A raw 4K workflow is going to be a raging beast that will chew through your entire production process – new cameras, raw recorders, faster computer processors, faster and bigger drives – it’s going to add up fast! But, there is some good news. Hello Apple ProRes 4K. A 48GB raw 4K file now becomes a 4GB ProRes 4:2:2 file – awesome!

Image courtesy AJA Video Systems

To learn more about 4K and why you don’t need to hide under the covers hoping it will go away, check out this archive of a recent excellent webinar by AJA Product Marketing Manager Bryce Button. Learn the basics of 4K image acquisition and simple ProRes workflows. It will be time well spent!

http://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=1681&seid=537

The post 4K is big. Really big! appeared first on The Location Crew.

Ok, that is a bit dramatic. But seriously, if you’re looking to purchase a new video camera right now, the tsunami of choices is mind bending. And rather than feeling excited about this great new technology, you’re probably living in paralyzing fear of making a decision you’ll regret three months later. At this year’s NAB there was no shortage of overwhelmed camera people wandering around with expressions like they were background extras on the Walking Dead.

Blackmagic drew huge crowds with their two new camera releases.

There used to be a distinct division between video production and film making. Video cameras were for video. Film cameras were for film. Two different worlds with completely different products. Film people were seen as elite purists working in an art form. Video people were grinding out a living shooting low budget TV shows and corporate videos in an inferior format while wishing they could work in film. For the record, we thought film camera operators were basically over-rated minions incapable of performing more than one specific task at a time who couldn’t shoot their way out of a paper bag in the video world. Bam!

Now, thankfully, the wall between these worlds has come down. We’re all basically film makers. Although I still find it hard to say that without sounding somewhat pretentious. The immediacy and convenience of video has merged with the artistic sensibility and quality of film production. We’ve all collided somewhere in the middle of this camera technology landscape and manufacturers are getting pulled along for the ride – some of them kicking and screaming – others dropping new products like bombs that shake the industry to its core. But where do you start when trying to find the camera that’s right for you?

Red towered over the masses like a backlit shrine from the heavens.

Let’s start with a simple one – price point. What are you willing to pay? Chatting with many other camera types at the various NAB booths, I realized there are two distinctly different groups coming at things from opposite perspectives.

The “old guard” (myself included) developed our careers when a broadcast quality video camera cost at least $60,000. If we wanted to actually edit anything, add another $100,000 for tape machines and hardware based editing gear. Today, a $15,000 camera that’s immeasurably higher quality and light years more advanced is an unimaginable bargain from the gods.

The younger “emerging pros” see today’s market much differently. Many of you cut your teeth on $2,000 DSLR cameras and $500 editing software. For you, $15,000 cameras are outrageously over-priced and you expect nothing short of orgasmic perfection for around $6,000.

Sony’s higher-end F55. At about $35,000, it’s a bargain for those of us who paid $65,000 for a SD Betacam back in the day.

This must be driving manufacturers crazy. The market has turned upside down and they’re scrambling to meet the expectations of this new generation of demanding customers – customers who want it all, want it cheap, and want it now. It’s a good time to be a camera buyer. Not such a good time to be a camera manufacturer.

What I find interesting is that apparently manufacturers can meet this demand. Most brands desperately tried to protect their entire product line by holding back features on their lower priced cameras – but it appears many have thrown in the towel and realized they better go “all in” or get quickly left behind.

So, now I can get a pretty darn good camera at an amazing price. But which one? They’re all so shiny and new!

Blackmagic’s new brick that happens to be a 4K camera.

It’s obviously much easier and cheaper to make a camera that’s essentially a box that doesn’t come with a handgrip, viewfinder, professional audio inputs, easily accessible controls or pretty much any typical video camera features. These manufacturers don’t have to worry about including such pesky things – that’s for us to figure out.

My concern is that I’m getting a little awestruck and distracted by this new generation of ultra-high resolution cameras that are intended for cinema style production. I can’t help it. They just look so cool – all that third-party matt-black rigging and sexy accessories mounted everywhere. “Yes, I must have this. I need this. I need 4K resolution! I might be shooting a feature for my next project! I know this is totally impractical, extremely awkward and frustrating to use but I have to future proof myself!” Really?

