4-inch monitor to accompany your built-in EVF.
Video is stored on two CF card slots with output via HD-SDI, and Canon claims it can shoot at a very high ISO with no issue. During the presentation, a short sword-heavy piece, apparently shot at night, seemed to agree; there's definitely noticeable noise in this high-definition footage, but only in the darkest shots is it easily distinguishable from film grain. Earlier, a gangster drama showed off the clarity and depth of field possible in good light -- beautiful footage, to our untrained eye. There's a sci-fi dystopia, Exit, on display, too, laden with CG, but also plenty of human face to face time, showing off both the perfect pores of our future femme fatale and her gritty and at times beautiful surroundings. We've got a few pics of that footage in the gallery below. The last, Mobius, showed off the camera's rugged qualities in capturing desert cinema of a man who witnesses a horrific execution in the middle of nowhere -- dust and rocks and grains of dirt and sand, and a very shiny silver Colt .45 captured beautifully.
Martin Scorsese was also on hand to formally welcome Canon to Hollywood, and he had plenty of praise for the company's new products: "I believe these tools Canon's created give filmmakers a much closer relationship to filming than they've ever had before," he said, capping off a statement about the history of art in cinema.
Canon is showing a bunch of movies here to show off the image quality, and there are plenty of pictures below, but why not visit our hands-on as well!
Comments
WTF
kyeungbum - November 3, 2011
Aww no liveblog? Looks like an interesting competitor to the Red from the picture!
alecjenkins - November 3, 2011
I agree. Will you guys be covering the RED event tonight?
MDearworth - November 3, 2011
We’ve been in launch mode this week — we’re not liveblogging these events since we’ve got a lot of our editors here in NY. We are covering the news, and you’ll see some updates coming in.
Joshua Topolsky - November 3, 2011
We all completely understand. Keep up the amazing content!
alecjenkins - November 3, 2011
YES! Props to The Verge. Gizmodo and Engadget have been demoted.
MIDI - November 3, 2011
To say the least.
alecjenkins - November 3, 2011
cough Techcrunch cough
NewGenNewRev - November 3, 2011
Your content is amazing. You may not have live blogged the event, which is still running, but your content and coverage (especially pictures) are far superior to what Engadget is doing at the moment! The arena belongs to you. Keep up the great work!
jackcrombie - November 3, 2011
OMG This one looks so ridiculous.
kyeungbum - November 3, 2011
Finally, something to take my cat videos to the next level.
coffeecoffee - November 3, 2011
Does it come with huge biceps to hold it up?
TechedOn - November 3, 2011
The smallish Japanese man is holding it in one hand, and he doesn’t look that ripped to me.
Budo - November 3, 2011
You don’t know if he’s “smallish” by that picture. He could be huge and holding a huge camera. You only assumed he was small because he’s Japanese. That, my friend, is racist….and hilarious. You get a pass :)
sidepocket - November 3, 2011
Hey, I use a Canon DSLR, I can tell the size from the lens.
Budo - November 3, 2011
Drooling
derekpoore - November 3, 2011
According to Engadget it shoots 1080p which is kinda a bummer.
szabiakanich - November 3, 2011
Resolution is not important. But photons are.
TobRieper - November 3, 2011
I don’t know that I’d agree with that statement. This isn’t the still photography megapixel race yet.
nandreetta - November 3, 2011
When you want to blow an image/movie up to 20+ feet, yes resolution does matter ;-)
szabiakanich - November 3, 2011
I think this one can possibly shoot 4k, too. It just looks like it.
kyeungbum - November 3, 2011
It is a 4k sensor capturing 1080p.
Jerod - November 3, 2011
If you take into account the price and portability of this camera (which is likely to be much lighter and cheaper than a RED EPIC), my guess is they are going for the low end of professional cinema first and moving up from there.
dagamer34 - November 3, 2011
The scarlet beats this on price and specs. We’ll have to see how the images actually compare.
Jerod - November 3, 2011
That’s exactly what I was going to say. How is this supposed to take on RED when it only support 1080p? Maybe the price will be much better or something, but for the Resolution RED shoots in, I highly doubt this will compete video-quality. Then again, I’m judging the book by its cover, so don’t judge me.
