Filming behind-the-scenes on a Tahitian surf shoot with the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III

Full-frame 4K and a new standard for filmmaking

The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III sets new standards for video. It's the first Canon stills camera with full-frame 4K and 12-bit 5.5K RAW movie recording internally, enabling incredibly detailed, oversampled 4K video. Canon Log footage is captured as 10-bit HEVC/H.265 files in the MP4 format for incredible colour rendition.

Detail in highlights and shadows

The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III's ability to retain both highlight and shadow detail across 12 stops, coupled with its incredibly fast autofocus system using Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF, meant Nick's crew could push their creativity. This became particularly clear when the camera was used in the water, handheld inside an underwater housing.

"When it's brightly lit, the foam of the water has loads of specular highlights – just a mass of bright white – and the surfers are wearing black wetsuits," says Nick. "If you didn't have Canon Log in that situation, something is going to be either over- or under exposed, and that is made much worse when you're shooting in the water.

"The guys in the water do these transition shots all the time, where you're going from above the water holding the camera, seeing the surfer coming towards you, then they duck underwater and you see the surfer from underneath. But when you go underwater, you lose two stops of light, so shooting C-Log and being able to get that all correctly exposed in one shot is amazing."

Shooting underwater also means you have to change where you focus, because of the way light bends in the water. "The camera has to change focus really fast and get it right," Nick explains. "We were shooting shallow depth of field on a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens and the camera's autofocus would find the right part of the frame and track with it. I don't know how you could do it without the AF."

Nick used a variety of Canon lenses for the shoot, including the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM. A EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM was used for many of the underwater shots.

Although the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III has Movie Digital 5-axis Image Stabilization, Nick preferred to use the IS on the lenses that have it, or to mount the camera on a motorised gimbal for tracking shots, such as when filming photographer Ben speeding along on a jet ski.

For the majority of the handheld shots, Nick rigged up the camera to full cinema-style spec, complete with an electronic viewfinder plugged into the HDMI socket and radio mics running in for audio. "This way, the whole rig balances nicely on the shoulder and it's solid. I used the histogram to get the exposure right, and the camera has a Log View Assist mode, so you can see what the footage might look like when it's finished. When configured like this, it's a proper cinema camera with no compromises."

After days of intense shooting, then being blown away by the results once in the edit, Nick is a huge fan of the camera as a top-quality tool for shooting movies. "The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III is easily good enough to shoot a complete film," he says. "You're going to see people making some really amazing sports and outdoors films on that camera. It's got everything you need to shoot a documentary on it, just ready to go."