Press Release: Canon's New XF305 and XF300 Professional HD Camcorder

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Mark Fry

50 Mbps is no advantage to me. It will double my space requirements and increase the time to make a Blu-ray disc by as much as 10 times: Using my current XH-A1 (HDV MPEG2 25 Mbps), there is no conversion necessary from the camera to the time-line (Avid Liquid) nor from the time-line to the disc (up to 120 minutes). ........Moving to a higher bit-rate camer codec requires a complete render of everything, which is very much slower than rendering to DVD formats (on my system), and would probably not look any better ........

I seem to remember that it will also record to other formats - the 50Mbs is the "best quality" one, not the only one. Hence for your purposes, you may be better off using it in XDCAM EX mode (35Mbs). That should give noticeably better results than HDV, still be able to be put on a Blu-Ray without recoding, and not be as big a hit on memory as the full 50Mbs.

And you still have the 50Mbs mode if you need it.... :-)

[Steve Wolla]

I just saw the xf300 at NAB, wow what a cam....may have to add one to my arsenal soon. Very impressive LCD, best I have seen on any cam so far. Canon's film deo'ing its capabilities along side the XHA1 and 5D MkII, 1D MkIV and 7D was really quite impressive.

[Michael Galvan]

What did you think about the footage from the XF in comparison to the XHA1 in the demo?

[Steve Wolla]

I thought it looked very good. The whole film was simply amazing, in demonstrating what these cams can do. From that film, they cut together very well. I thought it too looked fantastic next to cuts from the other cams. I only saw it twice and obviosly could not stop or slow it down for more careful analysis, but the XH series certainly looked good up there. Canon should post that demo on their site.

[Jonathan Levin]

Does anyone know whether the microphone holder will be removable when shooting MOS, or B?

Jonathan

[Chris Hurd]

It's removable. You can see the screws which hold it in place on my photos page here:

Canon’s Next Cam — Photos from SFO SuperMeet, Pt. 2 at DVInfo.net

About midway down that page.

[Jonathan Levin]

Chris,

That's great. Thanks. You asked a question about what the switch on the front of the handle might be. I'm guessing that it might disable the zoom controls on the top of the handle maybe??? Or turn the zoom off??

Jonathan

[Chris Hurd]

Interestingly enough, that switch is gone now. See attached pic.

[Daniel Caruso]

very funny tale to share with everyone. i was lucky and just sold my xh a1, and now having money, walked in to a camera shop to buy a 5D. talked to a guy for half hour and persuaded me with his talk about video cameras (that and my dad was not sold on the idea). sitting back at home now, my money high back down to normal, i am super glad i did not buy a 5D to replace my video camera. everyday i stare at this camera and cannot wait to see it. interesting to see if it will be out by ProFusion time, special deals maybe? anyway, interesting night i had, very glad i have decided to wait for the XF series.

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Daniel, ProFusion is June 18-19, not sure if the camera will be shipping by then but it's probably a sure bet that there will be working models to touch & try at that show.

[Daniel Caruso]

if there are that would be great! is this a show you attend chris?

[Chris Hurd]

I'd love to go, but not sure that I'll make it. So we're all counting on you for a full report!

[Daniel Caruso]

ahh, too bad chris! would have been cool to say hello. but yeah, guaranteed i will be take a million photos of it haha. a friend of mine from school actually went to NAB and brought me back the XF brochure, i am that much more excited! but that aside, the XF really is jam packed in my opinion for what is out there in terms of cameras. i was looking at the nx5u for awhile but until i realized the chip pixels, it was not for me. i just hope the XF cameras will hold up to the redrock adapters, im sure they will though. time will tell for all of my questions, just not soon enough =].

[Laurence Janus]

Originally Posted by Paul Chiappini

"High-speed data readout developed by Canon reduces the skew effects caused by rolling shutter, resulting in realistic reproduction of moving subjects." from Canon Professional Europe site. Was also mentioned in freshDV video.

Anyone at NAB that handled one confirm this? This is great news and hopefully an effective implementation.

Did anyone end up confirming this, I am very interested/excited about this in particular.

[Pete Bauer]

No facts yet. But at NAB, I asked one of the Canon guys if they had addressed rolling shutter. Although he did not offer any specifics at all, he said with a smile, "When you get one in your hands, you can decide for yourself." Was he being coy about an unkown or confident about another elegant Canon solution? I'm suspecting the latter, but until we get our hands on production models, we just won't know.