Canon EOS C300 Digital Cinema Camera: announcement, video, and hands-on photos

We didn’t have much detail on when the Canon EOS C300 would be made available, beyond B&H Photo letting us know it’d be “sometime after January 30th.“ It turns out the retailer was pretty much on the money, though, as the 1080p-shooting cinema camcorder will go on sale in Japan the very next day along with its 14.5-60mm T2.6L lens. Chances are the US release will follow shortly after, as we were told to expect a staggered global launch. If you just can’t wait, though, you should know that while it’ll go for a pre-tax price of $15,999 in the US, Canon expects Japanese retailers to sell the C300 for a cool 1.5 million yen. That’s over $19,000, inclusive of 5% sales tax — but if you can afford the camera in the first place, it may be a small premium to pay for the bragging rights.

Yesterday, Canon introduced the EOS C300, a $20,000 camera that shoots at 1080p. Mere hours later, RED announced the Scarlet X, which captures 4K footage — far larger — for just $9,750. Now, if we were to pretend that price and resolution were the only important factors in a camera, we’d be doing something rather silly. Still, it does make you wonder: why 1080p? We spoke to Canon technical advisor Chuck Westfall at the company’s Paramount Studios unveiling yesterday evening, and he told us that 1080p was a complex function of the professional market that Canon is addressing.

The Cinema EOS C300 project began two and a half years ago, Westfall said, shortly after the launch of Canon’s 5D Mark II, the DSLR which famously attracted the interest of cinematographers and generated a lot of feedback from the Hollywood community. “That gave us a lot of incentive to keep going and developing something that was more appropriate for their needs,” he said, “but we realized right away that instead of trying to modify a still camera for motion, it made sense to create a purpose-built camera.” So, the form factor of the C300 was designed with Hollywood workflows, rigs and accessories in mind, and Canon also decided to go with the Super 35mm sensor size. 1080p was a decision — “We wanted to address the needs of the 1080p market” — but also a limitation of that sensor, in a manner of speaking. “Coming from the gigantic environment of film capture which is based on Super 35, it made more sense for us to start off with an image sensor that matched that, and then when we tried to get the most image quality out of that sensor size, 1080p came through.” We also have to wonder if Canon’s software workflow might have something to do with it. It didn’t come up during our conversation, but the C300 shares battery packs, accessories, viewfinders and even its processor with the company’s XF-series camcorders, which also happen to shoot 50Mbps 4:2:2 video at 1080p resolution using Canon’s MPEG-2 codec.

Canon’s digital cinema revolution — if in fact that’s what it is — is right here in all its photographic glory. We grabbed one immediately after the on-stage unveil, and while we don’t have the cinematographic chops to tell you how it compares to an Alexa or RED, we can safely say the 3.2-pound rig looks and feels fantastic. As you’d expect, the EOS C300 is a fairly modular system with multiple EVF options and plenty of ways to grip. Even the standard side mounted handle is adjustable for multiple angles of attack; simply unscrew it, pull it away from the camera on its tether, then stick it back on at the angle you like and screw it in again. You wouldn’t want to hold it with a single hand for shooting, of course, but it’s light enough with a body and an EF prime to do just that, while still feeling rugged enough to take a short drop... though of course we didn’t try it on the Paramount Studios cement. We’ll be going back for more, but for right now find pictures after the break.

Update: Video below! Also, take a second peek at the gallery to see the C300’s sensor and some comparison shots.

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.