The post production for the event I shot for Harley-Davidson in St Tropez is now completed so I thought I’d share my thoughts on using the Canon EOS C300 on an event shoot for the first time. Previous to this event I’ve been using a Sony EX1 and Canon 5D mkII combination which have produced some nice results. The EX1 has been my main camera for event work over the last few years and even though I’ve felt the results from the 5D2 have been better at times the functionality and ease of use that the EX1 provided meant that it was just a better all around camera for my needs.

My shooting days at these events involve a lot of walking, I’m generally out shooting from 10am until the early hours of the morning for three or four days in a row so it can be very hard on the feet and becomes tiring after a few days. Because of this I tend to try and avoid carrying too much kit around with me and certainly didn’t like carrying both the EX1 and the 5D at the same time with all the batteries and lenses that go with them. My preferred method was to head out for a few hours with the 5D and my Glidetrack grabbing some more stylised material and then head back and swap over to the EX1. This worked well most of the time but invariably there would be times with the 5D that I missed the EX1′s over cranking feature and shooting aids, likewise when using the EX1 I’d really miss the ability to shoot really wide and have more control over the depth of field of my shots.

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On a cold day earlier in December I Joined Philip Bloom, Suresh Kara, Joel Conder and Sarah Estela for Philips Christmas mini shootout .  The main aim of the shootout was to compare a bunch of large sensor cameras under typical shooting conditions.

We did a range of tests including resolution, skew, skin tones, and low light / high ISO. I was particularly interested to see how the Canon EOS-C300 held up against the other cameras on test as I’m considering purchasing one when they are released. To find out more about the C300 check out my C300 review.

We tested the following cameras and picture profiles…

Sony NEX5N- Flat PP by Abel Cine
Canon EOS C300 – C-LOG (Not Cinema mode for the res tests)
Panasonic GH2 - Driftwood Hack nostalgia and dialed down
Canon 5D mk2 – Marvels Advance
Canon 7D - Marvels Advance
Sony FS100 - G-LOG A
Sony PMW-F3 AB-RANGE
Sony PMW-F3 – S-Log
Nikon D7000 – Flat

As Philip says in the video the tests were not overly scientific, we tried where possible to maintain conditions and settings but obviously working outside on a winters day we had to deal with changeable light and a few frozen fingers. Regardless of the weather conditions though the resolution test results were very interesting and still showed each cameras strengths and weaknesses.

After braving the cold for the resolution and skew tests we then headed back for a full english breakfast and series of low light and skin tone tests so lookout for those very shortly which I’ll add to this page once Philip finishes editing them. It was great fun doing the shootout and lovely spending time with Philip, Suresh, Joel and Sarah so many thanks to those guys for making it a great day.

Here’s a down and dirty screen cast showing some problems I’ve been having using the Canon Movie Plugin E1 for Final Cut Pro. I’ve literally recorded this and uploaded it in the last 20 minutes so please forgive the quality, I’m right in the middle of an edit so didn’t have much time.

If you’ve also seen similar issues or don’t suffer from it then please leave a comment, it might help to nail down the cause of the problems.

UPDATE – 26/08/2010

Canon has just announced an update to the EOS E1 plugin which is due for release in September. According to Canon the update adds support for their new 60D body. Of much more interest to me though is the announcement that it will also provide support for multi-core processing. Just in time for my shiny new 12 core!

Lets hope they fix the above bugs too!