Anyone using C300 for Weddings?

[Sean Seah]

Tried the FS700 and C300 recently. Really dig the C300 but the price is way too high. Just wondering if anyone here is on C300?

[Bill Grant]

That's like using a Ferrari to deliver pizza I think. I think Ray Roman has one... and David Robin. I'm very happy with my 5DmkIII Autofocus is overrated.
Bill

[Nigel Barker]

As I just mentioned over on another thread I am using a C300 for weddings & I totally disagree that it's overkill. It is a wonderful camera that produces stunning images but it is still cheaper than the HD broadcast camcorders that I see in use by more traditional wedding videographers. In fact the motor zoom lens on those probably cost more than a C300. It's just a few years back that people started using semi-pro cameras like the Canon XH-A1 or Sony Z1 for weddings & latterly DSLRs have driven the price of decent entry-level video cameras right down but good cameras cost money. The C300 may appear pricey but you get what you pay for & there is no other self-contained camera with such flexibility & ease of use available. The images are fabulous not least because of the great dynamic range & low light capability. It's quite instructive to see the images from a 5D2 or 5D3 shot alongside the C300. Check out the two most recent videos in our portfolio that feature the C300 alongside 5D2 & 5D3 footage. I think that it's pretty easy to spot the difference in quality. The 5D footage looks nice but the C300 footage looks amazing. Alice Barker Images - Cinematic Wedding Video & Photography - Video Portfolio

Joe Simon of Joe Simon Films in Austin, TX has one and he does weddings. I guess that doesn't answer the question.

[Kelly Huffaker]

Joe Simon stated that he uses his C300 for commercial use only. He still uses his 5d's for weddings

[Bernard Lau]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

The 5D footage looks nice but the C300 footage looks amazing. Alice Barker Images - Cinematic Wedding Video & Photography - Video Portfolio

Which particular wedding did you shoot with the C300?
I could tell that some of the shots had punchier colours and much sharper. I'm guessing that's the C300?

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Bernard Lau

Which particular wedding did you shoot with the C300?
I could tell that some of the shots had punchier colours and much sharper. I'm guessing that's the C300?

The first two at the top of the page Emma & Timothy then David & Rebecca. An obvious shot to me is the very first one of Emma & Timothy where they are touching their foreheads together. These trailers are all 1280x720 & compressed for Vimeo so the differences between the shots done with the C300 & the 5Ds is even more noticeable on a 1080p Blu-ray.

You can print out extremely good quality 8x10 stills direct from the C300 video. Who needs a tog doing reportage when we can shoot 25 photographs per second:-)?

[Eric Aumen]

Originally Posted by Kelly Huffaker

Joe Simon stated that he uses his C300 for commercial use only. He still uses his 5d's for weddings

I just saw Joe Simon tweet a picture of his c300 set up at the back of the church for ceremony coverage.

[Sean Seah]

C300 looks sharper somehow

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Sean Seah

C300 looks sharper somehow

It's certainly got more resolution but not with that over sharpened artificial video look that some video cameras have. The C300 images really do look like film.

[Sigmund Reboquio]

For weddings

by the way guys the names mentioned... their prices are $7k -10k or more than that the last time I check.

I'd definitely Love great cameras for that price range but I start lower than the prices mentioned.

Also, if you are a multi camera team - then that would mean you gotta use more than one C300 ?

if clients booking will increase a lot because of the C300 camera that is soo nice. You can see this by looking at cilents reviews (yours or clients) if most of them mentions the C300 and its quality.

just my 2 cents.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Bernard Lau

Which particular wedding did you shoot with the C300?
I could tell that some of the shots had punchier colours and much sharper. I'm guessing that's the C300?

I would expect punchier colors from a 5dIII as well but I think the vimeo compression doesn't do the footage any good, where I see the most difference is in softer vs sharper images where i"d expect the sharper and better exposed ones come from the c300? I also think it's the 5d that have more contrast in the image and showing less details in dark area's.

I do see some issues with overexposure or a weird colorcast on some shots which I think originates from an unmanned 5D or a 5D in manual exposure making it too difficult to adjust that during a shot (like the shot where Emma walks out the ceremony.)

