It's here! Thanks to all who have taken the plunge, posted footage and findings. First some testing and footage:

Canon XF305 Demo Testing Part 1 on Vimeo

and my part 2 is held up at Vimeo - like seriously, they have a big issue going on today. So here it is on YouTube (bummer). I'll update this to Vimeo if they fix their world.

YouTube - Canon XF305 Demo Testing Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPuPKJTKjdU)

Out of the gate, its incredibly sharp and noise free. The LCD is mindblowing - its the best camera display I've ever seen. Ergonomics are intelligent, but I need to study this thing. I've been on an HVX200 for a long time. The power button isn't the smartest invention, but I demonstrate in the video how I'm dealing with it and now I'm not thinking much about it.

But the biggest issue I was having was consistent CF card write errors, and I pin pointed it to occurring about every 5 min. I tried multiple cards of the same kind - 32GB Lexar Professional 300x. A world of disappointment. Then I tried one of many Lexar 16GB 300x and its recording error-free all the way to the end of the card. Yee haw! Well there's 1 type of card that works. So I pop in a cheap Ridata 32GB 266x card and it just zipps along with no errors either. Well, so there it is - not all cards are going to work even if the speed is plenty up to the task. Firmware update? WTF.

The other gripe is where is the record counter on this thing? Yes, there's timecode, cool. But I'm not seeing a per clip counter to see how long I've been recording a clip. Anyone figure this out? Or no go?

A few standout niceties - the single cord power cord is great. And going from AC or battery without powering down or even interrupting recording is AWESOME. I was able to format a CF card while recording as well. Recording through 1 CF card goes through a very nice sequence of switching to 2nd CF card with clear minutes remaining with color coded warning, followed by nice textual feedback; "Will switch in moment", "CFA -> CFB Switched". Sweet.

I also hooked the HD-SDI into a Matrox MXO 2 LE and captured straight to ProRes and Uncompressed. And yes, it's extraordinarily clean. But only super scrutiny is going to reveal much difference between the 50Mbs from CF card. However, I also tested straight to DVCPRO HD, and the MPEG-2 from CF card transcoded to ProRes had greater resolution.

Some have complained about the battery compartment being poorly designed, but I'm fine with it how it is. I didn't encounter any issues with the battery being inserted incorrectly at all. Besides, you'll want to get those bigger batteries anyway, and there's no way you're going to insert those wrong.

I tested a little in low light and it's not very thrilling, but I gotta say its miles cleaner in the darks even at +12 gain than the HVX200 at 0 Gain. But like many, I didn't get this for shooting in low light.

You'll also see some back to back shots with the 7D to test matching grade/color/curve in post. Would really like to know if anyone has matched profiles/picture settings between XF and 7D. Resolution of the XF, as it's been said before, walks all over the 7D.

That's it for now. More tests and thoughts to come.

-steev

Very nice! Great review.
Actually, the HVX200 didn't look so bad, either. The XF had better low light performance?

Yes, fortunately the HVX200 still looks great to me - I'm not retiring them yet at all. But I needed something higher resolution so the XF will do well in that role.

Regarding low light, yes I believe the XF is superior to the HVX200, but I'm going to do some direct testing as well.

The vimeo encode finally went through. Again, this is in 1920x1080 at 20Mbs h.264 downloadable so they should look pretty damn close to the uncompressed source.

Canon XF305 Demo Testing Part 2 on Vimeo

The level of detail you get from the XF is incredible. What I really like is that there's no breathing of the lens when you rack-focus. Canon wasn't kidding when they said they had their best lens on the camera.

Hi Steev,

Thanks for the video review! And congratulations on your new XF!

BTW, what model Genus mattebox, rods, etc. did you get?

As far as matching 7D footage to the XF, check out Al's video:

Canon XF300 & 7D on Vimeo

Looks pretty close to me :)

Best,

Thanks for that link to Al's video. I had seen that before so I knew in advance it wouldn't be too much trouble. Thanks for reminding me to look at the details he posted. I'm guessing most of the trick is having the same white balance - I hadn't done that in my quick testing. I'm going to test that next.

Regarding the Matte Box.. its this kit here:

Genus GMKDSLR-77 DSLR Mattebox Kit with 77mm GL GMKDSLR77 - B&H

I went for the kit with the rod support mount kit since its not much more $$$ to have an extra rod mount. This mount ends up working with the 7D and 5D if you directly mount it.

