Shane Hurlbut, ASC used 2 Arri Alexas and 2 Canon EOS C300s to shoot promos for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and has posted an interesting comparison article with frame grabs and video on his blog.
http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/04/dueling-canon-c300-and-arri-alexa/
Archive for the Cinematography Category
The Canon EOS C300 has received the BBC’s required standards approval for internal and external production of programmes for it’s HD channels.
I normally don’t do a lot of shooting for green screen chroma key but I thought that the best way to test how good the MXF 4.2.2 50Mbps codec of the Canon EOS C300 really is would be a difficult and challenging green screen test.
I didn’t have to look far for a challenging subject, my partner Alison has wonderful naturally fine curly hair that I love, but she doesn’t like it, in her days as an on camera presenter and reporter she’d always been told she was impossible chroma key talent.
I edit with FCP 7 and I Logged and Transferred the camera footage in as Apple Pro Res (HQ). My usual chroma key plugin that I have installed in Final Cut is dvMatte Pro from DV Garage. This did a very good job quite quickly and easily. There are no issues with background spill but it did leave a very slight “shimmer” on the detail of the fine strands of Alison’s hair in the rendered composite.
Next I downloaded a trial version of Primatte Keyer 5.0 from Red Giant and tried that. There are some excellent tutorials at Red Giant that guided me through the basic keying workflow very quickly. I applied the key to exactly the same footage and as you can see the results achieved in the second half of the video are really very good, especially when you consider I didn’t use any of the additional features for advanced keying in the Primatte Key package.
I’ve read a lot of criticism of the “only” 50Mbps 8 bit codec online, and on paper it might appear a little inadequate, but in practice however it is extremely robust. The aim wasn’t primarily to create a perfect key but see to see how far I could push the 4.2.2 50Mbps codec, I think it’s survived the challenge. I’d put this down to the way the Canon EOS C300 creates separate full 1920 x 1080 signals for each of the RGB channels without a debayering process, along with the double sampling of the green channel, which also contributes to the camera’s outstanding resolution.
My second test with the Canon EOS C300 was to evaluate how well the Canon EOS C300 performed in low light. This involved shooting scenes in a variety of dusk and night time locations around Sydney’s Circular Quay and The Rocks, while experimenting with a variety of ISO and shutter settings in the camera.
A big feature of this camera, for me, is its ease of use and portability; all I took with me was the camera body with top handle, no LCD viewfinder. I had a Rode VideoMic Pro mounted on the cold shoe on top of the handle and plugged into the external mini jack port on the camera body. I used my Manfrotto 509HD-536K PRO tripod. In my belt bag took 4 lenses and a spare battery.
These lenses were;
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX 11-16mm F2.8
The EF 50mm f/1.2L USM was on loan from Canon Australia for a presentation I was doing with the camera the following night at the Australian Cinematographers Society headquarters in North Sydney.
All shots were recorded using the Canon C Log profile. The camera settings I used started with Canon’s recommended 850 ISO, which gives maximum dynamic range. This was perfect for scenes shot just after dusk, using the 50mm f/1.2 for a couple of shots I also used the camera’s inbuilt ND filters. By the time night had fully fallen I found an ISO 6400 (with a shutter setting of 180˚) was the optimum setting for naturally lit street scenes and allowed me to use the f/2.8 lenses.
Moving down to the Circular Quay foreshore, where there is very little lighting away from buildings, for some shots I pushed the settings as far as they would go to ISO 20,000 (+30db) with 360˚ shutter. I found the camera was now resolving detail and colour not visible to the naked eye, the most spectacular of these shots being of the couple taking photos with the Opera House back drop at 1′ 10″ in the video. To the naked eye they were merely silhouettes. I was also amazed at this setting, not just how low the noise in the image was, but the “quality” of the noise. It’s aesthetically more like a film grain than regular video noise and very low but acceptable and almost pleasing. (On Vimeo the necessary compression shows some blockiness in the shadow areas but this was not apparent when viewed on a monitor in the edit suite).
From all the reports I’d seen and read online prior to placing the first order for this camera at Lemac Film and Digital, I knew it was going to be very good in low light, but the results exceed my high expectations. With this camera I am now able to shoot outdoor night scenes with none or a very small amount of additional lighting just enough to add necessary fill and detail to close ups.