What I have to do is be honest with myself and truly assess my camera needs. I make my living in the low-budget, small-crew world of television and web production. I’ll definitely take the improved picture quality, low light performance and depth-of-field control of the cine world – but I still need to have the functionality, form-factor and quick response of the traditional video world. I need a comfortable, easy to use, well designed video camera that feels right in my hands – with all the buttons and controls just where they should be.

Operating needs to be second nature so I can concentrate on story telling and capturing moments as they happen. For example, I know it’s not as uber-cool as some of the new breed of cine cameras, but the Sony PMW 200 is a pretty darn good camera for $7,000. And, it comes with a viewfinder and everything – wow! I also recently bought a Canon C100 – for what I need it’s an excellent solution.

Sony’s PMW-200. A great camera for videographers for under $7,000.

Let’s stop getting caught up in codec and resolution snobbery and buying cameras to impress other camera operators.

As I get older and later in my career, I find that I want to simplify rather than complicate. I want to strip things down to their basic form and focus on the craft rather than the gear. I bought all kinds of crazy rigs for my Canon 5D MKII because that’s what everyone was doing. Eventually I got rid of it all. It was just more stuff between me and the camera that I really didn’t need. I can hand-hold a DSLR just fine.

The only thing I can say with certainty is that there’s no “magic bullet” camera for every operator and every style of shooting. It doesn’t exist. My best advice is to step back from the edge, be honest with yourself about what you truly need and admit that making a “perfect” choice just isn’t realistic. It’s never going to be perfect. Aim to make a “good” choice and then get on with your work and your life.

It’s not a life-long relationship. You’re probably going to buy a new camera in three years or less anyway!

The post NAB 2013: The Camera Roller Coaster Continues. appeared first on The Location Crew.

So, for all us camera people out there in the same boat, here’s a video from the Location Audio Simplified iBook with Dean showing us how it’s done. Now you don’t have to ask anyone and wear the face of shame.

The post How to Wrap an Audio Cable appeared first on The Location Crew.

Shure invited me to media day with a handful of media/writers representing some of the biggest sound, video, and production magazines we’ve all read. Now, I consider myself an operator not media, so I felt a little out of place, but Shure (to my surprise and nicely played may I add) informed me I was an influencer and were happy I came – really? I’m a doc sound op who lives in a small town. Yes I blog, have a skookum web site, and wrote Location Audio Simplified, but an influencer? Not sure I’m ready for that pressure. But if these types of “hang out and be stroked” events are the reward, I’ll keep influencing and you keep reading – deal?

Since this was my first event like this, I gotta say, it was fun. The media/writers were an interesting lot and the Shure folks did it up well. It started with a great tour of an incredible facility, then a light lunch, more Shure promotion, then dinner at a great restaurant with tons of laughs and good conversation (everything sound), and finally a comfortable hotel – and let’s not forget the parting gifts. It was like an audio all-inclusive mini vacation, and I didn’t have to hold a boom pole. The only downside, we weren’t aloud to take photos.

So what did I learn? Well, first we got to see the not yet released……..? Then tried out the……, it was so cool! Then they showed us the never been seen before…? Sorry, I signed a nondisclosure agreement, but Shure will be unveiling the gear I got to see at NAB in April – it’s something definitely needed. You’ll want to check it out.

Now the stuff I can talk about. We’ve all heard company lip service about quality control and the rigorous testing the equipment goes through before it’s available to the buying public, right? Well, Shure abuses their gear more than one would imagine. Heat, cold, humidity, drop tests, more heat, perspiration tests (this was surprising) more dropping, more humidity, you get the gist. They really kick the #**@$! out of their gear! And Boris has the best job ever – he does the #@!#! kicking!

Now being my first tour of a facility like this I gotta admit it was pretty impressive. But the highlight for me was in their archives. I got to hold one of Roger Daltrey’s SM58’s with the XLR cable still shrink wrapped and taped to the handle, with a dented wind screen – check out the white gloves I had to wear. Awesome! Totally awesome!

I’m with Shure’s archivist Julie Snyder

Thanks to everyone at Shure and Formula PR for inviting me and giving me a peek into the designing, testing, and hard work that goes into Shure products. The trip was time well spent.

Dean

The post My Shure Tour appeared first on The Location Crew.

