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