Alan Roberts' analysis and recommended settings for the XF100 and XF105 are now available. I am not sure whether this document contains his approval or disapproval of these cameras for BBC use, but it does contain his test results and preferred settings for video and cine work.

His conclusion includes the following:

"This camera performs reasonably well at HD, for such a small-image format with a single sensor. Resolution is maintained up to 1280x720, but contains inevitable spatial aliases due to the use of a Bayer-patterned sensor. Detail controls work reasonably well, but not as well as they would have done with 3 sensors. Noise levels are typical for a ⅓” single sensor, and sensitivity is as expected. Operating the camera at significantly lower gain will reduce the noise level without sacrificing significant sensitivity. "

Last week I switched to shooting with sharpening set to -8 and high detail frequency turned up to +8, and this provided an enormous improvement in image quality to my eyes (over default settings) - with reduced noise and aliasing. These are similar to what he recommends. He has tips for settings for filming for SD down-conversion and other insights that may be helpful to XF100 and XF105 users:

http://thebrownings.name/WHP034/pdf/WHP034-ADD65_Canon_XF100-105.pdf

Pat

Alan is retired from the BBC & now works as an independent consultant & is very clear about his reports. He just does the tests & presents his findings. The BBC itself will make the decision on use of the camera.

Thanks Nigel. For me it's academic whether or not the camera is ultimately approved for BBC use. The chances that I will ever be in a position to contribute to a BBC production are slim (and if I were in such a position, I would probably have the means to acquire cameras on the list). It's always nice, however, to see how your camera stacks up against the very best, and Alan's recommended settings provide a great starting point for finding configurations that will optimize image quality and camera performance.

I wonder if BBC's decision is immanent. It looks like Alan's report was just uploaded to his site yesterday.

Pat