Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

The footage from this camera is unusable whenever you are in a low light situation. the menu is a bit complicated. Even though other people complained about on-board mic, I find it of a very good quality.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a one woman band when I'm out shooting at golf events, so I don't have a lot of time to deal with changing lenses out and resetting everything. This camera has all of the professional features you need without much extra help. On the golf course, I'm able to go to the green and get a good shot of a player on the fairway, and also provides a great picture for close up interviews. Everything I need in a camera.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Upon receiving this camera, the first thing I noticed was its weight. This camcorder is quite heavy/bulky which will take some getting used to.

That being said, the picture quality is FANTASTIC and crisp. In addition to the standard manual functions you would expect in a camera at this price, the picture profiles are also fully customizable and you are able to import/export up to 20 profiles on an SD card however, only one (1) menu setting is able to be backed up to an SD card despite the menu being necessary to set the few functions not controlled by any of the thirteen (13!!) customizable buttons. This requires multiple cards for multiple menu setups.

Further to the picture quality, I have tested extensively in low light and while the image quality is excellent even in low light, some noise creeps in as soon as you increase the gain which is to be expected. The level of gain/noise that I would consider acceptable for my purposes does allow for a stellar performance in a dimly lit room. An on camera light should alleviate any problems whatsoever. The built in 18x Canon L-series lens is excellent quality and offers an acceptable zoom range for most applications. At the wide end, a 1.6 stop offers a suitable DOF for a small-sensor camcorder.

The on-board microphone quality is a little bit disappointing for the price point, but the two XLF inputs more than make up for it. I will be using a Rode-NTG 2 microphone for interviews anyway, but it would have been nice to have the on board microphone quality be a little bit closer to usable. The handling noise alone is a deal breaker. Ultimately, while disappointing, I can't say that I expected more, so my 5-star rating stands. If I could do half stars, this is where it would become a 4.5 rating.

Battery life is exceptional with the included battery lasting over 3 hours and the optional BP-975 offering approx. 6+ hours. For some reason, only Sandisk "Extreme" and up seem to work properly in all modes including under/over cranking, despite some cards that are not fully compatible having a higher rated read/write speed.

Overall, I would recommend this camera to anyone wanting exceptional video quality at a reasonable price.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Awesome. period.
Only thing that doesn't work out of the box is the remote.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

The XF305 is a solid performer in all types of settings from daylight to lowlight. The 3-chip CMOS imagers with the 50 mb bit rate provides better image quality. Plus the long G.O.P. 4:2:2 MPEG 2 recording is exceptionally good not just for straight shots but process shots too. Making very clean noise-free edges on green screen talent.

The features like the integral waveform monitor, face tracking, interval recording and storable white balance registers with auto transitions are really useful and handy. In full auto its works pretty flawlessly.

I have throughly enjoyed using this camera so much so I just ordered a second one.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I bought this camera to shoot daily stuff at the hospital I work at now. So far so good. I had my eye on this camera since last year at NAB. Looked at it again this year, and told myself this is the camera for me. I like that it records on CF cards. I also shoot with the Canon MKII, so it's nice that all the media works together. The battery life is great on this camera, I also bought two more batteries for the camera. I never run out of power. The flip out monitor has a clear and vivid picture on it. I like how you can have the monitor and viewfinder on at the same time. The lens has worked out fine for what I shoot also. I did buy the Century wide eye for the camera. I use a good sturdy tripod, and the glide track for those smooth moves. So far so good. When I shoot surgeries I just kick up the gain to 6db and it works fine. I bought the after market bracket to hold the wireless receiver , again no problem hooking it up to the camera. Bought a small shotgun mic that is just a little too small for the mic holder. Nothing gaffers tape won't fix. The picture quality has been excellent. I'm shooting at 35 mbs. I did try the 50 mbs, but I don't need such a large file. I keep everything in a nice pelican case , so it's ready to go next time. Love this camera !

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

We have integrated these units into our mobile truck and they work great! The zoom range is awesome and very useful in sports production. Be sure to access the menu settings to turn on your outputs though, they seem to be set by default to Off.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

We field-tested the XF305 in documentary production over a three week period. Bottom line? We really regretted having to give it back to Canon, but we deferred buying four of our own.

One of the reasons for using a camcorder rather than a cinema camera is the servo zoom lens. The zoom range on the XF305's lens is quite useful in both width and placement, but the means of controlling it falls short. The rocker control on the grip is too non-linear in response, in that it feels as though it goes from creep to squirrelly with little or no in-between. Moreover, it's slow to respond to changes and appears to have a large deadband in response. Since this control directly translates the user's intent into significant changes in the camera's operation, it needs to be fully transparent. The best zoom control is the one that is so smooth and well-tuned that you do not even think about it being there: it simply does what you want, right now. This one does not.

