Canon C100 – Canon’s cinema cam for indie shooters [UPDATE]

by Sebastian WöberAugust 29^th, 2012

Isn’t it incredible, we get a new cinema camera by the week! Canon just announced a new entry level version to their acclaimed 
eoscinema line-up of cinema cameras. After the C300 and the promising, more high-end C500, we indie filmers get the C100.

While everybody’s waiting for their Blackmagic Cinema Camera and after Sony has launched their EA50 shoulder-camcorder style large sensor camera, Canon had a surpise up their sleeves. Let’s see what the dedicated for indie filmmakers EOS C100 has to offer.

What is it?
Basically it’s a compact large sensor cinema camera just like the C300, but it lacks some of the C300’s features.
The C300 is a stunning camera. Although there are other cameras that have a higher bit depth and codec quality, the C300 is lowligt strong and produces a very nice and sharp picture that competes with higher end cinema cameras. The C300’s pricepoint has been out of reach for many indie filmmakers and they had to continue shooting on the good old HDSLR’s maybe the C100 can be the missing link.

What’s the difference to the C300?
The C100 records in AVCHD, a codec that will downcompress your footage to a 4:2:0 color space. Weird to see that limitation while many other specs are the same. There is no HD-SDI out, but the hdmi-out will deliver 4:2:2 for a better image recorded to a disk recorder.

All features at a glance
– 15% smaller than C300
– EF mount
– super 35mm sensor
– AVCHD codec
– 2 slots take SD-/SDHC-/SDXC- cards
– 24/25/30p and 50/60i
– ISO 320 – 20.000
– Canon’s log gamma
– Canon DIGIC DV III processor
– new AF function via firmware for 2013
– magnesium body
– 2 XLR audio inputs
– looks like we have an ND filter as well.

Price & availability
Available now. Instant $1000 saving gets you the camera for $5499