Finally I get a chance to asses the Canon XF100 since I have just bought one. The camcorder has a lot of features packed into its small body and non more so than full broadcast CBR 50MB/s 4:2:2 (CBR=Constant bit rate), this wee chap is a lot bigger in features than at first glance.

Before we go any further the Canon out of the box is far to noisy but you can improve you pictures 100% by following my instructions below…

UPDATE : Having thought about this setting I had a look at some real life footage and setting it to 4 makes for a fair bit of NR added which is fine for still but not so good for live action so my updated setting would be setting the noise reduction to number 2. Note the different contrast and white balances can be ignored if anything it helps to exaggerate the noise problem. You can experiment yourself but in Automatic mode the camera adds a fair bit of noise.

Lets start with the lens this is one feature that left the NX70 standing, although sharing a similar 10x optical zoom the Canon is far superior starting at f1.8 at the wide end and f2.8 at the tight, this lens lets in a ton of light compared to the NX70 which goes from f1.8 wide but f3.4 on the tight end and that makes such a difference when you need that extra light at the tight end. In order to get the same exposure as the Canon I had to put the gain up to 6dBs.

Chromatic aberration is something that has not hindered any of my filming with both my NX70s but it does seem to be a problem for some shooters so here is a test I have done with this problem in mind.

Chroma fringing is part of a low cost lens I am afraid but it only happens on the outer most part of both lenses, at under £3000 per camera this has to be expected, I could do the same test with expensive Nikon glass and the results would be the similar, but its not the problem some people seem to think it is.

Zoom rocker, if you are an NX70 owner like me you will cringe at the word zoom rocker, due to the waterproofing the NX70 was fitted with a component that affected its variability giving us a fast zoom, this has been addressed and Sony will update that feature in March 2012 with a firmware update. The Canon has no such problems and even has extra menu features allowing you to get smooth starts and finishes through its very smooth variable zoom range.

The HDMI on the Canon is full size but is badly placed just under the hand grip while the NX70 has a mini HDMI socket which is more fiddly to use on a shoot if you want to use an external monitor. The viewfinder on the Canon is far to small unlike the NX70s viewfinder which is very usable in those bright sunny days.

The audio switches are far better laid out on the Canon, simple to understand with the audio pots on the top of the camera. Both cameras have professional XLR inputs but the Canon has a more robust handle and a 1/4″ screw allowing you to attach a small magic arm if needed.

Conclusion…

Without labouring on the subject both cameras delivered very high quality footage and although the NX70 does not have the luxury of 50MB/s 4:2:2 it does have 1080 50p. The one thing that does stick out is the Canons lens having f 2.8 at the tight end of the zoom does give you far brighter pictures in low light while the NX70 is having to use 6dBs of gain to even compete.

You have to dig deep in the Canon web site to find this CF card compatibility chart.

Ergonomically the Canon is in my opinion better laid out with both gain and shutter buttons on the outside of the camera and one of my gripes with the touch screen as used in the NX70 is how grubby it gets after a days shoot.

The Canon is more expensive to run using CF cards against the NX70s SDHC cards, that said you do have 2 card slots on the Canon which you can set to record to both, that is a great feature for archiving purposes, the NX70 has only one card slot and as yet has no way of recording to card and internal memory simultaneously but will be added in a FW update in March 2012.

The Canon does have syncro scan something I have missed as both the NX70 and the FS100 do not have this feature and the Wave Form Monitor (WFM) feature on the Canon is great for exposing your shots allowing you to see if your whites are clipping.

As usual both cameras will not match as they have their own colour profiles as I have a fairly large documentary coming up about diabetes I have decided to go down the Canon route with a C300 on order from H Preston Media, the XF100 will be a good cutaway camera and be less imposing for some shots and hopefully match the C300 better than keeping my Sony cameras.

The NX70 does give a great account of itself when you consider its up against 50MB/s and the superior 4:2:2, once you eradicate the inherent noise given off by having the noise reduction switch set to automatic the Canon excels with a very solid, punchy picture, the Sony produces a more natural red with the Canon producing a more pleasing skin tone. The external gain and shutter on the Canon does it for me as the NX70 can be a bit of a pain having to access many of the cameras functions via the touch screen.

I have enjoyed my two NX70s but time to move on lets hope I get the same pleasure from the Canon XF100 six months from now !

OMG !… I forgot about this prototype two years ago at Canon Expo…Please tell me Canon have not gone onto develop this juke box come hairdryer. This will be the best comedy show since Charlie Chaplin if this menace has been reincarnated.

