This 10 Year Old Cinema Camera is Awesome - Canon C100 Mkii

There are a lot of amazing older cameras out there, the C100 Mkii is a great camera for the cost!

Gear used to make this video:

Camera:
Canon c100 Mkii - look on eBay and fb

Audio:

Lights:

[thomasjmcclure]

What older camera do you still use and get amazing quality out of?

[frubo_ssg]

A few months ago I bought a second C100 MKii – I love the cam. Sometimes I record on an external recorder, exporting to 4k after and no complains till now.

[burniemaurins]

I've been using this camera for around a year as a wildlife filming camera, it works great with Canons long lenses and also with a 2 x convertor, shooting at f11 with little or no problems, a key feature is it's nice and light and also quiet when the wild life is close up.

[Makingthetransition]

Great video! Thank you for helping people enter the film space, without going into debt or spending unnecessary money. You did a very good job giving a thorough overview.

[alexshotthese]

Absolutely agree with this video! My first cinema camera was this and loved it. Sold it off and just recently picked it back up again and love it. Should have never sold it off originally. I do the 4K trick all the time now too and no one notices. I even exported a bunch of old footage I shot in 4K, sent it to a friend who showed a coworker that it was shot on a red “Komodo” and he was like, “dang it looks great!” So, again, goes to show that it’s a camera that can work in today’s settings.

Another thing too is if a client wants the files in 4K directly from your SD card, just throw them in media encoder and convert them all to 4K files. Again, no one is the wiser. Unless they provide the SD cards…then you’re screwed haha.

[mrwaffles]

crazy how fast the industry changes, depreciation is real

[AlexanderBalzano]

I love my C100 and have actually upscaled a lot of the footage to 4k using Topaz and it looks amazing!

[mstolfe]

Really happy I stumbled onto your video. I used to film in college but dropped it after graduation. Was thinking a couple weeks ago about jumping back into it, and I happened to snag a Mark II for $500. Now I can’t wait to start messing around with it! Thank you for the hype!

[KGFIQ]

when I look hard at the details yes I can tell a difference its def not as Sharp as the Sony but it's hard to tell! Great camera and review!

[Sutterjack]

I'm part of the C100 M2 cult and it's still so hard not to like this ancient camera. Still great for long events, concerts etc. Yes, the codec is terrible and requires you to expose carefully, but the files are TINY and a pleasure to grade. Great form factor, excellent battery life, great layout of controls and menus, respectable autofocus, good EVF, good audio with full XLRs, reliable and solid image quality. Even when I upgrade to 4K I doubt I'll sell my C100's - just great for a safety or Bcam.

[AlanstoryH]

Just got my about a week ago used for about 1300 shipped. Love it! Just shot a short doc for a friends company and even he was pleasantly surprised, or at least more than satisfied for social media content.

Speaking of ef lenses, really digging into building a good set as I eventually plan to also own a c200 used as the bigger brother A cam to the c100 mkii.

Coming from a hybrid mirrorless camera, I really can’t go back. The nds, xlrs, form factor, battery life OH MY GOD the battery life, I just can’t NOT use cinema cameras now, especially when they can be had for so much cheaper used now.

There’s also something beautiful about picking up a state of the art cinema camera from 10 years ago and still making use of it.

Thanks for the video, just subscribed as I love your tone and communication. Keep on keeping on!

[matthewmiah]

I LOVE my canon c100 MKii made my first short films with it ❤happy to know I've still got great gear in 2025 and I bought a canon 90d for 4k footage but for photography mainly. These two combined are awesome 🎥🙌🏾

[paolo.kernahan]

I’ve been using this camera for years and I’ve always been impressed by its reliability, image quality, and relative user-friendliness.

[o.salminen]

Super35 is not a ”small” sensor. It is an equivalent of 35mm film when we are talking about moving image.

[NoraphonKaedklung]

I still use the c100 mark ii, love it :)

[huntervalleyartsartists]

I currently have 3 of these...I do a fair bit of multicam shoots (artist interviews, event coverage, opera coverage) so having 3 cams that will easily match in post and use the same lenses and have same menu systems is great...I started off with one second hand and bought 2 more as I needed them...each time I paid way less for each of them...and as you say...the image from them is terrific still

[TyParmenter]

The C100/C300 both produce such a beautiful image. I've since sold off both of these cameras but when I look back at the footage I'm never disappointed.

[MathieuRousseau]

I can't believe it! You got exactly the same set up as me... Zoom P8, Samson CO2, Canon C100.

[PhilippeOrlando]

You could also upscale the 1080P footage to 4K in Resolve

[digitten]

I use my c100 mkII as a b-cam to my c200 for interviews. The 8bit 4:2:0 matches up well and for local TV ads, no one is asking for more than it can deliver.