Canon C300 Tutorial

[Terry Nixon]

Here's a new Canon C300 Tutorial:

Canon DLC: Gallery: EOS C300 Tutorial Series

Learn how to use the features and functions of the EOS C300 in these instructional tutorials, hosted by Canon Digital Learning Center contributor Jem Schofield. These videos will give you the information you need to make the most of this camera system, and hit the ground running in any production environment.



Topics include:
- Exposure

- Gamma

- Custom Picture Menu

- Creating a Custom Picture

- Assign Button Feature

- Best Practices for Recording

- Multi Camera Setup

- Wireless Shooting

- Transferring Custom Pictures

- Audio Features

[Michael Turano]

This tutorial is a step in the right direction, but it is hard to understand why it has taken Canon so long to provide this basic information. The camera was introduced a year ago, and some users are still trying to figure out how to get accurate colors. Luckily, there is a fair amount of technical, trial and error advice being shared on forums like this one, but it is not a substitute for authoritative information from the engineers who designed and tested this camera.

I haven't watched all segments of this tutorial, but I am not overly impressed. The exposure tutorial is a good example. It proposes using a spot meter and an 18 percent gray card to set exposures in C-log. That is one relatively inconvenient way, but why go through the trouble when you get nearly identical results from an incident reading. There is no advice from Canon for getting an accurate exposure in C-log without a meter. One method I've read about is to set a white reference to 70 percent. Another user recommends setting zebras at 90% and not letting anything in the scene go above that. Admittedly, there is no one way to expose a scene, but Canon could provide a standard procedure that yields predictable results.

[David A. Fisher]

I think this is an interesting complaint. All I could think of is someone blaming Louisville Slugger for not telling them how to hit home-runs after they bought and used a baseball bat for the first time. The camera is merely a tool for you to express your understanding and education of light and color. Don't blame the table saw for the crappy bookshelf you built. Over the last three years I've seen some beautiful films produced by DSLRs, but I also saw tons of crap being filmed by those exact same cameras. Is that the camera manufacturers fault?

[Paul Cronin]

I like to say thanks Canon, and Jem for putting these together. Nice move forward.

But please stop the dolly going back and forth it is annoying. Just stick to the content.

[Michael Turano]

Originally Posted by David A. Fisher

I think this is an interesting complaint. All I could think of is someone blaming Louisville Slugger for not telling them how to hit home-runs after they bought and used a baseball bat for the first time. The camera is merely a tool for you to express your understanding and education of light and color. Don't blame the table saw for the crappy bookshelf you built. Over the last three years I've seen some beautiful films produced by DSLRs, but I also saw tons of crap being filmed by those exact same cameras. Is that the camera manufacturers fault?

I'm not sure a bat is a close analogy for a sophisticated camera like the C300, but, using that example, Louisville Slugger has at least 7 instructional videos on their website and 2 Youtube channels: Slugger Nation and Louisville Slugger Training.
If the C300 were an intuitive tool that did not need explanation, why would Canon create an EOS C300 Menu Simulator or publish an article called the EOS C300 Best Practices Guide. Canon clearly understands the need for professional development, which is why they conduct seminars in LA on topics like Understanding Canon Log and Painting the Canon EOS C300: Custom Picture Setting Adjustments to Maintain Control of the Image. My complaint is that Canon hasn't made this technical information more widely available.
It is not just about a expressing a general understanding of light and color. Photography has always involved the technical reproduction of light and color. Canon cannot help me make beautiful films, but they can help me make the best use of their technology.