C700: Does anyone actually shoot with the C700?

Hey all:

Just found out I will be hands-on with the C700FF next week. Is there anything in particular that you all want me to check out on the camera? Not sure of which lenses will be available and Canon has promised me a loaner/review model after Cinegear but for now, I get a few hours with it. So if you are curious about something, write your questions in this thread and I will be writing an article about it for www.hdvideopro.com and then will have a follow up, hands-on review this Summer when I will use it on some of our documentary shoots. I'm excited, it will be an interesting camera to shoot with.
 
jm.gardiner said:
The camera definitely hasn't pick up a lot of steam, but it is being used. I think you'll start to see it more as an option against the varicam.

I know Dynasty (I think they are the first) shoots with the 700 and there are quite a few unreleased Netflix shows using right now too.
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C700 is no longer on Dynasty. I believe the show switched to F55 midseason.
 
puredrifting said:
Hey all:

Just found out I will be hands-on with the C700FF next week. Is there anything in particular that you all want me to check out on the camera? Not sure of which lenses will be available and Canon has promised me a loaner/review model after Cinegear but for now, I get a few hours with it. So if you are curious about something, write your questions in this thread and I will be writing an article about it for www.hdvideopro.com and then will have a follow up, hands-on review this Summer when I will use it on some of our documentary shoots. I'm excited, it will be an interesting camera to shoot with.
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Shoot side-by-side in FF next to C200 / C300 II (+ non FF Alexa, Sony, Red etc.) to show extra-shallow DOF looks
" " to show what True 4K looks like next to cameras that aren't (high detail scenes / faces / resolution chart)
4K60p vs. 1DX II / C200 4K60p
If you have access to an Alexa and an AC (might be one or two here in LA): compare unpredictable moving subject focus quality in 4K: DPAF vs. manual (anything below an Alexa 65 won't have True 4K; though they are still higher than 1080p in their "4K" mode)
" " compare skin tones, highlight quality

If you and/or Canon performs these kinds of tests, some other extremely heavy (ancient tech + power hungry!) cameras might be the ones with gravity-assist paper management duties :)
 
jcs said:
Shoot side-by-side in FF next to C200 / C300 II (+ non FF Alexa, Sony, Red etc.) to show extra-shallow DOF looks
" " to show what True 4K looks like next to cameras that aren't (high detail scenes / faces / resolution chart)
4K60p vs. 1DX II / C200 4K60p
If you have access to an Alexa and an AC (might be one or two here in LA): compare unpredictable moving subject focus quality in 4K: DPAF vs. manual (anything below an Alexa 65 won't have True 4K; though they are still higher than 1080p in their "4K" mode)
" " compare skin tones, highlight quality

If you and/or Canon performs these kinds of tests, some other extremely heavy (ancient tech + power hungry!) cameras might be the ones with gravity-assist paper management duties :)
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Definitely won't be any Arris involved, this will be at Canon.
 
puredrifting said:
Definitely won't be any Arris involved, this will be at Canon.
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Wouldn't it make sense for Canon to have Arris to compare? Folks like Eric jumped from a C300 II to an Amira and make fun of the C700. I agree the C700 doesn't have any compelling features to warrant an upgrade from a C300 II, especially for the price and how the market hires out cameras in the pro market. I considered an Alexa Mini for our (relatively simple) low-budget work (not shooting for others), however since it appeared the C300 II's color was close enough to Arri and DPAF makes life easier when I have to personally do all production and editing, I went with the C300 II. After a couple years of owning the C300 II and shooting in more lighting conditions, it turns it the C300 II took a bit more work to get the level of color I was expecting as I learned more about lighting, skin tone color etc. After tuning the color on the 1DX II (which stock isn't as good as the 5D3(!)), C300 II color didn't look so great. So I did a deep dive into figuring out how to get better color out of the C300 II. Having all these gamma, color, and other tuning elements is fine, however I'd really rather just have one setting that simply produces correct color with no surprises! (like when shooting 5D3 raw). Less options, less complexity, simply better color please. And that's why I see people going Arri (Red and Sony got a boost from Netflix's 4K requirement, which excludes all Arri's except the Alexa 65 and LF).

Thus, before I'd purchase a C700 FF, I'd want to directly compare against Arri's color on skin tones (I would not use Canon Log 2 + Cinema Gamut + Production matrix: I can get much better results with other settings. I used to believe since it was "ARRI" compatible, it would be the best. It's not).

Can you find out if the C700 FF has the same menu system / CP (Custom Picture) settings as the C300 II?
Also, if you could check RS (quick pan test) folks would be interested in that.
Will you be allowed to take any footage with you?
 
jcs said:
Can you find out if the C700 FF has the same menu system / CP (Custom Picture) settings as the C300 II?
Also, if you could check RS (quick pan test) folks would be interested in that.
Will you be allowed to take any footage with you?
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I'll see what I can do about these. I'm told I can take footage as long as Canon approves it but you should understand this will be from a prototype, not a production line camera so the usual caveats with that are in effect.
 
indiawilds said:
Canon India told me that this ad is shot with C700 (previous non FF). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK6JfjqrHfY
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I have to say objectively I see nothing in these images that couldn't be captured with the C300 MKII or my C200. Not that they look bad, they don't but they don't look especially crisp or vivid either. Could just be a lousy grade too but definitely not an inspiring look from the footage. Then again, YouTube compression makes everything look lousy.
 
puredrifting said:
Hey all:

Just found out I will be hands-on with the C700FF next week. Is there anything in particular that you all want me to check out on the camera? Not sure of which lenses will be available and Canon has promised me a loaner/review model after Cinegear but for now, I get a few hours with it. So if you are curious about something, write your questions in this thread and I will be writing an article about it for www.hdvideopro.com and then will have a follow up, hands-on review this Summer when I will use it on some of our documentary shoots. I'm excited, it will be an interesting camera to shoot with.
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Hi Dan, it would be nice should you post a link to the article once it will be published.
 
That was great lighting and camerawork. Also directed by Nigel Dick, who has done hundreds of music videos since the 80s (which I just found out was already told you by the behind-the-scenes video).
 
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Does nancy understand latitude ? ( ..different from dr)

I see nothing there but good cinematography and lighting

(Which can also be done on a bmc pocket!)
 
morgan_moore said:
Does nancy understand latitude ? ( ..different from dr)

I see nothing there but good cinematography and lighting

(Which can also be done on a bmc pocket!)
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I really doubt that Nancy, or anybody else, approaches these shoots with the attitude that they are not going to control lighting and exposure so that it can be fixed in post. She does say that she overexposed quite a bit so it is hard to say how much color correction was done in post, especially since it appears that everything was pushed blue in post based on the BTS video. This is what I don't understand about people making judgements on a camera based on somebody else's shoot. How do you even know what you are looking at? This even applies to comments like "I'm not impressed with the dynamic range" based on just looking at a frame grab. How do you know?

Most of Canon's videos look terrible. It is just nice that they found a director and DP who can put together a nice video.
 
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For a bts to really be of any value we need to hear the colourist.

Any time I shoot with a new camera I know nothing - a moment only comes when one drops into resolve and says.. "Well what do we have here then" before yanking all the wheels
 
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