I headed over to the Paramount lot yesterday. Canon put on a great event. Very classy. Not a ton of people, probably because the invites were not widely distributed...perhaps on purpose because the studio can only handle so many people. This turned out to be a bonus because there was plenty of opportunity to play with the camera and to talk to people. More importantly, the line for food was never long 
They catered a nice lunch all day.
They had talks, seminars and screenings going on constantly all day. It was hard to see everything and I wish I could have. The main venue was inside Stages 1 and 2, which had several different areas to explore. There were dozens of cameras mounted with delicious lenses in every variety. In one corner, they had set up rows of cameras pointing at a set that changed lighting periodically. There would be a girl doing come craft work in bright light then she would "close up shop", the lights would dim and an actor playing a security guard would go on set with a flashlight and walk around. They also had test charts set up with a waveform monitor, if you were so inclined. I saw at least 12 stops on the WFM and you argue more, but Canon is conservative.
I only had time to see Mobius and XXIT in the Paramount Theatre, but my non-expert opinion is that they all looked great. It just looked like a film you would see in a theater. I only saw parts of one other film in the mini screening rooms and it did have noise because they shot at very high ISOs, but the noise sort of reminding me of film grain. In one scene in XXIT, they had the camera mounted to motorcycles and the cameras bounced around a bit, but I didn't notice any really bad rolling shutter effects.
The camera itself is very slick and very well designed. The camera body is all new. The ND unit is totally new. It has three glass filters and is motorized with a neat mechanical back up in case the motor fails. The filters move in and out of the way in a cool card trick like fashion. They designed a new cooling unit that draws air in from the bottom and vents it through two tiny holes in the top. With the camera on, but not recording, I had to put my ear within 1 cm of the inlet to hear anything (but of course the demo area was not silent). The inlet is on the left side and at the bottom so it's pretty far away from any on camera mic you would mount. The camera has XLRs on the LCD/control unit with a mic mount, but it doesn't come with a mic.
The grip feels great, just like an EOS camera. It detaches and can be mounted at several different angles. It has several controls including a command dial and a joystick.
The camera boots up in 4 seconds. It only draws around 12 watts with the VF and LCD on and recording at the highest bit rate. This gets you at least 3 hours of run time with those little batteries that fit totally flush inside the body. The LCD monitor/control unit is very clever. It has two hot shoe mounts 90° apart so you can mount it lots of ways. The whole control unit rotates with click detents. The LCD can swivels in two axis and there's a mirror button to flip the image. Because you can detach the LCD/Control unit, you can put it far forward on the handle and hold the camera closer to you. The power switch has an additional detent to lock all the buttons and switches so nothing gets changed. They also have a CP Locked function which locks out all the image adjustment settings and just applies Canon Log for a flat image. This is useful for multiple cameras because you can hit CP Locked and not worry if some obscure image setting is not the same on all cameras.
The camera has seals around the seams and buttons to make it dust and splash proof. Every connector has a tethered cover. They also label the connector so you can still tell what it is in case the cover ever gets ripped off.
Overall, I think it's a great first start. The price really isn't set in stone yet. There will be more cameras and more lenses. Canon is really committed. It was a big deal for them to have the CEO come out to introduce the camera and the Cinema EOS line.
Well, welcome to Hollywood, Canon!
They catered a nice lunch all day.They had talks, seminars and screenings going on constantly all day. It was hard to see everything and I wish I could have. The main venue was inside Stages 1 and 2, which had several different areas to explore. There were dozens of cameras mounted with delicious lenses in every variety. In one corner, they had set up rows of cameras pointing at a set that changed lighting periodically. There would be a girl doing come craft work in bright light then she would "close up shop", the lights would dim and an actor playing a security guard would go on set with a flashlight and walk around. They also had test charts set up with a waveform monitor, if you were so inclined. I saw at least 12 stops on the WFM and you argue more, but Canon is conservative.
I only had time to see Mobius and XXIT in the Paramount Theatre, but my non-expert opinion is that they all looked great. It just looked like a film you would see in a theater. I only saw parts of one other film in the mini screening rooms and it did have noise because they shot at very high ISOs, but the noise sort of reminding me of film grain. In one scene in XXIT, they had the camera mounted to motorcycles and the cameras bounced around a bit, but I didn't notice any really bad rolling shutter effects.
The camera itself is very slick and very well designed. The camera body is all new. The ND unit is totally new. It has three glass filters and is motorized with a neat mechanical back up in case the motor fails. The filters move in and out of the way in a cool card trick like fashion. They designed a new cooling unit that draws air in from the bottom and vents it through two tiny holes in the top. With the camera on, but not recording, I had to put my ear within 1 cm of the inlet to hear anything (but of course the demo area was not silent). The inlet is on the left side and at the bottom so it's pretty far away from any on camera mic you would mount. The camera has XLRs on the LCD/control unit with a mic mount, but it doesn't come with a mic.
The grip feels great, just like an EOS camera. It detaches and can be mounted at several different angles. It has several controls including a command dial and a joystick.
The camera boots up in 4 seconds. It only draws around 12 watts with the VF and LCD on and recording at the highest bit rate. This gets you at least 3 hours of run time with those little batteries that fit totally flush inside the body. The LCD monitor/control unit is very clever. It has two hot shoe mounts 90° apart so you can mount it lots of ways. The whole control unit rotates with click detents. The LCD can swivels in two axis and there's a mirror button to flip the image. Because you can detach the LCD/Control unit, you can put it far forward on the handle and hold the camera closer to you. The power switch has an additional detent to lock all the buttons and switches so nothing gets changed. They also have a CP Locked function which locks out all the image adjustment settings and just applies Canon Log for a flat image. This is useful for multiple cameras because you can hit CP Locked and not worry if some obscure image setting is not the same on all cameras.
The camera has seals around the seams and buttons to make it dust and splash proof. Every connector has a tethered cover. They also label the connector so you can still tell what it is in case the cover ever gets ripped off.
Overall, I think it's a great first start. The price really isn't set in stone yet. There will be more cameras and more lenses. Canon is really committed. It was a big deal for them to have the CEO come out to introduce the camera and the Cinema EOS line.
Well, welcome to Hollywood, Canon!
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