Canon has announced the replacement of its now price-reduced EOS C70 from 2022. The new device is called the EOS C80 and includes multiple upgrades.
The new EOS C80 is essentially a full cinema camera with a mirrorless-type design built around a full-frame 26MP Stacked CMOS sensor.
This compact (by cinema camera standards) but robust device comes with an RF mount and shares many internals in common with Canon’s pricier EOS C400 professional cinema camera.
Particularly, the sensor is nearly identical to that of the C400, which is handy for videographers looking to save money while getting a powerful recording device.
Given the high popularity of the EOS C70, the EOS C80 should meet expectations and even deliver more for the kinds of independent video creators who liked its predecessor.
It’s a powerful enough camera to offer backbone hardware for serious independent video creation and small production studios.
The Stacked CMOS sensor of the C80 should be a strong performer too. It’s designed to handle a resolution of up to 6K and supports Canon’s newest version of dual-pixel autofocus.
Called Dual Pixel AF II, this technology heavily enlarges the sensor area that’s available to the AF and gives the C80 the same placement and amount of sensor zones as the EOS C400.
This AF system also happens to support “intelligent” features like animal and people tracking while also being more rapidly responsive thanks to a faster readout speed.
Another notable aspect of the C80’s AF system is the ability to more easily rack between subjects.
This works by letting a user manually shift from whatever the AF is auto-tracking just by using the lens’s manual focus ring to refocus on a new subject. While the user is doing this, the AF recalibrates its focus to whatever the new subject is and if the manual focus is then released, the AF resumes auto-tracking but now onto the new, manually selected subject.
The Canon C80 also offers a triple-base ISO feature, with ISO bases set to ISO 800, 3200 and 12,000. This spec delivers the kind of flexibility needed for shooting in various lighting conditions and with up to 16 stops of dynamic range. It’s also a particularly useful feature for filmmakers who often work with low-light shoots.
Further features of the Canon C80 include 12G-SDI terminals for creating output from uncompressed video signals, a new, lightweight handle for affixing additional multi-function accessories, a third ¼”-20 tripod thread along the camera’s base, one more thread on top of the camera and a Canon multi-function show.
The EOS C80 includes a full HDMI-out port, an Ethernet terminal, dual mini-XLR audio inputs, a 3.5mm mic jack, 4-channel audio support and a Time Code terminal. It also offerd 13 different custom buttons.
Delving again into features shared with the pricier Canon C400, the EOS C80 has the same ND filter system as the other camera. This ND system has five settings that include ND2 to ND10.
Additionally, users of the C80 can experiment with three sets of video codecs, which are also the same as those in the C400, and, incidentally, in the Canon R1 and the EOS R5 II.
These codecs are becoming increasingly common in more Canon camera models, making it easier than ever to streamline video recording via different Canon devices.
In terms of video specs, the Canon EOS C80 can handle 6K video at 30p while using its full sensor specs and is also capable of shooting in 4K from 6K oversampling at 60fps with its sensor cropped to a 35mm equivalent. These video settings can be applied while shooting Canon’s Cinema RAW LT codec.
Compressed codecs supported by the EOS C80 include Canon’s XF-AVC, XF-HEVC S, and XF-AVC S codecs, which can all be used while shooting in 4K resolution at 60fps downsampled from 6K in 4:2:2 10-bit color. The camera can shoot in these All-I and Long-GOP formats.
Furthermore, the EOS supports slow motion at frame rates of up to 4K at 120fps and in 2K resolution at up to 180p.
Other useful things offered by the C80 is an interface for social media-friendly vertical shooting and also anamorphic lens support for 2.0x, 1.8x and 1.3x desqueeze.
On the other hand the C80 doesn’t support Canon’s higher-quality Cinema RAW formats of HQ and ST.
Worth noting too is that while the C80 is an RF mount camera, it also works fine with EF and PL mounts through adapters. This gives the C80 an extremely broad range of lens compatibility options for users who own lenses in these other mounts.
According to Canon, the EOS C80’s newer-edition BP-A30N batteries (included with the camera) can shoot for up to 170 minutes continuously on a single charge. The C80 is also compatible with Canon’s B9-A60N battery units, which stretch continuous shooting to 335 minutes or so.
Finally, for all of the above, the EOS C80 is a pretty light, easy-to-handle device, with a body-only weight of just 2.9 lbs or 1.31 kg.
At this low weight, even with lens and accessories attached, the camera can be mounted to a gimbal or even certain kinds of drones. Canon’s multi-function shoe and the C80’s ergonomic build make it particularly easy to handle during fieldwork.
Canon is going to start shipping the EOS C80 cinema camera as of November of 2024 though you can preorder it now for a pretty reasonable retail price of $5,499. This is roughly comparable to the prices of many premium full-frame photography-oriented cameras being sold today.
Why This Is Cool
Though the Canon EOS C80 could have used a bit more robustness in its video recording specs and a couple of other features, it provides a very comprehensive package for compact and professional film or documentary recording.
That it offers semi-pro cinema camera performance at a price similar to that of many full-frame photo cameras, makes it a particularly option for budget-conscious filmmakers.
Images credit: Canon