All the info live from Los Angeles starts from 10pm tonight UK time. I will be glued to the keyboard bringing you all the exiting information from both Canon and RED…the event of 2011 tonight from 10pm.

Around 9pm tonight we will be getting the first pictures of the new Canon large sensor camcorder more importantly the first specifications and pricing in fact Chris Hurd from DV Info Net has had an email from Canon…

Why is this news so momentous, so far all we have is teasing from Canon themselves…here is my take on this news.

Canon have been a major player in the DSLR race with the 5D Mk11 being the first camera to have HD video built alongside the photographic part of the camera setting a new benchmark in video/photography.

Until the announcement of the 1DX this year Canon have done little to amend the inherent problems that dog the DSLR from being a truly professional filming tool but even the 1DX has built in flaws that were explained by a Canon rep as being a part of the pro video input in other words “we are just about to launch a large sensor camcorder and would prefer if the 1DX was not a competitor”.

Why is this even newsworthy…Canon have a knack of looking at a marketplace and introducing camcorders that don’t need add on’s to make them broadcast friendly. They also want people to buy lots of Canon glass as they have had the best two years of all time because of the DSLR phase.

Canon also recognise that cameramen/women do not care for expensive add on’s like NanoFlashes etc in order to “make the grade” with the likes of the BBC etc thats why Sony missed the boat big time with the PMW-F3 making it 35Mbs claiming to speak to the “right people” when they clearly got it so wrong.

Thats why this Canon announcement is so important, professionals may at last have a large sensor camcorder that will be fit for purpose straight out of the box and the other most important point is the EF lens.

The Canon community have been waiting for an electronic solution for almost a year without success or delivery for the Panasonic and Sony large sensor camcorders, MTF are bringing out 3 adapters later in November for the AF101, FS100 and PMW-F3 but only to control the iris.

Many users have been disappointed with 8bit 4:2:0 processing which can cause banding in certain circumstances, I predict the Canon will come out of the box with 10bit 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 processing once again giving the competition a major headache.

What about that all important sensor…I think the Super 35mm sensor is just fine on my Sony FS100 but some people are predicting a 4K sensor which would be fantastic as long as you have the choice to still shoot 2K as for the majority of us 2K is as much as we need without a major rethink in the editing department.

My prediction : Firstly we will see a minimum spec camera as follows : 10bit, 4:2:2, CF cards, 50Mbs, EF mount, Super 35mm sensor, HD SDI, Hi Res viewfinder…beyond this we might get a second camera with 4:4:4, 12bit, 100Mbs, PL mount with EF adapter, 4K sensor. Pricing £6500 and £12,000.

This will have Sony and Panasonic in a major panic as they will be forced to show their hand on any new development for a PMW-F5 or an AF201, RED are also announcing Scarlet specs and pricing this evening but if Canon pull out the trump card as I predict then RED will have a lot less customers banging on their doors.

It’s all about “GLASS” the majority of Canon users have Canon glass now remember Canon may not introduce a specific EF mount camcorder but they will have an adapter for EF glass similar to Sony’s LA-EA1 that allows the Alpha lenses to be fully functional with the E mount seen on the FS100.

If Canon have been clever they will have designed their EF adapter to be controlled externally with a pull focus unit…only my thoughts.

You can be sure we will have all the specs and pictures as soon as Canon post them later on today.

The rumours are flying in thick and fast as to what Canon are going to announce tomorrow it seems that we are going to be treated to 2 camcorders a semi Pro version and a Pro version.

Rumours have it that both cameras share the ability to accept the full range of EOS lenses while the Pro version will also accept prime lenses.

We are talking 2-4K in line with a poke at RED and pricing from $15K down to $10K or lower for the semi Pro version all total speculation.

If Canon finally enter the large sensor marketplace I think they will put less effort into making the “prefect” DSLR because it will have a knock on effect on video sales which is why it was interesting that they down graded the recent 1DX DSLR with a non clean HDMI output.

If proof were needed Chris Hurd from DV Info Net is attending the special event, if you take on board that Chris lives in Texas and Hollywood is 1245 miles away it takes one special announcement to get someone to travel a 22 hour journey so you can take it from me this is a big time large sensor camcorder or two from Canon.

Please remember there is also a 7 hour time delay so if the news is not broadcast till 3pm as Chris seems to think it will be 10-11pm in the UK before news filters through.

It would seem logical given that Canon who are supplying the 8 winners with Canon products might just be referring to this contest rather than an expected large sensor camera.