C100 with a Sennheiser ME64 Short Shotgun and a Sennheiser G2 Wireless Receiver

Because Dean and I work as a two-person crew, Dean has to wear many hats and often steps in as an assistant director and kid/animal wrangler. When we’re not shooting lengthy in-depth interviews, scripted host segments or other elements with tricky audio, we’ll often rely on the camera mic to gather all the sound we need – so it has to do a pretty good job of it.

The Sennheiser ME64 is a great all-around camera mic. It’s perfect for general b-reel and grabbing the odd quick interview or soundbite on my own if I’m in nice and tight. The sound quality matches quite nicely with all the other stuff Dean is recording. We also mount a G2 wireless receiver. This the primary way Dean feeds audio to the camera from his mixer. It’s just so much easier and quicker just to turn it on and go rather than connecting and un-connecting audio. Plus, I’m much happier not being tethered to Dean and I’m sure he feels the same way. If we do encounter the occasional hit or dropout on the wireless signal, Dean always has a backup recording we can go to if needed.

Keeping everything tight and compact.

Top view.

On a side note, I really like to keep everything on my camera nice and tight – nothing lose, hanging off, bouncing around etc – it makes me crazy. I have all my audio cables made specifically for each camera I use. I get them the perfect length so there’s no extra weight or cable in my way, and I generally add right-angle XLR connectors so they lay nice and flat. Don’t hesitate to ask at your local camera shop for the same thing. Just take your camera and whatever mic or receiver you want to connect and have them measure everything and make some up for you. It’s quite inexpensive and well worth it!

To learn more about camera mounted mics in general and why the ME64 is our choice for a great shotgun, check out this video we posted a few months ago – lots of great info from Dean!

The post Camera Mic for the C100 appeared first on The Location Crew.

Really, think about this. If I gave an entry-level shotgun and a high-end shotgun to someone just learning, would they record better tracks with the higher-end mic? My answer is no! In fact, the chance of them screwing up is probably greater with a more sensitive, more precise, wider dynamic range mic then an all round entry level one. The same argument can be made with mixers. Would the average sound op out there be able to get better results out of a 6 channel mixer with multiple outputs, numerous routing options, sweepable high pass, numerous monitoring options, and multiple metering options, but better mic-pre’s, over a straight forward 2-4 channel mixer? Again, I gotta say no. I taught location sound for 9 years and if there’s one thing that rings true, its “keep it simple, and learn how to walk before you run”.
 

Too many ops start out with mid to high-end gear. Gear that requires quite a bit of experience to get high-end results, and they never really learn their craft. Or they buy the “automatic everything” equipment that gives them a false sense of this is easy. Through my years of learning location sound, having to work around and understand equipment limitations of the entry level equipment taught me a lot about sound and even more about equipment.

“Just because you can afford a guitar, that doesn’t make you a guitar player”.

What do you think? Am I just being a “that’s the way I had to learn it” old fart, or is the “I can afford it and no screw up equipment” environment allowing operators to get a positive start in the industry? Is it furthering or hindering the abilities of the new crop of operators?

Talk to me seasoned pros and soon to be pros. Is this a good thing or just marketing to sell more gear? Or, is it technology moving forward and I’m being left behind.

Dean

The post Is the Best Gear the Best? appeared first on The Location Crew.

We had been doing extremely long drives in Haiti – most of them on very rough and winding roads in an uncomfortable, top heavy, bouncy mini-bus otherwise known as “the barf machine”. This day was no different. We were up at 5:30 am and drove for almost four hours to our location. It was hot, I was tired and the pressure was on to shoot another complete story (basically a mini documentary) about a family living in poverty. It was going to be a long day.

As a professional, you just have to reach deep into yourself and get the job done – and done well. For me, that’s what being a pro is all about – to always deliver your best work regardless of the conditions. When I feel like I’m losing my creative energy I try not to think too far ahead and stay in the moment – just focus on the scene and the shot. If I start thinking about all the stuff we have to do and how many more hours we have to go, it becomes such an uphill battle.

But something about this day was different than I’ve ever experienced. From the moment we arrived I just wasn’t feeling right. Everything was a struggle and nothing was clicking. My brain felt like it jettisoned out of my head in an escape pod. We managed to shoot three or four different scenes but I knew I was starting to compromise. Thoughts like, “that’s good enough” were starting to creep in. I was basically shooting wallpaper rather than art. I had to sit down and ask myself, “Am I doing my best work?”

