Announcement: Canon XC10, A Breakthrough Compact 4K Video and Stills Camcorder

[Bennymiata]

The Canon "see impossible" campaign was a joke, and this is the punch line. Leading photographers and videographers alike are leaving Canon en mass, and when the guys at the top of their profession jump ship, you know others will follow. The 5D IV had better be some kind of miracle or the exodus will be brutal.

I doubt it.
You couldn't prise Canons away from most pros.

This new camera would certainly be useful to my event work where I often jump between video and stills.

There's not much mention of the autofocus system. I'm interested to see tests of it and the performance of the camera.
Having a fixed lens is no problem to me, as long as the quality is good, and the zoom is fine for my needs.

 

[Diltiazem]

Just received the B&H Announcement - $2499:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1134581-REG/canon_0565c013_xc10.html

I do not know how well this camera will compete against the GH4, the initial cost will be a LOT more than $2500 USD. 4K at 305 Mb/s will require a 256 MB CFast card, I think you would get around an hour or so of video time. B&H has the Lexar - Professional 256GB 3400x CFast 2.0 Memory Card for $989.95, making this XC10 camcorder come in at $3500 before you can go out an start shooting video.

From press release (taken from DPR)
"The Canon XC10 4K Digital Camcorder is scheduled to be available in June 2015 for an estimated retail price of $2,499.00 with SanDisk 64GB CFast™ 2.0 card and card reader."

A 64 GB card is not going to allow someone to shoot very much 4K video at 305 Mb/s. You will realistically need 256 MB to 512 MB worth of CFast memory to make it worth your time to leave the house to go on a shoot. Not sure what your point is here.

There is a difference between " making this XC10 camcorder come in at $3500 before you can go out an start shooting video." and " You will realistically need 256 MB to 512 MB worth of CFast memory to make it worth your time to leave the house to go on a shoot". My point lies in that difference. I agree with you what you said second time though. But wouldn't that be true for any video camera if you want to shoot 4K and record it in a CFast 2.0?

 

[Tugela]

The Canon "see impossible" campaign was a joke, and this is the punch line. Leading photographers and videographers alike are leaving Canon en mass, and when the guys at the top of their profession jump ship, you know others will follow. The 5D IV had better be some kind of miracle or the exodus will be brutal.

I doubt it.
You couldn't prise Canons away from most pros.

This new camera would certainly be useful to my event work where I often jump between video and stills.

There's not much mention of the autofocus system. I'm interested to see tests of it and the performance of the camera.
Having a fixed lens is no problem to me, as long as the quality is good, and the zoom is fine for my needs.

Most pros won't be using an XC10 though.

If event photographers insist on using FF cameras like the 5D now, there is ZERO chance that they are suddenly going to jump ship to a relatively low pixel count 1 inch sensor camera, unless they have been full of BS all this time about why they use 5D3s for events.

So, I'm thinking they won't be using the XC10 for that. And for video there are other options that cost less and have less demanding storage requirements.

 

[ukmdb]

I would have jumped in for a couple of these bodies until I seen the Cfast 2.0 with no other external recording option. 64GB card will only give 25mins at 4k which means I would need at least 2 x 256GB cfast cards per body.
and at £700 a pop I will end up spending more on cards per body than the price of the body itself.

Does anyone know of a dummy Cfast 2.0 adapter > SSD ?

 

[scyrene]

Leading photographers and videographers alike are leaving Canon en mass [sic]

[Citation needed]

 

[gsealy]

I would like to hear people's thoughts on the video sample.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbTd5DbSk_g

I ran this at 4K with a high speed connection. Yikes! It is awful. Perhaps it is just my browser or connection or whatever. But there are sure a bunch of video issues, and moire everywhere.

 

[bsbeamer]

Does anyone know of a dummy Cfast 2.0 adapter > SSD ?

Sounds like the old P2 media card hack days when HD was a new(er) thing! Addonics would probably be the only company that would make something like that, but have a feeling there is no market for it considering most people in that situation will just take an HDMI out and record directly to an external SSD. Who knows if this camera will actually do that in 4K or not...

 

[mackguyver]

I would have jumped in for a couple of these bodies until I seen the Cfast 2.0 with no other external recording option. 64GB card will only give 25mins at 4k which means I would need at least 2 x 256GB cfast cards per body.
and at £700 a pop I will end up spending more on cards per body than the price of the body itself.

Does anyone know of a dummy Cfast 2.0 adapter > SSD ?

I haven't seen any SSDs as small as a CF / CFast card, but the camera has HDMI out...

 

[Tinky]

Not a C100 beater.

For a few reasons. Ergonomics. Audio interfaces. Number of built in ND stages (in video you can't just juggle the shutter) Interchangable lenses. Sensor size. Depth of field control. and many more.

Oh it has 4K. That will be really handy in 5 years. If you are pitching this as an industrial level camera (as opposed to feature film level camera) then you have to look at what folk there are using.

Broadcast has only just caught up with HD... there's plenty of life in 1080 cameras yet.

