Canon C100 review, main advantage with the competition

The perfect equation
Let’s be frank, I never been crazy of the huge sensor DSLR trend. Each time a client contacting me for a Canon 5D shooting, I was trying to avoid it; poor resolution, too large sensor making you struggling to get the main subject in focus, no proper sound, lack of ND filter and a very poor handling system. Yes, for a very fraction of the price, you can have the look of a cine camera, but as the team needed to be reduced in the same proportion, no way to get a film look with nobody around the camera without a lot of pressure on the operator.

2 years ago, the Canon C300 was introduced to add all the missing DSLR feature in a nice body, but clearly the price was far beyond my reach in a keep changing market. The C100 came out the year after with almost all included and even extra improvement excepted the recording format. That was still not the right camera as adding a recorder was adding a lot of weight.

But recently, I start using the new Atomos Ninja Blade; great resolution, acceptable battery life, lightweight and all footage available for review or editing right out of the recorder. As, in my opinion, I will always add a preview monitor to any camera system, having it on a C100 was a complete acceptable solution.

So, here I come buying a C100 after many shooting with a rented C300,.. and I do not regret it!
The main preview is done with the Atomos Blade Ninja and I discovered that the few difference with the C300 were more actually in favor of the C100 if you put the price in the balance.

 
The cons and the way out of it

– Recording format limited.
Need to add an external recorder in HDMI + preview monitor as the Atomos, but that give you actually a dual recording, one prores HQ even better than the C300 and a compressed one for quick upload for your overseas client.

-No SDI output, just HDMI.
The HDMI output have a screw linked to the body of the camera, you can create your own cable and lock it, it will be even a stronger connection that the one you could have in SDI! Please read the remark at the bottom of this page about the HDMI output.

-No Time lapse function.
Maybe one fun feature missing just to keep this to the C300. But if you shoot with the internal codec, you can still run hours with a 64SD card and keep your footage small in size. The quality difference will fade as soon as you will speed up the footage.

-No slow motion.
The C300 is not also a slow motion king. The EOS series cameras are not the one you should be using if slow mo is your thing, nothing new.

-The camera screen is not easy to adjust compare the C300 one.
That will be my main complain, there is an angle where you can’t have the screen right in front of you with the right tilted angle and that when the camera is high on the tripod to get a 2 buttons framing shoot, quite a common situation… But as the preview screen will be added, not to worry. Continue reading