For additional additional information about shooting at night with the Canon C300 view “Sword: Behind The Scenes” at Canon’s Cinema EOS website.
A few days ago I took delivery of Canon EOS Cinema C300, one of the first to be delivered in Australia. I’d placed an order for the camera with Lemac Film and Digital way back in early December, sight unseen. I’ve dealt with Lemac for many years and their backup service and support is second to none, important if you’re a freelancer. I’d made my decision to buy the C300 based on evaluations from reputable cinematographers and footage that I’d seen on the internet. It seemed the perfect step up from using the Canon 7D, which I loved and my clients loved, but it could be a little cumbersome to work with, especially when recording dual system sound, watching for moire and aliasing, the 12 minute shot limit, and dealing with the H264 codec.
The EOS Cinema C300 has put an end to all that. It is very easy to use. This camera has definitely been designed for the cameraman to use and at the same time all reservations about the 4.2.2 50mbs codec have been dispelled. I’ve long been a critic of rear mounted viewfinders on video cameras but this camera is so light, only 3lbs. A side grip makes it very similar to handling a Mamiya 645 or Hassleblad medium format camera and hand holding is a breeze. Arms tucked in tight to the torso, right hand holding the camera grip and the camera base cradled in the left hand – very comfortable.
Canon C300 basic kit, has no necessary "add ons"
Canon 7D with extra bits for audio, viewfinder and variable ND
The camera has outstanding resolution and exceptional dynamic range, no problems with moire or aliasing and almost unbelievable low light performance. The accompanying video was designed for me to discover what I could expect from the camera. So far it exceeds my expectations and I look forward to putting it to real use.
All shots in the video used the C Log profile and all grading was done in Final Cut Pro 7 using the 3 Way Color Corrector simply to adjust black and highlight levels, only in the night time shots at the end was any actual colour correction applied. The video files were downloaded from the CF card using the Canon XF Utility to back up footage to the computer (MacPro Quad 2 x 2.8), this took about 4 mins for 32 minutes of video. Log and Transfer into FCP was then done using the Canon XF plugin for FCP coming in as AppleRes (SQ) this took about 8 mins for the 32 minutes of video, notably much faster the same process with the 7D’s H264 format.
Also of note in this test is the performance of the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM lens using the stabilizer to hand hold and pan with the ferry, this not something I’d usually do off the tripod. I’d long wondered if it was worth forking out the extra $1,000 for IS version, it was.
I’ve recently spent a good few hours testing a Canon 7D and workflows into Final Cut Pro 7. Our first production was a real test for the system, an observational documentary.
We were commissioned to shoot a short doco for Sydney dancer Louie George rehearsing his new show. The shoot was done at three separate rehearsal sessions. We shot rehearsals as they happened only once having to ask for second take of a dance we only had one angle.
The equipment we used comprised of four lenses, a Sigma 10-20mm, a Canon 17-85mm, a Sigma 70-200mm and for the interviews a Mamiya 645 55mm with Fotodiox adaptor. We a used a Steadicam Flyer for some shots, a perfect rig for the Canon 7D, as well as lots of handheld and a Manfrotto 504HD tripod that I’ve been asked to evaluate.
Audio was recorded on a Zoom H4, with Rode NTG 1 shotgun mike on one channel and Sony radio mike from Louie feeding the second channel. An output split from the monitor output of the radio mike was in turn sent to the Canon 7D via another radio mike for a guide track when post syncing with PluralEyes in post.
The Zoom H4 batteries drained very quickly when supplying phantom power for NTG 1. In future we’ll supply sound to the H4 with a mixer.
The only lighting used was for Louie’s interview. All the dance footage and Elizabeth’s interview were shot under available light. The Mamiya 55mm lens was used for both interviews at f2.8.
I made the decision to shoot all the footage at 720 50p as I was sure we’d use some slo mo. The slow motion shots were created by duplicating the original files of the shots required and conforming them to 25p in Cinema Tools. These shots were then slowed a further 50% in Final Cut with frame bending off.
Producer and sound recordist was my partner Alison Ray.
