Canon's New C100 Mark II Gets 1080p 60fps & Improved LCD/EVF

One of the biggest complaints with Canon's large sensor offerings below $10,000 is that they haven't featured frame rates in the 1080p 60fps range or higher. The 7D Mark II was the first to add it in this range, and now they've added it with the newly announced C100 Mark II, which is set to be available before the end of this year for $5,500. 

Here are the specs of the new camera:

• Same Super 35mm CMOS Sensor (24.6 x 13.8 mm) as previous C100
• 1080p: 23.98, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94
• 720p: 23.98, 25, 29.97
• 640 x 360: 23.98, 25, 29.97
• ISO 320 to 80,000 in 1/3-step increments
• Dual Pixel CMOS AutoFocus is Now Standard (Also includes Face Detection AF with STM Lenses)
• Canon Log LUT Support on the HDMI Output (so you can see what the final image will look like while still recording log)
• 4:2:0 to SD card, 4:2:2 via uncompressed HDMI out, Timecode over HDMI
• Dual SDHC/SDXC Card Slots
• AVCHD: 28, 24, 17, 7 Mb/s
• MP4: 35, 24, 17, 4, 3, Mb/s
• New 40% slow motion to 250% fast motion in MP4
• AAC Audio Recording
• Built-in 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi support
• New internal mic built into the body, not just the top handle
• New 1.23MP OLED Screen that can be tilted to the side of the camera (camera can now be controlled without side handle)
• New 0.45" 1.23 MP viewfinder
• Availability: December 2014
• Price: $5,500

Picture quality for the most part will be similar to the current C100, and I would expect the higher speed 1080p modes to look just as good as they look on the C500. This is the camera many had hoped Canon was going to release in the beginning when the C100 first camera out, but it's a pretty good step up from the original, especially since the LCD and EVF on the current camera can be difficult to work with at times. It's also great that they have incorporated an internal mic into the body itself. This lets you break the camera down into a smaller form while still retaining scratch audio (without buying a little 1/8" mic). It doesn't seem like they've done anything with the HDMI output, so I would still expect 8-bit 4:2:2 external recording. 

If you like Canon and the images their cameras produce (and you've got a few of the lenses), you'll know why you want this camera, but if you absolutely must have even higher frame rates and the ability to record RAW at some point (like the new FS7), this may not be the right camera for you. Price-wise, however, there is nothing for this amount of money that is as well-rounded and shootable out of the box as this new C100 Mark II.

The camera is available to pre-order right now from B&H and should ship by the end of 2014.

Canon C100 Mark II — B&H