Full Frame, Full Width, Full Height 3:2. 

Like the chant “Asa Nisi Masa” in Fellini’s 8½, the cheer for Canon’s new Cinema EOS C50 camera is “Full Frame, Full Height, 3:2.”

This is Canon’s first Cinema EOS camera with a Full Frame, Full Height, Full Width, 3:2 recording format. It is also Canon’s smallest and lightest Cinema EOS camera—even smaller than their ever-popular R5 C and even more dedicated to cinematography. Fellini’s alter ego director Guido Anselmi, played by Marcello Mastroianni, would now be chanting “Lighter, Smaller, Faster, Cooler.”

The Canon Cinema EOS C50 has a 32 Megapixel sensor that can record 7K RAW ST internally, covering the entire 36 x 24 mm sensor—the same image area occupied in 3:2 still photo mode.

 

 

 

Why the obsession with Full Frame Full Height?  

Chant: “Anamorphic, Vertical Formats, New Aspect Ratios…”

Until now, Full Frame video in Canon Cinema EOS and many other cameras was full width but was still dominated by 17:9 or 16:9 aspect ratios that did not benefit from the full height of the sensors. If you wanted a 3:2 aspect ratio, you had to crop into the 17:9 or 16:9 frame.

Why do you want full height? Bigger picture. Anamorphic Full Frame. 9:17 vertical (portrait mode) compositions without having to rotate the camera. Higher resolution.  Many cropping options in post.

This is the go-anywhere camera for the hybrid world where you want the flexibility to film high quality images and take real photos, not framegrabs that too often can be motion blurry.

Details

Here’s a summary of some favorite things:

There’s an abundance of 1/4-20 threaded mounting sockets, begging to attach this camera to tripods, gimbals, Steadicams, remote heads, car rigs and wherever else the script imagines ingenious setups.

Video Mode

• 7K Full Frame full height, full width 3:2 sensor (6969 x 4640) recording up to 30 fps
• 7K Full Frame full width (6960 x 3672)
• 4K up to 120 fps
• Full Frame full height and full width, Full Frame full width, Super35 (cropped) and Super16 (cropped) sensor modes.
• Canon Cinema RAW HQ, ST, LT 12-bit internal recording
• and XF-AVC, XF-HEVC S, XF-AVC S internal recording
• CFexpress B and SD card slots with the ability to record different aspect ratios on each card simultaneously
• Dual Base ISO 800 / 6400 / Auto
• 100 – 102,400
• Dual Pixel CMOS Autofocus II is fast and incredibly accurate, even letting you choose whether to track the left eye or right eye of people, dogs, cats and birds.
• Canon RF lens mount. 20 mm flange focal depth, 54 mm inside diameter.
• Full size HDMI connector
• 13 or more user buttons, helpfully labeled for default settings.
• Timecode input
• Top handle with Zoom control and XLR audio connectors

 

Still Photo Mode

• Full-frame 32 Megapixel CMOS Sensor 6960×4640
• ISO 100-64000, expandable 50 – 102,400
• 40 frames continuous burst per second
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF II Autofocus
• RAW, CRAW, HEIF and JPEG files.

Canon Cinema EOS C50 Quick Guide

 

This is a “reprint” from Film and Digital Times Sept 2025 issue 132.

 

 

Specifications

 

 

For their great help with this article, thanks to Yuji Tanaka, Canon Senior Manager and Product Planner (below left) and Paul Hawxhurst, Senior Technical Specialist (below right)—on location at Sistina NY testing the new EOS C50.