When you’ve spent years behind Canon cameras, you start to trust a few things—chief among them is autofocus. “I’ve never shot a Canon camera that had bad autofocus,” says Daniel Bender, film and broadcast director at The Belonging Co in Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s just not in their nature.”
Over the past several months, Bender and his team put the Canon EOS C400 through its paces in a range of production environments—live worship, documentary storytelling, and commercial projects. What stood out immediately was Canon’s hallmark precision. “The eye tracking and facial tracking are next to none,” he explains. “Even in a live broadcast environment, it’s not hunting when the light changes—it stays locked.”
From main service cameras to handheld B-roll, this camera handles it all with ease.
Beyond autofocus, the team focused on one of the C400’s most talked-about features: its trible base ISO. With base levels at 800, 3200, and 12,800 ISO, the C400 offers impressive flexibility in challenging light. “At 800 the image was super clean, 3200 was really clean too,” Bender reports. “If you’re having to use 12,800 ISO, you might want to check your lighting—but it still held up.”
He was also impressed by the camera’s rolling shutter performance—or rather, its lack thereof. “It’s the best Canon rolling-shutter sensor I’ve ever experienced,” he says, referring to the camera's automatic shutter mode setting that can detect the frequency of light sources. “We also tested the Canon RAW HQ, ST, and LT codecs, and they all looked beautiful.”
Volunteers can get professional results thanks to Canon’s focus guides and intuitive controls.
Dynamic range was another highlight. “I intentionally tried pushing the highlights to clip, and I was able to pull it all back,” Bender notes. “It really does grade nicely. The latitude is there.”
In his words, the top three takeaways were clear:
Rolling shutter performance—the best Canon has delivered so far.
The Canon RAW codec, with excellent flexibility in post.
Canon’s signature color and dynamic range, which remain industry standouts.
While Bender jokes that the “little 2.5-inch monitor belongs in the garbage,” he’s quick to add that the C400 itself is a versatile, capable tool. “Whether you’re shooting film, commercial, or church production—run-and-gun or broadcast—it’s going to handle all those environments really well,” he says.
“The camera’s going to do everything you need it to do,” he concludes. “You just have to spend time with it and see how it fits your workflow.”
Editor’s Note: This article is drawn from an actual interview and crafted with AI assistance.