NewGenNewRev - November 3, 2011
Just confirmed, It supports 4k.
jackcrombie - November 3, 2011
Too many BUTTONS…….I guess this one targets real professionals.
kyeungbum - November 3, 2011
This looks awesome!!
Parker731 - November 3, 2011
I already imagine this one + “L class” lenses…
Zeak - November 3, 2011
Right..I guess it’ll use different ones. I wonder what’s the mount on this baby.
Zeak - November 3, 2011
EOS or PL.
szabiakanich - November 3, 2011
It looks like your standard EF mount, since in one of the photos there’s a 5D Mk II with one of the new lenses attached.
Jarques - November 3, 2011
EF is what I was gonna say, I don’t know why I said EOS ;-) It does have a PL mount option as well though. It’s either EF or PL.
szabiakanich - November 3, 2011
Wow. Fair play to Canon. Hope the price is right!
MIDI - November 3, 2011
I already love the looks of the C300, admittedly it would be more important to know about its tech specs though :) Elsewhere tech blogs are reporting, that the camera presumably features 1080p resolution only which is significantly less than RED’s Scarlet. Let’s hope the sensor is large, performs well in low light conditions and provides for more detailed color rez than its DSLRs.
I hope Canon prices this cam accordingly – esp. wrt the Scarlet.
codesurgeon - November 3, 2011
The font they are using http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/suitcase/monopol/thin/
jwr_ - November 3, 2011
1080p is really disappointing for how long Canon have had to release a new digital cinema camera. I was hoping for 4k at the very least.
The very least.
MIDI - November 3, 2011
Would you be less disappointed if it sells for thousands less than 4k cameras? I don’t know if it will, but it seems likely, given that it doesn’t shoot 4k.
Jack Trollsmiter - November 3, 2011
That’s exactly what I’m considering right now. I currently shoot with 7D, and although I don’t require 4k in my workflow right now, it would have been nice to have an option.
If this is around £5,000 (depending on more details), then it’ll be worth my while.
MIDI - November 3, 2011
Agreed. Lets face it, the majority of phones being developed and released right now have 1280 by 720 screen resolutions. HD is dead. Anyone who is investing in professional cameras should go the route that will survive into the super high vision or whatever it will be named in the not to distant future.
Jerod - November 3, 2011
So can it autofocus while recording? That’s the biggest drawback to shooting video on the T2i. The video looks fantastic but you’re stuck at one focus point unless you do it manually.
Jack Trollsmiter - November 3, 2011
this is going to be all down to the price, I can the see the wedding videographer and corporate film maker going mad for this….
jamiesim - November 3, 2011
Really? To me it seems aimed at the market that has blossomed off the back of the 5DmkII. Something that still needs time to set up. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the guts of the 5DmkII inside a different body…
MIDI - November 3, 2011
I just wish the 5dmkII could shoot at 60fps.. If it could do 24 and 60 fps both it would be everything I need.
incendy - November 3, 2011
The only real question is, how much does it cost? I already want it.
BoringCode - November 3, 2011
Some details:
Cinema EOS C300 and EOS C300 PL
Specifications
8.3mp 2160×3840 Super-35 CMOS sensor (4K resolution)
DIGIC DVIII Processor
Canon XF Codec
Dual Compact Flash Slots
Exposure and focus are both manual only
Availability: Jan. 2012; Price: appx. $16,000 USD
New Lenses (PL & EF Versions)
Canon Zoom Lens CN-E14.5-60mm T2.6 L S
Canon Zoom Lens CN-E14.5-60mm T2.6 L SP
Canon Zoom Lens CN-E30-300mm T2.95-3.7 L S
Canon Zoom Lens CN-E30-300mm T2.95-3.7 L SP
Three New Primes for EF Mount Only
Canon Prime Lens CTZ-029 (24mm)
Canon Prime Lens CTZ-030 (50mm)
Canon Prime Lens CTZ-031 (85mm)
Jarques - November 3, 2011
Where from? 4K???
MIDI - November 3, 2011
Sorry, forgot to include a source: http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/canon-eos/canon-usa-announces-cinema-eos-c300-and-eos-c300-pl-cameras.html
Jarques - November 3, 2011
So they’re re-releasing the RED One, 4 years later and at the same price, under the Canon brand?
nandreetta - November 3, 2011
With Canon optics, which are superior to REDs, and without all the post headaches that RED has.
