C300: Taking possession a C300 MK2 tomorrow. Any tips?

[drummondb]

Howdy all. I've been shooting with lots of C100's (mk 1 and 2) for several years now, and I've occasionally used C300's. My boss just made my year by agreeing to the purchase of a C300 mk2!

Any tips you guys could share? Any consensus on picture profiles so far? Is it true you an only use flavors of c-log in 4K?

We do so much work so fast that I doubt we'll actually shoot much in 4K, at least for now. I'm excited to try the 2K 12-bit modes, but that also appears to be (understandably) data intensive.

Looks like it can also record in a similar format to the C300 mk1 at 50Mbps. But here it is 4:2:2 10-bit. That will yield a hell of a lot longer recording time on these pricey CFast cards. I know it's a bit silly to be focusing on the lowest quality setting (aside from the SD proxy files), but when I'm doing something long-form, these 50Mbps files should be a decent step up from the C100's AVCHD files, right? Anyone shoot in that mode at all?

 

[Mark Smith]

I think I've shot in modes from 50 mbps to 410 which is 4k 10 bit 422. There is much to become familiar with in the 300mk2. THe auto focus options/settings alone take a bit of time to learn exactly what they do and what circumstances they are best applied. To me , the AF options, assuming an EF mount camera and lenses, are really powerful tools the MK 2 gained over the MK1 version. While you can shoot 1080 - 50 mbps all the way up to 410 mbps 4k , the sweet spot seems to be at 2k 12 bit 444. This is the place where the post options seem strongest in terms of shaping the image in post with expanded color spaces and lots of possibilities and nuances in the grade.
You'll find many options to sort through between recording formats, color spaces to find what best suits the type of work you are doing.

 

[Parrot]

Howdy all. I've been shooting with lots of C100's (mk 1 and 2) for several years now, and I've occasionally used C300's. My boss just made my year by agreeing to the purchase of a C300 mk2!

Any tips you guys could share? Any consensus on picture profiles so far? Is it true you an only use flavors of c-log in 4K?

You need to charge the internal Lithium battery before you can get the settings to stick.

4K RAW out of the SDI spigot is LOG2 & LOG3 only, Cinema Gamut or Rec2020 gamut only. 4K internal is whatever you set it to.

I mostly shoot LOG2 for sunny daytime, LOG3 for low light, Cinema Gamut and Production Camera Matrix. I also use Neutral and occasionally EOS Cinema Original.
Production Camera is Arri Alexa lookalike settings.
I've been told (not from Canon!!!) that 'Video' matrix is a Sony lookalike setting, but have never tested if it actually matches the Sony cameras.

 

[drummondb]

Thanks guys. I've just opened it and done just a few test shots. The biggest problem for me is that I'm expecting to touch the joysticks and have them activate the function command (WB, ISo, Shutter, etc) on the LCD screen the way the C100's work. It seems a bit laborious to first find a "function" button and then joystick around the settings. Any way to change the default joystick behavior?

 

[slavikb]

Thanks guys. I've just opened it and done just a few test shots. The biggest problem for me is that I'm expecting to touch the joysticks and have them activate the function command (WB, ISo, Shutter, etc) on the LCD screen the way the C100's work. It seems a bit laborious to first find a "function" button and then joystick around the settings. Any way to change the default joystick behavior?

Unfortunately not, at least right now. That seems to be the biggest gripe from C300 (both mkI and mkII) owners at first, but to be honest, you get used to it, and maybe even appreciate it after a while. If you set the body wheel to ISO, you'll now have ISO and Aperture easily accessible via the body and hand grip, and then to change WB you'll get a feel for the two WB buttons on the bottom of the body. And now you're much less likely to change the shutter by accident, which sometimes happens on the C100 using the joystick.

The other big gripe is the shutter angle/speed changing every time you select a different framerate, but that's finally getting fixed in the upcoming firmware update mid-December.

Cheers,
Slavik

 

[Eric Coughlin]

If you set the body wheel to ISO, you'll now have ISO and Aperture easily accessible via the body and hand grip, and then to change WB you'll get a feel for the two WB buttons on the bottom of the body.

I find I change between setting the hand grip dial between ISO and aperture depending on what I'm shooting. If I'm indoors and say wide open most of the time on the 24-105 f/4, then I'll set the hand grip dial to ISO. If I'm outdoors in day time I'll often leave my ISO at 800, so then I'll set the hand grip dial to aperture and use aperture and NDs to set exposure. A little bit of pain to have to go into the menu to change these settings depending on what I'm shooting.

When these are set how I want them, it can be faster to change individual settings than on the C100 since the hand grip dial can be prioritized. But when you still need to use the dial on the side of the camera, it's still a bit slower than using the thumb dial. Overall, perhaps it balances out.

WB on the other hand, I still haven't gotten used to changing it as quickly as on the C100. My hand is already on the thumb dial on the hand grip, but it's not resting on the WB on the side of the camera, so I still have to take my hand off the lens in order to press the WB or function button, which takes extra time.

Still seems like such a simple firmware update. Is Canon hoping we get used to operating it the way they want or what?

 

[drummondb]

I didn't know you could change the ISO via the grip dial. That does make a lot more sense in low light situations where I'm trying to err on the side of staying wide open.

Any LUT advice? Oh and a big one: decent way to match to WideDR on a C100? Looks like the BT2020 and BT.709 presets use WideDR as the gamma and neutral as the color matrix.