By site editor Dan Chung:
Canon have just announced that their EOS-1D C DSLR has been independently tested in accordance with European Broadcast Union standards and found to be suitable for HD Tier 1 production. The press release says the camera “provides ‘exceptional’ HD resolution from a 4K source with ‘very low’ aliasing, and ‘good’ colour performance and motion portrayal”.
What is unclear from the marketing speak is whether this same standard is reached when the camera is in ‘Full-frame’ or Super35 1080P modes, rather than downscaled from 4K. This is something we will try to ascertain from Canon at the IBC show this week – I would certainly like to see the tests for myself.
Also while these standards are rigorously applied by some broadcasters, others do not seem to care and happily accept material from lower resolution cameras like the 5D mkII without questioning.
In addition many broadcasters are still insisting on interlaced HD content – something that the EOS-1D C does not do.
That said I’m very happy because it should now be easier to convince broadcast clients that the EOS-1D C I have recently purchased is suitable for their HD productions.
Here’s the press release from Canon:
London, UK, 12 September 2012 – Canon today announces that the EOS-1D C, a unique and ground-breaking DSLR designed principally for motion picture capture, has been independently tested in accordance with European Broadcasting Union (EBU) standards for HD content acquisition¹. The tests found that the EOS-1D C is the first DSLR ever to provide an image of high enough quality for use as a broadcast production tool.
Results indicated that the EOS-1D C provides ‘exceptional’ HD resolution from a 4K source with ‘very low’ aliasing, and ‘good’ colour performance and motion portrayal. The test results also confirm that the EOS-1D C camera system and its imaging performance comply with the recommended specification for inclusion in HD Tier 1 for HD production².
“The EOS-1D C has received a tremendous response since it launched, and we’re delighted the test results were so positive,” said Kieran Magee, Director of Professional Marketing at Canon Europe Ltd. “We’ve created a truly unique product that offers exceptional creative scope for videographers. The feedback we’ve received from the professional video community has been excellent, so it’s great that the product has been awarded the industry accreditation it deserves.”
¹ EBU Tech 3335: Methods of measuring the imaging performance of television cameras for the purposes of characterisation and setting (http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3335.pdf)
² EBU Recommendation R.118: Tiering of High Definition Cameras (http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r118.pdf)
