C300: To Canon- for the C300 Mk2 can we add... (via firmware)

[Plexi Head]

Sigma's primes should work with AF and they have a dock for firmware upgrades when Canon goes and messes with their AF programming. Every lens, including Canon's, acts differently in terms of how the AF engages so some pull focus more naturally than others. Tokina's zooms all use a screw drive AF that is pretty loud. They also don't have full time MF override so you have to engage the AF whenever you want to use it an then disengage it if you want to do any manual focusing.

Basic AF works with 50mm Sigma Art series prime. Face recognition does not, tracking does not - terrible breathing - footage unusable for broadcast. Sigma 50mm Art series prime to me is the best looking lens I have ever used on C300MKII. I own and use the 18-80 servo but not in the same league as Sigma 50mm prime for locked off shots e.g. interviews etc. I also own the Zoom Primes and many, many Canon zoom and prime lens but none produce the magic (in very specific environments) that the Sigma 50mm is able to produce. Just my opinion.

 

[cpreston]

This lens would be useful for about 80% of my stuff so after thinking about it, I would gladly pay $7,500.00 for it if it could be made and sold for that much?

So would I, but that is basically the 17-120 with IS and AF but just slightly slower.

 

[kohl-sudduth]

Basic AF works with 50mm Sigma Art series prime. Face recognition does not, tracking does not - terrible breathing - footage unusable for broadcast. Sigma 50mm Art series prime to me is the best looking lens I have ever used on C300MKII. I own and use the 18-80 servo but not in the same league as Sigma 50mm prime for locked off shots e.g. interviews etc. I also own the Zoom Primes and many, many Canon zoom and prime lens but none produce the magic (in very specific environments) that the Sigma 50mm is able to produce. Just my opinion.

This reflects my experience as well. Have the Sigma 50mm Art and LOVE the way it looks on the c300 mk ii. Had intended to fill out a set with other focal lengths, but the lack of facial recognition and tracking combined with the breathing does indeed make them only effective for pretty specific circumstances - eg locked off etc. Makes for an interesting conundrum.

The fact that I'm moving away from using Canon cameras for stills - after recently picking up the Fuji X-T2, I will be very hard pressed to go back to my 5D - and regularly faced with the shortcomings of using stills lenses for the productions I'm involved in - I'm done purchasing EF mount stills lenses. I have a workable set of L series zooms/primes. I'm calling it good. Doesn't make economic sense for me. Kind of bummer because I do love the Sigma Art line.

If both Fujinon MK lenses came in EF mount, I'd buy them tomorrow.

 

[DLD]

So would I, but that is basically the 17-120 with IS and AF but just slightly slower.

PD was slightly kidding as the 17-120 T2.95 servo is $26,000. But, with the sales of C200 taking off, they surely could/should/ought to make a T4.4 version for a lot less.

 

[cpreston]

PD was slightly kidding as the 17-120 T2.95 servo is $26,000. But, with the sales of C200 taking off, they surely could/should/ought to make a T4.4 version for a lot less.

That's the problem with the hopes for a faster or cheaper lens than the 18-80. Once you start asking for increased range or f stop, you wind up describing a lens that costs 5x the amount. The 18-80 is already significantly cheaper than anything else in the Canon cine lens range and includes IS and AF.

 

[DLD]

That's the problem with the hopes for a faster or cheaper lens than the 18-80...

I didn't say that it'd be both "faster and cheaper" but ... the bang for the buck ratio has to go up to, at least, coincide with what is happening with the electronics/hardware.

PS. No one knows the sweet spot. The manufacturers, in that case, tend to start high and then offer discounts and other considerations if the item is not moving off the store shelves. PD said he'd pay $7,500 for a 17-120 T 3.5. How about an improved 24-105 F2.8? 20-120? Or something in that vein.

 

[puredrifting]

So would I, but that is basically the 17-120 with IS and AF but just slightly slower.

So where can I pre-order it? ;-)

 

[cpreston]

I figured that there might be discounts on the 18-80mm, but the only thing so far has been the $800 off with the purchase of a camera. Not bad. But my feeling that Canon isn't going to drop the price substantially is due to the fact that the 70-200 is being priced higher than the 18-80.

 

[NMSK]

Basic AF works with 50mm Sigma Art series prime. Face recognition does not, tracking does not - terrible breathing - footage unusable for broadcast. Sigma 50mm Art series prime to me is the best looking lens I have ever used on C300MKII. I own and use the 18-80 servo but not in the same league as Sigma 50mm prime for locked off shots e.g. interviews etc. I also own the Zoom Primes and many, many Canon zoom and prime lens but none produce the magic (in very specific environments) that the Sigma 50mm is able to produce. Just my opinion.

Facial recognition and object tracking work perfectly fine with my Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art on my C300ii. Plexi/Kohl - are your lenses/camera updated to latest firmware? AF Speed isn't configurable with the Sigmas like it is with Canon made lenses, but AF response is and so are all other focus functions.

