Cine Gear: Canon C500 Used for 'After Earth' Skydiving Sequence

Canon's Tim Smith notes that the camera is also getting plenty of HD use aside from the Will Smith sci-fi adventure.

Canon

Canon C500

When it was still a prototype, the now-available Canon Cinema EOS C500 4K camera was used for a sequence that involved a skydive in Sony’s After Earth, which incidentally screened in 4K last night at Cine Gear.

After Earth was shot in 4K, primarily with Sony’s F65 camera, but Canon's Tim Smith related that the C500 was selected for the given sequence as it was lensed by a professional skydiver that had the camera mounted to his helmet and he therefore needed the smaller size of the Canon.

4K is a big topic here at Cine Gear from cameras to workflows, but Canon's Smith takes a practical approach to the subject, noting that “resolution is only part of what should be considered [when choosing a camera.] Not everyone wants or needs 4K. 1TB of footage per hour is a huge amount of data to manage.”
Pointing out that HD is, of course, not going anywhere, he reported that the C500 is also being used for HD productions such as an upcoming Canon PowerShot TV commercial, which was lensed with the C500 but in 2K 12-bit. “[In this case] they opted for the higher bit rate,” Smith said.
Canon -- which is showing a range of cameras and other gear during this weekend's expo -- has been focused on developing viable 4K workflows with various third parties, including postproduction companies Fotokem, Light Iron and Technicolor.
“4K processes have come together in the last year, but we need more work before it is an everyday occurrence,” Smith said.