The New Canon XF305 - Quietly going about its business?

The problem with all this DSLR crossover craziness we’re all experiencing is that you forget that there’s an already well-developed and traditional proper video industry already in place. I’ve spent so long wrestling my 7D into giving me the results I wanted from it I’ve forgotten what it’s like to pick up a camera and for everything to be right where you want it. Recently I’ve been trying to accomplish everything on the 7D that I might ordinarily have picked an EX1 for and it’s really not been completely successful. It’s also tempting to look at the DSLRs through rose-tinted spectacles and state their greatness while ignoring all of their many problems and compromises. Come on, you know what I mean!

I think I’ve been guilty of becoming something of a snob recently, snubbing my nose at anything that didn’t have that 35mm DOF look to it, in the process, forgetting that there is a right and proper place for an easy-to-use, hi-definition, handycam that delivers great images, and doesn’t cost too much. I really don’t think we want everything to look like it’s been shot on 35mm. Certain material responds brilliantly to that, but it just doesn’t suit others, news and sport being the obvious ones. The associated faff that comes with DSLR shooting means there’s still going to be a huge appetite for this type of camera for a good while yet (though of course we’re all hoping for that to change soon). So, bear with me, because, believe it or not, I think Canon have actually made a pretty good video camera here…

Amongst all the insanity and hyperbole scrambling behind the DSLR revolution Canon were already developing a tapeless ENG camera for the top of the range in their camcorder division. R&D schedules, eh? Enter the XF305. Thanks to the Bahamas 14 Islands Film Challenge I now have my hands on a camera that won’t be on mass release till June. Lucky me!

Sony PMW-EX1R - The category leader (till now?)

I won’t lie, I’ve been a Sony man through and through, tracing a nice Sony shaped arc from the PD150 through the Z1 to the EX1R, taking in some scenic sights along the way courtesy of the DSR range. I know my Sony, I like my Sony, and it likes me. Now, however, I’m in a privileged position with Canon and it would be daft of me to continue being that self-same snob. For me, Sony’s offerings have always delivered a clinical image, clean and pretty true, but with no discernible personality. They’ve also become incredible user friendly over the years, with the EX1Rs controls sitting fairly intuitively where you want them (or am I in fact just used to the Sony layout?) The barrel controls (iris, zoom, focus) just work the way you want them to these days, giving you real confidence in your operating. It’s a bit like driving a sports car, the controls are responsive, the movements are yours. The XF305 is squarely aimed at knocking the EX1R off its stride and, as such, it’s going to have its work cut out. Let me add here that I’m not going to be doing a rigorous magazine test because a) I don’t know how, and b) it’d bore me rigid. My sole aim is to get out there and shoot with the camera and give an honest appraisal.

CANON XHA1

So, first impressions. Well, it looks like a video camera, nothing remarkable to report there, Canon haven’t ripped up the rule book on camera design, but it follows the same basic shape as the XHA1 and not the XL1 series with their kinked bodies. It’s lighter than an EX1 and the barrel is considerably beefier in your hand, giving you a great big chunky focus ring, always nice. There’s a ton of connections mounted on the back of the camera, including HD-SDI, various flavours of video out and an HDMI out (which is nice). The CF cards slot in at the back under the eyepiece and, uniquely, the screen swings out to the left and to the right, and it’s massive, genuinely huge. Much bigger than the EX1 and it’s a lovely resolution as well, giving you a much better handle on what you’re shooting. One gripe I do have, just handling the unit, is that the plastics feel cheap. It’s very easy to nudge the power switch all the way through off to the ‘media’ setting and that becomes annoying very quickly. In comparison an EX1 just feels like a more solid animal, more professional, if you like. One other feature I’d have liked to see was a rotateable handgrip for your right hand. I’ve gotten so used to that feature on the EX1 suddenly not having it felt a bit strange.

I need to get out and use the camera a bit more before I can really make a proper judgement on everyday use with it, but here’s a few details that I’ve had a chance to mess around with and test.

Peaking: The peaking is excellent. You’ve even got a strange meter bar on the bottom of the screen that gives you some more feedback as to where your focus sits. I like this.

Autofocus: I know I know, why do you need this… well I personally don’t use it, but I did notice that the autofocus on the EX1 was appalling so I was curious to see how it was on the XF305. And you know what, it’s great. There are the odd occasions where autofocus suddenly becomes a useful friend, and if that’s the case, then you can be confident that the XF305 will perform.

White Balance: If you’ve ever used an EX1 you’ll know that the white balance function is absolute pony. You have to dial it in manually to be ever sure that you’re close. It’s truly one of the worst things about the camera. The XF305, no such problem. Ask it to set a preset for white and it just does it. Good times.

