Canon Announces New Cinema Cameras, the C200 and C200B

The Canon C200.  The C200B has no LCD,no EVF and no handle.

Canon announced the summer availability of the new C200 cinema camera in two variants, the C200 which is complete and the C200B which is a stripped down body only design suitable for remote rigging or remote operation.  The cameras are due in summer 2017.  To find out more, read on.

Here in Canada the C200 will sell for about $10K and the C200B for about $8K.  The camera uses the new Digic DV CPU and the same Super 35 sensor as the C700 and C300 Mark II.  The C200 is a 4K capable camera that can shoot in 4K DCI, 4K UHD and FullHD.  Storage internally is either to a pair of SD slots or a single Cfast slot.  You can record MP4 to the SD slots and Canon RAW Light to the Cfast slot.  C-log and C-log3 are supported on the SD cards and Canon RAW light can be converted to C-log2 in software to be released with the camera at no extra charge. 

Canon RAW Light is a compressed RAW offering between 65% to 80% compression.  Only prototypes were shown so I think it is too early to determine how good it is.  The 4K to SD cards is limited by bandwidth to 60fps at 4:2:0 and 8 bit files.   The Canon RAW Light can record to the Cfast card at 60fps 4:2:2 at 10 bit or 30fps 4:2:2 at 12 bit.  There is a 4K DCI HDMI output, but the SDI output is FullHD only.  I surely have not seen the camera live, but I am calling that a miss right away..  In FullHD you can crank the camera up to 120fps.

When shooting in Canon RAW Light you can simultaneously record Proxy to the SD cards.  DaVinci Resolve will support Canon RAW Light at time of release.  Adobe Premiere Pro CC should support it by the end of the year and Apple's FCPX will support it via a plugin by the end of summer.  AVID Media Composer will support the format via plugin.  Dates of course can change.

View from the right side.  Note the Ethernet port for streaming output

Unlike the older C series, the XLR ports are moved directly onto the body and there is a bridge unit that is installed to the front top or rear top that holds a touchscreen LCD and a shock mount for a shotgun mic.  The new LCD only needs one cable instead of two, and offers full tilt and swivel capability.  It looks nice to use in the promo videos and offers tap to focus options.

This works because the camera incorporates Canon's proven and superb Dual Pixel AF system.  I had my C300 retrofitted for this and it is extremely usable.  The tap to focus looks good and you can control the rate of focus change via menu options.  The menus are Canon standard so well laid out and easy to navigate..

Unlike its bigger brother, you do not have near the number of outputs and inputs so timecode sync is going to be challenging in a multi camera shoot, and I really see the C200 as being best suited to a single camera single operator kind of workflow.

Rear view showing the SD slots on the back, the CFast slot on the left side rear and the audio controls on the back.  Note also that there is no status LED panel as on the C300 series.

The grip is still rotatable but now it uses a standard rosette and presumably there will be a proper shoulder kit and extension arm at some point.  The EVF is similar to the original C300.  It is mounted at the rear top centre and both extends a bit and tilts up.

The camera is built on the same structure as its brethren although the audio controls are now on the back of the camera, so it looks a bit wider.  It uses the same battery as the C300 Mark II.

There is still the built in ND filter system.  The announcement was a bit confusing with some saying 6 stop digitally extended to 10 stops and some saying 10 stops.  I would be happier if it were truly 10 real stops, instead of 6 stops with digital fluff required to get to 10 stops.

From a size and price perspective, the C200 looks to be designed to compete with the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro.  It's early days, but based on the specs that exist so far, it's more expensive with less capability than the URSA Mini Pro.  However for the studio or video pro who knows Canon CINEMA product, the learning curve will be short and moving between cameras should be easy.

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