Further info on Ron Howard’s competition : http://canon.thismoment.com/

I guess someone was bound to do such a comparison but sadly for Canon it shows up it’s major flaws quite dramatically to the extent that “Canonites” …those who revere the 5D2 are rather taken aback by how bad their camera really is under “normal” circumstances. This is an article produced by Mike Seymour who is not out deliberately to bad mouth the Canon.

Mike “As part of our Red Centre Podcast coverage we want to share this clip with you that compares the Canon 5D Mk II and the new Sony F3. In this test, both cameras were attached to the same tripod locked together – and then panned over the same technical background. The results show the F3 recording a considerably better rolling shutter and the benefit of the F3 not line skipping. The 5D – while having a very high resolution sensor – reduces this image to 1920×1080 in a very abrupt way. So while the larger sensor gives the cinematographer a shallower depth of field, – the poorer technical down res-ing produces some really unwelcome artifacts.”

Of course, the 5D does manage to produce good shots every day around the world. Our intend here is is to highlight the technical issues and allow the cinematographer to shoot knowing the issues and the risks. Click here for a 100meg HD mov sample

So how does this work… I order an adapter from HONG KONG to test the Canon L Glass on my G2 six days ago and it arrives today by FedEX…then I order a camera from down south 4 days ago and INTERLINK tell me they have too much of a backlog to process my order which I payed for an overnight delivery.

The EOS to mFT adapter has arrived and I can now confirm that your Canon glass on an AF101 will be as follows 24-70mm f2.8 = 48-140mm f2.8 fortunately it remains a 2x conversion, the good thing is to be able to use L glass and have the extra speed at f2.8mm.

The adapter is made by KIPON, Hong Kong and is better than I was expecting, though the results on the AF101 may be a different kettle of fish.

It had been mooted that it’s not clever to have the iris at the back of the lens but having done sone preliminary tests it does not seem to do any harm, I shot some white card at various iris settings and fully shut down you get vignetting at the corners.

My test baby had one 20W halogen light on her face, the camera a Lumix G2 HD had the EOS adapter and a Canon 50mm f2.5 macro lens, shooting at a 60th of a second @ 200 iso hand held and it looks very good indeed.

As you can see the Kipon adapter is well made with a 14 leaf iris built into the adapter itself and has a locking pin (at 3pm on a clock face) which is a slight mystery to release at first if like me you attach the adapter then the Canon lens without thinking.

So far this adapter has performed admirably with the short amount of testing I have been able to perform but this is a stop gap for me as the USA adapter promises to be better built, electronic and wireless comms to a remote pull focus control. At least I am able to tell you all that your Canon Glass needs to be multiplied by 2 times when using an adapter on the AF101. This brings it’s own problems sourcing a decent wide angle Canon lens.

OK so this is a photoshop mock up but I warn Sony and Panasonic now…Canon will have no qualms in producing such a camera in the near future as they have already done so in the past with the XF305 !

The market is crying out for a shallow depth of field camcorder with 1080 50p, 4:2:2, 50Mbs, Super 35mm sensor, Canon and PL adaptor, this would rock the market to it’s foundations. The first manufacturer to come up with such a feature rich, spec camcorder at a competitive price will take the market by storm.

Canon have in my opinion sat back and let their photographic brothers take all the credit with various DSLRs but I think the XF305 was a glimpse of Canon’s future thinking. Unlike their competitors Canon have nothing to loose by bringing out a FilmLike camcorder like the XF-S35 all they will do is greatly enhance their profits and once again bring out a camcorder fit for BBC approval.

So far Sony and Panasonic want us to “buy into the future” in other words buy the lesser spec today and upgrade in the future, this madness has been going on for years and it will take an outsider once again to bring all the manufacturers to their senses.

RED Digital cinema are the only company who are ahead of the game with the RED ONE and the “buy and bolt” attitude, buy a simple working modular system then add a higher rez viewfinder, flash drive etc. when you can afford them. That philosophy makes a lot of sense, get the camera sold then earn out of the bolt on accessories.

We now have a market with the imminent Panasonic AF101 coming out during December at around the £4000 mark and I have to say with a lot of interested parties waiting to buy one…the Sony F3, launched only two weeks ago arriving during January 2011 at around the £12,000 body only and during the summer we should see the Sony NXCAM FilmLike camcorder for around the £5000 mark.

There has never been a better time for shallow depth of field camcorders the market is becoming awash with them. I still think Canon or JVC will pounce into the limelight with a killer camera…remember it only takes one to upset the apple cart and my money is on Canon.