NEW PODCAST: ARRI Goes Small, Sony Goes Big: HONOR’s ARRI Phone & Sony RIALTO 65 – Focus Check ep141 →🎙️ WATCH/LISTEN Now
Watch/Listen NowARRI Goes Small, Sony Goes Big: HONOR’s ARRI Phone & Sony RIALTO 65🎙️NEW PODCAST
Education for Filmmakers
Language
The CineD Channels
Info
New to CineD?
You are logged in as
We will send you notifications in your browser, every time a new article is published in this category.
You can change which notifications you are subscribed to in your notification settings.
Canon has announced Camera Control Centre, a free computer application that puts setup, PTZ control, color matching, firmware updates and batch settings for up to 200 Canon cameras into one window. It replaces four separate Canon tools, adds a four-camera Quick Adjustments view, an angle-of-view simulator and saved multicam setups, and it supports Canon’s PTZ cameras as well as the EOS C400, C80, C50 and other Cinema EOS models. The Windows 11 version is due in early January 2027, with macOS to follow.
Canon announced Camera Control Centre on November 4, and at first glance it reads like a pure broadcast and PTZ story. I think it is more relevant than that for many of our readers, because the supported device list also includes Cinema EOS cameras, and more and more small productions, live streams and corporate events now mix a Canon PTZ camera or two with an EOS C80 or a C50. Until now, such a Canon system needed up to four different applications: the Camera Search Tool for initial setup, the Remote Camera Control Application for PTZ control and presets, the Multi-Camera Management Application for firmware updates and camera settings, and the Camera Colour Matching Application for LUT-based color matching. According to Canon Europe, Camera Control Centre merges all four into one workflow, from planning and first setup to operation and maintenance.
This comes in the same week as Canon’s December firmware update for the EOS C400, C80 and C50, which adds Multi Matrix color control, a feature Canon pitches for matching Cinema EOS feeds with studio cameras in live production. The direction is clear: Canon wants its cinema bodies and its PTZ line (we covered the CR-N350 and CR-N400 last year) to work as one multi-camera system.
Canon’s English screenshots show how the application is organized. A Devices section holds the registered cameras and the Multicam Setups. The Shooting section has Camera Operations, Presets, Auto Tracking, Quick Image Adjust and Monitoring, and a Tools section has Color Matching and FOV Calculation. The camera operation screen combines a PTZ panel with image settings, focus, crop and auto tracking controls, and you can select several cameras and operate them together. According to Canon Japan’s product page, the video view can show 1×1, 2×2, 3×3 or 1×4 layouts.
Canon says that the software connects to up to 200 compatible devices over its XC Protocol. That number is about device management, not about 200 live images on one screen. For larger installations, the more interesting part is batch maintenance: you can copy settings from one camera to many in real time, save a settings file and load it into other cameras later, and run firmware updates or restarts on several cameras at once from a single list page.
On top of the merged functions, Canon adds three new tools. Quick Adjustments puts the previews and adjustment panels of up to four cameras on one screen, so you can compare the images and adjust shutter speed, white balance, iris and gain without a hardware controller for each camera. Each thumbnail can also switch to color bars, and if you watch the feeds on external monitors, you can hide the thumbnails and keep only the adjustment panels.
FOV Calculation simulates the angle of view of a Canon remote camera before you install it. You enter the camera model, the distance to the subject and the zoom position, and the application shows how a person of a given height (for example 175cm / 5 ft 9 in) will appear in the frame, without any camera hardware. For anyone who plans a lecture hall, a studio or a church installation with ceiling-mounted PTZ cameras, that is a practical tool, because moving a camera after the installation is expensive.
Multicam Setups saves the settings of several cameras, including image quality settings, per scene or per program, and recalls them the next time you use the same setup. Groups of devices can also be backed up and restored together.