Given this, the zoom control on the camera handle becomes slightly more useful, but limiting it to two fixed speeds is not helpful.

The lens hood is sturdy and well-proportioned, and the lens cap design is nothing less than brilliant. It should be made standard for all Canon lenses. No kidding.

Battery life is a major factor on a camcorder used outside the studio environment. The XF305 that we used claimed a battery life of four hours. Hah! Despite repeated efforts, including turning the camera off when not actually shooting, we were never able to get even a quarter of that. Less than one hour, with like-new batteries? One quarter of the advertised endurance? Think deal-breaker here.

Anton-Bauer's ElipZ battery looked interesting, despite its ridiculous name, but the temptation died immediately we saw that they force you to purchase a very costly dummy battery connector rather than use a simple and cheap power cable to plug into the camera's power socket. In fact, the XF305's DC input socket is an obvious feature very conspicuously missing from Canon's DSLR line.

Since we shoot in rough and awkward places - visualize hanging off the front of a railroad locomotive trundling across a trestle - we thought that the optical image stabilization would be invaluable. Wrong again. It is better than nothing, but not by much. There was no evident difference among the three modes, and the camcorder must be held almost perfectly still before the stabilizer appears to engage, at which point it does work somewhat usefully. Its controls are not well thought out for any application requiring quick and unambiguous response from the camera. The control arrangement for stabilization is clumsy and user-hostile, a theme that recurs with depressing frequency with this product.

The XF305 is literally covered with buttons and switches, as may be seen in its pictures. Think about shooting in the field, on the go, with no tripod and little time for setting up the scene. How do you hold the camera without inadvertently pressing buttons? You can't. We struggled with this every time we used the XF305. On a tripod or pedestal in the studio, you can take your time to select and push the right buttons in the correct sequence. Doesn't work like that in the field. When shooting hand-held, where, exactly, are you supposed to put your left hand, such that it does not press some button somewhere? We never figured that one out.

As for the notorious power switch, well, what needs to be added to the cacaphony already published? Yes, it is as bad as they say. What on Earth could Canon have been thinking, one wonders. In a similar vein, much has also been made about the placement of the start/stop button on the side grip. Did they test this with ordinary human hands? It seems not. The button should sit directly beneath your thumb. It does not. Why?

There are advantages to a smaller and lighter camera, but there are drawbacks, as well. To make a camcorder half the size and then force you to buy an expensive shoulder-mount rig that, in the best of circumstances, is still little more than a kludge makes remarkably little sense to us. The camera is a tool that needs to be as unobtrusive as possible and to fit the videographer like a comfortable glove: it is there, but it is never in the way.

Small details reveal a deficiency in thinking things through. The microphone clamp fits larger microphones. What do you do with smaller ones, such as the ubquitous 416? We cut a length of bicycle inner tube and used that as a filler. This screams, "Kludge!", although it certainly does provide a measure of shock protection for the microphone. It should not be necessary to use ANY kludges. The built-in microphone isn't bad, and wanting four audio channels rather than two is probably selfishness. The built-in audio limiter works extremely well, to the extent of dealing perfectly with a locomotive air horn not ten feet away. Impressive.

One inadequately documented factor is the CF cards. For various technical reasons that actually do withstand scrutiny, this camera is particular about the type and quality of card. Unfortunately, using the wrong type means that the camera works apparently correctly for a while, right up to the point at which, with no warning, it stops working correctly. Short version? Use only the cards that Canon specifies. It's that simple.

One feature that we wanted in a camcorder was auto-focus, and we tested it extensively in real-world situations. We did not see it fail once. It was directly responsible for one spectacular shot that would have been impossible with a manual-focus camcorder. Yes, we realize that the true videographer sets everything on manual and fine-tunes the camera to produce the image that he desires, but EFP sometimes demands that you shoot RIGHT NOW or lose a shot that can never be recreated or found again. The XF305 handles this very well, and that might by itself be worth the price of admission.

There's been a great deal made of shallow depth of field, but that ought never to obscure the fact that some work requires the deepest focus field attainable. We found that the XF305 does well in this respect, even in fully automatic mode. The automatic white balance also works very well, and the overall image quality, including color rendition and maintaining image quality in panning, straight out of the camera and before grading, is excellent. This camera will not be anyone's first choice for shooting a full-length feature drama, nor is it intended as such. For appropriate applications, it is an excellent choice.

One of the truly nasty aspects of contemporary digital video is the preposterous variety of codecs in use. The H.264 QuickTime used by Canon's DSLRs is easy to handle, something that can hardly be said of the bizarre MXF format used by the XF series. Where the EOS DSLRs produce a single file per clip (if you ignore the apparently useless thumbnail image), the MXF format produces a subdirectory for each clip, with an abundance of separate files. Want to look at one of them outside of the NLE? As far as we've been able to ascertain, the only means of doing so is Canon's own XF utility, and that one has more personality issues than a deranged teenager. An entire review could be written about the MXF format; suffice it to say that this is one of the very worst aspects of the XF series. Canon calls it an "industry standard", but it looks, smells, tastes, and behaves as proprietarily as do those much-hated memory card types that Canon correctly rejected.

Regrettably, there is more evidence of Canon's failure to think through the design of this camera. Consider the remote control. It works from the front, fine for videoing yourself, if that's what turns you on. It does not work from the side or rear, and that is a more useful application of remote control. Not on this camera. There is no quick-detach feature on the strap. Trivial? Of course; right up 'til it becomes an irritating issue. The power-save feature should be cancellable by pressing any of the record buttons; it is not. Perhaps Canon didn't care about this enough; the so-called power-save feature does not materially extend battery endurance. It would make sense to be able to turn off the EVF as a means of reducing battery drain; we never once used the viewfinder. The ejectors for the CF cards easily become confused. I kid you not. They frequently dropped out of sequence somehow, making it really awkward and time-consuming to eject the cards. The cards are hard to grasp once ejected, and you will find yourself occasionally pushing them back into lock when you actually wanted to remove them from the camera. Trivial, in the greater scheme of things? Of course, but still annoying and unnecessary. Also trivial but less irritating: there was no audio when playing the last clip recorded. As with every electronic product made in the last two decades, the XF305 has a printed manual in multiple languages. (At least there actually is a manual!) Would it kill them to print an English-only manual? The quality of information conveyed by Canon manuals is far better than the norm these days, so why not take one more step and achieve perfection? Also, the covers over the connectors are cheap and flimsy. This is not a consumer good; why not design in proper covers instead of those nasty rubber things?

The LCD display is nice. It swivels more than a Russian gymnast and has excellent image quality. It makes the EVF utterly useless. We used the camera in winter conditions and had no temperature-related issues of any kind (other than the cameraman continually whingeing about the cold). The XF305 would not be our first choice for low-light filming, but, as we never do any, who cares? For the purist, there may be objectionable lags in response time in the auto-focus and auto-iris operation, but we never found them objectionable.

If you value being able to respond instantly to an opportunity for a good shot, then this camcorder will rarely let you down. It does as much as you reasonably can ask it to, other than stabilizing the image.

Bottom line? Given its capabilities and price, we would not hesitate at all to purchase this camcorder for any project requiring a low-cost EFP camera with excellent image quality. Imperfections notwithstanding.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I film a variety of videos from sports to corporate events and I simply love this camera. The lens is great and the dual compactflash memory...well, how did I survive before them?

The weight is just right and feels like a high quality camera without the bulk. The little things that canon does is why I continue to buy their products, like the front of the handle perfectly balances the camera (like something a golf company would brag about). The placement of teh screen is great incomparison to the XH-A1s taht I am used to using.

The price seemed high when I bought it, but the more I use it the more its worth it and I see its true value.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Can't add too much from what the others have said. For a different aspect though; this camera has become the 'Go To' for steadicam work for me and my company. When in a situation that there is no focus puller available (which in my market, there are none), the auto focus on this machine is oustanding. I've never seen anything like it. Add in facial recognition for tracking shots and it is golden.

In post, especially if you are used to using lesser cameras, is where this thing really shines. The color space, as well as 50mbps is a HUGE leap from ALL cameras in this price range and below.

If you are considering this camera, stop it and just buy it. If you have doubts; go to your local rental house and try it out, you won't regret it.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I come from the still/print industry and pick cameras on image quality, build quality, DOF and/or lens options/quality and also reputation for reliability and usability.

I have chosen the XF305 to complement other cameras to be tools of the trade that I feel work well together to create artistic and creative motion graphics and video projects. Each one has a specific time and place to be used.

This camera was chosen primarily for its color space, feature set, great lens, great zoom, decent low light performance (still a small sensor camera), good build quality, fast focusing and good lens aperture throughout the range.

The primary use of the XF305 is a run and gun machine. But definitely not limited to this. It can certainly hold its own in other situations if wanting shallower DOF, just be aware of its limitations.

Very happy with the purchase? Yes. Would I change my decision? Absolutely not. No major complaints with build quality or performance in the field.

