One of the best things about being a filmmaker (for me) is definitely all the awesome toys we get to play with. Whether I buy or hire, I love experimenting with new cameras. Always trying to find the ideal camera to make my next “goto”.

After shooting on Canon C100 MKII’s for a couple of years, they became my favourite all round camera. Small, light, ergonomic, Canon’s killer colour science and exceptionally small files sizes. At the time it was everything I needed. However now, with all the same needs as before but with the addition of broadcast requirements, 4K resolution and the onoing desire to always be going to the next level, I have jumped to the Canon C200.

Although I’ve only had the camera a couple of days now, here’s a quick list of my favourite features:

  • The Image – Still to this day Canon has my favourite image of all Digital Cinema cameras (with the exception of the Alexa).
  • Size and Weight – Small and light enough to be the prefect run and gun camera to shoot long days, but not at all cheap and plastically. The built quality is fantastic.
  • Dual Recording – Being able to record RAW and Proxies simultaneously is perfect for documentary filmmaking. Even just being able to record RAW in camera is awesome.
  • Built-in ND Filters – Something I’ve always loved about Canon Cinema cameras and missed since changing to RED, BMD and Sony cameras.
  • Body Mounted Audio Inputs – On more than one occasion I took a C100 MKII out on a shoot and forgot the top handle and therefore couldn’t record audio. Stoked that Canon worked this out.
  • Auto Focus – Even though I NEVER use auto focus, I read such good things about the C200 in this area that I decided to buy a 24-70mm f/2.8 L II as a new “all rounder” lens. First impressions are that I might just start auto-focussing from time to time.

So that’s really all I’ve got for now. We have a shoot next week for a new mini-doco that I’m super excited about which will also be the first real test for this camera. There should be some behind the scenes and snippets from the film online in the next month or so. I’ll probably follow that up with a proper, real-world review of the C200 then. In the meantime, I’m off to shoot random stuff in the street.

Will.