Perfect pairings: the best B-cams for filmmakers

How do you choose the best B-camera to complement your A-camera setup? It's not an easy question to answer, as the best B-cam for the job will be determined by the shooting requirements of your production and the look you want to achieve.

You could simply duplicate your A-cam, of course, but your budget may not stretch that far. Besides, running a B-cam with a different feature set can enable you to cover more angles, more creatively. There might be other practical considerations too. You might need a camera that can shoot underwater or at a very high frame rate, for example, or you might simply want a more compact camera that will fit into a tight space and can be handheld more easily.

Working with multiple cameras can bring additional complications. With mismatched A- and B-cams, you may need to spend a significant period in post-production to ensure your footage has a cohesive look. Different sensors, recording formats, data rates and colour sampling can all lead to extended working times.

"Anything you can do to make the images look similar to start with is only going to benefit you when it comes to post," advises Paul Atkinson, Pro Video Product Specialist at Canon Europe. "It'll mean you spend less time transcoding and applying different grades to footage from different cameras."

There are many promising combinations of Canon A- and B-cams to pick between. You could choose a mirrorless EOS R System camera to use alongside a Cinema EOS camera, for example, or a PTZ camera to support a primary professional camcorder. To help narrow down the choice, we've put together a list of some of the best B-cam options from across Canon's range.

As a lightweight B-camera, with up to 410Mbps 4:2:2 10-bit internal recording to dual SD card slots, the Canon EOS C70 can bring portable versatility to a larger Cinema EOS setup.

"The beauty of the Cinema EOS system is that all the cameras are able to complement each other," says Paul. "It's possible to achieve a very similar final image shooting on multiple Canon cameras, be that through the Custom Picture files or the underlying colour science.

"The EOS C70 is also an ideal B-cam option alongside the Canon EOS C300 Mark III. Both cameras use the same 4K Super 35mm Dual Gain Output (DGO) sensor, which captures exceptional image quality with wider dynamic range and low noise, making it ideal for HDR output. Even though the EOS C70 has a native RF mount, you can attach EF lenses using our various EF to EOS R mount adapters, so you are able to attach the same EF lenses onto each camera."

With its RF mount, the Canon EOS R5 is a natural choice of B-cam for the Canon EOS C70, but its full-frame sensor and RAW capture also makes it easy to fit into a more extensive Cinema EOS setup.

Director Regan Hall took advantage of this adaptability when he used a Canon EOS R5 on a BASE jumping film shot primarily with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II and EOS C300 Mark III. "It was a really great camera to have gimbal-mounted or to use as a backup video camera – or to shoot some really nice stills," he says. "The hardware and cameras are all really complementary."

"It can shoot in Canon Log 3, and you have the option to use PQ or HLG for HDR delivery. So you are able to match its footage to the output from those Cinema EOS cameras in an efficient way. The Canon XF605 could even be used with the Canon CR-N500, as it shares quite a lot of base technology with the PTZ camera, including a 1.0-Type 4K CMOS sensor and 15x optical zoom. So, again, the image will look very similar."

For many live productions, the Canon CR-N500 could potentially act as the A-cam or the B-cam. The CR-N300 would make a sensible B-cam choice when the CR-N500 is performing primary camera duties, for example. If Canon Log 3 is required, then the Canon XF605 could be used alongside the CR-N500, as both cameras can be controlled simultaneously via a Canon RC-IP100 remote camera controller.