The C300 for ENG

[Jack Zhang]

I'm just wondering if anyone uses the C300 for ENG purposes, since I recently saw one in use as an EFP/ENG camera in the news here in Vancouver.

[Brett Sherman]

Wow, TV Station budgets must be bigger in Canada than in the U.S. I don't see a lot of television news departments getting one of these here. The question is what lens were they using. I shoot a variety of scenarios - straight ahead new-style for press conferences and documentary-style shooting. I'm considering the C300, but am not sold on it yet. The way I'd consider using it is with an EF-S 18-200mm lens. Aperture is not very wide, but with low noise of C300 I'm thinking I can make it work. The only problem I see is lack of parafocal focus and no servo for zooming. Don't know if I can work around those or not.

[Jack Zhang]

It might have been an independent freelancer. I know Global in Canada invested in PMW-350s with SDHC adapters, but to see a C300 for ENG use, despite it being an independent freelancer, is quite surprising...

[Mark Moreve]

Hi guys,
I've used my c300 loads for eng and use a mixture of three lenses, in a think tank hip pack which I also keep spare cards and batts in. The lenses I use are the

16-35 f2.8
24-70 f2.8
70-200 f2.8

The clients have loved the different look and feel
Hope that helps

[Jon Fairhurst]

The high ISO of the C300 could really make it viable for ENG. With the high ISO range, one can stop it down and get deep focus. Open it up and shoot in extremely dark environments. Use the same camera for news gathering as for promo and beauty shots. One minute you're using deep focus to show how the snow has snarled traffic and caused accidents. Later, you're using shallow focus to produce a winter wonderland piece about toddlers seeing their first snowfall.

But Brett nailed it. To really compete, the camera needs a parfocal servo zoom. You'd also want to get the EVF on the side to balance on the shoulder. With the push for large sensors, there's no doubt that those lenses with competitive prices aren't far down the road.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

That's something I been thinking about with our C300. Lens speed really isn't an issue as even at 5.6 the ISO of this camera still makes it far better than anything else. I don't get why no one has made an affordable parafocal lens for ENG work. Glass wise they could just take the 18-200mm put it in a better body and and servo parafocal zoom.

I'd imagine Canon could easily do it, they have enough experience with lenses both stills and video. And price wise do they need to be really expensive? Something up to $2-3k is OK but the only current option is the Fujinon one that costs over $30k and its only 19-90mm! Surely its cheaper and better to just by a PMW500 and C300 for that price!

[Alister Chapman]

Or use the MTF B4 to canon adapter and stick a 2/3" HD servo zoom on the C300. my Canon 16 x 8 becomes a f4 20 a 320mm par focal servo zoom.

This is exactly what I designed the adapter for, a low cost way to get a servo zoom on a s35 camcorder.

[Simon Denny]

Hi Alister,
Will the MTF B4 work with a Fujinon lens on the c300?

[Alister Chapman]

Yes, any B4 2/3" lens that has a 2x extender.

You would also need a power adapter to provide 12 volts to the lenses connector that would normally plug in to the camera if you want the zoom servo to work.

[Simon Denny]

Thanks Alister,
I assume that the 2 x extender has to be engaged in order for the mount to work?

Cheers

[Menno Mennes]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

I'm just wondering if anyone uses the C300 for ENG purposes, since I recently saw one in use as an EFP/ENG camera in the news here in Vancouver.

See article and footage from Dan Chung of DSLR News Shooter:

DSLR News Shooter | New MTF Services lens adapters: Electronic EOS to Sony F3/FS100/Panasonic and B4 to EOS/Sony F3/FS100

Good luck!!!

[Simon Denny]

Thanks for the link Menno.

Cheers