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Canon C-Series Gains In Popularity with the Corporate Market
Taking a glance at Crews Control’s film shoots last year Canon made up on average 5% of the cameras used. We have seen a decent increase in Canon shoots in 2013 mostly due to adoption of the C-Series cameras. Canon made up 11% of shoots in the 2nd quarter of 2013. The widely popular C300 was the 2nd most used camera in August of 2013 and made up 10% of our shoots where a camera was used. We interviewed Larry Thorpe one of Canon’s spokespeople at NAB 2013. He said “Our strategy, because we were late comers to this industry, entering the cinematography world, was to come out as fast as we could with a line up recognizing a hierarchy of program genres and production budgets.” This is ironic since it was the Canon 5D that started the large sensor craze a handful of years ago.
EOS C500
Canon’s EOS C500 is currently the top of the line C-Series camera. It has a Super 35mm 8.85-megapixel CMOS image sensor that captures a range of recording options. With the 3G-HDI output it will record 10bit 4K and 12 bit or 10 bit 2K onto external recorders from Convergent Design, AJA, Codex, Astro, and others. The camera can also record 8 Bit MPEG-2 Long GOP internally onto Type 1 CF cards. The user has 3 recording options internally 50 Mpbs 4:2:2 @ 1920×1080 or 1280×70, 35Mbps 4:2:0 @ 1920×1080 or 1280×70, and 25Mbps 4:2:0 @ 1440×1080. This camera is listed at $22,999.
EOS C300
Canon’s EOS C300 was the first C-Series camera that Canon released and is in the middle of Canon’s lineup. More Crews Control represented crews have purchased the C300 then the C500 or C100 by a wide margin. It has a 35mm CMOS sensor that is slightly smaller than the sensor in the C500 camera. The C300 offers the same internal recording capabilities as the C500 8 Bit MPEG-2 Long GOP internally onto Type 1 CF cards. This camera doesn’t shoot in 2K or 4K. It is listed at $13,999.
EOS C100
Canon’s EOS C100 has a slightly smaller form factor than the C500 and 300. It is the most cost effective of the three cameras it is tailored toward lower budget documentaries and cost conscience corporate media departments. It has a Super 35mm CMOS sensor with slightly less effective and total pixels then the C300. One main difference between the C300 or 500 and the C100 is its compression scheme is MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 instead of 8 Bit MPEG-2 Long GOP. Also, it does a maximum of 24Mbps @ 1920×1080 where the C300 or 500 can do 50Mpbs while recording internally. Like the Canon DSLR cameras the C100 records in the AVCHD format. The final major difference is the C100 records onto SD cards internally instead of CF cards for a more cost effective media option. It is listed at $6099 with a lens.
EOS 1DC
Canon’s EOS 1DC is the newest Canon to market. It is hybrid between the C500 and a DSLR camera. The form factor of the 1DC is much like a Canon 5D Mark II. The 1DC has a full frame CMOS sensor. It offers internal 4K recording onto CF cards. The recording format is MOV and the compression scheme for 4K is Motion JPEG and HD ALL-1 or IPB compression as a MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) file. Its list price is $11,999.
We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to hear from you. Please comment below and tell us what you think about the C-Series lineup? What cameras have you used on what type of productions?
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