Camera will be used for documentaries, events and commercial production.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Purchased this camera after using Sony HVR Z7U for a number of years and not disappointed. Main reason was the use of CF cards. Still trying to make adjustments in low light situations, but feel confident I will get it. Lots of features that make shooting a pleasure. A little heavier than I thought it would be. Overall, pleased with my purchase.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

pros: definitely a great camera. love the zoom distance. autofocus is great. works better for me in premiere cs5. very sharp.

con: power button... can never get it where i need it without a second attempt. really can't use it past 6db of gain without significant noise though... but the 1.6 or whatever f stop lens makes up for that.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a professional in-house videographer and I use it for documentary style shooting. it shoots in great quality and the features are easy to handle. The one thing that wasn't the best for what I do is that it is a little heavy and hard to handhold, without a shoulder mount.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I love the canon xf305 below is a video I shot and edited with mine[@]

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Canon's XF305 has very good low-light capabilities (not perfect, but way above average). My initial concern was filming in low-light with this camcorder. It works much better than I expected after reading many reviews. I had confidence in all other aspects of the camcorder and I have proved them to myself: Picture Quality--Same as you see on TV at 50Mbps 4:2:2. Glass quality: 18x L-series Canon lens--doesn't get any better at this price point. I used to have to use an Anton Bauer battery on my previous camcorder to attain a multi-hour shoot (I use two BP-970G batteries, one at a time and get 5+ hours recording time with each battery = 11+ hours total) and the weight of the Canon battery is tiny comparatively. I would recommend getting several (3 or more) Sandisk 32 GB UDMA CF cards since you can hot-swap them as you are filming. Professional Controls let you get the shots you want. LCD is clear and large for any camcorder. If you go to NAB, you can see it in action, but short of that, it is hard to get your hands on one.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I own the Canon XLH1 and the images from this camera are much better. It's almost like being there. Apart from a fiddly on-off switch, the controls are well laid out and with a little practice and the Vortex DVD I was able to master the camera. The camera has the best autofocus I have ever seen on any camera.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

use it in my green screen studio and the 4:2:2 colour space is beautiful.
No more tapes or expensive cards
Feels like a real camera

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I use this camera for studio work in creating e-learning lessons and "on-demand" seminars and conferences. I do a lot of clean, white backgrounds, black backgrounds or green screen work. In my opinion, for the price point, this camera rocks the studio world. Quality-wise, our work can now compete with studios that use much more expensive cameras.

We were contemplating contracting our studio work out, but with this camera we no longer have to. It works well with the CS5 suite, which is what we use for all our post work. You'd be hard pressed to find a studio camera at twice the price that does what this one does. I'm looking forward to doing some on-location work with it, but can't speak to that right now.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a semi-pro user. Mostly amatuer stuff like weddings, events, amatuer sports and some ENG work. This camera is a good step for Canon into the professional market. While still a long-GOP scheme, the color and clarity is fantastic compared to other Canon video cameras I've used including the still shooter Canon 5D EOS.

I was at a Phoenix pro retailer recently while the Canon rep was there and we did a split monitor comparison of the XF305 vs. an AVC-Intra 3x 1/3" camera. Both had standard lenses they ship with. The Canon was much clearer with a better color depth. All agreed it was mostly due to the Fujinon 17X lense the other cam comes with but it was still very impressive - this camera has first rate glass and coupled with their new CMOS and the compression scheme, its pro-rated. To achieve this clarity, Canon has removed the Flourite from this lense and replaced it with a new proprietary mixture, similar to their HDTV lenses.

I have three Canon HD and SD cams including an XL-H1A. The XF305 is much clearer, quicker to set up post work (I use AVID MC), has more features internally, plus, SDI, Genlock etc. Worth the extra $1K over the XF300. I wish they would also include SDI with the XF-300.

The LED screen is in a non-traditonal place but after using it for a while you realize it's quite ergonomic and you'll forget about it's location. Quite LARGE, it also has video waveform as a lower left PIP which is nice and a focus assist waveform on the botton, outside of the overscan for manual work. The viewfinder can also be swiveled to either side of the camera for you lefties. The control buttons, located for the left hand, should have some bumps or something so you can find them easier in critical shooting situations as they all feel somewhat alike.

It's low light rating is slightly better than the HDV models. It's a perfect 5500K camera, and wonderful indors with lighting. I also tested for CMOS flashband using the EOS MKII-5D. It is barely noticeable at 60i, but is slightly at 24P and 30P - end users will not notice it. Yeah, you'll see it in post but so what. Forget overcranking with flash present.

Other features - you can set the camera knees to mimick other camera types and save these settings if you are ever using other cam brands or working events with other partners.

