Canon-c300-224x193We reported on an issue a while ago about certain instances where the Canon C300 would show strange color fringing on the edges of very bright or overexposed images. I had suspected this might be a fatal flaw (I was completely wrong), but it seems the issue was probably related to downscaling as some people pointed out at that point in the comments. Now we have confirmation that Canon has a firmware update that supposedly fixes this issue, but not only are you going to have a tough time getting it, but you might even have a hard time getting a Canon representative to acknowledge that it exists.

If you haven't seen it, here is the issue we talked about before -- RED SCARLET is on the left and the Canon C300 is on the right:


Scarlet-vs-c300_fringing-e1333063296336-616x395

This was posted on the Cinema EOS User forum by arctictern:

I recently had this issue whilst shooting a sunset across some mountains. It resulted in red/green - lines/pixels across the high contrast part of the image where the sun dipped behind the mountains. I sent the camera back to Canon complaining of this issue along with another problem that I was experiencing with the camera. To cut a long story short I ended up with a new camera along with a firmware upgrade 1.0.7.1.00 which apparently deals with the fringing issue. Can't guarantee 100% but had no problems since and have tried to recreate with other high contrast scenes!

This was posted by redhouse on the same forum:

Talked with Canon Cinema Eos tech support about firmware upgrade 1.0.7.1.00 earlier today. According to the rep, the firmware does address the color fringing issue and a some other minor (from my point of view) issues. Apparently Canon does not consider it a major firmware upgrade, as they are not announcing it. The firmware is not posted on the web because, at this point, the firmware upgrade can only be done by sending the camera in to Canon service.

On DVXUser, Brian C. Weed posted this:

I'm currently running 1.0.7.1.00 on my C300, which they may have installed when my cam was in for a cleaning and service a few weeks ago. I haven't noticed any fringing for a while, but I haven't really been looking for it either. I usually expose very carefully and got in the habit of avoiding shots that exacerbate the issue.

So it seems like this new firmware update, 1.0.7.1.00, is actually an update that addresses the issue you're seeing above. I should point out that this issue is rare, and one of the reasons Canon is probably not releasing the update just for this problem is exactly for that reason. The other reason as mentioned later in the forum is that it will probably be included in a bigger firmware update sometime in the future. I can definitely understand why a company like Canon would not make something widely available like this, as the Japanese companies are notoriously difficult with firmware updates (and the frequency with which they release them), but still, it's strange that engineers work out a fix for something and then they make it so difficult to actually get that fix into people's hands.

The good news, at least, is that if you've experienced the issue, if you push Canon support a bit, you should be able to send your camera in and get the new firmware update. I don't expect to see a response from Canon since they aren't actually releasing it at the moment, but it would be good for them to acknowledge that they've fixed the problem.

If you would like the firmware update, the Canon Cinema EOS Support line is probably a good place to start, and you can reach them at this number: (855) 246-3367.

What do you think? Has anyone experienced this issue with a C300 after the post in March? Have any of you sent in a camera to Canon, and if so, what firmware is it running?

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