To be honest Nigel, your demo's look great but it looks like the c300 puts the 5d's a bit in the shade, I think for these ceremonies like the one from Emma, you would be better of pairing the c300 with a Panasonic HC-X900 type of camera as it would work much better unmanned in automode and could stand up to the higher resolution of the c300. It already shows in a vimeo resolution and I can imagine looking at it in full HD on a large screen it will show too much (regarding the image being too soft on the 5d?)

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Sigmund Reboquio

if clients booking will increase a lot because of the C300 camera that is soo nice.

You could give Joe Simon a shoebox to film and his demo's will still look great :) I feel it's not the camera that will attract more clients, it's the skill of the guy behind it. You can get excellent footage out of practically any camera today if you manage to use them right. Don't know if you have seen the film Philip Bloom did from "3 days in Japan", it seemed there where 3 other shooters as well that made a short video also but I could pick Philips video out of all 4 immediately as it stood out much more, there you had the same camera, different shooters and yet only one managed to get "film" like footage. (He does use some pretty expensive glass and that should contribute to the overall look but his videos just have that "something" the other don't have.)

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I would expect punchier colors from a 5dIII as well but I think the vimeo compression doesn't do the footage any good, where I see the most difference is in softer vs sharper images where i"d expect the sharper and better exposed ones come from the c300? I also think it's the 5d that have more contrast in the image and showing less details in dark area's.

Yes, the C300 images are definitely far more detailed & also better exposed partly because the C300 has zebras but also because there is much more dynamic range so when the highlights are just clipping there is still loads of detail in the shadows.

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I do see some issues with overexposure or a weird colorcast on some shots which I think originates from an unmanned 5D or a 5D in manual exposure making it too difficult to adjust that during a shot (like the shot where Emma walks out the ceremony.)

All the badly exposed shots are from the 5D. We had not filmed in the room where the ceremony was held before & the lighting was awful as there is just one large window in the ceiling so that there is a pool of light in the centre of the room & shadows all round the edges. So the couple & the celebrant are in shadow & half the audience are in bright sunlight except when the lighting changes because the clouds move across the sky. The C300 (shot from the groom's side) handled this lighting better partly because I was operating it so able to adjust aperture but also because the dynamic range is better. The Steadicam shot as they walk down the aisle was just impossible to get the exposure correct as because I did want to get the shot of the whole walk that I made the judgement to get the exposure right for the shadow areas at either end & just to let it blow in the middle of the room. As Chris Harding mentions in another thread it's often more important to get the shot than worry about the technical quality.

Originally Posted by Noa Put

To be honest Nigel, your demo's look great but it looks like the c300 puts the 5d's a bit in the shade, I think for these ceremonies like the one from Emma, you would be better of pairing the c300 with a Panasonic HC-X900 type of camera as it would work much better unmanned in automode and could stand up to the higher resolution of the c300. It already shows in a vimeo resolution and I can imagine looking at it in full HD on a large screen it will show too much (regarding the image being too soft on the 5d?)

The 5Ds look lovely for close ups & in fact are very flattering because of the softness of the image e.g. during bridal prep but intercutting with the C300 is a bit problematic because the C300 is so much better & so much more detailed. I think that you are right that where there is a locked off unmanned camera it may well be better to use an XF105 or XA10 or even one of the Canon consumer camcorders that use the same sensor. I could if necessary use autoexposure but also the resolution would better match. The deep DoF from the 1/3" chip also makes getting the shot easier.

[Noa Put]

The Steadicam shot as they walk down the aisle was just impossible to get the exposure correct

One easy trick to get a much better exposed shot under these circumstances is to put the exposure in automatic, the camera will then do a very gradual iso adjustment, I have done steadicam shots from sunny outside to dark inside in one motion and the camera exposed exactly right. Ofcourse you need to be sure there is no backlight from a window inside, also if its really dark inside the iso will go really high resulting in too much noise. But for most situations where you need to have a better exposure, that auto exposure can save your shot.