Canon Cinema EOS C300 Mark II Camera utilised by Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens to Create Before the Flood for National Geographic Channel

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Canon EOS C300 Mark II (B&H Photo | Adorama) at a glance:

  • New Canon 8.85 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
  • Dual Canon DIGIC DV5 Image Processors
  • Canon XF-AVC H.264 Codec
  • Internal 4K/2K/Full HD Recording
  • Twin 3G-SDI Outputs for up to 30p 4K
  • Full Manual Control
  • 1.77 Megapixel Color OLED EVF With Adjustable 60o Tilt Angle
  • Uses All Canon CN-E Cinema Prime and Zoom Lenses
  • Uses All Canon EF and EF-S Photo Lenses (Including Specialty Tilt-Shift and Other Models)
  • Built-In Mono Microphone
  • Removable LCD Monitor and Control Panel with XLR Inputs
  • Removable Hand Grip
  • Improved Low-Angle Camera Handle Extension
  • Built-in Dual-Band Wi-Fi for Remote LiveView Display and Camera Control

Canon press release:

Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens Utilize Canon Cinema EOS C300 Mark II Camera to Create Before the Flood for National Geographic Channel

MELVILLE, N.Y., October 28, 2016 – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to announce that Academy Awardâ winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens chose Canon EOS Digital Cinema cameras and lenses, including the Cinema EOS C300 Mark II camera, for their new documentary Before the Flood. Directed by Stevens and produced by DiCaprio, the film presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change, as well as the actions individuals and society can take to help prevent catastrophic disruption on our planet. Before the Flood premieres on National Geographic Channel this Sunday, October 30th at 9 pm ET/8 pm CT in 171 countries and 45 languages. Coinciding with the television premiere, Before the Flood will also be released commercial free on a number of digital and streaming platforms around the world, including NatGeoTV.com and Nat Geo TV Apps.

The two filmmakers, known for their environmentally themed documentaries, joined forces for Before the Flood’s two-year production, which follows U.N. Messenger of Peace DiCaprio as he travels to five continents and the Arctic speaking to scientists, world leaders, activists and local residents to gain a deeper understanding of the complex issue of climate change and investigates concrete solutions to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.

“Canon is honored to have been selected as the camera and lenses of choice in the creation of this documentary,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “Viewers will see on Sunday, with the clarity of the imagery produced with Cinema EOS products, a compelling picture of the current environmental conditions around the world.”

To capture the stunning visuals of the documentary, cinematographer Antonio Rossi relied on a mix of Canon EOS Digital Cinema cameras. He began production with the EOS C500 and EOS-1D C Digital Cinema Cameras, the latter often rigged to a handheld camera stabilizer. They shot portions of the documentary in RAW 4K using the EOS C500 camera in conjunction with an external recorder.

When the EOS C300 Mark II camera was introduced, the production adopted it as their new “A” camera. “The switch to the C300 Mark II camera was seamless and easy, and we were happy to have on-board 4K recording as well as extended color gamut options,” Rossi said. “Overall, we found that Canon Cinema EOS cameras were the perfect tools for this project, as they enabled us to shoot in a variety of configurations while maintaining a consistently beautiful look and image quality.”

Before the Flood mixes interviews with some of the most influential world leaders, with chilling but beautiful footage from locations impacted by our changing global climate. Rossi and his team traveled north of the Arctic Circle to Greenland and to Canada’s Baffin Island to show the rapid ice melts, as well as to Sumatra to capture some palm oil farmers burning rain forest habitat, among other shooting locations.

Rossi primarily outfitted his cameras with the Canon CN-E 30-105mm T2.8 compact zoom lens and the CN-E 17-120mm T2.95-3.9 CINE-SERVO lens.

“Before the Flood is vital viewing for anyone who has any doubts about humanity’s role in global climate change,” Rossi said. “Working with Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio on the film was a magical and elucidating journey.”

For more information about Canon Cinema EOS cameras and lenses, please visit the Canon U.S.A. website at cinemaeos.usa.canon.com

EOS C300 Mark II
EOS C300 Mark II
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Canon presents research paper for 4k2k Super 35mm Global Shutter CMOS Image Sensor

canoncmos

Canon presented a research paper at IEDM 2016 titled “A 1.8e- Temporal Noise Over 90dB Dynamic Range 4k2k Super 35mm Format Seamless Global Shutter CMOS Image Sensor with Multiple-Accumulation Shutter Technology” by K. Kawabata et al.