This really competes more with a Arri Alexa, which is the darling of Hollywood, I think. If it’s around $16k (I saw on one blog) then it’s quite competitive.
Jeff Wilson - November 3, 2011
Well it’s not 4K out. That’s just the sensor. It only records in 1080p at 30 fps (720p at 60) and it saves it all down to 4:2:2 mpeg-2 at 50 mbps. In other words: Crap codec. It is, from what I’ve heard, an 8-bit codec aswell, so there goes your latitude. So basically it is a 5D without the moiré problems at $14000 more. So it’s not good enough for high end, and to expensive for low end. Weak first entry.
Malmer - November 3, 2011
I WANT.
nicjackson - November 3, 2011
This is amazing technology, holy shit, I wish I could test this hardware out.
FrankyApple - November 3, 2011
So, is that 50mm with a 1.3 f-stop?
Jarques - November 3, 2011
Just learned about T-stops, and T1.3 is definitely better than f/1.2. (at least from what I’ve read)
Jarques - November 3, 2011
Let’s just agree on “holy crap that’s fast” and call it a day.
Captain Megaton - November 3, 2011
Ahhh. It looks like it only delivers 4k with the new Cinema EF lenses. Older lenses probably only do 1080p. I’m guessing this has to do with the distance between the sensor and the lens of older EF lenses?
Jeff Wilson - November 3, 2011
The sensor and the data stream recorded from has nothing to do with the lens on the front, unless the image circle is smaller than the sensor it would seem to be an artificial limitation if true.
Captain Megaton - November 3, 2011
Great something else, I won’t be able to afford!
pettiger15 - November 3, 2011
Soo…. while Nikon is farting around with the Nikon 1 not-so-compact mirrorless, Canon comes out with this.
Place your bets one which comes next: a Nikon F-mount movie camera or a Canon mirrorless system camera.
Captain Megaton - November 3, 2011
Engadget just revealed that the C300 will cost around $20,000:
“List price is $20,000 and we’ll see these hit stores by the end of January 2012. Yes, 2012. As in this coming January. Worldwide.” -source
Jarques - November 3, 2011
WTF! RED is laughing is laughing their pants off with that price.:D
qbeta - November 3, 2011
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/samples/cinemaeos/
Videos published of the short films they shot on this camera, they look GOOD, but god am I still shocked by the price.
Ontheinterwebs - November 3, 2011
4k is the new 4G
steffmn - November 3, 2011
For a cinema camera…1080p..Eeew. 50p max…Eeeew. Mpeg codec…EEEEEEW. Come on Canon, your embarassing yourself in front of Mrtin Scorcese by putting in “cinema camera” tag on this. Those spec sheet are weak. Really?! This is a camera for web video producers..as transferring 1080p to cima projector resolution will just be a joke. And if your shooting only for the web…why not just buy the waaay cheaper DSLRs which after compression to web standards, all look the same anyways.
qbeta - November 3, 2011
C’mon Canon, you’re big enough that you could have given RED a run for their money! This is pathetic. Talk about a lack of vision…. unbelievable.
Stivan - November 3, 2011
The lenses look interesting though…! Good on that, at least.
Stivan - November 3, 2011
Only a precious few on this thread have any idea what they’re talking about.
heelo - November 3, 2011 via mobile
Canon’s lenses are quite good. We used them exclusively when I worked in TV news. Their bodies however are quiet another story. They just weren’t that sturdy in my time with them. I’ll reserve judgement til I put my hands on one.
TheANARCHY - November 3, 2011
It’s about time. I have been waiting for Canon to jump into the large sensor market for some time. $20,000 is a bit much for me, but still glad to see they’re finally doing it. For price alone, I’m still leaning toward the Sony FS 100, but this C300 looks like it’s going to pack a serious punch. And those new lenses don’t look too shabby, either (again, though, price…wayyy out of my league.)
DavenMathies - November 4, 2011
The rest of us will have to suffice with a hacked Panasonic GH2: http://goo.gl/T7C4U
LoreMale - November 4, 2011
If it’s $20K, then it isn’t an answer to RED.
joel.gautraud - November 4, 2011
$20k for just body or with lens?
silentgear - November 5, 2011
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