05/04/2022
In honor of the 10th anniversary of Canon's cinema line cameras, a few thoughts from our founder:
"Has it already been 10 years? Not so long ago - or at least it feels that way - Canon unintentionally changed the world by adding video features to its DSLR cameras. Suddenly, millions of creators had access to large-sensor filmmaking. The quality was passable, but aeons removed from what us rubes could typically afford. Short fiction or even documentary that would formerly have called for a venerable Sony Z1 or EX3 (just naming those models makes me feel old) could now be shot with a more filmic aesthetic, in an inconspicuous package, made legitimate by the adoption of soon-to-be world class cinematographers like Anthony Dodd Mantle, Bradford Young and Shane Hurlbut. I came of age as a commercial filmmaker during this time, and what an exciting era it was.
And then came the C line. « C » for cinema? It certainly wasn’t « C » for «cheap »….
In 2012, Canon unleashed a trio of unlikely cameras: the 1D-C, C300 and C500. All priced well beyond 10K. Many reactions were mixed. Perhaps we’d allowed ourselves to dream of an affordable product that could rival a RED camera, or perhaps even Arri’s landmark Alexa digital cinema camera. Sadly, this would not be the case. The C500 could shoot 4K with the help of an external recorder, and the 1DC was essentially a 4K-capable 5D with Log profiles, largely counterbalanced by a plethora of technical limitations. Nobody I knew or even knew of owned either of these monsters. The C300 was a different beast, and went on to have a very respectable career as a documentary camera. But man, oh man, what an unsexy camera. Unergonomic, fidgety… Using it on projects, I felt resentful, like the freedom of movement the 5D line had given me had now somehow been taken away, with little to make up for it. As time went, I heard people grudgingly sing this camera’s praise, but though I know the beast inside out, I would never own one.
Fast-forward two short years, and the smaller C100 came out. As with many Canon products, its first iteration was not without weird design issues, so I will focus more on the mark II, released months later, which I happily owned and operated for a time. The compact form was back, along with new functionalities and a more robust codec than its DSLR forebear. Everyone I knew professionally seemed to want one of these, and mine followed me on 4 continents before finding a new owner years later. It seemed like Canon’s C cameras had finally found their niche: quality, intuitive equipment that never lets you down. While Sony blazed ahead and led the way on specs and price, Canon maintained a lead on usability and image quality. And then came the 4K craze.
2016 saw the release of the C300 mark II, a 4K capable upgrade to the earlier workhorse, and when I first heard of it, I gasped… at the price tag. That it famously came out at the same time as Sony’s rival FS7, which cost half as much, added insult to injury. I held out on it for months, watching as Canon sobered up and knocked the price down not once, but twice! Finally, I took the plunge, also turning in my old 5Dmk3 for a 1DXmk2. Ah, the C300 mark II. Of all the gear I’ve ever owned, this one made its money back multiple times. And yet, I never loved it. It was a good tool for getting the image I wanted, but I never felt excited holding it in my hands. By contrast, despite its many shortcomings, I did feel that way holding the DSLR I’d simultaneously purchased, and preferred to shoot with it while I rented out the bigger camera. Canon had delivered on their promise, though: they’d made a camera that never let me down, always got the job down, could be adapted to almost any situation, and made my work both better and more profitable.
Canon also released a C700, and, much like the C500, I could never truly comprehend who this monster was actually for. It felt like a company flexing its muscles for the hell of it. The form factor, never a strong suit in the C line up to this point, was beyond ridiculous, with a price tag to match. The specs were enticing, but again everything around them felt all wrong. In a way, the C200 was also lost between two worlds, shoving two extreme codecs (one RAW and one compressed beyond reason) into the unfortunate form factor of the 300 line. I passed on both, though I heard many good things about the latter.
4K became 6K, then 8K... and suddenly everyone was excited about large formats again. As they should be. I love me some full format shooting! And so, in 2019, right alongside their first decent mirrorless cameras, Canon unveiled the C500 mark II… and I was excited all over again! The form factor had undergone crucial changes, the specs were delightful: internal RAW up to 6K, sturdy codecs across the rest of the range, a full frame sensor with various crop options, a highly modular design, anamorphic support… Had Canon at long last given us a mini-cinema camera to rival its betters? I would have to say yes, and they appear to have done so by accident. Designed as a potentially gimbal-friendly B-cam to superior cameras like the Alexa LF, it was shocking to find that the 500 mark II more than held its own against that celebrated camera, and became the first camera I ever owned that I might actually consider a « cinema camera », with inherently fiction-friendly capabilities. I’ve put this one to the test: from commercial shoots to one-man band efforts, from interviews to large-scale fiction projects... I have always been pleasantly surprised with the results and it has yet to let me down. Canon seem to have largely followed suit in 2020 and 2021 with their C300 mark II and C70 cameras, squeezing great specs into compact packages with a focus on usability, and opening up a new era of upgrades to existing models which they had largely hitherto foregone, such as adding RAW capability to the 70 model.
This all brings me to the end - for now - of this journey and the release of another camera I have just gotten my hands on: the R5C. Once again, I am excited at the possibilities. Canon have come full circle, truly bridging the gap between stills and video camera without compromising either aspect, a first for them. Image-wise, this one looks set to be what the 5D mark II had been hailed at all those years ago: a first-class stills camera that is also a cinema camera. For anyone with access to either of the more recent tools in your lineup, there are no longer any excuses: go out there and create, you’re pretty much guaranteed to enjoy the ride!"
