Choosing a Canon C100 for shooting weddings
So I've had my C100 mkii (/mk2) for coming up to a year now and I've shot about 10 weddings, 10 music videos and a few corporates with it. It was a huge step up for me, all I'd owned before were 550D's (called the rebel t2i in the US) and 600D's (rebel t2i) which are much cheaper, lower spec DSLR's. The C100 is basically a camcorder with a DSLR form factor (shape) and an ef mount which gives you the ability to use normal Canon lenses.
I needed to upgrade because I wanted to produce videos with better picture quality, so after a few months of umm-ing and ahh-ing I went for the £4,500 C100 mk2 with the 24-105 f4 lens, a massive case and extra battery.
It's a beast, the different between my 600D (which I still use for my B camera) is insane. It shoots at the same resolution, but the sharpness, colour and detail is leagues ahead. The other camera I was looking at were the sony a7s's, this is a small mirrorless camera that doubles up as a monster video camera. Or a Sony FS700. On paper it looks like a no-brainer, you get a way higher spec camera for half the price. Low light level performance, 4k resolution and 120fps are the highlights, and as the C100 only shoots in 1920x1080, 50fps and is twice the size, you'd have to be an idiot to go for the C100 right?!
Well, I watched countless youtube video reviews, listened to tonnes of podcasts and read countless forums and blogs. If I can distil my choice into a simple motoring metaphor I would say the Sony is a TVR and the Canon is an Audi A6 estate. The Audi is super reliable, practical and would fit into my lifestyle straight away, whereas although the TVR may have amazing performance, it's going to be a lot more hassle to use every day.
For me it really came down to one question: do I need 4k? In 2-4 years time (before I will be upgrading again) will my ability to only deliver HD videos to my clients jeopardise my business?
I took a gamble on 'no'! Let's hope it pays off. I went for Canon simply because of their reliability and ease of use. The sony FS series of cameras do look amazing though, so in a couple of years I may have to jump the Canon ship, depending on how they update their EOS cinema range. For example I would snap up a C100 mk3 with 4k and 120fps. At the time of writing that seems unlikely for at least a year or two.
I needed to upgrade because I wanted to produce videos with better picture quality, so after a few months of umm-ing and ahh-ing I went for the £4,500 C100 mk2 with the 24-105 f4 lens, a massive case and extra battery.
It's a beast, the different between my 600D (which I still use for my B camera) is insane. It shoots at the same resolution, but the sharpness, colour and detail is leagues ahead. The other camera I was looking at were the sony a7s's, this is a small mirrorless camera that doubles up as a monster video camera. Or a Sony FS700. On paper it looks like a no-brainer, you get a way higher spec camera for half the price. Low light level performance, 4k resolution and 120fps are the highlights, and as the C100 only shoots in 1920x1080, 50fps and is twice the size, you'd have to be an idiot to go for the C100 right?!
Well, I watched countless youtube video reviews, listened to tonnes of podcasts and read countless forums and blogs. If I can distil my choice into a simple motoring metaphor I would say the Sony is a TVR and the Canon is an Audi A6 estate. The Audi is super reliable, practical and would fit into my lifestyle straight away, whereas although the TVR may have amazing performance, it's going to be a lot more hassle to use every day.
For me it really came down to one question: do I need 4k? In 2-4 years time (before I will be upgrading again) will my ability to only deliver HD videos to my clients jeopardise my business?
I took a gamble on 'no'! Let's hope it pays off. I went for Canon simply because of their reliability and ease of use. The sony FS series of cameras do look amazing though, so in a couple of years I may have to jump the Canon ship, depending on how they update their EOS cinema range. For example I would snap up a C100 mk3 with 4k and 120fps. At the time of writing that seems unlikely for at least a year or two.