But the XF305 does not work on this thing no matter what. I was able to get close enough using the Redrock Micro base plate I still have from the M2 setup I bought years ago. Not sure what the ideal set up is, but I'm curious if the Redrock mircroRiser will work to perfect the alignment. However, it may bring the mattebox up too high.

-steev

It's here! Thanks to all who have taken the plunge, posted footage and findings. First some testing and footage:
and my part 2 is held up at Vimeo


Thanks very much for sharing this Steev.


But the biggest issue I was having was consistent CF card write errors, and I pin pointed it to occurring about every 5 min. I tried multiple cards of the same kind - 32GB Lexar Professional 300x. A world of disappointment. Then I tried one of many Lexar 16GB 300x and its recording error-free all the way to the end of the card. Yee haw! Well there's 1 type of card that works. So I pop in a cheap Ridata 32GB 266x card and it just zipps along with no errors either. Well, so there it is - not all cards are going to work even if the speed is plenty up to the task. Firmware update? WTF.


Yikes. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you didn't lose anything irreplaceable.

I have 4 x Lexar Professional 300x 32GB UDMA cards. I estimate I have recorded for at least 20 hours on them now (collectively). I have not had a single issue that I can think of with these cards. I have not had any problem importing any of my clips into Premier CS5, after copying the card contents to the hard disk, which also makes me think the writes on my-camera are error-free.

How does your "consistent CF card write error" manifest itself? I'm imaging the camera stops recording and announces an error? Could I be getting write errors and not realize it?

All my work so far has been at 1920x1080 30P.

I am not discounting your write errors. I'm guessing there's a difference in usage that triggers the problem. Did you format your card(s) in-camera before use?


cheers,
Brett

How does your "consistent CF card write error" manifest itself? I'm imaging the camera stops recording and announces an error? Could I be getting write errors and not realize it?

All my work so far has been at 1920x1080 30P.

I am not discounting your write errors. I'm guessing there's a difference in usage that triggers the problem. Did you format your card(s) in-camera before use?


Brett, attached is a photo of the error off the XF305 display. It actually halts recording and you would certainly know it - its a straight up showstopper. This occurs after approx. 5min 12 seconds consistently on any of the 6 Lexar 32GB 300x cards I purchased in the last month. Might your cards be older and a different rev?

All cards tested - I had initialized them in-camera using the XF305 before use.

I also tested this in 30p instead of 24p and it makes no difference. So in short, if you're not getting that error screen and a halted recording, I guess your cards are working fine. I'm stumped on this one.

Brett, attached is a photo of the error off the XF305 display. It actually halts recording and you would certainly know it - its a straight up showstopper. This occurs after approx. 5min 12 seconds consistently on any of the 6 Lexar 32GB 300x cards I purchased in the last month. Might your cards be older and a different rev?

All cards tested - I had initialized them in-camera using the XF305 before use.

I also tested this in 30p instead of 24p and it makes no difference. So in short, if you're not getting that error screen and a halted recording, I guess your cards are working fine. I'm stumped on this one.

This exact thing happens to me with my Lexar Professional 300x cards as well. Something in those cards is not up to the task when the XF codec splits it's files at the 2gb point (about 5 min 12 sec in @ 50Mbps, at the approx 8 min mark @ 35Mbps, and at the 11 min mark @ 25Mbps). I switched to using 32GB Sandisk Extreme 60MB/s cards, and haven't had the error since. I also get the error on Patriot CF cards & Transcend CF cards that are supposedly within spec. My Sandisk & Ridata, however, do work without the error and can record continuously until the card is full. Hoodman CF cards also have no problem writing continuously, from what I've seen.

Have you done any green screen testing yet? That's probably the main thing I'm excited to see from this camera.

Have you done any green screen testing yet? That's probably the main thing I'm excited to see from this camera.

Look at this video:

YouTube - canon422-305.mov (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MUjlwnHq14&feature=related)

Whats with the 7d footage?
It looks pretty bad?
I've watched a good deal of amazing footage out of that camera, what gives?

This exact thing happens to me with my Lexar Professional 300x cards as well. Something in those cards is not up to the task when the XF codec splits it's files at the 2gb point (about 5 min 12 sec in @ 50Mbps, at the approx 8 min mark @ 35Mbps, and at the 11 min mark @ 25Mbps).

Brian, thanks for verifying this problem - although I wish this wasn't a problem! Your Lexar Pro 300x cards - are those 32GB or other? The 16GB cards I have are working fine. The 32GB are a no-go. Also thanks for some explanation behind why this is happening.