The answer was no. I was on auto-pilot. Just trying to get the day over with. This is a line I never want to cross. So, after talking with Dean, we came up with a plan. We were just honest with the client. We told them that I was over-tired and creatively drained and to continue shooting wasn’t going to get us anywhere. Our plan was to shutdown, head back to the hotel and I would get a good 12 hours of sleep and reset. We would have to come back early the next day and basically start all over again. And, we would have to do it in half the original time as we had other things to shoot as well. It was our only option.

Well, the client was amazingly supportive. They realized this was about what was best for the project, not just me. Everyone felt it was the right thing to do. I got some much needed rest and I think most importantly, a mental break. And the next day? To be honest, it was our most productive day of the entire shoot. We rocked through our entire shot list and felt really good about everything we were getting.

So, what’s the point of this post? I guess it’s about professional responsibility. The quality of my work is my brand. That’s what I have to defend at all costs – sometimes even against myself.

Have you been in a similar situation? What did you do? I’d like to hear your story.

The post When You Just Hit the Wall appeared first on The Location Crew.

So, rather than blabbing on and on, I thought I would just get to the point and briefly describe what I liked, what was slightly annoying, and what I didn’t like.

CANON C100 LIKES:

1. LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE

The low light performance of this camera is quite remarkable. I actually found myself staring at the picture in disbelief after comparing it to what I was seeing with my naked eye. I never felt comfortable pushing my 5D MKII much past 800 ISO. With the C100 I was up around 10,000 on a couple of occasions and still had good results. For the type of work I do, this in itself made me feel good about my decision to buy one.

2. PEAKING

Having this traditional video feature in this type of camera was a god send. Focusing was a breeze, even when viewing the LCD screen from a slight distance in bright light. The focus point really cracks back-and-forth nicely. When I pulled out my old MKII with a Zacuto Z-Finder for comparison it was like looking at the image through a Pro Mist filter or something. How the heck did I manage without peaking? I can’t go back. Yes, you can add an external EVF that includes a peaking feature but that’s another thing to mount on the camera and I always found that awkward and somewhat unwieldy.

3. ACCESS TO CONTROLS

After a few days of shooting I found all the controls were pretty much exactly where I wanted them to be and everything became second nature. I could start/stop record, adjust f-stop, ISO, white balance and the ND filter without removing my hands from the operating position. You can assign almost any function to any button, but I found the factory settings to be just fine and didn’t mess with them at all. Plus the buttons are labeled with their default function so why cause confusion.

The small thumb-operated joystick on the handgrip was extremely useful. With one click you can activate it and easily jump around to several functions such as ISO in the viewfinder display. Loved this thing!

4. BATTERY LIFE

The battery life was crazy good. The small battery that comes with the camera would almost last me all day. Before I set out on this trip, I bought two of the larger, high capacity batteries and I barely used them. I would typically shoot for about 6 or 7 hours and I think I only drained the stock battery once. I would recommend buying just one additional battery for average use. See how it goes and only buy more if you find you need them.

5. RECORD TIME

The down side of the AVCHD codec is 4:2:0. The good side is awesome recording time. 2.5 hours on one 32GB SD card. That’s outstanding. I could put two 32GB cards in the thing and shoot all day without worry about it again. For traveling, it also means I can bring enough SD cards (which are relatively cheap) with me and not have to dump anything to a hard drive. You can also set the second SD card slot to dual record so it will create a backup copy simultaneously. Great feature.

6. HAND GRIP

I’m a big fan of the side handgrip. I find it extremely comfortable – even over a long period of time. I can remember some other video camera handgrips that left my hand as numb as a canned ham after just a few hours. This one just makes sense. It felt right from the moment I picked it up. You can rotate the grip but it does take a couple of minutes as you have to unthread it, rotate it where you want it, then rethread it. It’s more of a “set and forget” kind of thing than something you adjust several times during the day. I found the straight-up center position quite well balanced.

Love the hand grip.