 

[puredrifting]

You'd think so right? It's up to Canon to make it happen...

I've asked two Canon reps. Don't hold your breath on the C300 MKII touchscreen. Personally, if the C300 MKII's Dual Digic 5 processors can handle it, I think there would be more of a chance on Cinema RAW Light coming to the C300 MKII because it would play into Canon trying to make it an industry standard codec. So it would be good for Canon. Which means it could happen.

 

[NMSK]

Future C300ii firmware updates I'd love to see:

1) Implement the C200 8bit 4K 150mbps codec for long run time/quick turn around jobs with burnt in colour. Any lower bitrate 4K codec would do really.
2) Enable the Canon LM-V1 touchscreen for the C200 and support touch focus (on both C300ii and C700).
3) Rawlite would be amazing but I'm not holding my breath.
4) Increase the live view FPS from the WFT-E8 (about 10-15fps) for similar performance to the 1DXii live view (which is almost real time in many scenarios)
5) Allow assignable button config on the ZSG-C10 servo zoom controller, I'd love for the one-shot AF button to act similar to Button 1 on the sidegrip handle. Better yet, offer a hardware upgrade to the ZSG-C10 to add a joystick above the run/stop button so I can control AF box position/tracking functionality with one hand.
6) Enable raw CR.2 8.8mp stills capture to the SD card instead of just 1080p jpegs. Even 4K jpegs (like the 2012 FS700 offers) would save me a s*%tload of time in post pulling stills from footage for clients who want to throw something up on facebook that evening. I don't always want to bring a DSLR with us to everyshoot.


In terms of physical upgrades:
- I'd really love for Canon to release a side handgrip for their C cameras that have more a few more function buttons, atleast 3 more. I often feel limited with a single button and a joystick.
- I know it's not possible now but I'd also love the LCD to autochange its orientation depending on its position so that I don't have to mash the mirror button going from shoulder shooting to the hip and back :laugh:
- Make BPA30/60's with d/p-tap out! Or add some power distribution on the camera body - I'd bloody kill for this.

I had a brief chat with a Canon representative (not an employee unfortunately) about some suggested firmware updates for the C300ii at SMPTE2017 last week. Regarding the 8bit 4k codec from the C200 - He looked at me strangely for a second and said "I'm not sure how eager Canon would be to announce a firmware update to the camera for a worse codec than what's in it already". I argued that obviously video work ranges greatly and not every project needs to be 10bit and graded heavily so it's overkill and taxing on our cfast storage as well as our archival. There's already a wide variety of 1080p codecs in the camera ranging from 50mbps to 225mbps 12bit 444, adding a high quality, more compressed codec gives us similar flexibity. I get if the C300ii lacks the AVCHD encoder chips for the 150mbps 4K, but there's the XFAVC 8bit 4K codecs from the XC10/15 (200 and 305mbps), or potentially just roll out the XFAVC codecs the C200 will get early next year into the C300ii. I just want a single lower bitrate 4K codec for burnt in, long runtime interviews where I can resize a little more than I could at 2K if neccessary.

Concerning the touchscreen, I argued that it seems the C300ii and C200 use object tracking in a fairly similar way, both requiring a button push to enter object tracking - just tap the screen on the C200 and the tracking begins, where the C300ii requirs the cross hairs to be over the object you want to track and you hit the joystick again to start tracking. Plus the physical connector is exactly the same, just takes a signal from the screen to tell the camera what to track. It's already a seperately available accessory, why not increase the amount of cameras it can work on? It's perfect for use on gimbals or as a small onboard display for the C700. I just have a feeling they're saving it for whatever comes after the C300ii which is a real waste, in my opinion.

Other than that, I really like how the C300ii is physically and operationally, but there's always room for improvement with any camera.

 

[Eric Coughlin]

Here is a simple firmware update I'd like for the C300 Mark II.

While using the joystick to move around the focus point, I'd like to be able to adjust how much it moves. You can currently use the dial on the side of the camera and it moves it to four point on the frame that are in the rule of thirds. That's nice, but often my hand doesn't have time to reach that dial, so I'd like to be able to quickly adjust to at least those four points while using the joystick.

Ideally, there'd be a setting to enable me to select how many focus points there are, say from 2 (top left and top right), 3 (top left, top right, middle), to 4 to 8 to 16, etc., and even more ideally, changing this setting would be quick (perhaps an assignable button which could toggle the different amount of focus points). I'd guess right now there are around 64 focus points, which is nice when precision is needed, but takes extra pushes of the joystick to get it in place which therefore takes more time, and when you just need to hit one of the two to four rule of thirds points, the extra steps can be a hindrance.

I'm a bit skeptical of the usefulness of the C200's touch screen. I'm sure it will be useful at times, but there would still be a lot of value in having a streamlined focus control setup from the camera handles where your hands often are, so this firmware update would help with that issue.