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

[Mark Fry]

Originally Posted by Mark Fry

Hear, hear! I'm afraid the XF300 is out of my price- and weight-range. However, I would seriously consider a solid-state XH-A1s, especially if it included some of the other XF300 improvements, such as the 3 ND filters, and the focus/exposure tools.

How difficult would it be for Canon to produce a separate 2xCF card-recorder to mount on an XH- or XL-series cam, by repackaging the recorder used in the XF30x cams? The existing cams can feed 1440x1080 25Mbps mpeg2 through the Firewire socket, so the gadget would "just" need to record that to card, and maybe a Standard Definition "DV" stream instead. It would be nice to have a 10-second buffer, be able to record either in synch with the tape (stop/start button) or independently, and ideally share the cam's battery (might require a little ingenuity!) Having 2 slots would allow continuous recording beyond the capacity of one card (or one tape) and for copying between cards. It would be really useful to be able to copy from tape to card and vice versa (should not be difficult over the Firewire).

I know Sony already makes something like this, but a Canon product, debugged to work seamlessly with existing Canon cameras, would find a ready market, it seems to me, especially it it was competitively priced. Such a recorder would give the best of both worlds (tape and solid-state) and ease the transition from one to the other. In theory, it would work with older Firewire-equiped cams, such as HV20, GL2, XL2, or those made by other companies??

Being more ambitious, Canon could produce a more sophisticated version with HD-SDI input and the XF300's CODEC circuitry, so that you could record 35M 4:2:0 and 50M 4:2:2 from an XH-G1 or other HD-SDI cam. Give it an HDMI input too, and you could record from an HV20!! However, I think that might erode sales of the XF too much. I guess NanoFlash remains the best bet for that sort of thing.

[Chris Hurd]

Actually... I've just been reminded by private email (thank you, sir, and it was great to see
you at NAB) that Canon USA already offers a solution similar to what Mark Fry suggests. It is
an official 3rd-party accessory, sold by Canon USA as well as various dealers, which records
HDV to a single Compact Flash card on an external device via 6-pin FireWire. It is the Focus
Enhancements FS-CF (and FS-CF Pro) Portable Compact Flash DTE Recorder. Details here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquis...recorders.html

[Mark Fry]

Thanks Chris. Looks intersting. Only one card slot, no mention in the press release of a recording buffer, and, at $1000, a bit more expensive than I was hoping, but worth a close look when (if) it appears in the UK. I guess discussion of the FS-CF should now switch to its own thread....

[Roger Shealy]

I'm pretty excited by this camera, especially the new mechanical lens, 4" HD-LCD, a real HD-EVF, and Edge detection/face detection focus aids. As much as I loved the A1 line, the CA was pretty bad and Canon claims to have fixed it on this lens. The slo-mo, stop-motion, and interval recording functions will be useful as well. I'm trying to determine if Vegas will support the MXF long GOP format (put in question to SCS support this morning). Otherwise, I'll have to join the droves going to the new CS5 Premier Pro with the Mercury Engine. May do it anyway as my computer hardware is ready for an update.

Does anyone know if the lens has Fluorite coating or is this obsolete with the newer L-Glass with UD elements? I'm not sure how much it matters, but Canon made a big deal of it in the past and many high end lenses tout Fluorite.

Adding this camera to the stable may present political challenges in the household government. The wife may hold out for more than flowers.

[Don Miller]

Roger, flourite is still used by Canon in high-end lenses. It's not replaced by UD glass. I assumed flourite was an anti-reflective coating, but I could be wrong.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Roger Shealy

I'm trying to determine if Vegas will support the MXF long GOP format.

You're aware that we have the download links to a couple of native .MXF files posted in other threads on this forum? Self-testing should be relatively quick and painless that way.

Originally Posted by Roger Shealy

Does anyone know if the lens has Fluorite coating or is this obsolete with the newer L-Glass with UD elements?

Not sure about Fluorite -- I thought I had heard that it doesn't, but I can't seem to locate that reference in my notes. It definitely has the new UD (ultra-low dispersion) elements, though, with a resolution of 1000 TV lines supposedly.

Originally Posted by Roger Shealy

Adding this camera to the stable may present political challenges in the household government.

An occurrence common enough around here to warrant its own sub-forum perhaps.

[David Johns]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

You're aware that we have the download links to a couple of native .MXF files posted in other threads on this forum? Self-testing should be relatively quick and painless that way.

Yes, it works - I have Vegas 8.0c Pro and have happily downloaded and played back the clip at http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xf...unce-card.html

Regards
David

[Roger Shealy]

Thanks for the .mxf file. They seem to load fine. I'm rendering the bounce card file to .mp4 to see how it looks.

[Denny Kyser]

I was really hoping this camera would come in at less money. I have the Ex1r, but its overkill for what I need. I just refuse to go back to tape, and figured Canon would come out tapeless.
I do not see selling the ex1r to get this, especially with out a lot of real world testing. I was in that boat when the 1d mark III. Will either stay with my ex1r or look at the mid range sonys for now.

[Don Miller]

Originally Posted by Denny Kyser

I was really hoping this camera would come in at less money.

With new technology Canon usually comes out with the more expensive version first. They will still need to fill the gap between the $1000 high end consumer model and these new models. Somewhere in that range will be a single large sensor camcorder. Panasonic's early XF100 announcement is likely a defensive move against what Canon will come out with this year.

We're entering a transition period towards IQ not being a major differentiator between camcorders. There's going to be plenty of tempting equipment released over the next two years. That's a nice change from the small incremental improvement of the last few years.

But getting rid of tape brings the same archive issues as still cameras.

[Leon Lorenz]

We sure are living in exciting times with camera development making huge strides lately. Thanks Chris for this great forum, I check it out quite regular as I watch how things are unfolding, especially with the Canon XF300. I've used Canon cameras for wildlife filming since 1991 starting with the L1 in Hi8 for 6 years, than the XL1 for 8 years, and the XLH1 for the last 4 years.

Does anyone have an idea when Canon will release their interchangeable lens model? I would like to see larger sensors than the XF300 has, however I hope their new sensors will be a least on par with the Sony EX3.

Any thoughts on, will this camera be 100% content approved by Discovery HD and National Geographic HD?

Leon Lorenz
Canadian Wildlife Productions: Grizzly Bears, Bighorm Sheep in Alberta & BC Rockies DVD Videos

[Don Miller]

These videocams are in Canon's mid-level body with 1/3 inch sensors and in the EX price range. Canon must be confident in the IQ.
It seems Canon would want to be done with HDV in pro cameras. So maybe they will come out with a removable lens camera this year. I doubt they can sell many more H1 series as the specs are looking old. Like you, I'm hoping there removable lens camera with sensors larger than 1/3.

[Jim Martin]

All of the Canon HDV cameras (H1a,H1s,A1s,G1s) are considered current until the end of the year.....according to our Canon rep.

Jim Martin
Filmtools.com

[Daniel Caruso]

the body when compared to the xh series is much bigger. even when held in interviews, compared to a hand it looks much bigger, more solid. beside the chips, i think this will be my choice over the ex1, but that can only be said once footage is out.

in an interview, tim smith said that canon will still offer the xh series because of its tape system and archival purposes. he did state that we are going to a tapeless generation, but not quite yet, the need for tape is still there. plus at 4000 the xh series is a great value for HD content.

dan

[Don Miller]

I did notice the 82mm lens filter requirement. I wonder why the body needed to be bigger.

We do know it's not top-of-the-line due to lack of removable lens.