Yesterday, Canon released new firmware for the C100 and C300 that allows you to use ridiculously high ISO numbers, like 80,000. We were intrigued and wanted to know two things.
- How does digital noise perform at ISO 80,000?
- Does the new firmware improve lower ISO settings (i.e. Does ISO 850 have less digital noise on the new firmware vs the old)?
We put a quick video together to get some answers.
As you can see in the video, the answer to our first question “How bad is the digital noise at 80,000?” is: not great. We didn’t use any kind of noise reduction on the footage, but even if you did, we don’t believe the final product would be usable. I could see this possibly being useful for something like a documentary where getting the shot to tell the story is more important than a clean image.
Our second question was “Does the new C300 expanded ISO firmware improve lower ISO settings?” From the video we shot, it doesn’t appear that the new firmware has any significant improvement of lower ISO settings.
The new firmware updates for the Canon C300 and C100 also bring other new features to each camera.
C100 Firmware 1.0.2.1.00 Updates:
- Ability to move the magnification viewing area around the LCD using the MAGN Function.
- ISO up to 80,000 has been added.
- A Key Lock menu setting has been added which now makes it possible to lock all operations, including the START/STOP button.
- Peripheral Illumination Correction Data has been added for seven (7) Canon Cinema lenses (EF mount) and eleven (11) Canon EF Lenses.
- Internal camera menus are now controllable from buttons on the camera body. Previously, they were only controllable from the joystick grip unit.
- In addition to the [EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM], the function to enable continuous focusing and correct aperture on a subject in the middle of the screen when one of the two EF STM lenses is attached has been extended to include the [EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM] lens.
C300 Firmware Version 1.1.0.1.00 Updates:
EOS C300 Cinema EOS Camera & EOS C300 PL Cinema EOS Camera
- 1. Ability to move the magnification viewing area around the LCD using the MAGN Function.
- 2. Support for a 1440×1080/35Mbps recording mode.
- 3. ISO up to 80,000 has been added.
- 4. Added functionality to support the optional Canon GPS Receiver GP-E1.
- 5. A Key Lock menu setting has been added which now makes it possible to lock all operations, including the START/STOP button.
- 6. Using the optional Canon WFT-E6 Wireless File Transmitter, the camera’s remote-control application allows two users to access the same unit via a Wi-Fi® link providing simultaneous camera operation and control and metadata input simultaneously.
- 7. [Lens Exchange] and [ND+/ND-] have been added as functions that can be allocated to any assignable button.
- 8. A new Wide DR gamma setting provides an expanded dynamic range of 800%.
- 9. Flicker Reduction has been improved.
- EOS C300 Cinema EOS Camera only
- 10. Provides Push Auto Iris and One-Shot AF operation.
- 11. A new AE Shift function and the selection of various light-metering modes are now available when used with some Canon Cinema lenses (EF mount) and Canon EF Lenses.
- 12. Ability to assign the two control dials to operate either Iris or ISO sensitivity independently.
- 13. Peripheral Illumination Correction Data has been added for seven (7) Canon Cinema lenses (EF mount) and fifteen (15) Canon EF Lenses.
- 14. A function has been added to enable continuous focus and iris setting on a subject in the middle of the screen when one of the two EF STM lenses** is attached. **[EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM], [EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM].
If you have a C100 or C300 and need to upgrade, here are the new firmware links:
