Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Firmware updates for C500, C300, C100 + improved Cinema Raw software


Canon has announced upcoming firmware updates for three of its Cinema EOS System cameras, as well as various new functions for its Cinema Raw Development (CRD) software.

Once the upgrades are available, the EOS C500, C300 and C100 will support a new Magnify function allowing users to check focus in different parts of an image on the camera LCD, as well as the centre, to give added control and flexibility during shooting.

The EOS C300 (pictured above) will also be upgraded with additional features designed to assist independent videographers, such as Push Auto Iris and One Shot Auto Focus, offering a quick way to check and adjust exposure and focus. 

The EOS C300 will also gain additional support for 1440x1080 HD video recording at 35Mbps – the standard used by some older HD cameras, such as Sony’s EX1, which is still used by many news and broadcast organisations as it saves bandwidth and memory.

The EOS C100 (pictured above) will add support for Continuous Auto Focus when used with Canon’s EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens.

Cinema RAW Development

Canon will also add new features to its Cinema Raw Development software. This software is supplied with the C500 (pictured top with a Codex recorder, which records Raw) and is designed to support development, playback, and export of 4K Canon Cinema Raw clips.

The update will add support for the industry-standard Academy Color Encoding Specification (ACES), providing an Input Device Transform function to allow output of developed Canon Cinema Raw files in an ACES-compliant OpenEXR file format. 

ACES has been proposed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a SMPTE colour space standard, intended to define the colour response for input and output devices to achieve an end-to-end pipeline of colour management from filming to editing, grading, distribution and screening.

A new function will also allow users to specify in/out points before developing or copying their Raw footage, streamlining workflow both on-set and during post-production.

It will also be possible to generate a development log, which will list details of files that have been copied or developed using the CRD software for future reference.

The firmware updates for the EOS C500, EOS C300, EOS C100 and CRD software will be available later in 2013.

By David Fox