Canon’s Open Gate Recording: A New Era for Filmmakers

At Sundance 2026, Canon highlighted the growing importance of Open Gate recording, a technique that captures the entire area of an image sensor, offering filmmakers unprecedented creative flexibility in post-production. Even as not a new concept, Open Gate is gaining traction due to evolving workflows that demand multiple delivery formats, including cinematic widescreen and vertical social media video.

What is Open Gate Recording?

Open Gate recording differs from traditional video capture by utilizing the full width and height of the image sensor. Typically, even full-frame sensors are cropped to match standard video aspect ratios like 17:9 or 16:9. Open Gate eliminates this cropping, preserving the complete image area and resulting in a taller frame with increased vertical resolution and overall image information. This expanded image area provides greater latitude for reframing and composition during post-production.

Canon Cameras Supporting Open Gate

Canon has implemented Open Gate recording in several of its cameras, each with slightly different capabilities:

Canon EOS C50

The EOS C50 was designed with Open Gate as a core feature, offering recording options in Cinema RAW Light (6960 x 4640 pixels) and XF AVC (6912 x 4608 pixels) at frame rates from 1 to 30 fps. Canon refers to this mode as “Full Frame 3:2” within the camera menu.

Canon EOS C400

The EOS C400 gained Open Gate support via a firmware update in December 2025. It records in Cinema RAW Light at a resolution of 6000 x 4000 pixels, with frame rates of 23.98, 24, 25, and 29.97 fps. Currently, higher off-speed recording is not supported in Open Gate mode on the C400.

Canon EOS R6 Mark III

The EOS R6 Mark III, a hybrid mirrorless camera, also supports Open Gate recording, capturing 6960 x 4640 video in RAW format at frame rates of 23.98, 24, 25, and 29.97 fps. Unlike the C50 and C400, the R6 Mark III explicitly labels the feature as “Open Gate” in its menu.

The History of Aspect Ratios and Open Gate

Canon’s presentation explained that the historical preference for cropped sensors stems from the evolution of film and video aspect ratios. Traditional film formats and early television standards dictated specific aspect ratios. Camera manufacturers designed recording modes to align with these industry standards rather than utilizing the full sensor area. Open Gate removes this limitation, allowing filmmakers to capture the entire sensor image.

Benefits of Open Gate Recording

Open Gate recording offers several advantages for filmmakers:

• Expanded Framing Options: Allows for flexible reframing and composition in post-production, accommodating various delivery formats.
• Increased Field of View: Provides a roughly 8% increase in vertical field of view, offering more creative framing possibilities.
• High-Resolution Vertical Video: Enables the extraction of high-resolution vertical video directly from the captured image, eliminating the need for camera rotation or multiple cameras.
• Improved Stabilization: Provides more pixels around the image for post-production stabilization, minimizing resolution loss.
• Better Support for Anamorphic Lenses: Optimizes the employ of anamorphic lenses, ensuring full optical coverage.

A Growing Industry Trend

While Canon is showcasing Open Gate on the C50, C400, and R6 Mark III, other manufacturers, including ARRI and RED, have supported full sensor recording for years. The increasing adoption of Open Gate across various camera systems suggests it is becoming a standard feature, offering filmmakers greater flexibility in a rapidly evolving production landscape. The core principle is simple: the camera captures everything the sensor sees, allowing the final frame to be shaped during post-production.