kedbear

I don't see the same colour as Alexa, higher resolution is of little benefit compared to the open gate mode the Alexa already gives, and the dynamic range is not as good, particularly in the highlights which do not roll off like the Alexa. Which professional film uses AF, hardly worth putting that in there as a bonus. The c300MKII from everything i've seen is not as pleasing as the Alexa. I think more tests and shooting will make this clear. To each their own i guess. Anyway, i look forward to seeing more and using the C300MKII, but i won't be choosing it over Alexa anytime soon whenever i have the choice, not least for the organic image the Alexa gives.

It's clear from the test the Alexa has more than a 'slight edge' in the highlights. The highlight retention of the C300 from this test looks like the F55. Is it good? Yeah not bad. Is it like the Alexa? No. The Alexa does not even start to blow at +5! Look at the shirt of the guy in the frame. The C300MKII has been tested to show noise that is not as nice as the Alexa. The Alexa has a much more natural monochromatic noise that is grain like, and does not exibit the noise as early as the C300MKII. I think once more tests come out it will be clear that Canon were not accurate with their 15 stop claim. Still, it's a decent enough camera that i'm sure will make some great pictures, like the C300 did for Blue Ruin. Will it replace the Alexa for Cinematographers who can choose? No.

I don't understand. The C300MKII is blowing out in a sharp roll off manner at +5. The Alexa isn't even blowing at all. How can they possibly be seen as the same?

Ok so just got to the C300MKII highlight test and it's nothing like the Alexa. It's clearly blowing out and does not have the highlight roll off, so i am confused what you are seeing, but it's definitely NOT 15 stops DR. The Alexa appears to have a significant amount of highlight retention over the C300 MKII. On the Alexa test it wasn't even blowing at +5, the C300 was horrible at +5. The Lowlight of the C300MKII doesn't look anywhere near as nice either. I'd say Cinema 5D have got it right.

If this is the case then i stand corrected. Going to watch that link. Seen the first 1 min and it already looks like an amazing test.

So, in support of what i felt could clearly be seen in that early C300 MKII short film 'Trick Shot', when the camera is tested it does in fact have much less dynamic range than claimed. 12.3 stops according to Cinema 5D... https://***URL not allowed***/canon-c300-mark-ii-review-dynamic-range/

​So you use a frame from a shot where there are squibs exploding in fractions of a second as an example of bad highlights? Are you joking?

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​ The highlights in Daredevil look nothing like the C300MKII short film. The fact you have used it as an example would lead me to question your analysis of rolloff. Some people here seem to believe that because you can cut a C300 into an Alexa the cameras are basically equal? If you actually shot and tested both you would soon discover that is far from the case.

I've had to cut c300 in with Alexa and it looked really bad, the image fell apart under the 8bit codec, the colour information simply isn't there. I imagine the c500 which as you point out was used on Wolf of Wall Street etc was far better due to the external raw output. I Think blue ruin is strong from a storytelling perspective and the cinematography was very good, you could say it was better than the video I mentioned, but the c300 can't do the look of the 'collider' music video. It just falls apart and doesn't have the organic feel of that Alexa image.

Tell that to Roger Deakins. I did see the zacuto shoot out, I thought the Alexa stuck out. A lot of the mid range cameras looked very alike. I'm sorry but if you think the c300 mkII looks great and comparable to an Alexa that's fine, however for me I can tell immediately that it isn't. The sharpness, the roll off, the motion, the noise, the colours, the overall organic 'feel' of the image simply isn't as attractive to my eyes as the Alexa, and still bears the c300 mkI family of 'look'. There is a reason the Alexa is the most used digital camera in the industry. Can you get great images out of lower end cameras? Of course, I think 'Blue Ruin' showed that. Can the c300 look like the 'collider' music video for Jon Hopkins. No.

Hi jcs. There is no issue in your example, because the lighting has been controlled, favouring the DR of the f55. Start increasing the power of the backlight and it would be a different story. My point is a controlled test such as the one you posted does not show much apart from that the f55 has a Lut that gets it close colour wise to the alexa's rec709.

​Ok watched the behind the scenes. The BTS video does demonstrate good DR. However, i can't for the life of me understand why on earth it would be graded so that there's a nasty highlight roll off, it just looks bad. The idea that it fits a heist genre doesn't hold water for me at all. You don't see anything like that in The Town for example amongst many many others. I can't help but suspect something fishy/odd is going on. Anyway, taking DR out of it and the colouring style, i still find the footage videoey. Of course, it's way better than many cameras, but amongst the Epic and Alexa i don't think it has the 'feel' to the image. Lets see when the camera arrives i guess...

The above example is not designed to push the cameras. Having shot both of these cameras I can tell you the highlight roll off of the f55 is poor. The LUT helps match the colours (though the colours are still visibly different in the above example) but the two images still feel different, even moreso when watched on a big screen without vimeo compression.

So basically the suggestion is that a person with experience, even a top class DoP, can't possibly form any opinion of the camera from watching something shot with it in a real world scenario. The only way is to shoot the exact same shot with two cameras and then grade them the same? Why do you presume the way that you assess a camera is the only way it can be done? Do you have experience shootng with high end cameras? There are people out there with enough experience to be able to assess the basic quality of a camera from watching it's footage. I personally would wager that the c300mkii has the hallmarks of v1. Poor highlight roll off and overly sharp with a videoy feel.