This seems to be the best 1/3" 3-CMOS for the price point. While I like this camera a lot I wish Canon would come out with a 1/2" 3-CMOS.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

The footage from this camera is unusable whenever you are in a low light situation. the menu is a bit complicated. Even though other people complained about on-board mic, I find it of a very good quality.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a one woman band when I'm out shooting at golf events, so I don't have a lot of time to deal with changing lenses out and resetting everything. This camera has all of the professional features you need without much extra help. On the golf course, I'm able to go to the green and get a good shot of a player on the fairway, and also provides a great picture for close up interviews. Everything I need in a camera.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Upon receiving this camera, the first thing I noticed was its weight. This camcorder is quite heavy/bulky which will take some getting used to.

That being said, the picture quality is FANTASTIC and crisp. In addition to the standard manual functions you would expect in a camera at this price, the picture profiles are also fully customizable and you are able to import/export up to 20 profiles on an SD card however, only one (1) menu setting is able to be backed up to an SD card despite the menu being necessary to set the few functions not controlled by any of the thirteen (13!!) customizable buttons. This requires multiple cards for multiple menu setups.

Further to the picture quality, I have tested extensively in low light and while the image quality is excellent even in low light, some noise creeps in as soon as you increase the gain which is to be expected. The level of gain/noise that I would consider acceptable for my purposes does allow for a stellar performance in a dimly lit room. An on camera light should alleviate any problems whatsoever. The built in 18x Canon L-series lens is excellent quality and offers an acceptable zoom range for most applications. At the wide end, a 1.6 stop offers a suitable DOF for a small-sensor camcorder.

The on-board microphone quality is a little bit disappointing for the price point, but the two XLF inputs more than make up for it. I will be using a Rode-NTG 2 microphone for interviews anyway, but it would have been nice to have the on board microphone quality be a little bit closer to usable. The handling noise alone is a deal breaker. Ultimately, while disappointing, I can't say that I expected more, so my 5-star rating stands. If I could do half stars, this is where it would become a 4.5 rating.

Battery life is exceptional with the included battery lasting over 3 hours and the optional BP-975 offering approx. 6+ hours. For some reason, only Sandisk "Extreme" and up seem to work properly in all modes including under/over cranking, despite some cards that are not fully compatible having a higher rated read/write speed.

Overall, I would recommend this camera to anyone wanting exceptional video quality at a reasonable price.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Awesome. period.
Only thing that doesn't work out of the box is the remote.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

The XF305 is a solid performer in all types of settings from daylight to lowlight. The 3-chip CMOS imagers with the 50 mb bit rate provides better image quality. Plus the long G.O.P. 4:2:2 MPEG 2 recording is exceptionally good not just for straight shots but process shots too. Making very clean noise-free edges on green screen talent.

The features like the integral waveform monitor, face tracking, interval recording and storable white balance registers with auto transitions are really useful and handy. In full auto its works pretty flawlessly.

I have throughly enjoyed using this camera so much so I just ordered a second one.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I bought this camera to shoot daily stuff at the hospital I work at now. So far so good. I had my eye on this camera since last year at NAB. Looked at it again this year, and told myself this is the camera for me. I like that it records on CF cards. I also shoot with the Canon MKII, so it's nice that all the media works together. The battery life is great on this camera, I also bought two more batteries for the camera. I never run out of power. The flip out monitor has a clear and vivid picture on it. I like how you can have the monitor and viewfinder on at the same time. The lens has worked out fine for what I shoot also. I did buy the Century wide eye for the camera. I use a good sturdy tripod, and the glide track for those smooth moves. So far so good. When I shoot surgeries I just kick up the gain to 6db and it works fine. I bought the after market bracket to hold the wireless receiver , again no problem hooking it up to the camera. Bought a small shotgun mic that is just a little too small for the mic holder. Nothing gaffers tape won't fix. The picture quality has been excellent. I'm shooting at 35 mbs. I did try the 50 mbs, but I don't need such a large file. I keep everything in a nice pelican case , so it's ready to go next time. Love this camera !

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

We have integrated these units into our mobile truck and they work great! The zoom range is awesome and very useful in sports production. Be sure to access the menu settings to turn on your outputs though, they seem to be set by default to Off.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

We field-tested the XF305 in documentary production over a three week period. Bottom line? We really regretted having to give it back to Canon, but we deferred buying four of our own.

One of the reasons for using a camcorder rather than a cinema camera is the servo zoom lens. The zoom range on the XF305's lens is quite useful in both width and placement, but the means of controlling it falls short. The rocker control on the grip is too non-linear in response, in that it feels as though it goes from creep to squirrelly with little or no in-between. Moreover, it's slow to respond to changes and appears to have a large deadband in response. Since this control directly translates the user's intent into significant changes in the camera's operation, it needs to be fully transparent. The best zoom control is the one that is so smooth and well-tuned that you do not even think about it being there: it simply does what you want, right now. This one does not.

