Is The Canon C100 The Right Video Tool For You? (and noise comparison with 5D2 and Sony EX1)

Canon C100 Review 2013 from Philip Johnston on Vimeo.

Is the Canon C100 the right video tool for you? The review is by Philip Johnston and was featured on nofilmschool. The C100 (B&H | Adorama) is heavily discussed (and criticized) in specialized forums. Too little features compared to the C300 (B&H | Adorama), too high the price, and so on. However, it is a solid tool for video professionals, and a lot of people appreciated it. That’s what Joe Marine over at nofilmschool thinks:

This camera seems to be getting as much vitriol in the comments on this website as the Canon 1D C, but the Canon C100 also has its share of defenders. It might not be priced perfectly considering the features, but it’s a camera that should just work out the box without much fuss, and Canon has made some key changes compared to the C300 that might be a deal-breaker for some, but well worth the cost-savings for others.

Well, I can confirm that the EOS-1D C (B&H | Adorama) gets a lot of hate, mainly because of the crazy price tag. :-) More of Joe’s thought about where the C100 fits best can be read here.

Below is a short noise test between the C100, the EOS 5D Mark II ([shopcountry 254]) and the Sony EX1 (B&H)

Legends of Light: Noise tests of a Canon C100, 5D mark 2, & Sony EX1 from Darren Levine on Vimeo.

Canon C100 The Right Video Tool

[via nofilmschool]

 

R. Cicala’s Take On The Metabones Speed Booster

Metabones Speed Booster

All in all – if this adapter does not send shock waves through the camera industry I don’t know what will (Andrew Reid, EOSHD)

We reported yesterday about a full review of Metabones’ Speed Booster by EOSHD. Now it’s Roger Cicala’s turn to have a take on what is going to be the most intriguing and amazing photographic piece of gear since long. As I wrote yesterday, the Metabones Speed Booster was designed by Brian Caldwell and Wilfried Bittner, both of well known engineering fame. Btw, Caldwell discussed and anticipated the Speed Booster months ago on the dpreview forum, writing:

Designing focal reducers to fit 35mm SLR lenses onto mirrorless Sony NEX and m4/3 cameras is most definitely feasible. The design isn’t easy because there is very little room to work with, but if the magnification is restricted to 0.7x it can work surprisingly well at large apertures. Prepare yourself for optics as fast as f/0.90 by attaching a 0.7x (more accurately, 0.707x) reducer to an f/1.2 (more accurately, f/1.2599) SLR lens. And the reducer actually improves the MTF of the lens its attached to since it de-magnifies the aberrations.

So, we have two skilled engineers who claim to have done something that sounds like magic to most of us, we have a 30 pages white paper with all the technical and scientific galore, enthusiastic first impressions and reviews, and a lot of hype. EOSHD’s review gave us a first glance that the Speed Booster is going to maintain what it promises: faster and wider Canon full-frame lenses on Sony APS-C and Super-35mm E-mounts, and that very particular full-frame look and feel that many videographers want but often cannot afford. Being able to get full-frame aesthetics using a $599 (click here) adapter on a $1000-$1200 Sony NEX-7 or a $800-$100 Sony NEX-6 makes a big difference, at least when compared to a [shoplink 2431]Canon EOS 5D Mark III (price & specs)[/shoplink] which comes around $2900 for the body only. Full-frame look on APS-C sensor gear! If that is not going to scare someone in the executive floors of some well known Japanese camera manufacturers, what will then?

Roger Cicala is known for his humor and a pretty sceptical and thoroughgoing approach when testing gear. He got a Speed Booster, and here comes his take. First, a short yet understandable description about how Metabones’s wondertoy works:

A teleconverter spreads out the light leaving the lens so that only the center portion reaches the sensor. The result is the focal length of the lens seems longer (the image is magnified), but at the cost of reducing the amount of light (effective aperture) of the lens. The Speed Booster compresses the light leaving the lens onto a smaller image circle. This makes the focal length seem shorter and actually increases the amount of light reaching the sensor.

Metabones Speed Booster

The EF to NEX Speed Booster, for example, changes the effective focal length x 0.71, and increases the maximum aperture by 1 stop. A Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens effectively becomes a 35.5mm f/0.9 NEX lens, for example. Videographers all over the internet were singing Hosannah and laying palm leaves along the path of it’s introduction.

Roger did his tests using [shoplink 122]Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM (price & specs)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 177]EF 50mm f/1.2L(price & specs)[/shoplink] lenses on a [shoplink 5712]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]. I really want you to jump over to lensrentals and read the test report on your own, it is full of insights and well explained technical stuff. However, I can’t avoid to quote Roger’s conclusion:

I think it was pretty obvious that I came armed for battle, ready to slam this product as some marketing overhype. I was wrong less correct than I might have been. The Speed Booster does what they claimed it would do, much to my shock and surprise. It creates a wider-angle, greater aperture lens while retaining resolution and acutance.

It does increase astigmatism a bit […] It also seems to create some highlight blooming at very wide apertures. […]

Most of the little foibles I’ve seen […] really only apply to photographers trying to tweek every drop of resolution out of their high-resolution sensor. Video, even 5k video, is more forgiving of a slightly weak corner or a bit of astigmatism.