So caveat to others - don't buy your cards in advance assuming they'll work. The good news is that the 32GB cards work just fine with the 7D and 5D.

Brett, attached is a photo of the error off the XF305 display. It actually halts recording and you would certainly know it - its a straight up showstopper.

if you're not getting that error screen and a halted recording, I guess your cards are working fine. I'm stumped on this one.

Thankfully, that's a new screen to me. And I hope to never see it.

Just pulled my cards out to look at them.
Data points for comparisons:
Lexar Professional 300x
32GB CompactFlash(R)
UDMA

back: (C)2010 Lexar Media Inc. P/N508-60729 Rev B Product of China
(plus misc boxes to label cards in)

I wonder if the Rev B is relevant?

I purchased from a reputable regional retailer (Henrys) and Canadian memory webseller (memorydepot.com)
I've heard of fake memory in years past. At the price of these cards, I could see someone somewhere trying to fake a brand name... any chance of that?

(30 min pause)
Ok, I've decided to also post a photo - hope I gave it appropriate resolution.

Also, printed on the bottom edge of two of the CF cards (difficult to see) is
3215332GCSBC22106EA881 (card 1)
3215332GCSBC18106EA881 (card 2)

I have recorded concert-length clips (81 min / full card) as well as the more typical short (multi-second/minute) clips.

I hope this info might be helpful.

Brett

Just pulled my cards out to look at them.
Data points for comparisons:
Lexar Professional 300x
32GB CompactFlash(R)
UDMA


Yeah, its still a mystery to me. I have what appears to be same cards in every way. Purchased from BHphoto 2 weeks ago.

Have you done any green screen testing yet? That's probably the main thing I'm excited to see from this camera.

Green Screen frame grab - attached is a single frame export from an uncompressed capture out of the HD-SDI port into an MXO 2 into FCP - it's not showing up as a thumbnail, so be sure to click to download.

Additionally, here are 2 photoshop files containing frame exports of ProRes direct capture, and MXF (Mpeg-2) from CF card to ProRes. Included in the layers is a key I pulled using Keylight in After Effects.

http://www.holyzoo.com/content/XF305/ProRes5.psd.zip
http://www.holyzoo.com/content/XF305/XF_Native_5.psd.zip

The bottom line is that I can't tell the difference between direct ProRes capture and Mpeg-2 to ProRes unless we're talking about lots of motion.

See the attached files showing the Mpeg blockiness in high motion areas. With all that said, for what most people end up doing with green screen, I think in-camera capture is more than good enough. However, if you're going to look at things under a microscope, find a way to capture to something better than Mpeg-2 directly.

Steev,

Are you using a USB reader with a Mac? This can cause clip corruption (others have seen this) - I have come across it with still camera files and audio files, there is something about USB.

If you're on FireWire, ignore!

Are you formatting cards in camera? It is essential.

Ref Lexar: Long ago (well 5 or 6 years back), I irrecoverably lost a lot of data from several Lexar CF cards. Shortly after, I was at Canon HQ and mentioning this, was told to always use SanDisk with Canon hardware. This is a man who really knows what he is talking about. He refused to quantify his reasoning, but beside his desk was a very large cardboard box full of many hundreds of used (but current) Lexar cards. I dread to think of the value of that box.

I took good notice and have never had an issue since. YMMV, but it may help? I have absolutely no connection in any way with SanDisk BTW - I buy their cards from Amazon!

Are you using a USB reader with a Mac? This can cause clip corruption (others have seen this) - I have come across it with still camera files and audio files, there is something about USB.

These errors are occurring in-camera, not in transferring from card to computer.

Are you formatting cards in camera? It is essential.

Yes, I'm formatting all cards before use.

Ref Lexar: Long ago (well 5 or 6 years back), I irrecoverably lost a lot of data from several Lexar CF cards. Shortly after, I was at Canon HQ and mentioning this, was told to always use SanDisk with Canon hardware. This is a man who really knows what he is talking about. He refused to quantify his reasoning, but beside his desk was a very large cardboard box full of many hundreds of used (but current) Lexar cards. I dread to think of the value of that box.

I took good notice and have never had an issue since. YMMV, but it may help? I have absolutely no connection in any way with SanDisk BTW - I buy their cards from Amazon!