Given this, the zoom control on the camera handle becomes slightly more useful, but limiting it to two fixed speeds is not helpful.

The lens hood is sturdy and well-proportioned, and the lens cap design is nothing less than brilliant. It should be made standard for all Canon lenses. No kidding.

Battery life is a major factor on a camcorder used outside the studio environment. The XF305 that we used claimed a battery life of four hours. Hah! Despite repeated efforts, including turning the camera off when not actually shooting, we were never able to get even a quarter of that. Less than one hour, with like-new batteries? One quarter of the advertised endurance? Think deal-breaker here.

Anton-Bauer's ElipZ battery looked interesting, despite its ridiculous name, but the temptation died immediately we saw that they force you to purchase a very costly dummy battery connector rather than use a simple and cheap power cable to plug into the camera's power socket. In fact, the XF305's DC input socket is an obvious feature very conspicuously missing from Canon's DSLR line.

Since we shoot in rough and awkward places - visualize hanging off the front of a railroad locomotive trundling across a trestle - we thought that the optical image stabilization would be invaluable. Wrong again. It is better than nothing, but not by much. There was no evident difference among the three modes, and the camcorder must be held almost perfectly still before the stabilizer appears to engage, at which point it does work somewhat usefully. Its controls are not well thought out for any application requiring quick and unambiguous response from the camera. The control arrangement for stabilization is clumsy and user-hostile, a theme that recurs with depressing frequency with this product.

The XF305 is literally covered with buttons and switches, as may be seen in its pictures. Think about shooting in the field, on the go, with no tripod and little time for setting up the scene. How do you hold the camera without inadvertently pressing buttons? You can't. We struggled with this every time we used the XF305. On a tripod or pedestal in the studio, you can take your time to select and push the right buttons in the correct sequence. Doesn't work like that in the field. When shooting hand-held, where, exactly, are you supposed to put your left hand, such that it does not press some button somewhere? We never figured that one out.

As for the notorious power switch, well, what needs to be added to the cacaphony already published? Yes, it is as bad as they say. What on Earth could Canon have been thinking, one wonders. In a similar vein, much has also been made about the placement of the start/stop button on the side grip. Did they test this with ordinary human hands? It seems not. The button should sit directly beneath your thumb. It does not. Why?

There are advantages to a smaller and lighter camera, but there are drawbacks, as well. To make a camcorder half the size and then force you to buy an expensive shoulder-mount rig that, in the best of circumstances, is still little more than a kludge makes remarkably little sense to us. The camera is a tool that needs to be as unobtrusive as possible and to fit the videographer like a comfortable glove: it is there, but it is never in the way.

Small details reveal a deficiency in thinking things through. The microphone clamp fits larger microphones. What do you do with smaller ones, such as the ubquitous 416? We cut a length of bicycle inner tube and used that as a filler. This screams, "Kludge!", although it certainly does provide a measure of shock protection for the microphone. It should not be necessary to use ANY kludges. The built-in microphone isn't bad, and wanting four audio channels rather than two is probably selfishness. The built-in audio limiter works extremely well, to the extent of dealing perfectly with a locomotive air horn not ten feet away. Impressive.

One inadequately documented factor is the CF cards. For various technical reasons that actually do withstand scrutiny, this camera is particular about the type and quality of card. Unfortunately, using the wrong type means that the camera works apparently correctly for a while, right up to the point at which, with no warning, it stops working correctly. Short version? Use only the cards that Canon specifies. It's that simple.

One feature that we wanted in a camcorder was auto-focus, and we tested it extensively in real-world situations. We did not see it fail once. It was directly responsible for one spectacular shot that would have been impossible with a manual-focus camcorder. Yes, we realize that the true videographer sets everything on manual and fine-tunes the camera to produce the image that he desires, but EFP sometimes demands that you shoot RIGHT NOW or lose a shot that can never be recreated or found again. The XF305 handles this very well, and that might by itself be worth the price of admission.

There's been a great deal made of shallow depth of field, but that ought never to obscure the fact that some work requires the deepest focus field attainable. We found that the XF305 does well in this respect, even in fully automatic mode. The automatic white balance also works very well, and the overall image quality, including color rendition and maintaining image quality in panning, straight out of the camera and before grading, is excellent. This camera will not be anyone's first choice for shooting a full-length feature drama, nor is it intended as such. For appropriate applications, it is an excellent choice.

