Rugby at the roof of the world: filming an Everest world record with the Canon EOS C200

Coping with the cold on the roof of the world

The team's journey began with an eight-day trek to South Base Camp at Mount Everest, their home for six days and the location of their first world-record attempt: the highest ever game of touch rugby, at an altitude of 5,119 metres.

The Canon EOS C200 has an exceptional operating temperature range of approximately –5°C to 45°C at 60% relative humidity. But surrounded by snow and ice, Sam had to ensure he protected both himself and his equipment from the plummeting temperatures. In order to be able to access all the camera settings, Sam wore gloves that allowed him to use the touchscreen as well as the buttons. Preparation was key: "It's all about having the right settings assigned to buttons that are around your hand and where you need them the most," Sam says. "You need to know that you won't have to take your gloves off to go into a menu."

Built-in ND filters and Dual Pixel CMOS AF

When it came to capturing the sheer scale of the landscape, stopping down the lens and using the Canon EOS C200's built-in ND filters proved incredibly useful. With vast amounts of bright snow, maintaining good exposure was always going to be a challenge. To ensure he was capturing maximum dynamic range in such high-contrast conditions, Sam shot exclusively in Canon Log and used the built-in ND filters to maximise depth of field.

"Even with six stops of ND built-in, when you get snow glare on the lens it's still bright," he explains. "It's all about keeping the iris as closed as possible. You're filming at T11 if you can, and in this situation there's lots of light."

In order to clearly see what he was filming in so much light, Sam sealed his eye either around the built-in viewfinder or, when using a larger rig, the additional Canon EVF-V70 viewfinder, powered by the camera. "It's a lovely EVF," he says. "The ability to put it on the rig and balance it evenly made for much nicer shots."

When filming both the trek and the fast-paced rugby action, the Canon EOS C200's Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology came into its own. The AF tracking over 80% of the frame, both horizontally and vertically, helped Sam keep shots in sharp focus. This was particularly important on wide shots. "As a cameraman, understanding when you might need the help of AF is crucial," says Sam. "When the rig is stripped down and you're wide open at 18mm, knowing stuff is in focus is really hard, so some of the walking sequences are shot using the autofocus."

As well as capturing the emotion and the action shots, Sam also spent some time shooting creatively, including time-lapse footage of clouds rolling in across the mountains and slow-motion footage – useful material for joining shots when editing. "You can approach joining shots in a lot of different ways," he says. "I'm a big fan of having movement in shots, and a good way of achieving that is by adding slow motion. Experience teaches you how best to approach what's happening around you and what the most creative option might be."

As much as this expedition was about the journey, its focus was the destination. The second world record attempt took place on the East Rongbuk Glacier, the gateway to the north face of the mountain, and thought to be the highest place on the planet with enough space for a full-size rugby pitch. The 16 players battled knee-deep snow, glacial ice and extreme altitude for the ultimate prize – setting the world record for the highest-ever game of rugby, 6,331 metres up Everest.