Canon C100 v Sony FS700 “Is there a comparison ?”
With both cameras recording AVCHD the Sony has the edge with 28Mbps 1920 x 1080 50p while the Canon is only 24Mbps 1920 x 1080 50i.
Two features that the Sony has over the Canon is the 10x Full HD slow motion and the upgradable 2-4K sensor.
To be frank I think the C100 is £2K dearer than it should be to stand a chance against the FS700 but remember slow motion albeit 10x Full HD is a gimmick and to date no one has seen the 4K capable picture from the FS700.
If you are a C300 owner like myself a smaller C100 might just be a cracking B camera, not having an HD SDI socket is stupid and the C100 is 4:2:0 colour space might not be as punchy as the C300.
If you own Canon lenses the C100 would be the better choice plus the Canon is of a higher build quality than the plasticky FS700.
I actually like the thought of a smaller “C300″ and depending on picture quality would be a far more practical camera for run and gun.
Q. If I had the choice between the FS700 and the C100
A. That will depend on picture quality, if the C100 almost matches the C300 and the familiarity of the two cameras would draw me towards the Canon. The FS700 has its own issues and one of them seems to be a compromise between the 2K and 4K chip set being a tad more noisy than the FS100. The 10x super slow motion would be useful but not essential.
My heart tells me the C100, my professional practical side tells me the FS700 but its all down to picture quality in the end, I personally have not seen the picture out of the FS700 nor the C100. Picture quality is upmost and is going to make or break the C100 for C300 owners !
Final word : I think Canon have underestimated the pulling power of the FS700 especially having the 10x slow motion feature, you can use your Canon glass on the FS100 using a Metabones adapter but the crucial mistake for me is the 4:2:0 colour space, even the XF305 has 4:2:2 and matching both cameras (C300/XF305) can be a pain so my bet is that the C100 won’t be as spectacular picture wise as the C300 which is a shame.
We all new Canon would bring out a watered down C300 at some stage and personally I do like the new look, especially the XLRs and taking the LCD off the top of the camera, we now have more large sensor cameras than I ever thought possible…is there a market for 9 competing cameras !
