CANON XF605 GEAR REVIEW.
Specifications
PRICE £4319/$4499
SENSOR SIZE 1.0in 8.29-megapixel CMOS
FORMATS XF-AVC/H.265 4:2:2 10-bit, 4K 23.98/25/29.97/50/59.94fps, 160-410Mbps; HD 23.98/25/29.97/50/59.94/120fps, 50-310Mbps GAMMA Canon Log 3, Rec.709, HDR-HLG Autofocus: Dual Pixel CMOS AF, eye AF and head detection LENS 8.3-124.5mm f/2.8-4.5 (25.5- 382.5mm equivalent), 18 elements in 14 groups
BATTERY Canon BP-A
ND FILTERS Six stops built in
very natural looking, with bright but realistic colours. The Log footage retained a lot of detail and there was surprisingly little noise in shadow areas – especially considering the sensor isn’t full-frame dual ISO. It’s tricky to get cinematically shallow depth-of-field wielding a fixed-lens camcorder, but this was easy on the XF605 – especially wide open on a longer lens. It’s never going to be the wafer-thin depth-of-field of a huge-sensor camera with an f/1.2 lens wide open, but that’s not the point of the XF605. It’s a workhorse for a jobbing video shooter, with great AF and IS, a wide zoom range, top images out of camera and lots of connections. In all those areas, it’s a winner.
For storage, it houses widely available SD cards in dual slots, though you’d want a fast card to capture high-bit-rate 4K. To suit workflows that might vary from live streaming to recording for editing afterwards, the XF605 offers lots of recording options. It shoots different file formats, resolutions, colour sampling and proxies simultaneously to separate cards. And it’s possible for the image to be output to both 12G-SDI and HDMI connections at the same time. This grants choice, as it can feed into monitors or broadcast and recording systems to support both live and recorded workflows. If you are in dire need of getting footage out as quickly as possible, the XF605 is compatible with Canon’s new Content Transfer Mobile app, which allows metadata editing both pre- and post-capture, and imports footage from camera to smartphone for instant transfer to broadcast station servers. Canon has made a camcorder for the brave new world of instant broadcast and streaming. Of course, streaming doesn’t really need the highest quality – unlike editing afterwards, where you want the best image feasible. Well, the XF605 is a great performer in this regard. At the time of testing, not all NLEs could handle its top file format, but DaVinci Resolve did. Files were
FAR AND WIDE The fixed lens can handle most scenarios, with screw-on converters for when you need extra zoom or width
SCREEN 3.5in, 2760k dots, articulating touchscreen
EVF 0.36in, 1770k dots, OLED
AUDIO 3.5mm stereo mic input, multi- function shoe, 2x XLR inputs STREAMING MPEG-2 to 4K at 59.94p, 4-16Mbps CONNECTIONS 3.5mm stereo output jack, HDMI, 12G-SDI, Wi-Fi video output, timecode, genlock, LAN, USB-C
Conclusion If you’re a working professional who needs a do- everything camera that shoots great quality in 4K and can be used in lots of different ways, this could be your ideal buy. The XF605 captures high-quality movies with minimum fuss, fitting into pretty much any modern workflow situation. It can livestream events, be used for traditional broadcast, record top-quality 4K for post-event editing and even send footage to your phone for upload to an FTP server from wherever you find yourself.
STORAGE 2x SDXC
OVERALL DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 333x173x168mm/13.1x6.8x6.6in
WEIGHT 2010g/4.4lb
canon.co.uk
59. JANUARY 2023
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