GEAR USED FOCUS – CANON C200
If you want an even more high-end Canon cinema EOS with a Super 35 sensor and 10-bit codecs, the C300 Mark II could be it. Now only available used, as it has been superseded by the Mark III model, the C300 Mark II can be bought pre-loved for around £3000/$3500. It doesn’t record Raw internally though, so if you want that, you need to add on the cost of a recorder like an Atomos Shogun, which also adds bulk. The C300 Mark II doesn’t have the smaller Raw Light files, but outputs full-size Canon Raw – giving a small increase in quality. Where the bigger camera wins is its wider choice of higher-quality internal codecs, in up to 10-bit 4:2:2. The C300 Mark II has more external connectors, such as two SDI outputs, as well as outputting to HDMI and SDI simultaneously. It offers similar handling and autofocus performance as the C200, the same great detail and build. DON’T FORGET THE C300 MARK II
ZOOM BOOM C200 works very well with servo-driven lenses like this Canon, but is equally at home with primes
Raw file, but being of almost the same quality. Even though these files are around a quarter the size of a full Raw file, the C200 writes at 1Gbps, which will fill a 128GB CFast card in 15 minutes. So you need to invest in cards and fast external hard drives for storage and editing. You will then be rewarded with incredible quality that you can grade as you please. Set white-balance,
Dynamic Range setting then graded accordingly, it is very good. It shoots in C-Log3 and C-Log and you can change lots of other parameters to create your own custom profiles. There’s also Rec. 2020, and for HDR the C200 can output via HDMI and SDI, but not both at the same time. ISO range goes up to a staggering 102,400, but keep below 12,800 and the footage is still very usable. Low-light performance is good, with no ugly noise at reasonable ISO settings. There is some in-camera noise reduction, but it’s best to do it in post. C200 can shoot at 120fps in HD without cropping the sensor. The slow motion disables the autofocus and the HD footage is good, but not amazing. That’s a bit of a shame, as the Canon C200’s ace is its Dual Pixel
then push and pull the footage around in post to get the look you really want: rescue mildly blown highlights and pull detail out of shadows. Plus, there are lovely skin tones. It’s more work than slapping a LUT on ProRes footage, but the difference is noticeable. C200 shoots Raw in 4K DCI, so no UHD, 2K or HD resolutions and no super slow-motion, though. For that, you need to switch to normal operation, where the camera writes to a pair of SD cards, sadly limited to 4:2:0 8-bit. As a TV or broadcast unit, 4:2:2 10-bit is often the minimum requirement. The 4:2:0 8-bit footage doesn’t sound particularly impressive, but captures a 150Mb/s 3840x2160 image at up to 60p. The UHD footage is especially sharp and colourful, and when recorded in S-Log or even Canon’s own Wide
BIG VISION A large LCD screen has control buttons around the outside, while the menus are simple and easy to fathom out
64
PRO MOVIEMAKER
Powered by FlippingBook