Canon EOSC300- User Manual

Canon EOS C300 Cinema EOS Camcorder (EF Mount)

The

Canon EOS C300 Cinema EOS Camcorder Body (EF Lens Mount)

takes what

professionals love about DSLR filmmaking – access to a vast selection of widely available lenses,
a large sensor that facilitates a shallow depth of field, and portable operation with a modular,

compact camera – and addresses its shortcomings. That means that unlike DSLR cameras, this

Cinema EOS camcorder is designed inside and out for professional cinematographers capturing

motion

pictures that will stand up to rigorous post-production processes.

The EOS C300 features an EF mount for compatibility not only with Canon's existing broad range

of DSLR lenses, but also with the burgeoning line of EF Cinema Zoom and Prime lenses. These

lenses are designed to match up perfectly with the 3-perf Super 35mm-size CMOS sensor that
Canon developed for this camera. Like the camcorder, these lenses were developed specifically for

digital cinema, with engraved markings on angled surfaces in meters and feet and uniform front

diameters for easy lens switching without having to reconfigure a matte box or follow focus gearing.

The Canon Super 35mm sensor is paired with the Canon DIGIC III image processor, which uses
an innovative method of breaking out red, green, and blue data to enable color performance on a

level that would otherwise require three separate chips. Recording HD formats to CompactFlash

cards as the XF codec – at the highest level a 50 Mb/s, 4:2:2 MPEG-2 format – the C300 records
motion video that reduces the jagged edges and Moiré patterns that can plague video with 4:2:0

chroma subsampling and lead to post-production challenges.

Moreover, the files' MXF wrapper brings together video, audio, metadata, and timecode in a

package that enjoys robust support from all professional NLE programs. The EOS C300 is
designed to capture footage that thrives in the post-production suite. To that same end, the camera

also offers Canon's Log gamma mode, which results in excellent tonal reproduction in the highlight

and lowlight regions of an image, and a greatly expanded dynamic range.

The exterior of the camera is as unique as its innards. Featuring the expected HD-SDI output,

timecode I/O, and genlock input BNCs, the body is a modular creature that can either be stripped
down completely, or be built up to host the included handle, 4" rotating LCD unit with full controls,

grip, and thumb rest. With accessible buttons and ridges dividing them, the C300 is physically
designed not for still photography but for the craft of digital cinema.

Canon Super 35mm CMOS Sensor

Modeled on the Super 35mm 3-perf motion picture film standard, the Canon CMOS sensor has an

active image size of 24.4 x 13.5mm. It uses 3840 x 2160 photosites to perform the crucial

optoelectronic transformation of digital imaging. Each photosite is a generous 6.4 x 6.4
micrometers in area, and each has a microlens that ensures the highest efficiency in light transfer

to the individual photodiode. Proprietary technologies within the photosite simultaneously lower the
image sensor noise floor while enhancing the photon capacity of the photodiode – a combination

that assures superb dynamic range. The image sensor employs an innovative readout technique

that delivers full-bandwidth individual RGB video components without the need for any de-Bayering
algorithms. Each of these components has a 1920 x 1080 sampling structure at up to 60 frames.

From these original video components, a 1080-line 60i format or a 1280 x 720 at 60p HD format