Camcorder News

April 7, 2010 – After months of speculation, Canon has finally announced a line of tapeless professional camcorders—the XF305 and XF300. The two camcorders will use a file-based MPEG-2 compression system that saves video clips in an MXF wrapper. Both camcorders will be on display at NAB later this week in Las Vegas and they should be hitting the shelves by late June of this year.

It has been a long time coming for Canon to get on board with a tapeless professional camcorder. Sony, JVC, and Panasonic have each released various non-tape models in the past few years, and it is definitely the direction in which the industry is heading.

In a somewhat surprising move, the Canon XF305 and XF300 both include dual Compact Flash (CF) memory card slots, which will be the primary recording media for both devices. CF cards are definitely a whole lot cheaper than professional recording media (like SxS or P2 cards), but they generally don't have as fast transfer speeds. There are some new CF cards, however, that offer similar transfer rates to P2 and SxS. The camcorders also have an SD card slot for storing custom preset data.

Both the XF305 and XF300 can record a full HD image at 50Mbps with MPEG-2 4:2:2 compression. These camcorders are utilizing Canon's new MPEG-2 codec that was already announced last February (read more about this codec by clicking here). In addition to Full HD 1080/60i recording, the two camcorders also have 30p and 24p options (there is no 1080/60p record mode). There is also a 35Mbps 4:2:0 recording option, a 25Mbps 4:2:0 option.

720p recording can be done at frame rates of 60p, 30p, or 24p, and the camcorder also has a variable frame rate recording feature. In both 1080i and 720p, the camcorder can be set to record at various frame rate intervals between 12fps and 30fps. In 720p mode you can choose variable frame rates all the way up to 60fps.

Neither of the camcorders offer a removable lens system, which means they are fairly compact, hand-held models. The camcorders come with an 18x zoom lens and include a three 1/3-inch CMOS sensors. The lens itself has a built-in optical image stabilization system that offers 3 stabilization modes (standard, dynamic, and powered).

The only difference between the XF305 and the XF300 is a collection of professional connectivity features. THe XF305 includes an HD-SDI output, GENLOCK terminal, and a TC connection. Other than this jack pack, the two camcorders appear to be identical. Both include dual XLR ports, headphone jacks, and the basic connectivity features found on prosumer models.

The new camcorders feature both an electronic viewfinder and a 4-inch LCD. The viewfinder is 0.52-inches in size and has a 1.55-megapixel resolution. The large LCD has a 1.23-megapixel resolution and can be positioned on the left or right side of the camcorder. THe LCD does not use a touchscreen interface, with the camcorders instead employing a rotating dial for navigating menus and making selections (just like on Canon's tape-based pro camcorders).

The two models should have similar manual control features that were found on Canon's pro HDV line (like the XH A1S). In addition to the variety of manual controls, the camcorders also feature face detection and have built-in vectorscopes and waveform monitors.

The two camcorders will be available in late June of this year with the XF305 retailing for $7999 and the XF300 at $6799.