Why the Canon EOS C300 Mark II is the ultimate all-rounder

When it comes to making a visually stunning film, style and aesthetics are some of the most important choices a cinematographer is faced with. Whether you're shooting a documentary-style reality piece or a dreamy, cinematic-style art film, there are lots of creative decisions to be made: cameras, lenses, filters and grading all make a difference. As well, of course, as how you shoot it in terms of composition, viewpoint and choice of aperture.

When filmmaker Steve Turvey was tasked with making a series of films about the cameras vloggers use, he had to make some critical decisions about how he wanted them to look. "There was a discussion about my footage being very obviously different to that of the vloggers, but I didn't want to jump around colour-wise," he says. "We decided to keep the colours relatively similar, but I shot almost everything wide open on fast lenses, so it looks very different. We made it obvious that we were cutting between cameras with a different viewpoint, such as over-the-shoulder establishing shots."

What helped Steve hugely in his plan to make the colours work together was that as a Canon user all his professional life, he was shooting and using footage from vloggers who also all use Canon cameras – albeit very different to the professional cinema cameras Steve is used to.

With the technical details set, the main challenge was finding a way to work in the same locations as the vloggers. "Shooting outside was pretty straightforward – Ellie only shot in available light, so we did too," Steve continues. "For the other shoots, the biggest issue was managing the light within a limited space. Sanne and Joel mostly shoot in their rooms, so I was using available light, but it was about making that work when I pulled back to show the space they were in. Having a large lens selection on the cinema camera helps a lot."

Steve decided to use the Super35mm Canon EOS C300 Mark II with a range of Canon Cine Primes and a couple of EF lenses. "The Canon EOS C300 Mark II has built-in ND filters for extra exposure control and better audio than smaller cameras," he says. "It's compact, versatile and easy to use. You don't need a big rig on it, it has a side handle grip and the menus are quick and easy to run through, so it's ideal if you have to move quickly between locations or shoot in fading light."

Given that he loves the flexibility and speed of handheld shooting, it may come as a surprise that Steve prefers the manual focus Canon Cine Prime lenses to the EF lenses with advanced Dual Pixel CMOS Autofocus. He shot most of the project on the CN-E35mm T1.5 L F, CN-E50mm T1.3 L F and CN-E85mm T1.3 L F lenses, because he just adores the look he gets from them.

He says, "The biggest advantage is the very fast maximum f-stop. With the camera's built-in ND you can open the lenses up and get a beautifully shallow depth of field. I wanted to keep everything super-soft and super-cinematic. I find the cine lenses flare better, and are a bit softer and milkier than the DSLR lenses – filmic rather than digital."