Hi everyone!
So as you may know if you've been following our production thread for The Unknown, we did a TON of research and decided to go with the Canon Cinema EOS C300 as our main camera for the film. We're actually going to be using two of them, as well as a Canon 5D Mark III to get some octorotor aerial shots. Here's how we made that decision and a bit on my thoughts of the camera so far:
One of my producers, the 2nd DoP and myself went to a C300 expo that Canon had here in MN back in February. I had already spoken with both Philip Bloom and Vincent Laforet on their forums about their experiences with the camera, as well as watched the shorts they had shot with them. If you haven't seen Vincent's "Mobius" short, look it up, it's amazing! Despite their overwhelmingly positive reviews of the camera, I knew I needed to see it blown up on the big screen before I could officially sign off on it being our main camera for the film. Now I had seen Revenge of the Sith digitally projected, so I knew how good a 1080p image could look on the silver screen, but I have also seen a massive amount of indie films shot and projected in 1080p and... blah. They almost always looked "just okay", and sometimes looked just awful.
We sat down and after seeing four different shorts shot on the C300 projected on a very nice, very large screen, I was sold. Forget about the specs and how, on paper, they pale in comparison to the Scarlet. Seeing is believing, and I was a believer! As a DoP, I know exactly how much light you have to throw at the Epic or Scarlet to have a good looking scene, and it really is the same as lighting for film. You need a lot of lights, and your set will get nice and toasty, which I for one hate. Most of what we saw projected that day at the Canon expo was lit ONLY with available or practical light, which blew me away. Sure, some of it had additional lighting to help better paint with light and shadows (that is our job, after all), but so much was able to look just beautiful with only available, natural light sources.
To say I was eager to get my hands on one was an understatement.
I finally got mine last week, and wow, it does not disappoint. It is an amazing camera, and soon I'll post some test stuff I've shot with it. Shooting in C-log and grading using a variety of programs including Resolve, Color, Colorista II, Looks and more. I can tell you that the low light rumors are absolutely true; this camera can see better than we can. I did a test shot the other day with my wife and lit her face only with a single candle, placed TWO FEET away from her and I couldn't believe it! The level of detail was incredible, with great color reproduction and the ISO was only at 10,000!!! I was using a Canon 50mm f1.2 wide open, and I wasn't even pushing the camera and still getting amazing looking footage!
The menu's are a bit confusing at first (IF you're coming off of the Canon DSLR's), but once you get the hang of it they work great. The camera itself is very well thought out, with useful buttons exactly where you'd want them, and feels great handheld.
I honestly love this camera, and cannot wait to shoot our film with it!
More to come soon. Thanks!
So as you may know if you've been following our production thread for The Unknown, we did a TON of research and decided to go with the Canon Cinema EOS C300 as our main camera for the film. We're actually going to be using two of them, as well as a Canon 5D Mark III to get some octorotor aerial shots. Here's how we made that decision and a bit on my thoughts of the camera so far:
One of my producers, the 2nd DoP and myself went to a C300 expo that Canon had here in MN back in February. I had already spoken with both Philip Bloom and Vincent Laforet on their forums about their experiences with the camera, as well as watched the shorts they had shot with them. If you haven't seen Vincent's "Mobius" short, look it up, it's amazing! Despite their overwhelmingly positive reviews of the camera, I knew I needed to see it blown up on the big screen before I could officially sign off on it being our main camera for the film. Now I had seen Revenge of the Sith digitally projected, so I knew how good a 1080p image could look on the silver screen, but I have also seen a massive amount of indie films shot and projected in 1080p and... blah. They almost always looked "just okay", and sometimes looked just awful.
We sat down and after seeing four different shorts shot on the C300 projected on a very nice, very large screen, I was sold. Forget about the specs and how, on paper, they pale in comparison to the Scarlet. Seeing is believing, and I was a believer! As a DoP, I know exactly how much light you have to throw at the Epic or Scarlet to have a good looking scene, and it really is the same as lighting for film. You need a lot of lights, and your set will get nice and toasty, which I for one hate. Most of what we saw projected that day at the Canon expo was lit ONLY with available or practical light, which blew me away. Sure, some of it had additional lighting to help better paint with light and shadows (that is our job, after all), but so much was able to look just beautiful with only available, natural light sources.
To say I was eager to get my hands on one was an understatement.
I finally got mine last week, and wow, it does not disappoint. It is an amazing camera, and soon I'll post some test stuff I've shot with it. Shooting in C-log and grading using a variety of programs including Resolve, Color, Colorista II, Looks and more. I can tell you that the low light rumors are absolutely true; this camera can see better than we can. I did a test shot the other day with my wife and lit her face only with a single candle, placed TWO FEET away from her and I couldn't believe it! The level of detail was incredible, with great color reproduction and the ISO was only at 10,000!!! I was using a Canon 50mm f1.2 wide open, and I wasn't even pushing the camera and still getting amazing looking footage!
The menu's are a bit confusing at first (IF you're coming off of the Canon DSLR's), but once you get the hang of it they work great. The camera itself is very well thought out, with useful buttons exactly where you'd want them, and feels great handheld.
I honestly love this camera, and cannot wait to shoot our film with it!
More to come soon. Thanks!
