C100: Where did all the C100's go?

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deltoidjohn

Veteran
Just curious what every has done with all of their original C100's?

Recently I moved to a rural area which saw my business model change. Most of the local jobs I'm shooting don't require all the bells & whistles that my fully rigged A-cam has, and I'm thinking of adding something lighter & cheaper as a grab-and-go camera, but still better than a DSLR. Internal ND's & XLR are a must, as well as good out-of-the-box colour, so the ideal fit seems to be a C100, probably with a Ninja Blade.

I've been looking in a lot of the usual places (including the classifieds here - though keep in mind I'm in Aus) and it seems pretty rare for an original C100 to pop up used. FS700's, AF100's, C100mkII's and even EA50's all seem to pop up pretty often, but the original C100, which seemed to be everywhere a few short years ago, is somewhat of an anomaly.

So it got me wondering what happened to them all? Are people still running them as A-cams? Did everyone hang on to them as B-cams? Did the used price just drop so low that it's not worth it for anyone to sell them? Has one single person bought and hoarded them all to build a gigantic bullet-time rig? Or did they all just spontaneously combust the day after the warranty expired, as seems to be the case with many modern electronics?
 
I bought one from KEH for a steal in mid 2016 and sold it at the end of last year as my clients started requesting 4K and I invested in a C200. It was still a great camera and I would recommend it to anyone that doesn’t need 4K.
 
I still think the MKII improvements are worth the $ (60p, better viewfinder, rotatable lcd, etc).

Put in a couple of SD cards, get rid of the top handle, slap on a VideoMic Pro and a 17-55 lens, put a spare battery into your pocket and ride off into the sunset.
 
Here's a "mint" one in Sydney:

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bro...canon-c100-mark-i-with-accessories/1172092878

I do remember there was a huge burst of them on Gumtree at one point but I can't remember what that coincided with, but since then it's a slow trickle.

My guess is those who decided to move on have dumped them already and those who picked them up second hand are happy with them (probably people upgrading from low end DSLRs who couldn't afford full price).
 
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Matt Turner said:
I still think the MKII improvements are worth the $ (60p, better viewfinder, rotatable lcd, etc).

Put in a couple of SD cards, get rid of the top handle, slap on a VideoMic Pro and a 17-55 lens, put a spare battery into your pocket and ride off into the sunset.
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Yeah 50p is nice to have - I'd be adding my own monitor/evf anyway for shoulder-mounting anyway so not much benefit from the mkII there. For the price of a mkII though, there's a whole lot more options - even close to used FS5 territory which is a whole lot more camera.

Are you shooting with a C100 mkII yourself?
 
deltoidjohn said:
Just curious what every has done with all of their original C100's?

Recently I moved to a rural area which saw my business model change. Most of the local jobs I'm shooting don't require all the bells & whistles that my fully rigged A-cam has, and I'm thinking of adding something lighter & cheaper as a grab-and-go camera, but still better than a DSLR. Internal ND's & XLR are a must, as well as good out-of-the-box colour, so the ideal fit seems to be a C100, probably with a Ninja Blade.

I've been looking in a lot of the usual places (including the classifieds here - though keep in mind I'm in Aus) and it seems pretty rare for an original C100 to pop up used. FS700's, AF100's, C100mkII's and even EA50's all seem to pop up pretty often, but the original C100, which seemed to be everywhere a few short years ago, is somewhat of an anomaly.

So it got me wondering what happened to them all? Are people still running them as A-cams? Did everyone hang on to them as B-cams? Did the used price just drop so low that it's not worth it for anyone to sell them? Has one single person bought and hoarded them all to build a gigantic bullet-time rig? Or did they all just spontaneously combust the day after the warranty expired, as seems to be the case with many modern electronics?
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I sold mine and rolled the money into a Scarlet MX, which I then sold and got a C200 and here we are...
 
The price seemed to have dropped below $1500. At that point, it is costing about the same as an L lens. Might as well keep the camera for when you need an extra camera planted somewhere for 1080p coverage of an event.
 
