The heritage of the ground-breaking Canon EOS C300 range

With its release came the birth of the Cinema EOS System, offering then-innovative technologies from an 8.3MP Super 35mm CMOS sensor to Full HD recording. The Canon EOS C300 was soon in the hands of award-winning DoPs, with the camera being used to shoot Jeremy Saulnier's highly-acclaimed Sundance feature Blue Ruin.

"It was just a very versatile image capture tool," says Paul. "The fact it was able to take the full range of EF lenses – there's 90-odd lenses in the range – meant you could just integrate it into different workflows. It was a 4:2:2 8-bit camera that recorded 50Mbps, which happened to fit in with what a lot of broadcasters wanted at the time when they were moving to a solid-state recording medium. There's still a lot of these cameras being used daily."

That was certainly the case for documentary filmmaker and photographer Zed Nelson, who used a Canon EOS C300 to shoot his 2019 feature film The Street, which charts the transformation of an east London street and its close-knit community under waves of gentrification. The Canon EOS C300 proved to be a reliable partner across hundreds of hours of shooting, from street reportage to interviews to camera, across four years.

"In terms of having a camera that is designed to be used on the fly, hand-held, but can produce an image that will end up on a cinema screen, the Canon EOS C300 is the best combination I've found," Zed says. "You have a slightly more ergonomic body than a DSLR, and the sensor gives you a good picture, linked with the ability to have on-board sound."

The camera's EF mount enabled Zed to pair his photographic EF lenses with his cinema camera. Its enhanced sensitivity of up to ISO80000 met the varied low-light demands of the production, and a neutral Canon Log Gamma profile provided a wide dynamic range for maximum freedom when grading.

"After the success of the EOS C300, we released the EOS C300 Mark II," explains Paul. "Nearly every single specification change on that camera is a result of feedback from end users." With an enhanced 8.85MP Super 35mm CMOS sensor, ISO capacity up to ISO102400 and 15 stops of dynamic range, the EOS C300 Mark II became a versatile workhorse for many cinematographers.

When filmmaker Steve Turvey moved to the Canon EOS C300 Mark II, he loved the improved features of the new camera compared to its predecessor. "You can shoot at higher frame rates in better quality, but the camera isn't any bigger and it's still compact and easy to use," he says. "It has built-in ND filters for extra exposure control, and better audio than smaller cameras. It's ideal if you have to move quickly between locations or shoot in fading light."

The Canon EOS C300 Mark II has also proven itself to be reliable in some of the toughest conditions in the world. When cinematographer Peiman Zekavat documented his arduous expedition through remote jungles in Guyana, he wanted a high bit rate and the capability to shoot in Canon Log. "In post-production you could see the 12-bit of the Canon EOS C300 Mark II was amazing in the highlights," he says.

At a time when commissioning organisations such as Netflix were becoming highly specific and requiring true 4K images, the Canon EOS C300 Mark II offered a range of recording options. "It was important that the camera has the ability to record 4K images internally in a format that wasn't RAW [with its huge file sizes] but was still at a high enough data rate to undergo fairly extensive post," says Paul. The camera enables 4K recording at up to 410Mbps/10-bit to dual internal memory cards, while 4K RAW footage can be recorded to external devices.