The pro video kit Canon ambassadors can't work without

From dark and icy Arctic waters to the baking Sudanese desert, two filmmakers have put Canon's video offerings to the test covering the natural world and its inhabitants in all its vibrancy. Canon Ambassadors Camilla Ferrari and Stéphane Granzotto not only turned their lenses on very different landscapes, but also very different assignments.

Italian visual artist Camilla is known for merging still and moving vertical images in impactful diptychs or triptychs. Her visuals have been published in National Geographic, The New York Times, US News and la Repubblica. But for one special project, she headed to Sudan for an Italian travel agency seeking a fresh portrayal of the country.

"We wanted to highlight the in-between places that you find when you travel," says Camilla. "My aim was to highlight Sudan's enchanted beauty and multifaceted complexity – suspended between reality and dream, presence and absence. And create an emotional journey across its history, as well as the natural and human landscapes." Captured just six weeks before conflict broke out in April 2023, Camilla's images now speak to the humanity at the heart of a nation in turmoil.

Having always shot video alongside stills, Stéphane has found a truly hybrid partner in the Canon EOS R5. "I've been waiting for this camera for a long time," he says. "As a documentary director, it was a dream to have a very good camera for photography which also shoots cinematic footage, in 8K, with Canon Log, RAW and picture profiles. It's a professional video camera which shoots very high-quality footage you could use in a documentary for National Geographic."

When he's out on the water, contending with biting winds and splashback, Stéphane needs a hardy body. Under the hood, he toggles between 4K for slow-mo or lighter capture, and 8K for higher quality or for the possibility of cropping in. When it comes to codecs, he often uses RAW Light, which makes RAW more accessible through smaller file sizes.

Camilla began working in stills before getting her start in filmmaking by shooting for social media. She now films in 4K, mostly at 60fps, or 120fps if she knows she will use slow-mo on a specific clip. "I usually film in Canon Log 3 because of its dynamic range in the shadows which gives me a lot of freedom when working in post-production," she says. Having a hybrid camera means that both filmmakers can switch to photography when the moment requires it, continuing their multimedia capture seamlessly in the field.

As well as filming killer whales from above the surface, avid diver Stéphane also swims with specialised carbon fins to keep up with them. "They go very quick, so I have to swim quickly too," he says. When he's alongside the orcas, Stéphane freedives, capturing moments of their high-speed underwater world. "I trust in the autofocus," he says. "The water is often not clear, there can be jellyfish in it – so, bad conditions – and it will usually still focus on the right place."

The months which Stéphane spends diving with orcas are challenging for reasons beyond the cold. They are also some of the darkest, when Polar Night brings just a few hours of daylight, often further obscured by clouds. "You don't have a lot of light, and it's a big difficulty," he says, searching for dark shapes in dark waters. "I try to use a wide aperture lens and I am used to working with very high ISO. I want to manage good results, with no noise – and it's a showcase for the new cameras."

ISO capabilities were what drew Camilla towards mirrorless cameras while she was still working with the EOS 5D series. "The first time I tried a camera from the Canon EOS R System was the Canon EOS R, in 2019, and right there I noticed how the camera was able to handle high ISO settings beautifully," she says. "I shot a photograph at ISO 16,000 and was able to tone it without a problem, and the noise had this grain look which helped in the post production process. The same thing now applies to my Canon EOS R5 while filming."

In Sudan, Camilla sought to document travel routes but beyond the typical representation of the country, often centred on conflict or archaeology. "We wanted to deviate from this dualism and explore what was in between," she says. "The idea was to retrace the touristic path, but in a way which drew attention to everyday rituals, like preparing coffee or stopping at truck stops where there's nothing but sand, and then suddenly you find these islands of life."

For this trip, Camilla upgraded from her EF version to the Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM lens, adding 5-stops of image stabilisation which she says "dramatically changed" her shooting experience, especially in combination with the Canon EOS R5's 5-axis In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS). "I usually film from a fixed point of view and I let reality unfold before the camera, but in Sudan I wanted to also capture 'on the road' atmospheric scenes and more dynamic clips," says Camilla. "When we were travelling by car, I found myself capturing the landscape changing outside the window or recording market scenes while moving across them, and I wanted to do that without losing the stillness and smoothness that the other pieces of the work have."

As well as ironing out the bumpiness of car movements, stabilisation also allowed her to film handheld, free of additional gear. "I was filming in the desert at a well where people would collect water," says Camilla. "Just holding the camera, I was able to turn from left to right, slowly panning from one side to the other, with perfect stabilisation, without a gimbal, without any bumps." The Canon EOS R5 C, Canon's smallest Cinema EOS camera, is another great tool for handheld work, along with the Canon EOS C70, and these cameras work differently with Electronic IS.