The image above shows a side by side comparison of Canon’s Super 35mm global shutter sensor a sensor with rolling shutter. Look at the Ukulele strings (more in the abstract below).

The IEDM press kit has a downloadable abstract.

Large-Format CMOS Imager with Global Shutter for High-Performance Cameras: Canon researchers will discuss high-resolution, large-format CMOS imaging technology for use in high-performance cameras large enough to take photographs and videos at ultra-high-definition resolution.

Most CMOS imagers use a rolling shutter, which captures an image at slightly different times at different areas of the imager. This can lead to image artifacts, especially for moving targets, because the image is taken while the subject is in different positions in the field. Imagers with global shutters capture light from each pixel in the imager at the same time, eliminating these artifacts. However, a global shutter usually leads to less dynamic range and higher noise and dark current, and thus to inferior photographs.

The Canon researchers developed a new architecture that enables the readouts of multiple pixels to be accumulated and stored in memory, and then processed all at once. This technique enabled the implementation of a global shutter while also delivering excellent noise and dark current performance and high dynamic range (92dB at a standard 30fps frame rate).

The images of a vibrating ukulele were taken at the same shutter speed (1/5000 sec.). In the global shutter mode (a) distortion is successfully suppressed, while (b) shows distortion from a rolling shutter. The bottom images show the difference between (a) quadruple charge accumulation with the global shutter and (b) single charge accumulation, both at a 1/90 sec. shutter speed.

(Paper #8.6, “A 1.8e- Temporal Noise Over 90dB Dynamic Range 4k2k Super 35mm Format Seamless Global Shutter CMOS Image Sensor with Multiple-Accumulation Shutter Technology,” K. Kawabata et al, Canon, Inc.)

At the end of August Canon made an announcement for a global shutter enabled sensor. Not sure if this research paper has to do with the global shutter sensor announced previously. My guess is, the paper refers to a new development, i.e. to another sensor that will have global shutter. Being a Super 35mm sensor, Canon EOS Cinema line-up is the most likely candidate for such a sensor. The EOS C700, announced back in September, comes in three variations, one having a global shutter Super 35mm sensor.

[via Image Sensors World]

 

Zombies are the reason Sigma continues to make cameras, CEO Kazuto Yamaki says

sigmaIn an interview at Photokina 2016 by the folks of Lensvid, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki gave a weird reason about why the company is still making cameras.

Mr. Kazuto Yamaki lists three reasons Sigma continues to manufacture cameras, and that’s where the zombies come in:

  1. It’s important for a company specialized in lenses to produce also cameras. The know-how coming from camera production helps to design and build better lenses
  2. Designing cameras is a true passion of Sigma’s engineers
  3. Michihiro Yamaki, Kazuto’s father and the founder of Sigma, always dreamed about making cameras. If Sigma would stop doing it, Michihiro Yamaki might come back as zombie and try to kill his son.

The interview in the video below lasts 15 minutes and is definitely worth your time.

[via heise.de]

Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 sample image gallery

Tamron SP 150-600mm
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DPReview posted a set of real world sample photos shot with the new Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 lens. Click here to see the pictures.

Sigma product advisory for lenses used on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

sigma

Sigma released a product advisory concerning Sigma lenses for EOS system when used on the new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

Sigma advisory:

ADVISORY 2016.09.23

Dear Canon EOS 5D Mark Ⅳ Users

Thank you for purchasing and using our products.

Please find the following notes on the usage of SIGMA interchangeable lenses for EOS, when attached to Canon EOS 5D Mark IV that is released on September 8th.

  • MO (Manual Override) function is unavailable with this camera (Full-time Manual function can be offered).
  • When using a SIGMA interchangeable lens for EOS, setting the corrections to [Disable] is recommended, as “Lens Correction” functions of the camera, such as Peripheral illumination correction, Chromatic aberration correction, Diffraction correction and Distortion correction are not supported.** If those functions are activated, the performance of lenses may not be accurate.
    * This is not only for EOS 5D Mark IV, but also for other camera bodies with the same function.

We appreciate your continued support for our company and products