Still chugging along and doing my gigs with my C100. I love it. Occasionally, a client will ask for 4K and I'll budget for a C300MKII rental...
 
it's my A-Cam.
i'm only "semi-pro"; basically it's a monetized hobby. shooting corporate, events and some youtube content
just building a shoulder rig now, still don't have an external monitor (eyeing SmallHD Focus w/luts), or a gimbal or external recorder.

next major purchase will be the 5div w/clog to replace my 6D as my b-cam as i still shoot more photo the video.

in my "semi-pro' opinion the c100 is the best non-4k camera you can get. it can be built if needed and is professional enough that if you do get a client with the budget you should easily be able to rent a c200 or red and be able to handle it on set and in post
 
Still using two C100 Mark I cameras for most of my gigs. I have a 1DX II for jobs that require 4K and for stills, but the C100s are my bread and butter.
 
Victor[BC] said:
in my "semi-pro' opinion the c100 is the best non-4k camera you can get. it can be built if needed and is professional enough that if you do get a client with the budget you should easily be able to rent a c200 or red and be able to handle it on set and in post
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IMO it's the 4K sensor (among other things) that makes the C100 such a great and timeless cam...
 
I still make a living with my C100 (I). It's been my A-cam since 2014. Paired with an Atomos Ninja Blade, I'm pretty happy with the images I'm getting out of it. There are features on newer cameras that I'm interested in, and I'll probably upgrade this year or next. But even then, I probably won't sell the C100. It's just solid. I can stand behind the footage that I capture with this camera, and my clients keep hiring me.

Good luck finding one. They are definitely around!
 
Guys probably sold them at the first opportunity to "upgrade" or just hung on to them. Personally, I've never sold a camera that I've owned, even when guys approached me about it. I just ride them till they're "obsolete". When I've been approached about selling and did the math, it didn't make sense. The used price usually only amounted to a few jobs(if that) with the camera. Heck I have one of my old cameras sitting in the closet right now which is worth less on the used market than just ONE job with it. Why would I ever sell it? I don't need to ever make one more penny off of it. It paid for itself at least five times over the first year I owned it.
 
Got a C100mkii last year new. I like it. Better than a DSLR in my opinion. It's light, reliable as a stone hammer, no-fuss, memory is cheap, image is great, and versatile enough for how I shoot. It's probably "obsolete" by now (heck, it may have been when I got it) but the thing just flat out works! 4K is really showy, but since most of my stuff is web based there is no real advantage or much demand for it in my world. I mean, how many people are reading this on a 4K monitor? I think 4K is one of those things that gets cameras sold and excitement built up but 1080 is going to be around a long time. I don't see myself selling my C100mkii. It's just so "right" for me and my projects, but I have been seeing a bunch on e-bay and in the used sections of B&H and Adorama. Surprisingly, the mk1's are pretty rare. Don't know if it's because their production run was short and there just aren't that many made or if they are so far down the depreciation curve that guys just hold on to them.
 
MichaelA said:
...Don't know if it's because their production run was short and there just aren't that many made or if they are so far down the depreciation curve that guys just hold on to them.
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I almost held onto mine because it was such a GREAT camera but I needed the money to roll into my C200. It was painful to sell it and if I didn't have a few clients demanding 4K (which incidentally now seems to almost always end up being output in a 1080 master!), I would have kept it and still been happily shooting with it. Frankly, it had better 1080 than the C200, the C200 just doesn't seem to have that special Mojo that the C100 had, but in 4K, the C200 looks great. My recommendation is that if you don't have clients who will pay you more money to shoot 4K, keep a C100 and be happy. I am charging $150.00 per day more for the C200 so from a business persepctive, it was worth it but I miss the size and weight, the C200 with everything and the big battery is a bit large and heavy in comparison.
 
Many 4K cameras shoot horrific HD. Not sure why.

Some cameras designed to shoot super-sampled 1080p/2K from a 3K-ish/4K+ sensor are amazing (C100 being one of them, Alexa, some Blackmagics, Sony F35, etc).
 
NorBro said:
Many 4K cameras shoot horrific HD. Not sure why.
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I'm gonna bet it's the same reason the 5D2 shot unacceptable-by-2018-standards video. Down-rezzing from a higher resolution and/or fitting it into a low bitrate and making it look good probably requires techniques that aren't all that easy for engineer/manufacturer. Just my guess...
 
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