I followed the Canon event on the live Engadget blog, great job by Michael Gorman on his coverage. Here are my thoughts.

Here is a great page with C300 specs from DVInfo. 

Here is a link to the Canon Product Page for the C300. 

I will start with the price, because with price comes certain expectations. The estimated price will be $20,000, and that is of course without glass. Quite frankly, at this price point, I expect more:

I expect more in the on-board codec. MPEG2 50Mb recording at 8 bits is not getting it done. This is the same issue I have with the Sony F3, and that’s cheaper at $15,000. For this level of money, I think a 100Mb, 10 bit codec is expected, something like the Panasonic AVC-Intra.

The C300 suffers from the same 8bit SDI output that the Panasonic AF100 has. I can put up with that on a $5,000 camera, but not at $15K or more.

Over-Crank is limited to the 720p mode. Again, at this price point, 1080p is the new threshold.

Cosmetically, I do not mind the design. I think the idea of a rotating grip is useful.

I like the fact that Canon added optical ND filters in the camera, BNC timecode, zebras, XLR audio, and waveform. I like the idea of iPad type wireless control.

The problem is that Sony and Panasonic have already addressed the shortcomings on the 5DMKII. Canon C300 is at least a year late to the party.

At $20K, or even $16K, I think this camera offers too little. At $10K, I think it would offer a lot of value, somewhere between the AF100 and the F3.