Good to know, but I haven't had any other failures from Lexar, but I have had SanDisk failures. Go figure. At this point, its all about whatever works. Again, the Lexar 16GB CF cards are working flawlessly, as well as cheap Ridata cards. So it's still a mystery as to what is causing the errors on these 32GB Lexars. They passed block scanning with Drive Genius before I even got the XF305, and they work perfectly in the 7D and 5D without error all the way through the cards. Who knows... I'll try SanDisk if I run into more troubles with these other Lexars or I need more CF cards.

Very strange - I'm out of ideas. Maybe a call with Lexar support? I seem to remember Rob Galbraith always distinguishing between cards with an without 'Rev ..' on them during his card testing. See link below.

I wish you luck!


Rob Galbraith DPI: CF/SD Performance Database (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007)

What the technical reason is, I don't know. But the XF specs page includes Sandisk cards up to 64GB, and omits Lexar cards larger than 16GB:

Canon U.S.A. : Support & Drivers : XF300 (http://usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/flash_memory_camcorders/xf300#Specifications)

This test is to compare the XF305 to the HVX200. The bottom line is that the sensitivity is nearly identical. So those hating the HVX200 low light response will hate the XF cameras as well. However, the darks are WAY cleaner on the XF305. I've attached 2 .mov files to demonstrate this difference in noise in the darks in low light. My apologies to people on windows - these are DVCPROHD and ProRes Quicktime files.

The following video on vimeo shows how similarly the two cameras behave in the same light with the same settings, then compares db gain boost on each one.

XF305 vs HVX200 Low Light Test on Vimeo

I have a few more tests and then I'm done with testing phase. Hope this helps people!

-steev

I always thought the HVX200, because it uses SD chips with larger pixels (then pixel-shifted for HD) than most 1/3" HD cams, was always better in low light to begin with. I know when we compared an HPX200 to a JVC HD200 it blew the JVC away in low light situations.

Thanks for the green screen test. I am an A1 owner considering upgrading to the XF300. I'm very impressed with it thus far. Like the XH line before it, the XF line seems to offer a lot of bang for the buck.

Well, a few more data points about the Lexar 32GB cards that work / don't work.

I actually have 50 hours on my 4 300x 32GB cards now without a problem. I forgot about the hour meter in the camera.

I managed to force the "stops recording" problem tonight.

Canon U.S.A. : Support & Drivers : XF300 (http://usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/flash_memory_camcorders/xf300#Specifications)

Canon's page that lists tested card models states that the Lexar cards won't work in slow motion modes.
So I tried that, with a frame rate of 30/60. i.e. x2 or max.

Slow motion actually works fine - until the 2GB / 5 min point and then the error display pops up, every time.

So clearly, a combination of settings / data rate to card / etc.

I didn't think 60i should be any more problem than 30p, and it also works without error, as does 24P on limited test, all at 50 Mb 1920x1080.

For my cards. YMMV and obviously does.



Brett

What the technical reason is, I don't know. But the XF specs page includes Sandisk cards up to 64GB, and omits Lexar cards larger than 16GB:

Canon U.S.A. : Support & Drivers : XF300 (http://usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/flash_memory_camcorders/xf300#Specifications)

Thanks Pete, I was not aware that the larger Lexar cards were not supported. If Canon don't fully support a card, then there will always be good reason, and it is better to avoid for all uses in my experience.

Slow motion actually works fine - until the 2GB / 5 min point and then the error display pops up, every time.

So clearly, a combination of settings / data rate to card / etc.

Interesting. Well I had only done short tests with slow motion - nothing over 5 minutes. I'll check that and will assume that all my cards will error.

I was suspecting there was a catch when this camera was announced. My first question was, "How about the 2GB file limit." And the answer was, "There's no problem." I call BS. Oh well, it's still an awesome camera. Too bad its turning out to be finicky with cards.

Well, here's what's likely to be the last of my major technical testing. Yesterday I tested tweaking with custom picture profiles, especially sharpening, and ultimately I think all sharpening beyond 0 is garbage. I don't see it doing anything better than I can do in post if I decided to sharpen at all - usually I don't. Regarding all the other picture controls, I'm convinced the best starting point is the standard setting, and I'll do all tweaking in post. This isn't like the 7D and 5D that have their blacks squashed. The XF is set up right out of the box with some nice gradations in the blacks.

So the biggest concern was experiencing inconsistency in parfocal accuracy. That is, retaining focus throughout zoom range. I now believe the parfocal accuracy varies based on aperture and ND filters applied. Aperture fully open, with a subject in focus while zoomed in, there's a hint of softening when zoomed out. Furthermore, if ND filter 1,2 or 3 are applied and aperture is wide open, this phenomenon is noticeably worse. Its requiring me to re-focus when zoomed out to truly get the image sharp. Closing down past f3.2 eliminates this phenomenon and focusing is very accurate through zoom range.

