Canon Unveils New EOS Cinema Camera

Canon unveiled a new camera in its Cinema EOS line, which was shown publicly during this week’s Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles.

The camera and lens maker also debuted a new thriller-style short made with the new camera, titled “Scary Good.” The short was directed and lensed by cinematographer Christine Ng (whose credits include several episodes of Peacock’s “Poker Face”) in one day, on location in the ornate United Palace theater in New York.

Developed with the film and live production markets in mind, the Canon EOS C400 camera features a newly developed 6K full-frame CMOS sensor, with base ISOs of 800, 3200 and 12,800. It’s scheduled for availability in September for $8,000.

“It’s a filmmakers camera with live production in mind,” said Peter Marr, Canon’s education, field and sales support manager. “You have the sensor, the triple bass ISO, the [compact] size … it checks the boxes that are attractive to filmmakers in narrative and documentary, but you also have tally and ports that a live production would use. … so it’s built into the camera.”

Canon additionally introduced a PL to RF mount adaptor and an RF-mount version of the Cine-Servo 17-120mm cinema lens.

“I tried to utilize it in different ways,” Ng said of testing the C400 camera during the “Scary Good” shoot. “I had it handheld, I had it on a gimbal and I had it in studio mode built out on the dolly, because those are all the ways that I use cameras and I really wanted to put it to the test.”