One of the truly nasty aspects of contemporary digital video is the preposterous variety of codecs in use. The H.264 QuickTime used by Canon's DSLRs is easy to handle, something that can hardly be said of the bizarre MXF format used by the XF series. Where the EOS DSLRs produce a single file per clip (if you ignore the apparently useless thumbnail image), the MXF format produces a subdirectory for each clip, with an abundance of separate files. Want to look at one of them outside of the NLE? As far as we've been able to ascertain, the only means of doing so is Canon's own XF utility, and that one has more personality issues than a deranged teenager. An entire review could be written about the MXF format; suffice it to say that this is one of the very worst aspects of the XF series. Canon calls it an "industry standard", but it looks, smells, tastes, and behaves as proprietarily as do those much-hated memory card types that Canon correctly rejected.

Regrettably, there is more evidence of Canon's failure to think through the design of this camera. Consider the remote control. It works from the front, fine for videoing yourself, if that's what turns you on. It does not work from the side or rear, and that is a more useful application of remote control. Not on this camera. There is no quick-detach feature on the strap. Trivial? Of course; right up 'til it becomes an irritating issue. The power-save feature should be cancellable by pressing any of the record buttons; it is not. Perhaps Canon didn't care about this enough; the so-called power-save feature does not materially extend battery endurance. It would make sense to be able to turn off the EVF as a means of reducing battery drain; we never once used the viewfinder. The ejectors for the CF cards easily become confused. I kid you not. They frequently dropped out of sequence somehow, making it really awkward and time-consuming to eject the cards. The cards are hard to grasp once ejected, and you will find yourself occasionally pushing them back into lock when you actually wanted to remove them from the camera. Trivial, in the greater scheme of things? Of course, but still annoying and unnecessary. Also trivial but less irritating: there was no audio when playing the last clip recorded. As with every electronic product made in the last two decades, the XF305 has a printed manual in multiple languages. (At least there actually is a manual!) Would it kill them to print an English-only manual? The quality of information conveyed by Canon manuals is far better than the norm these days, so why not take one more step and achieve perfection? Also, the covers over the connectors are cheap and flimsy. This is not a consumer good; why not design in proper covers instead of those nasty rubber things?

The LCD display is nice. It swivels more than a Russian gymnast and has excellent image quality. It makes the EVF utterly useless. We used the camera in winter conditions and had no temperature-related issues of any kind (other than the cameraman continually whingeing about the cold). The XF305 would not be our first choice for low-light filming, but, as we never do any, who cares? For the purist, there may be objectionable lags in response time in the auto-focus and auto-iris operation, but we never found them objectionable.

If you value being able to respond instantly to an opportunity for a good shot, then this camcorder will rarely let you down. It does as much as you reasonably can ask it to, other than stabilizing the image.

Bottom line? Given its capabilities and price, we would not hesitate at all to purchase this camcorder for any project requiring a low-cost EFP camera with excellent image quality. Imperfections notwithstanding.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I film a variety of videos from sports to corporate events and I simply love this camera. The lens is great and the dual compactflash memory...well, how did I survive before them?

The weight is just right and feels like a high quality camera without the bulk. The little things that canon does is why I continue to buy their products, like the front of the handle perfectly balances the camera (like something a golf company would brag about). The placement of teh screen is great incomparison to the XH-A1s taht I am used to using.

The price seemed high when I bought it, but the more I use it the more its worth it and I see its true value.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Can't add too much from what the others have said. For a different aspect though; this camera has become the 'Go To' for steadicam work for me and my company. When in a situation that there is no focus puller available (which in my market, there are none), the auto focus on this machine is oustanding. I've never seen anything like it. Add in facial recognition for tracking shots and it is golden.

In post, especially if you are used to using lesser cameras, is where this thing really shines. The color space, as well as 50mbps is a HUGE leap from ALL cameras in this price range and below.

If you are considering this camera, stop it and just buy it. If you have doubts; go to your local rental house and try it out, you won't regret it.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I come from the still/print industry and pick cameras on image quality, build quality, DOF and/or lens options/quality and also reputation for reliability and usability.

I have chosen the XF305 to complement other cameras to be tools of the trade that I feel work well together to create artistic and creative motion graphics and video projects. Each one has a specific time and place to be used.

This camera was chosen primarily for its color space, feature set, great lens, great zoom, decent low light performance (still a small sensor camera), good build quality, fast focusing and good lens aperture throughout the range.

The primary use of the XF305 is a run and gun machine. But definitely not limited to this. It can certainly hold its own in other situations if wanting shallower DOF, just be aware of its limitations.

Very happy with the purchase? Yes. Would I change my decision? Absolutely not. No major complaints with build quality or performance in the field.