With ND off, I admit, this is a nitpicky thing and it's hard to see a difference. But it means I can get a slight edge on sharpness by being this aware of this. With ND on, I think it's actually a potentially huge issue if you are not being conscious of it, because its quite noticeable. Not sure if anyone can confirm this on their camera. Its easy to replicate with any of the NDs on, fully open aperture.

Be sure to download the video from vimeo or you're not going to be able to tell the difference.

XF305 Parfocal Accuracy Test on Vimeo

That's all for now!

I had a 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro choke today during some 60 fps overcranking.
From now on, I'll only be shooting with my 16GB Hoodman cards. They have proven to be perfectly reliable time and time again.

Further documentation if anyone runs into this problem and issue and searching for an answer. I suppose unless you're used to Canon Camcorder remotes, you may be stumped regarding a problem with the WL-D6000 Wireless Controller for the XF300 or XF305. Seemingly all buttons are recognized by the XF305 except the Start/Stop and Zoom buttons. Yeah, after solving this problem, it seems really lame, but I had to contact Canon customer support to figure this out. Here's the answer:

"Please ensure that you push the "Record Enable" button when using the
Zoom or Start/ Stop buttons."

Which led me to ask, what on earth is the Record Enable button? It's the button just to the left of the Start/Stop button on the remote. No kidding. Geez. Ya gotta press that button at the same time when you press Start/Stop or Zoom in/out. Stupid? Yes. Obvious? It wasn't to me.

I've been seriously considering getting the XF300, but I have a stupid question.

With the CF cards are you able to record longer than the (roughly) 12 minutes at a time? Or, like with the Canon 5d Mark II do you have to start recording again once it hits that file size limit.

Great review of the camera so far.

Not only can you shoot for the full length of whatever will fit on the card, you can use Relay Recording to hot-swap cards and record non-stop for infinity. This ain't no DSLR. This is a broadcast-quality video camcorder with all the normal features and functions you'd expect to have -- plus a bunch more you don't expect.

Thanks Doug. I am pleased to hear that. A canon rep at the Expo told me otherwise, but I just couldn't believe it. Perhaps they thought I was talking about the 5d MKII that I had around my neck.

Thanks for straightening that out for me.

Jeeez! Thanks Steve for the tip on the remote! I was pulling my hair out for a while and finally gave up thinking Canon had supplied me a bad battery for it! I even toggled the in-camera setting to see the remote!

Anyone know a way to reset the TC on the 300 without going into a menu? I just want it to give me per clip length.

Just did two full days of shooting with the 300, 5D and 7D and all I gotta say is Canon's stuff is awesome. The 300 is almost too good as now I'm seeing stray hairs and pores on the talent. This is just a screen grab from the shoot today! I was zoomed in all the way so I could check focus. I think I got it!

Fabulous screen grab! Critical focus is *the* way of getting the most out of this camera.

Regarding that time per clip reading... I have no idea how to. I am now believing it does not exist - which is a big bummer!

If you find out a way to change the timecode to time per clip, let me know!

-steev

Anyone know a way to reset the TC on the 300 without going into a menu? I just want it to give me per clip length.

You can program an Assignable button for faster access to the TC menus, however, with the current firmware, there is no way to display a counter. This is one of the things I complain about in my XF training DVD. The only time data that you can show is ordinary time-code. You cannot show a resettable counter or the duration of the current clip like you can with many other camcorders.

however, with the current firmware, there is no way to display a counter. This is one of the things I complain about in my XF training DVD. The only time data that you can show is ordinary time-code. You cannot show a resettable counter or the duration of the current clip like you can with many other camcorders.

Thanks for the clarification on this. We can now stop searching for it. :)

bummer! thanks for clearing that up. thought it was just an omission from the manual but it's a REALLY big omission on Canon's part!

Is there any website where an employee of Canon responds openly about omissions like this, e.g. indicating what their thinking is, and what their plans are to correct them?

Canon might not even recognize that the camera has some of the shortcomings that we see, let alone consider them "problems" that have to be dealt with. They copied an awful lot of features from the EX1, so it makes you wonder why they'd leave off a few important ones. If they left them off at the start, what makes you think they'll add them later?

