Canon it's Feb. 2014, is the C100 AF upgrade available yet?

[Docea Marius]

Canon's February 6, 2014, which is the new dual pixel AF C100?? :-)

Thanks

[Glen Vandermolen]

Umm....what?

[Chris Hurd]

I believe Docea is drawing attention to Canon's statement from last November that its dual-pixel AF technology currently found in the EOS 70D would be made available to the Cinema EOS C100 sometime in February as a service center modification for $500 (full details here: http://www.dvinfo.net/news/canon-off...-eos-c100.html). Therefore I have changed the thread title from "Canon is FEBRUARY 2014 :-)" to "Canon it's Feb. 2014, is the C100 AF upgrade available yet?"

Hope this helps,

[Docea Marius]

Thanks Chris....

[Drew Curran]

Canon has the C100 with the upgrade in the hands of pros at the moment so they must be in the final stages of testing. Philip Bloom and Joe Simon have been tweeting about it this week.

[Jeremiah Rickert]

Will newly manufactured C100's feature the tech already integrated?

[Danny O'Neill]

Canon have stated that no, it won't and will always be a paid for upgrade.

[Chris Hurd]

Danny is right -- I confirmed this verbally with Canon USA several months ago. There will be no change in the C100 production & manufacturing process. It's always going to be an optional upgrade if you want to pay for it.

[Jeremiah Rickert]

Gotcha...thanks. I thought I remembered hearing that somewhere, but I was sorta hoping I was wrong, hehe.

There probably won't be a C100a or C105 coming then. :)

[Nicholas de Kock]

The Sony F3 had a paid upgrade to unlock S-Log that they charged $3000 for which was only firmware, few months later it was free.

[Matt Davis]

But in this case, it's not a bit of firmware. I've heard it hinted that some engineering work is required that needs to be done, and then carefully lined up. This sounds about right - if all cameras had this, it would make them more expensive. This way, only those who really want/need it have to pay.

Having said that, wallet at the ready... (taps foot impatiently).

[Chris Hurd]

Matt is right -- for the C100 it also requires a hardware change, thus the trip to a factory service center. And it's optional so if you don't need it, you're not paying for it.

[Mark Dobson]

There was a lot of information and discussion about the C100 Dual Pixel CMOS AF back in November, both here on this forum and on DSLR Newsshooter, with Dan Chung gently squeezing a lot of information out of the enigmatic Yoshinari Onda, Canon Cinema EOS Global Product Manager.

Inter BEE 2013: Newsshooter talks C100 Dual Pixel CMOS AF with Canon's Mr Onda on Vimeo

The C500, 300 and 100 all already have dual pixel sensors. From about 09.45 Mr Onda says that the modification entails new firmware and a ‘service adjustment’ to adjust the sensor output.

At 12.50 they discuss the AF Lock button which adds a degree of functionality. And at 16.16 Mr Onda says they are looking into the possibility of adding this function to the C300.

I’d be interested in that as I’ve already been experimenting with the Continuous AF function using the 18-135 STM lens on the C300, and whilst it’s not very fast it does work accurately and silently so it certainly has it’s uses.

Earlier on in the interview Mr Onda also talks the possibilities of us seeing a eos servo lens product in the near future.

And for those who missed the original post, here is the DSLR Newsshooter demo of the C100 Dual Pixel AF.

Inter BEE 2013: Testing the Canon C100 Dual Pixel CMOS AF on Vimeo

I guess C100 users won’t have that long to wait now.

[Jon Roemer]

Originally Posted by Mark Dobson

I’d be interested in that as I’ve already been experimenting with the Continuous AF function using the 18-135 STM lens on the C300, and whilst it’s not very fast it does work accurately and silently so it certainly has it’s uses....

Mark - Can you say a bit more about the 18-135 STM on the C300? How fast is it compared to the Newsshooter Dual Pixel AF video demo sample?

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Jon,

It's not anywhere near as fast as the AF demo for the C100. It's faster on solid objects with high contrast.

However it does work and can be useful for certain situations. I used the 18-135 STM today whilst filming a
large business meeting. Feeling rather lazy I was able to get pin sharp closeups around the table with minimal effort on my part.

Its resolves focus very fast in 'one shot AF' mode and slower in continuous mode. Like wise the Auto / one shot Iris is very smooth.

I've been using the 18-135mm STM since it's launch. A lot of people really don't like it, partially I think because it does not have a fixed aperture, is made of plastic, utilises 'fly by wire' focusing and is not a 'L' lens.

I like it because of its focal range, it's lightness, it's quietness and because it is very sharp. So for me it's a useful lens to have in the bag. I imagine that Canon will incorporate STM technology into it's 'L' series soon.