Focus: As you may recall I hated the XHA1 because I just couldn’t get the damn thing to focus manually. Part of the problem is that the ring is pretty heavily damped and as you turn you have to apply so much pressure you literally torque the camera over when you start to move the ring and it just means you’re fighting to keep the shot level the whole time when you’re handheld. The XF305 has the same problem. Yes, the focus has end stops, and yes it does focus the way it’s supposed to (hallelujah) but that damping just makes it hard work. This’ll almost certainly get easier as you wear the camera in.

Iris: The iris is on the barrel, which is nice, but it has no end stops. Hmm. There is of course a digital readout on the display which tells you what f-stop you’re at but I’d love stops on the ring. Just a personal preference.

Zoom: You have two options, the ring, or the rocker. There are variable speeds on the rocker and the action is analogue, progressive and smooth. Then we get to the ring. The ring isn’t actually connected to the zoom, but to a motor and the lag between operating the ring and the lens catching up is pretty significant. That means, any kind of crash zoom action is pretty much out of the question. I use the ring zoom a lot on the EX1 and it’s very responsive so I miss that feature on the XF305. Particularly when shooting interviews on sticks and reframing between questions, the ring has always been very useful. The ring is also heavily damped meaning it suffers from the same torquing problem as the zoom ring.

CMOS v CCD: Yes, the XF305 is a CMOS camera and yes it does suffer from rolling shutter, same as the RED, same as the EX1, but nowhere near as badly as the 7D. I was yanking the camera around pretty hard to get that vertical line bend that we all know and hate and you really have to stare closely to see it. Negligible basically.

Slow Mo: The XF305 does everything an Ex1 can do slow mo wise with the variable frame rates, trading off image size for speed etc. etc. and you can locate everything you need through the menus. However, the new EX1R has a dedicated S&Q motion button on the body, like the EX3 and that is actually a major bonus. Not the end of the world, but I’d have liked to see that incorporated into the XF305. People love being able to shoot slow mo and that would have been a nice touch.

Screen Size compared to an EX1... it's way bigger. It's absolutely huge

So, after all that, what does the image actually look like? Before I get into that, it’s worth explaining a few things. Broadcasters (in the UK at any rate) have supposedly strict rules about what does and doesn’t constitute broadcastable material. Now they break these rules all over the place and have exceptions but really it b Letus oils down to data rate. The minimum data rate for broadcast television as stipulated by the BBC and Sky etc is 50mb/s (though of course it’s all very flexible). The EX1, a very good camera, goes up to 35 mb/s and no further, so technically, it’s not a broadcastable camera. The XF305 shoots at exactly 50mb/s. Not only that, the color subsampling (see here for a more detailed explanation) is 4:2:2, meaning it’s on a par with much more expensive cameras, and yet it shoots to CF cards. Somewhere, somehow, the boffins at Canon have performed some miracles. The EX1 was lauded for providing HD-SDI out which meant you could record a 4:2:2 50mb/s broadcastable image on a standalone recorder like the Convergent Design NanoFlash and really get a kick ass result from the camera. Add a Letus and suddenly it was looking really exciting. Except that you were now a lot poorer. The NanoFlash is around £2.5k. A DOF adaptor with a set of lenses, will set you back about the same (actually, probably more). That’s a lot of dosh. The XF305 does it all in-house and that’s really this camera’s party piece. XDCAM EX is a stunningly brilliant codec that takes up no space at all and still delivers a pretty good image but it breaks up very easily when you start to grade it and it suffers quite badly from digital grain when pushed too hard. The image I’ve been getting out of the XF305 is considerably better (to my eye anyway). I was actually slightly shocked. I always blow footage up on my 26″ monitors to check it thoroughly and it’s pukka. There’s the tiniest hint of grain but in a nice, organic way, and areas of high contrast are clean and artifact free. It’s really very good indeed. What’s more it feels like Canon have properly put time into the lens. The lens on the XHA1 is designated ‘L’ which is the dogs nadgers in stills lenses, but I never really rated it on the video version. However, on the XF305 it’s very nice. The images have a lovely organic quality to them that reminds me of (whisper it) the image I get from my 7D. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is never going to look film, but you know what I’d actually be curious to shoot something a bit fancy on it, just to see how it gets on. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do this coming wednesday.

First job, mounted on a mini jib

Still early days with this camera, but what I like about it is that, even though I’m not mad on the barrel controls, the rest of the camera seems well thought out, there’s plenty of customisation to be had, and it points the way nicely to a hybrid dslr/video camera. That recording unit is dynamite, and CF cards are cheap. I’ll post some proper videos when I’ve shot some more with the camera. But for now, consider me intrigued. Proper video results soon.