7. CARRYING HANDLE

Such a simple thing but did I ever put it to good use. It kind of reminded me of using my EX1 when I needed to get low angle shots of feet walking along a path or hang the camera out a car window etc. One one occasion, I found myself laying out of the back of a van while filming an Olympic triathlete running and cycling down a twisting canyon road. I held onto the handle and let the camera just barely skim above the road surface while eyeballing the shot on the LCD screen.  Try that with a DSLR. I know it’s possible if you have one all rigged up, but for me, I don’t really do that with my cameras. I prefer them clean and compact without all the extra bits and pieces attached everywhere.

The handle also made it possible to comfortably carry the camera while I was walking around. This is no small deal. It’s the little things that really add up to make your day easier.

The top handle was great for walking shots behind and beside kids.

More low-angle shots in the garbage dump.

Hanging out the back of a van. The handle was perfect for getting the camera to skim just above the road surface.

8. USE OF EF-S LENSES

I had a few EF-S lenses from my old 7D that I couldn’t part with including a 10-22mm and a f-2.8 17-55mm. Because the C100 excepts EF-S lenses I decided to bring them along and see how they performed. I ended up using them a lot. Because of the C100′s crop factor I found my EF-L 24-105mm just wasn’t wide enough for up close documentary work. It had the reach, but I just felt boxed in. The 17-55mm worked great. It has IS, it’s fast enough at f.2.8, and it’s considerably lighter than an L series lens. I couldn’t see any real difference in the image quality, so for future road trips, this lens is coming with me. The 10-22mm was more like a 16-35mm with the crop factor so it was really handy for the occasional ultra-wide shot.

Now the C100 does have a menu option for what it calls EF-S Lens Correction. When activated, it enlarges the image by approximately 1.04% to crop “peripheral illumination fall-off”. To be honest, I couldn’t see any advantage to turning this on. And because I was swapping EF-S and EF-L lenses all the time, I didn’t want to be bothered, and more likely forgetting, to turn it on and off. From just my naked eye, all the EF-S footage looks just fine. If there was any fall-off on the edges, I couldn’t see it. Maybe I’ll regret it later when I’m editing all the footage and see it on a big screen. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I used a mix of EF-L and EF-S lenses.

9. MAGNIFY WHILE RECORDING

Being able to magnify the image to double check focus while you’re recording was quite handy on a few occasions. On most of our interviews I was shooting with a very shallow depth of field, so it was nice to be able punch in to make sure my focus was still accurate as the subject moved around a bit. Just one thing to be aware of, resist the urge to re-frame the shot slightly when viewing the magnified image! It’s just such an instinctive habit that a couple of times I found myself doing it even though there are big letters in the screen display that say “MAGN”. Felt a little embarrassed inside my head.

No camera is perfect and the C100 is no exception.

CANON C100 ANNOYANCES:

1. ND FILTERS

If you want to maintain an f-2.8 to 5.6 aperture range in bright lighting conditions such as a sunny beach etc, the built-in ND filter wheel doesn’t quite cut it. I found that I needed to add an additional screw-on ND filter on more than a few occasions. I added a 4-stop ND, which was probably overkill, but it did the job.

The built in ND wheel works great and it’s well placed on the camera. But the three options are 2-stops, 4-stops and 6-stops. Unfortunately, that’s about 2-stops short. Given the choice, I would rather have 2-stops, 4-stops and 8-stops. It’s easier too add more ND than perhaps you ideally need and bring up the ISO to compensate – keeping a larger aperture and relatively shallow depth of field. There is no negative ISO so without additional ND filters you could find yourself shooting at f.11 or similar in bright conditions.

2. LOW VOLUME AUDIO OUTPUT

I haven’t really tested this with several types of headphones, but the volume of the audio output to the headphone jack was low – even with the volume control maxed out. Like-wise for the speaker on the body of the camera. If there’s any kind of background noise you won’t hear much from the speaker when you’re checking playback.

3. AUDIO METERS

Unlike the Sony XDCAM-EX cameras, the only way to view audio levels is via the small meters in the viewfinder/LCD. There is a “Status” menu function that brings up all kinds of detailed information options, but I was disappointed to see that expanded, more accurate audio meters wasn’t one of them.

And there are some things that just make you frustrated.

