New Battery Plate Brings Added Functionality to C500 Mark II and C300 Mark III Cameras

As any videographer will tell you, with the rate of technological advancement a new camera can become outdated within a year or two of its initial release, but good glass is a lifetime investment. One other long-term investment that gets its due much less frequently are batteries. 

A career’s worth of batteries can represent thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars that can become valueless if you decide to switch to a different camera system. Because of this, many shooters turn to V-mount or Gold Mount batteries for a truly brand agnostic power solution. However powering off these batteries can sometimes entail kludge-y rigs with wires hanging every which way and nothing but Velcro and hope holding 3lbs battery bricks in place. 

Enter the Full Frame Camera Co V-mount Plate for C500 Mark II and C300 Mark III. A high quality way to bring your old collection of batteries to your brand new Cinema EOS camera. 

Our story begins with the founder of UK based Full Frame Camera Corporation: Alex Stone. Upon receiving his Canon C500 Mark II and realizing that the OEM solution to power the camera from V-Mounts, the EU-V2 Expansion Unit, was on back order he simply decided to make his own instead of waiting around.  

The V-mount plate is manufactured in small batches and is compatible with Canon C500 Mark II and C300 Mark III cameras. A Gold-mount option has been introduced as well, if that’s more your flavor. 

The Compact V-Mount plate is machined from aluminium (Ah-loo-mini-um if wish to pronounce it in the manufacture’s native tongue), attaches to the camera via two captive M4 bolts and powers the camera via a low profile right angle xlr connector. 

The plate features one D-tap port for supplying 10A to any other accessories on your rig. The port is located on the side of the plate at an angle so that all the rear buttons and SDI outputs are still accessible. 

An additional feature of the plate is that in its default mounting position the Canon A60 battery slot is unobstructed, which allows you to hot swap batteries. 

The plate is compatible with any V-mount battery and can be mounted in a lower position for a more streamlined setup (if you are using taller V-mount batteries). One drawback of this though is that in this position, the plate blocks the A60 slot making the aforementioned hot swapping impossible. 

If you are looking for robust and relatively inexpensive way to take all your old V-Mount batteries to your brand new Cinema EOS camera the Full Frame Camera Co. Compact V-Mount plate is the solution for you!

The plate has dimensions of 60 x 95.3 x 29.3mm (2.36″ x 3.75″ x  1.15″) and weighs 256g

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Compact V-Mount Plate

Canon C500 Mark II Camera

Canon C300 Mark III Camera

Canon C500 Mark II captures Jaguar Luxury

Recently Canon Europe interviewed filmmaker Brett Danton after he used Canon’s new C500 Mark II to shoot a commercial for Jaguar to promote their new luxury SUV. 

Here are some of the advantages he found while using the camera.

Brett was a convert to the Full-Frame shooting capabilities of the Canon C700 FF. The large sensor mated to fast prime lenses at wide apertures – aided by built-in ND filters for exposure control, provided a unique look that Brett trusts for prestige brands. 

 The new Canon C500 Mark II shares the same 5.9K sensor as the C700 FF, with the added benefit of being able to record Cinema RAW Light internally to dual CFexpress cards and recording Canon XF-AVC with 2K 4:2:0 8-bit simultaneously to an SD card to use as a proxy. 

Brett relies on the flexibility of the Cinema RAW Light codec to be able to dial in a precise look in post to satisfy discerning clients. “Jaguar has a very specific list of cameras it will allow its commercials to be shot on, and it doesn’t want silver cars to look grey. I had to get everything right first time.” said Brett. 

The small form factor and modular nature of the C500 Mark II provided other advantages over its larger counterpart the C700 FF. The C500 Mark II could be rigged up with monitors, follow focus rigs, the whole shabang to make it a decked out cinema camera, or stripped back to make it as light and compact as possible for use on a drone or gimbal.  

For the Jaguar shoot the C500 Mark II was attached to a Russian Arm mounted to the top of a separate Jagaur  F-PACE to get chase shots of the ‘hero’ car. The camera was also used in a Ronin 2 gimbal and flown up in a drone to get more dynamic images as the F-PACE zoomed through the Spanish mountains. 

Another distinct advantage of the C500 Mark II is its user swap-able lens mount. For the Jaguar commercial Brett used Canon Sumire Prime lenses. “The Sumire Primes bring a filmic feel and give nice flares. Using a Sumire to shoot the car coming towards you at dusk with its headlights on softens the image. The highlights on the metalwork gleam and there are flares from the headlights – just what I wanted.” Brett explained. 

Brett did not have a full kit of Sumire Primes on set so for the drone shots he had to use a Canon CN-E14mm T3.1. The CN-E14mm had an EF mount instead of the PL mount of the Sumires. In a matter of minutes the crew was able to swap the cameras mount from PL to EF and keep on trucking. 

The benefits of this system became even more apparent when Brett swapped onto some of Canon’s super-telephoto prime lenses, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 IS II USM and the EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM. The advantage of this interchangeability is that you are able to use canon stills glass on the C500 Mark II while maintaining auto-focus functionality. 

Here’s a video that goes into more detail about the swap-able lens mounts:

 “It was amazing,” Brett says. “We were tracking the cars charging up mountains and the autofocus just kept everything sharp. I don’t care how good a focus puller you are, if you’re using a 300mm or 600mm lens wide open, it’s a hard thing to get right – especially on a full-frame sensor.”

The C500 Mark II also supports face detect AF. Brett noted that  “The C500 Mark II doesn’t suddenly stop focusing when the shot is sharp; the focus has a roll-off which gives it a more traditional look, like a focus puller feel. You can really notice it – it just makes it look right.”

