Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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A few days ago, Canon officially opened its newest Professional Technology and Support Center in Burbank, California, and DPReview was part of a select group of media invited to tour the facility prior to the grand opening.
‘Canon Burbank’ is primarily focused on meeting the needs of filmmakers and the Hollywood film production industry, and includes post-production facilities that could be used to produce a blockbuster film. However, as I discovered during my visit, Canon wants this space to attract more than just the filmmaking elite.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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According to Elliot Peck, Canon Imaging and Technologies’ Executive Vice President, the project to build this new center started about a year ago when Canon realized that it was effectively out of space at its old Hollywood location. Canon designed a completely new facility from the ground up and took the opportunity to move to Burbank, at the heart of the filmmaking industry.
Although it’s officially called a ‘Technology Support and Service Center,’ the description I kept hearing from many staff was ‘Integration Center.’ Canon recognizes that it’s still relatively new to the cinema market, and almost every part of this facility is designed to show how seamlessly Canon products can integrate into an existing production workflow.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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While there’s a natural focus on Hollywood, Tim Smith, Canon’s Senior Advisor for Film and TV Production, told me that he wants all types of content creators to utilize this facility, particularly people like emerging filmmakers, some of whom may even be using equipment like DSLRs, and who aren’t on Hollywood’s radar yet.
“That was us six years ago,” he said, drawing a parallel to Canon’s own rise in the motion picture business. “In a sense, we’ve spent the last several years figuring out how to go from DSLRs to cinema. This facility is the culmination of all of that work.”
Smith says he wants people early in their careers, who have the desire but not the established name, to come to the facility to network and learn. Canon plans to do seminars and classes for filmmakers at all levels, including topics such as writing or lighting that don’t have a direct relationship to Canon products. Best of all, most of these classes will be free.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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The new service facility has double the space of Canon’s former Hollywood location, as well as an improved workflow for processing repairs. Canon’s goal is to achieve a one-day turnaround time for customers.
While the service center will see a lot of motion picture products given its location, it provides full support for all Canon camera products, including Cinema EOS, EOS DSLRs, EF and EF-S lenses, and EOS cinema lenses. In addition to repairs, the center has loan equipment available for CPS members.
(If you happen to live in Southern California, the center is open for walk-in visits from 9-5 Monday-Friday.)
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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Part of the service facility is the lens room, where technicians can test and verify lens performance after repair. The room might be better described as a very wide hallway, stretching about 65 ft. (20m) in length. The extra distance allows technicians to mount lenses up to 600mm on a master body to check for optical alignment and resolution, meaning that all but a couple very specialized Canon lenses can be tested here.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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The broadcast TV projection room is designed to test 4K cinema lenses, which need to deliver sharp performance from corner to corner at every aperture and focal length. Appropriately, the design of this room is all about precision.
Although you can’t see it in the dark, the testing hardware is mounted on a rail system that is precisely aligned to the projection wall. In fact, Canon told us that its engineers, along with the construction firm, spent over a week just building the projection wall to ensure that it was perfectly vertical and without imperfections.
Targets projected through a lens allow technicians to celebrate for sharpness, color, flare, and uneven focus. The target in this photo is a generic pattern to demonstrate the equipment; Canon assures us that it has proprietary targets that are used when calibrating lenses.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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At first glance, what Canon refers to as the ‘workflow area’ appears to be a standard editing suite, but the main purpose of this room is to to help filmmakers figure out how to integrate Canon cameras and lenses into their production workflows.
Canon acknowledges that filmmakers can be a finicky group of people who like to do things their own way. That poses a challenge for a company that’s still somewhat new to the cinema market. Canon created the workflow area so that filmmakers could test their full post-production workflow, using their tools of choice, while introducing Canon cameras and lenses into the mix.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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Whatever a filmmaker’s post-production workflow looks like, chances are pretty good they can replicate it here. The facility supports all major editing suites (Avid, DaVinci, Adobe, and Apple), and even includes both Mac and Windows systems so visitors can work on whatever system is most comfortable for them.
There are also three reference displays for use while editing and grading: a 30-inch Canon DP-V3010 4K reference display and a 24-inch Canon DP-V2420 1000NIT HDR reference display (both of which cost around $ 30K), and also a ‘consumer confidence’ display that’s representative of what would be found in a nice home theater. This gives a colorist a rough idea of what the image will look like on a consumer device.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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The prep room is a facility where cameras can be mounted and fully rigged for production, making it possible to design and test a setup before taking it into the field. Both podiums are wired into the rest of the building so that camera output can be instantly analyzed somewhere else, like the workflow area or the 4K screening room.
Canon wants cinematographers and 1st ACs (1st assistant camera operators) to come in and experiment with their Canon equipment, configure it the way they would for a production, to see how it performs and verify that it meets their needs. Additionally, Canon plans to use this space for other purposes, such as education. For example, it could offer classes for new ACs on how to rig a camera for a shoot.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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Going one step further, Canon invites filmmakers to bring in its competitors’ cameras to set up side-by-side with its own cameras for comparative testing. According to Smith, “We want to go head to head, with whoever we need to go up against, to convince filmmakers that we have the right product for their project.”
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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The 4K screening room is just what it sounds like. At its heart is a Barco DP4K-P 4K projector, the same projector used by post production facilities such as technicolor. Canon wants filmmakers to have confidence that any work they do in the facility will be up to Hollywood standards.
There are a few seats up front, but most of the action takes place in back where there’s a full edit suite, including 7.1 surround sound and a 2000NIT display for doing HDR grades.
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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In my conversation with Tim Smith, he expressed a strong desire for Canon Burbank to be much more than just a technology and service center. He wants it to be a location where people in the filmmaking community, from DSLR shooters to Hollywood pros, can come together to meet and network.
“In this industry you have to network to find a job,” he says. “Even if you’re the best in the world, you need to network. The more circles you build, the better. One of our visions for this facility is for a cinematographer to use our space to pitch a film to a producer, who then decides to move forward with the project.”
Photo courtesy of Canon
Behind the scenes: Canon Burbank
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It’s clear that Canon wants its Burbank facility to be a resource for everyone from beginners to Hollywood pros, and I sensed a genuine desire to engage with and support the filmmaking community.
For all its history, Canon is still the new kid on the block in the cinema business, but the company is confident in its products and isn’t afraid to go head to head with the established players. However, to paraphrase Tim Smith, Canon needs to build circles and create its own networks within this community to be successful long term. Canon Burbank certainly seems to be a step in that direction.
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