The Canon C300 Mark II was unveiled at this year’s NAB 2015 trade show in Las Vegas and was easily one of, if not the most, highly awaited camera successors at the show. The new model has a ton of upgrades compared to the predecessor, such as internal 4K recording in a brand new XF-AVC 10bit 422 codec, 4K Raw out, 120fps Slow motion in Full HD, vastly improved Dual Pixel AF, and even 2K 12bit 444 recording – a feature not usually found on cameras in this range.
The C300 Mark II has been shipping since September in limited quantities and is definitely a camera that has a lot to prove in the already crowded Super35 chip marketplace. Things in this department used look completely different back in 2011, when the original C300 made it’s debut and quickly took over the broadcast and TV market with easy of use, excellent colour rendition and full compatibility with a wide range of Canon EF lenses, but in 2015 it’s a whole new ball game.
Today, we have a very competitive and oversaturated Super35 chip camera market with the Sony FS7, URSA’s and upcoming URSA Mini’s from Blackmagic, Kinefinity KINE Mini 4K and even a sub-$10K RED Raven (sort of). But the Canon C300 II isn’t really a sub-$10K camera – with a retail price tag of $16K USD, or around £10K GBP the question that many would ask is – would it deliver 16 grand work of 4K images?
We’ll that’s up to you to decide for yourself, but as with many Canon cameras, (the 4K XC10 Hybrid of yours truly included) it is more than just the image and the price when it comes to a Canon camera…
Anyway, here’s some new lovely day and night 4K test footage from the new Canon C300 Mark II courtesy of our friends, Chicago-based rental house Magnanimous Media
Canon C300 Mark II – First Look – Magnanimous Media from Magnanimous Media on Vimeo.
Cinematographer Scott Oldis took the new Canon C300 MKII out for a quick test.
Corey Lillard did the grade, he started with Canon Log 2. When this project was shot none of the Canon LUTs were available online. The grade was done in Davinci Resolve using the basics. He started by adding contrast and saturation to the image. I then used the primary controls to further dial in contrast.
Download for the best results.
We rent high-quality equipment to video and photo professionals to help you achieve your goals and pursue your passions. From camera rental to lenses, from the Canon C300 to the Sony FS7, from lighting to studio rental, we have everything you need. We’re your reliable, inexpensive video equipment rental solution. So #GoMagnanimous!
See it in 4K on YouTube below:
And the night/evening test footage:
Canon C300 Mark II – First Look – Night Shoot from Magnanimous Media on Vimeo.
Cinematographer Corey Lillard took the new Canon C300 Mark II out for a quick low-light test shoot. All shots where captured with available light. Most of the footage is shot at ISO 4000 with a canon 24-105mm L series lens. He also had a Schneider Xenon FF 35mm as well. He shot Canon Log 2 with C.Gamut color space in UHD. Instead of doing a grade he applied the Canon LUT for his desired settings: CinemaGamut_CanonLog2-to-BT.709_WideDR No adjustments were made to the footage after the LUT was applied.
Download for the best results.
Rent this camera and more: magnanimous.biz/#/tab/cameras/digital-cinema/
We rent high-quality equipment to video and photo professionals to help you achieve your goals and pursue your passions. From camera rental to lenses, from the Canon C300 to the Sony FS7, from lighting to studio rental, we have everything you need. We’re your reliable, inexpensive video equipment rental solution. So #GoMagnanimous!
Youtube 4K version below:
Canon C300 Mark II Features & Highlights
- Super 35mm 4K CMOS Sensor
- 4K & UHD up to 30p
- 1920 x 1080 Slow-Motion up to 120fps (Crop)
- 4K/HD 10bit 422 and 2K 12bit 444 options internally
- 4K Raw out to Odyssey7Q+/Atomos Shogun up to 30p
- Canon XF AVC H.264 Codec 405Mb/s
- 2K/HD proxies to SD card
- 5 Stage Built-In ND Filters (2 to 10 stops)
- EF Lens Mount
- Linear PCM Audio; 2-channel; 16/24-bit; 48 kHz 4-ch
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF with 80% coverage
- 2 x 3G-SDI Output, 2x XLR Inputs
- 2 x CFast Card Slots
- Timecode I/O, Genlock In & Sync Out
- Canon Log 2 Gamma
- Canon Log Original
- BT.2020 Colour Space Support
I’d be interested to read what you guys think about the C300 Mark II, although footage out there is limited. On the basis of these two tests by Magnanimous Media, I tend to quote like the skin tones in the daylight clip and the ISO performance in the night shot. What do you guys think? Of course, a few clips can’t ultimately decide the fate of any camera, but I’d be interested to hear your thoughts regardless. Let me know in the comments below.
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Very good skin tones and overall colors.
Hey Ogy
Did you shoot any 4k footage in QHD? I am trying to get my hands on some footage to test a multicam project.
Would be forever in your debt if you could upload it to the cloud somewhere.
cheers