Here at Speakeasy labs we like to try and keep on top of what’s new and cool in the world of video production. Usually it’s not worth talking about – I mean if you want to I can tell you all about the the new Thunderbolt interconnect, but it’s basically just a new type of cable…

However, sometimes something a bit more interesting comes along. Which brings me to the Canon C300 – a shiny new camera from Canon.

The biggest trend we’ve seen in cameras recently is the rise of the DSLR – spearheaded by Canon’s 5D MK2. There was a time where stills cameras took stills, and video cameras took video, but now we have a whole range of cameras that can do both. The quality of image that these stills cameras can produce is quite frankly amazing, and everybody loves the “look” of the video that the DSLR’s can produce.

But for the world of post-production the DSLR can be a wee headache. Footage from a 5D requires a bit of effort to get into an edit suite, and sound recording can be a bit hit-and-miss… It’s not as straightforward a process as it would be for a dedicated video camera like an EX-3. The picture is better though, so it’s worth the extra effort.

That’s why the arrival of the Canon C300 is so interesting from a post-production point of view. The C300 is Canon’s first attempt at combining a DSLR with a video camera, taking the picture quality from DSLR and the usability from video to create a hybrid that hopefully gives you the best of both worlds.

So naturally we were super excited to try it out, and we had the perfect project – a series of short dramas for the NHS, which would highlight youth mental health problems.

So far we’re impressed. The pictures are exactly what we were hoping for, that shallow depth of field that everyone likes and a nice contrast between shadow and light.

We also used it as our testbed for Final Cut Pro X – look out for a future post about our experiences with the latest version of Apple’s flagship editing program.

To find out more about how we use technology to make your videos look even better, contact Courtney at courtney.rogers@speak.co.uk

To find out more about our NHS project, read our next blog or, if you can’t wait, contact mark@speak.co.uk