Judging from my dealings with Canon this summer when I reported multiple problems with their XF Utility software, and voiced a few concerns about the camera itself during the production of my XF305/300 training DVD, don't hold your breath waiting for any improvements.

Doug, curious what some of your other concerns about the camera are. Other than the on/off switch and clip TC reset, I am loving this camera.
The programmable buttons are a killer feature and now the camera really is setup the way I need it to be. Only thing left is to do some matching on the picture profiles between the 300 and my 7D so they get even closer in post.

Is there any website where an employee of Canon responds openly about omissions like this, e.g. indicating what their thinking is, and what their plans are to correct them?No, they don't do that at all. But be assured that they do follow every word about Canon and its products on DVinfo (and probably even other sites) very closely.

The feature set of a particular camera is something we can conjecture about all day, but cannot answer. That kind of proprietary info stay buried deep within most companies. So who knows, maybe they left a few features off so they help differentiate them from a future camera (can you tell I'm holding out for an "XL-F1"???)

;-)

Doug, curious what some of your other concerns about the camera are.

I've talked about many of my XF305/300 concerns in other posts, and I go into quite a bit of detail in my training DVD about what to watch out for and how to work around some of them, so I'm not going to rehash everything all over again. If you're happy with your camera, then that's all the matters.

Personally, I own and have used enough other HD cameras that the shortcomings of the XF305/300 jump right out at me and I can't ignore them. But if I didn't have those other cameras to compare to, then maybe I wouldn't be so critical. Ignorance is bliss. But by the same token, the things that are great about the XF305/300 also jump out at me. The Canon blows the doors off the competition in some regards, and falls short in others. Two bad we can't take the best features from many cameras and create the "perfect" camera.

The XF305/300 are very good cameras. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't expect Canon to add new features or address things we don't like. Take the camera at face value and accept it for what it is. If Canon addresses some of our concerns in future firmware updates or new releases of XF Utility, then that is icing on the cake.

Canon did correct the goof on the XH-A1 of having the image stabilization on-off switch buried in the menu system, and not even allowing the option to add that function to a custom button,.....corrected on the XH-A1S. How much do you have to know about cameras not to get that right on the first try? Jeepers!

Comparing the XF300 to the EX3, regarding zoom control:

I worked with an EX3 for the past several weeks. Very nice camera, beautiful images. But I wasn't thrilled with the zoom control. It wasn't very smooth, kind of jerky in its movement, at least compared to the 2/3" Canon zoom on my camera.
Also, I couldn't reach over the camera with my left hand and operate the zoom control. Normally. on my 2/3" camera, when I want to zoom and pan/tilt the camera, I reach over or under the zoom lens with my left hand to use the zoom control, and operate the tripod handle with my right.
With the EX3, I had to use my right hand to zoom, and kind of push the camera along with the same hand. This made for less than smooth camera moves and zooms.

So, can the XF zoom be utilized by the left hand? Is the zoom control smooth? Can the XF or EX3 use aftermarket zoom controls attached to the tripod handle?

If you want to use your left hand on a rocker you could use the one on the top handle but it's not great. I have given up the rocker zoom in favor of the zoom ring. It's really smooth and precise. Plus by using my left hand there, it's easy to grab the iris and focus rings if they need adjusting. I mentioned it in another thread but I can't believe how much nicer it is to use the rings than the rocker and little iris wheel that my Panny had! Ergos are awesome.

Glen,

I have exactly the same complaints about the EX1 and EX3 zoom controls as you do, because that's also how I operate the camera.

You'll be glad to hear that Canon got it right. Not only is the zoom control easily accessible with your left hand (perfectly positioned for me), it is also very smooth and allows nice starts/stops without the intense concentration you have to apply to the EX1 and EX3 to get decent zooms.

I'm just adding to my findings with an update that ADATA brand 32GB 533X card is working for me at all resolutions, data rates, as well as 60p overcrank with an XF305 and XF300. Hooked up to a Mac - Data Rate read/write upwards of 60MB/sec with a Lexar Firewire Reader. About $85 each vs SanDisk Extreme at $180-$300 each. Is it as reliable? Impossible to tell without the risk.

So the cards I've found to work have been Lexar 16GB 300X, Ridata 32GB 233X, SanDisk 32GB 90/MB, and ADATA 32GB 533X. *Correction... Ridata 32GB 233X and Lexar 16GB 300X fail in overcrank.

Cards that have failed in all modes have been Ridata 555X 64GB and Lexar 32GB 300X.