CANON C100 DISLIKES:

1. EYEPIECE/VIEWFINDER

In my opinion, this is the C100’s one major flaw. The fact that it’s so small, has poor resolution, doesn’t tilt up, and doesn’t include any type of eyecup to block out light is just plain silly. Most people will probably ignore it completely and rely on the LCD screen. This does work in most situations but obviously not in all. In almost any photo or video of the C100 in action you can see all kinds of hand-made sunshades or hoods that are taped or clamped on in some fashion. It’s like Canon got us 90% there with this camera and then just left us to our own devises to figure this out.

That being said, I did find that my temporary workarounds described in my previous post worked reasonably well. And, as much as hate to say it, I did find that adapting the old Sony PD-170 eyecup made the eyepiece much more usable than I thought. It actually worked and got the job done. I’m not saying that’s it’s good – more that I just got used to it. I suppose I’ve used worse over the years. I’m going to refrain from looking through the eyepiece of the C300 because that will just make me angry again. What could have been!

 2. WATER/WEATHER RESISTANCE 

Once again I haven’t done extensive testing on this, but it appears water getting anywhere near this camera could be an issue. I was shooting handheld, following a swimmer walking into the ocean. My plan was to just go in about waist deep and let them swim away from camera. On our way into the surf, a small little wave kicked up a minor splash that hit the side of the camera. Nothing major, just a few drops here and there.

Well, I’m not exactly sure where the water entered the camera body or if was more about the battery compartment, but within a few seconds the entire picture flickered in an “oh-oh” kind of way and then went completely blue. Restarting the camera didn’t solve the problem. After going to my happy place for a few minutes, I just turned it off, left it in the sun for about 45 minutes and pretended nothing happened. Then I turned it back on and all was well. Hmmmmm?

This could have been a one-time, fluke kind of incident or it could be something to be truly concerned about. I don’t really want to splash some more water on it to find out. If anyone else has any experience with this I’d like to hear from you.

All in all, I think the C100 is a great choice for anyone wanted to evolve from DSLR shooting. It packs quite a punch and the images will blow you away.

The post Canon C100: Likes & Dislikes appeared first on The Location Crew.

Filming for Vega Sport in California with the Canon C100

The first thing I had to do with the C100 is figure out a way to make the flip-out LCD screen and the disappointingly small viewfinder more functional. I needed different solutions for shooting eye-level hand held, low angle while holding the handle, and everything in between.

The first thing I did was go to my favorite local camera shop and look through their box of random parts. I came across a viewfinder eye-cup for an old Sony PD-170 – that’s a blast from the past. I did a little trimming around the opening and low and behold, it slipped around the C100’s eyepiece pretty well. It’s nice and snug and won’t easily come off unless you actually pull it off. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s much more comfortable. It also blocks out almost all of the light. I used it in bright sun on the beach and it got the job done.

The Sony PD-170 rubber eyecup with a red chamois cover. Just because red looks cool.

Trim the a little of the rubber into the basic shape of the C100′s eyepiece. Cut just a little at a time to ensure it fits nice and snug.

Still wish the C100 had the C300′s eyepiece but at least this makes it usable for handheld work.

Now onto the LCD screen. There were certain times that using the LCD screen “as is” worked just fine. But in bright lighting situations, it became a bit of a challenge. I think the Zacuto Z-Finder that’s designed to clip over top of the C100’s LCD will be a great solution but it’s availability has been delayed. Not sure why, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that the LCD screen’s mount doesn’t have much tension. Any extra weight means it won’t really stay in position. It works pointed straight up and straight out. Anything in between, it just seems to sag and eventually drop down. Rather frustrating.

In the meantime, I did find the Hoodman EX Kit Pro. It turns the LCD screen into a viewfinder by attaching an eyepiece with a rubber mounting strap. You’ll need to do some minor trimming of the rubber to make it fit around the screen’s knuckle. Again, not a perfect solution, and definitely not the best quality optics, but it saved my bacon a few times. For example, when I was low on the sticks with my 70-200mm to get some long lens stuff, using the LCD made tracking focus much easier. It was also great not having to be on my knees to look through the small eyepiece. For the price, it serves the purpose of a temporary fix.

Hoodman EX Kit Pro

Hoodman EX Kit Pro

Hoodman EX Kit Pro

For tricky focusing, the EX Kit Pro works as a temporary C100 solution.

The post Canon C100: Viewfinder Workarounds appeared first on The Location Crew.

