10 Yetis insight - 10 features on the Canon c100 camera you need to know

We’re not going to lie, here at 10Yetis we are head over heels in love with our Canon c100s. They make online video production a breeze, and all of their great features make them a camera worth investing in. Here’s our run down of some of the best features this camera has to offer.

High ISO

The c100 has an impressive ISO range running from 320 up to 16,000 and can even be pushed up to 80,000. This gives the cameras an advantage when shooting in low light. This is especially useful in a documentary situation, where you need to capture action on the go, and if you do not have the time to set up lighting. It can also be extremely useful when shooting events as there may be areas of events which are lit differently to others, using the large ISO range you can make sure each shot has the perfect balance of light.

Built in ND filters

No fiddling about with putting ND filters on your lenses whilst you’re shooting! Bonus! The c100 has 4 glass filters built into the camera body. These filters are simply operated by a small dial on the body of the camera. ND filters are especially useful when shooting outdoors in bright sunny conditions where normally there would be an issue with overexposure.

Dual SD card slot

If you’ve been using a DSLR up until now then you will have been working from a 1 card slot camera (unless you have the 1D). The c100 has dual slots which allows for two simultaneous cards to be in there at the same time. If one card runs out of memory you can switch over to the other without having to switch out. Time-saving and useful for when you don’t want large amounts of footage stored on one card.

Custom Picture modes and profiles

The option of picture modes on the c100 gives you greater creative control over the image you are shooting. You have the choice to film flat for a cinema style image, with Wide Dynamic Range or you can select eos standard which gives more of a traditional DSLR look. There are 9 stored configurations which includes the 3 presets mentioned above.

Unusual shape

The unusual shape of the c100 can make it a little impractical when it comes to finding a bag but there are solutions available. The plus sides of it’s non-traditional shape are that it’s really comfy to hold, via the handle, which makes it great to move around quickly with and the grip ensures extra safety when moving around very quickly with it!

One shot auto focus button

One of our favourite features of this camera. The autofocus button makes focusing super simple and quick. Simply press the one shot auto focus button and it focuses to where ever your focus box is on the screen. This is endlessly helpful when you’re having to shoot on the go and quickly set up between interviews or scenes.

Built in focus peaking/exposure zebra strips

Having this feature makes it a lot easier to focus at a glance. So for example if you’re using a particularly shallow depth of field then the area in focus is highlighted in red which makes it much easier to make sure the image appears crisp. The same is true of the zebra exposure strips; if there is a small overexposed area on screen you may not have noticed; the zebra strips will make this stand out to you. Filming made easy!

Viewfinder

The viewfinder on the c100 mkI is not great, it’s disappointingly small and mostly unusable, luckily Canon paid attention to feedback and on the mkII it’s been corrected! The best tip we can offer here is buying the mkII, but if that’s not viable then perhaps look around for old camera parts or get your DIY-on and create a homemade eye cup for the camera.

Built in microphone

On the c100 the built in microphone is an actual viable option for sound recording. This was never true of the Canon DSLRs where any recorded sound was shoddy at best. Obviously if you can then use external sound recording equipment, this way you will get more control over your sound and the result will be a more professional finish.

25 fps or 50 fps

The mkI can only shoot in 25fps or 50fps which is all you need for regular filming, though it does make it difficult to capture slow motion footage. This again has been corrected in the mkII which has the ability to shoot up to 60fps. There are work arounds in the edit for creating slow motion, but you will never get as smooth an image as you would from the mkII.