Camera will be used for documentaries, events and commercial production.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Purchased this camera after using Sony HVR Z7U for a number of years and not disappointed. Main reason was the use of CF cards. Still trying to make adjustments in low light situations, but feel confident I will get it. Lots of features that make shooting a pleasure. A little heavier than I thought it would be. Overall, pleased with my purchase.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

pros: definitely a great camera. love the zoom distance. autofocus is great. works better for me in premiere cs5. very sharp.

con: power button... can never get it where i need it without a second attempt. really can't use it past 6db of gain without significant noise though... but the 1.6 or whatever f stop lens makes up for that.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a professional in-house videographer and I use it for documentary style shooting. it shoots in great quality and the features are easy to handle. The one thing that wasn't the best for what I do is that it is a little heavy and hard to handhold, without a shoulder mount.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I love the canon xf305 below is a video I shot and edited with mine[@]

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

Canon's XF305 has very good low-light capabilities (not perfect, but way above average). My initial concern was filming in low-light with this camcorder. It works much better than I expected after reading many reviews. I had confidence in all other aspects of the camcorder and I have proved them to myself: Picture Quality--Same as you see on TV at 50Mbps 4:2:2. Glass quality: 18x L-series Canon lens--doesn't get any better at this price point. I used to have to use an Anton Bauer battery on my previous camcorder to attain a multi-hour shoot (I use two BP-970G batteries, one at a time and get 5+ hours recording time with each battery = 11+ hours total) and the weight of the Canon battery is tiny comparatively. I would recommend getting several (3 or more) Sandisk 32 GB UDMA CF cards since you can hot-swap them as you are filming. Professional Controls let you get the shots you want. LCD is clear and large for any camcorder. If you go to NAB, you can see it in action, but short of that, it is hard to get your hands on one.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I own the Canon XLH1 and the images from this camera are much better. It's almost like being there. Apart from a fiddly on-off switch, the controls are well laid out and with a little practice and the Vortex DVD I was able to master the camera. The camera has the best autofocus I have ever seen on any camera.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

use it in my green screen studio and the 4:2:2 colour space is beautiful.
No more tapes or expensive cards
Feels like a real camera

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I use this camera for studio work in creating e-learning lessons and "on-demand" seminars and conferences. I do a lot of clean, white backgrounds, black backgrounds or green screen work. In my opinion, for the price point, this camera rocks the studio world. Quality-wise, our work can now compete with studios that use much more expensive cameras.

We were contemplating contracting our studio work out, but with this camera we no longer have to. It works well with the CS5 suite, which is what we use for all our post work. You'd be hard pressed to find a studio camera at twice the price that does what this one does. I'm looking forward to doing some on-location work with it, but can't speak to that right now.

Comments about Canon XF305 Professional Camcorder:

I am a semi-pro user. Mostly amatuer stuff like weddings, events, amatuer sports and some ENG work. This camera is a good step for Canon into the professional market. While still a long-GOP scheme, the color and clarity is fantastic compared to other Canon video cameras I've used including the still shooter Canon 5D EOS.

I was at a Phoenix pro retailer recently while the Canon rep was there and we did a split monitor comparison of the XF305 vs. an AVC-Intra 3x 1/3" camera. Both had standard lenses they ship with. The Canon was much clearer with a better color depth. All agreed it was mostly due to the Fujinon 17X lense the other cam comes with but it was still very impressive - this camera has first rate glass and coupled with their new CMOS and the compression scheme, its pro-rated. To achieve this clarity, Canon has removed the Flourite from this lense and replaced it with a new proprietary mixture, similar to their HDTV lenses.

I have three Canon HD and SD cams including an XL-H1A. The XF305 is much clearer, quicker to set up post work (I use AVID MC), has more features internally, plus, SDI, Genlock etc. Worth the extra $1K over the XF300. I wish they would also include SDI with the XF-300.

The LED screen is in a non-traditonal place but after using it for a while you realize it's quite ergonomic and you'll forget about it's location. Quite LARGE, it also has video waveform as a lower left PIP which is nice and a focus assist waveform on the botton, outside of the overscan for manual work. The viewfinder can also be swiveled to either side of the camera for you lefties. The control buttons, located for the left hand, should have some bumps or something so you can find them easier in critical shooting situations as they all feel somewhat alike.

It's low light rating is slightly better than the HDV models. It's a perfect 5500K camera, and wonderful indors with lighting. I also tested for CMOS flashband using the EOS MKII-5D. It is barely noticeable at 60i, but is slightly at 24P and 30P - end users will not notice it. Yeah, you'll see it in post but so what. Forget overcranking with flash present.

Other features - you can set the camera knees to mimick other camera types and save these settings if you are ever using other cam brands or working events with other partners.

This seems to be the best 1/3" 3-CMOS for the price point. While I like this camera a lot I wish Canon would come out with a 1/2" 3-CMOS.