With a quick turnaround on the commercial Brett was able to wow the clients with just a quick color grade and LUT. The footage he was able to pull out of the camera exceeded all of his expectations. 

“I shot everything in 5.9K as I wanted to see it on a big screen, and taking it down to 4K cleans it all up. The dynamic range is crazy, over 15 stops for sure. Filming in Cinema RAW Light, I shot at the base of ISO800 the entire time and in the edit added no noise reduction, yet I can’t see any noise at all. The camera performed and made my life easy.”

Brett came away from the shoot thoroughly impressed with the C500 Mark II’s capabilities and versatility.  

“The C500 Mark II has the same sensor as the C700 FF, so there’s consistent quality,” he says. “You can build the camera to the shape you need to make it work for that particular environment. I’d use the C500 Mark II for 90% of my work now and go to the C700 FF with its RAW recorder for SFX work when I need to pull out every last bit of data if the post house requests it, or if I need more choices on SDI output to send more signals out on set.

“The C500 Mark II is a camera I would now happily use for everything, either on its own or with the C700 FF – everything matches up beautifully.”

Panasonic EVA1 Approved for Netflix!

The Panasonic EVA1 has just been approved as an accepted camera for Netflix content. The requirements for original content are strict and have only included higher end cameras that cost 10’s of thousands of dollars. Cameras must shoot in 4K, at a bit rate of at least 240Mbps, be in raw or Log formats and files must contain all metadata and no color correction baked in. While Arri and Red have high cost cameras that meet these specs easily, The Panasonic Eva1 joins the Blackmagic Ursa Mini cameras as the only ones that come in under $10,000. This opens up the opportunity for more independent film makers to get their content in larger distribution channels.

Click here a full list of Netflix approved cameras.

You can Contact Joe Kelly at JOE@TMSAV.COM or (512) 440-1400 ext 202 to get yours today.

Panasonic EVA1 Body, AU-EVA1PJ $7345

Panasonic EVA1 Basic Bundle, AU-EVA1BASIC, $9795

Panasonic EVA1 Pro Bundle, AU-EVA1PRO, $12795

 

Canon C700 4K Film The Calling

In the standing Cinema EOS tradition, Canon has released a new film to showcase its camera; check out its new C700 4K film, The Calling. Be sure to change the quality settings on the embedded video to 4K (2160p) to really see the Canon Cinema difference. The new camera’s low light capabilities really shine in the film.

Cinematographer Russell Carpenter, ASC (Titanic, Ant-Man, True Lies) and Director Tyler Stableford.

 

Tyler Stableford talks about shooting with the Canon C700 on his blog at the line below:

Canon C700 Short Film

Directing A Canon Short Film With The New C700 Camera and Russell Carpenter

c700-show-banner-29_800px
RSVP to see the Canon C700 and Canon Compact-Servo 18-80mm Zoom Lens on November 29!

Canon C300 Mark II Tutorial Series

Check out the Canon C300 Mark II Tutorial Series with Jem Schofield below to help you get oriented to your new camera.

After you watch the videos, head over to the C300 Mark II Menu Simulator to practice setting up your camera.

New Features of the C300 Mark II:

Custom Picture Menu for C300 Mark II 

Internal Recording Options for the Canon C300 Mark II

External Recording Options for the Canon C300 Mark II

This video in the tutorial series shows how to set the EOS C300 Mark II menu up for external recording. He goes over the menu options found in the Recording/Media Setup, Picture/Terminals Setup menus as well as relevant menus in the Odyssey 7Q+ that he is using.

Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+

Now Only $1495

Focus Assistance Features for the Canon C300 Mark II

Browser Remote with the WFT-E6A with the C300 Mark II

4K Monitoring with the DP-V2410 from the C300 Mark II

The Canon Cinema EOS C300 Mark II is available in an EF Mount, a PL Mount, and in ENG Package with a Zacuto rig and the Canon Cine-Servo 17-120mm lens.

Batteries, Chargers & Cables for the C300 Mark II:
Canon BP-A30 Battery – $299
Canon BP-A60 Battery – $499
Canon 50CM LCD Unit Cable UN-5 – $299
Canon 100CM LCD Unit Cable UN-10 – $349
Canon CA-A10 Power Supply AC Adapter – $399
Canon CG-A10 Battery Charger for BP-A Series Batteries – $599

Canon C100 Continuous Recording Firmware Released

Canon C100 Cinema EOS Camera

The Canon C100 Cinema EOS Camera has a new firmware update available this morning that enables Continuous Recording.

You can download the C100 Firmware from Canon USA at this link.

Designed for the capture of crucial, unpredictable scenes during wedding/event, documentary, news, or wildlife filming, the Continuous Recording Function firmware update for the EOS C100 Digital Video Camera enables videographers to insert metadata markers identifying crucial scenes and moments in their footage while continuously recording to the memory capacity. These markers — for both “in” and “out” points — can be set with the press of a button without interrupting the recording process. These markers are identified in metadata as separate “shots,” and are simultaneously recorded to both SD card slots of the EOS C100 camera.

Canon C100 Continuous Recording Firmware Graphic

Firmware Release Schedule:

Screen Shot 2014-02-25 at 7.26.34 AM

 Canon C100 Body $4999

Canon C100 Kit with 24-105mm Lens $5599

Canon C100 Leases Start at $99 per month

Canon C100
Canon C100 Body $4999

Canon C100 Body Leasing