The color matching function comes from the existing Camera Colour Matching Application. You capture a still image of a color chart from a reference camera and from the target camera, and the software automatically adjusts the target camera’s color to the reference and sends a LUT to it. Canon Japan lists the requirements in detail. The target camera must be able to store a LUT over the XC Protocol, and at launch this means only the CR-N700, CR-N400 and CR-N350 PTZ cameras. The reference camera can be from any manufacturer, as long as it outputs BT.709 or HDR at 2K resolution or higher. Cinema EOS cameras are supported in this workflow only as the reference camera.
To get the images into the computer, you need either a video capture device with SDI or HDMI input, or Canon’s RC-IP1000 remote controller. Canon has confirmed the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Recorder 3G (for 2K) and UltraStudio 4K Mini (for 4K) as capture devices with the CR-N700, CR-N400 and CR-N350. Supported charts are grid-type charts such as a Macbeth chart, the ColorChecker Video, and DSC Labs’ ChromaMatch Vista Std 709/2022 and CalMAlign ChromaDuMonde 24 + 4R. So, the typical case is clear: your A camera, for example an EOS C400 or a camera from another brand, is the reference, and the PTZ cameras follow it. I would love to see this work in the other direction too, with LUTs sent to Cinema EOS bodies (Canon, your Cinema EOS cameras already speak the XC Protocol, after all).
According to Canon Japan’s product page, Camera Control Centre supports the following devices at launch:
Canon notes that the available functions vary by model. The application identifies which functions each camera supports, and settings follow each product’s specifications. My guess is that the cinema cameras will get mainly setup, image settings and the four-feed adjustment view, while full PTZ operation stays with the remote cameras, but Canon has not published a function list per model yet.
If you are shopping for one of the supported Cinema EOS bodies, the EOS C50 is available at B&H and CVP, the EOS C80 at B&H and CVP, and the EOS C400 at B&H and CVP.
Camera Control Centre is clearly built for broadcasters, education, corporate and public sector users who run several Canon PTZ cameras from one desk, and for them, one application instead of four is a real simplification. For cinema camera users, the value is smaller but still there: a free way to configure, adjust and maintain a mixed Canon fleet from a computer. It runs on a computer, though, not on a phone or tablet. For iPhone and iPad control, Canon already has its Multi-Camera Control app, and third-party apps such as Director Mode now put Canon and Sony cameras on one iPad screen. Sony goes a different route with its DP7 and DP5 camera control monitors, and FUJIFILM’s ETERNA ProRemote app controls up to four GFX ETERNA 55 cameras from an iPad.
The one thing I miss at launch is a Mac version. Canon says macOS will follow, but many productions run their video village from a MacBook, and the current Remote Camera Control Application already exists for macOS (so, Canon, please do not make Mac users wait too long).
Camera Control Centre is free. Canon Europe says that the download will be available from January 2027, and Canon Japan specifies early January, first for Windows 11, with macOS support to follow. Canon U.S.A., which calls the application Camera Control Center, said in its own announcement that it launches “later this year”, so the exact date may vary by region. The application interface is in English and Japanese, and Canon Japan lists the manual in English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish. More details are on the Canon Japan product page and in the Canon Asia press release.
Do you run Canon PTZ cameras next to Cinema EOS bodies, and would one free application for setup, color matching and control change your workflow? Or do you need the Mac version first? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Δ
Stay current with regular CineD updates about news, reviews, how-to’s and more.
You can unsubscribe at any time via an unsubscribe link included in every newsletter. For further details, see our Privacy Policy
Want regular CineD updates about news, reviews, how-to’s and more?Sign up to our newsletter and we will give you just that.
You can unsubscribe at any time via an unsubscribe link included in every newsletter. The data provided and the newsletter opening statistics will be stored on a personal data basis until you unsubscribe. For further details, see our Privacy Policy
Nino Leitner, AAC is Co-CEO of CineD and MZed. He co-owns CineD (alongside Johnnie Behiri), through his company Nino Film GmbH. Nino is a cinematographer and producer, well-traveled around the world for his productions and filmmaking workshops. He specializes in shooting documentaries and commercials, and at times a narrative piece. Nino is a studied Master of Arts. He lives with his wife and two sons in Vienna, Austria.