Over the past couple of years, new video cameras are being released with the frequency of Tic Tac flavors. But few have generated more debate than the Canon C100. Some think it’s an excellent step-up from DSLR shooting. Some think it’s an over-priced and under-performing boat anchor. When it was first announced and its technical specs and original estimated price revealed, people were heaping negative criticism on the thing like it was responsible for killing puppies or something.

But when the street price dropped to about $6,400 and operators actually got their hands on it, opinions started to shift a bit. People realized who this camera was meant for. This was a video camera for videographers, not a cine camera for film makers. If you’re looking for a high quality, compact camera with an excellent form-factor and well thought out functionality that’s designed for hand-held shooting, then you might be interested. If you’re obsessed about codecs, bit-rates, sensor size and frame rates, you’re probably better off looking at the C100’s bigger and more expensive brother, the C300.

Let’s just start this off by saying that I bought one. You can probably guess which camp I’m in. While no single camera is the perfect solution, the C100 came pretty close to being the camera I’ve been looking for – for the most part. Here are my initial impressions after gleefully unpacking the box – and after my wife stopped giving me the evil eye for buying yet another camera. She says: “Didn’t you just buy a camera?”  He says: “What? That old thing? Come on honey, that was almost two years ago. I was thinking of donating it to a thrift store.”

First, the good stuff. For me, usability is a big factor – perhaps even more than technical specs. If a camera is awkward and frustrating to use, I don’t care how wonderful the picture quality is. There are many new cameras out there with outstanding technical features – but they’re basically just a un-wieldy box that needs to be rigged-up with 3rd party gack before you can even hold it. That’s not for me. I need to travel light and get the most out of what I can fit in a backpack.

From the moment I picked it up it just felt right in my hand. Everything was where I wanted it to be. The button placement was perfect. I could operate and make adjustments without having to take my hands off the camera. The weight and balance was great. That was a good start. The normal video camera features that were missing on my Canon 5D MII were there; built-in ND filters, XLR audio inputs – what an amazing technical breakthrough!

With the exact same sensor and image quality as the C300, the low-light performance is off the charts. For someone that shoots a lot of run-and-gun documentaries in available light, that in itself almost makes it worth buying one.

People were jumping off buildings about the C100’s 4:2:0, 24Mbps codec. But for me, when you look at the images this camera spits out, they look fantastic. Even compared to the C300’s 4:2:2, 50Mbps you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Yes, 4:2:0 is not the best if you’re doing heavy grading and effects and it’s not broadcast compliant, but you can always use the “clean” 4:2:2 video output via HDMI to an external recorder if required.

Now the bad stuff. Well, there really isn’t much I don’t like about this camera except for one thing – and it’s extremely annoying and almost a deal-breaker. The viewfinder/eyepiece is less Canon and more Fisher Price. As a videographer, I’m used to placing my eye in a comfortable eyecup and seeing a nice, big, clean and crisp image. Handy for things like, hmmmm, I don’t know… focusing perhaps.

There is a flip-out LCD screen which is decent. Its kind of placed in a slightly awkward spot and doesn’t fully rotate, but it serves the purpose. But, I tend to use an LCD screen just in certain situations. The built-in viewfinder/eyepiece on top of the camera is almost completely useless. It’s to the point of being ridiculous. Seriously Canon? The C300 has a very good eyepiece. I don’t know what they were thinking with this thing. The general consensus is that Canon realized the the C100 was going to be too good at less than half the price of the C300 and decided to punish the C100 be eliminating the ability to see what your filming. “Oh, you want to actually see stuff and focus? Well, check out this other camera we have….”

I’m not really sure how I’m going to work around this problem, but I have a few ideas. Also, I’m sure that over the next few months we’ll start seeing 3rd party manufacturers creating some solutions. Zacuto for example, is working on adapting one of their Z-Finders to clip onto the LCD screen. That’s expected out sometime in the next two to three months.

So, now what? Well, I’m committed to giving the C100 a shot. I’m off on a 30-day trip to shoot three different projects in three different countries. I’m going to haul this baby around with me and see what it’s got. I”ll update you along the way on how its performing and what solutions I’ve found to the perplexing viewfinder debacle. I’m sure I’m going to love the C100. I’m sure there will be times I hate the C100. Hopefully more of the former than the latter.

Off I go!

Scot McDonald

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