[via lensrentals]

Canon EOS 5D Mark III price check: [shopcountry 2431] Sony NEX-7 price check: [shopcountry 5712] Sony NEX-5N price check: [shopcountry 9753] Sony FS100 price check: [shopcountry 4953]

Metabones Speed Booster

A Little Bit Of Everything

 

Deals: Canon Store Refurbished EOS 5D3, EOS 5D2, EOS 7D, EOS 60D, T4i, And More DSLRs And Lenses

Deals: Canon Store Refurbished EOS 5D3, EOS 5D2, EOS 7D

 

The Canon Store has some interesting refurbished Canon DSLRs in stock. Click here to see all refurbished Canon DSLRs or choose from the list below:

Deals: Canon Store Refurbished EOS 5D3, EOS 5D2, EOS 7D

 

Click here to see all refurbished Canon lenses, among them the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM for $1,759.20 (click here).

Deals: Canon Store Refurbished EOS 5D3, EOS 5D2, EOS 7D

 

 

Metabones Speed Booster Full Review (EOSHD)

Metabones Speed Booster – FS100 vs 5D Mark III from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

EOSHD’s Andrew Reid had a closer look on the most amazing photographic product since long: Metabones’ Speed Boost adapter (previously featured here). This little toy allows to mount Canon full-frame objectives on a Sony mirrorless APS-C and Super-35mm E-mount cameras. In March this will be possible also for Micro Four Thirds gear. And making lenses wider is not all the adapter can do: It makes lenses also faster. An f/2.8 becomes f/2, f/2 becomes f/1.4, and f/1.4 becomes f/0.90. This is a lot of magic to deliver by a small adapter.

The optical part of Metabones’ Speed Booster was designed by Brian Caldwell and Wilfried Bittner, both well known for their engineering skills. The best thing about this adapter: it is relatively cheap! It comes for $599 (click here) if you need the Canon EOS mount adpater, $399 (click here) for all others. That’s a bargain if you consider what you get for your bucks: the full-frame look on a [shoplink 5712]Sony NEX-7 (price & specs)[/shoplink], [shoplink 9753]Sony NEX-5N (price & specs)[/shoplink] or a [shoplink 4953]Sony FS100 (price & specs)[/shoplink]. In any case much less than what you have to give for a full-frame [shoplink 2431]Canon EOS 5D Mark III (price & specs)[/shoplink]. Andrew Reid writes:

In no way is the Metabones adapter giving us a poor man’s full frame image here. F2.0 becomes F1.4 on the Speed Booster and this increase in brightness is really evident. The 5D Mark III is very nifty in low light but it cannot compete with the Speed Booster and FS100.

From Reid’s conclusion:

The real world performance when you shoot with the Speed Booster and see the result is far better than any lab test of corner resolution would imply. The claims of this adapter defy belief… Scepticism well founded. And yet…

[…]

Pros

  • 1 stop increase in low light performance
  • Full frame look – wider field of view, shallower DOF, attractive vignette and light fall off towards corners
  • Extremely good value for money (look at the saving over buying alternative full frame video solution like Canon 1D X / 1D C)
  • Protects investment in existing glass
  • Match glass between full frame camera and Sony E-mount camera on multi-camera shoots
  • Corrects some optical defects in centre of the frame such as purple fringing and coma
  • In-camera electronic aperture control for Canon lenses on Sony body
  • Micro Four Thirds support in pipeline for March (and electronic adapter in June)
  • Turns Blackmagic Cinema Camera into Super 35mm (matching Alexa)
  • Every lens now has dual focal length and aperture (use with or without adapter to change crop)
  • More creative possibilities
  • Excellent build quality
  • Very small and light
  • Tripod mount
  • Infinity focus tuning built into the adapter and straight forward to use

Cons

  • Corner and edge sharpness a bit of a struggle with most legacy glass at fast apertures
  • Soft corners and edges most noticeable at infinity focus with fast apertures or wide open
  • Speed of auto-focus in need of improvement (painfully slow compared to same lens on a Canon body)
  • Some lenses are not yet fully supported by the electronics

The post is definitely worth to be read if you want to understand all the advantages of the Speed Booster. Let me just quote a last sentence from Reid’s post:

All in all – if this adapter does not send shock waves through the camera industry I don’t know what will.

Exactly, that’s it! :-)

Canon EOS 5D Mark III price check: [shopcountry 2431] Sony NEX-7 price check: [shopcountry 5712] Sony NEX-5N price check: [shopcountry 9753] Sony FS100 price check: [shopcountry 4953] [via EOSHD]

Canon EOS M Makes It Into Canon Camera Museum

EOS M Makes It Into Canon Camera Museum

Yes, the [shoplink 6091]Canon EOS M (price & specs)[/shoplink] made it into the “design hall” of the Canon Camera Museum:

“Bringing the EOS concept into a mirrorless camera.”
This was the overall approach adopted by the design team for the EOS M camera, which comprised Seishiro Takano, who was responsible for the body and interchangeable lenses; Shingo Yamazaki, designer of the user interface; Megumi Inazumi, in charge of accessories and other parts; and Shosaku Kawashima, the team leader.

Mr. Kawashima – who sought to carry forward the speed, comfort, and picture quality of the EOS series – remained committed to the clear EOS advantage of imbuing a compact body with strength and durability. In other words, the goal was to develop a mirrorless compact camera that incorporated the DNA of EOS.
The design team set a high hurdle for themselves by setting out to combine miniaturization with increased functionality. As a result, all members of the team took on bold challenges in their respective assignments.

Canon EOS M price check: [shopcountry 6091] Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM price check: [shopcountry 6093] Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM price check: [shopcountry 6095]

[via The Digital Picture]