C300 Mk II or C200?

[Gary Huff]

[Patrick Sheppard] “So how about the new C200? Anyone have thoughts about the C200 vs. the C300 Mk II?”

Do you need touchscreen, Cine Raw Lite, 4Kp60, or VFR modes in 1080 60 fps without a crop? That’s what the C200 has over the C300 Mark II.

However, if you need a fully 10-bit internal camera (in both 1080 and 4K/UHD including the VFR modes) then the C300 Mark II is currently a better deal with the discount. The C200 is only 10-bit in 1080 going external to a recorder and only in 24, 30, and 60p. None of the VFR modes will be 10-bit ever because the camera won’t send this out over HDMI/SDI.

With 4K, it is 8-bit only save for 12-bit 24/30 and 10-bit 60p in Cine Raw Lite, and it will only be in DCI 4K. There is no UHD option. The C300 Mark II will output DCI 4K and UHD in raw over the Raw Out to an Odyssey or Shogun recorder. All 4K raw from the C200 will have to be cropped in post to 16:9.

[Patrick Sheppard]

Thanks for your reply Gary.

I’m not in the market immediately for a camera. My post was more about finding out what others think of one vs. the other, and deciding which features are more important to me when I am ready to buy one.

First let me say that I don’t understand the application/benefit of VFR. In fact I had to look it up to find out what it meant, and when I read the description of it I knew not much more than before. Why does that feature exist and what are its advantages?

I like the touchscreen feature on the C200. I like that it records CineRaw Lite, though since I’m on a Mac that’s not currently equipped to handle 4K, I’d have to transcode it all down to 1080 before being able to use it. But man, what a nice picture it has.

The C300 Mark II is recently more appealing though because of the price drop, and overall it seems to be more versatile in its recording options.

[Gary Huff]

[Patrick Sheppard] “First let me say that I don’t understand the application/benefit of VFR. In fact I had to look it up to find out what it meant, and when I read the description of it I knew not much more than before. Why does that feature exist and what are its advantages?”

VFR just means you set a frame rate different than your base rate. So say your base rate is 23.98 fps. Your VFR might be 48. You’ll get a 23.98 fps file, but it was captured at 48fps, thus is half speed.