The killer thing for me, is the lens. Too slow. You need a constant aperture, or at the very least a lens that goes no darker than f2.8. Again, in video you cannot just juggle the shutter. f-drop is bad news for shot matching. Not insurmountable, but I fear the f5.6 is.

I could have just about forgiven canon if they had implemented a servo zoom and maybe a lanc port. The one thing where ENG cameras still have the upper hand if servo zoom and off camera zoom control..

 

[dlee13]

Everyone was wondering why the 5Ds didn't do 4k, well this is the reason why!

 

[moreorless]

Not a C100 beater.

For a few reasons. Ergonomics. Audio interfaces. Number of built in ND stages (in video you can't just juggle the shutter) Interchangable lenses. Sensor size. Depth of field control. and many more.

Oh it has 4K. That will be really handy in 5 years. If you are pitching this as an industrial level camera (as opposed to feature film level camera) then you have to look at what folk there are using.

Broadcast has only just caught up with HD... there's plenty of life in 1080 cameras yet.

The killer thing for me, is the lens. Too slow. You need a constant aperture, or at the very least a lens that goes no darker than f2.8. Again, in video you cannot just juggle the shutter. f-drop is bad news for shot matching. Not insurmountable, but I fear the f5.6 is.

I could have just about forgiven canon if they had implemented a servo zoom and maybe a lanc port. The one thing where ENG cameras still have the upper hand if servo zoom and off camera zoom control..

I would guess Canon probably thinks those who need 4K in a "serious" camera will likely be able to pay the extra for the new C300. I'm guessing your talking about producers of Film/TV content where viewing over a number of years is going to be an issue.

Something like the XC10 to me seems like 4K could have more appeal, using screen grabs for media work of events, maybe shooting 4K for wedding videos or perhaps some secondary use for the kind of above broadcast work where the small size will be needed for certain shots(maybe via drone).

 

[Tinky]

Not a C100 beater.

For a few reasons. Ergonomics. Audio interfaces. Number of built in ND stages (in video you can't just juggle the shutter) Interchangable lenses. Sensor size. Depth of field control. and many more.

Oh it has 4K. That will be really handy in 5 years. If you are pitching this as an industrial level camera (as opposed to feature film level camera) then you have to look at what folk there are using.

Broadcast has only just caught up with HD... there's plenty of life in 1080 cameras yet.

The killer thing for me, is the lens. Too slow. You need a constant aperture, or at the very least a lens that goes no darker than f2.8. Again, in video you cannot just juggle the shutter. f-drop is bad news for shot matching. Not insurmountable, but I fear the f5.6 is.

I could have just about forgiven canon if they had implemented a servo zoom and maybe a lanc port. The one thing where ENG cameras still have the upper hand if servo zoom and off camera zoom control..

I would guess Canon probably thinks those who need 4K in a "serious" camera will likely be able to pay the extra for the new C300. I'm guessing your talking about producers of Film/TV content where viewing over a number of years is going to be an issue.

Something like the XC10 to me seems like 4K could have more appeal, using screen grabs for media work of events, maybe shooting 4K for wedding videos or perhaps some secondary use for the kind of above broadcast work where the small size will be needed for certain shots(maybe via drone).

Can't argue with either supposition.

My 5 years bit was a bit sarcastic... I shoot for today, but then I don't do much drama, more current affairs, my cameras only need to work with current tech, so as every camera spend is less pension, less holiday time, less mobey for bills, less money in my pocket day to day, I buy what I need, when I need it.

Even if I needed 4k the xc-10 isn't the camera to deliver it for me.

And then I'd need a newer faster RAID, a new software license and probably a new mac.. if and when I need I will. I don't just yet.

 

[Bennymiata]

Thinking about this camera and its intended market, I reckon that a lot of families will buy it instead of a better DSLR to be used for what family cameras are used for - photos and videos of the family where ultimate quality is not so important, but versatility and ease of use are paramount.
One big attraction is that it is reasonably future-proof due to the videos being in 4K.
I can also see event photographers using it for customers that just want stills and video for the web.

I think it will sell OK and it will spawn a number of clones from other makers.
Soon the price will come down to $2k or so which puts it into the price point for better off families.

 

[Tinky]

panasonic have a camera that can do much the same things for half the price. not the gh4, but a camcorder based design. faster lens too. And a servo zoom.

 

[Tugela]

Thinking about this camera and its intended market, I reckon that a lot of families will buy it instead of a better DSLR to be used for what family cameras are used for - photos and videos of the family where ultimate quality is not so important, but versatility and ease of use are paramount.
One big attraction is that it is reasonably future-proof due to the videos being in 4K.
I can also see event photographers using it for customers that just want stills and video for the web.

I think it will sell OK and it will spawn a number of clones from other makers.
Soon the price will come down to $2k or so which puts it into the price point for better off families.

Not for 2.5K they won't. They will instead buy one of a fair number of hybrid cameras on the market that are capable of shooting both high quality video and high quality stills. The XC10 can shoot (probably) good video, but the stills will be mediocre.

And all of those hybrids (basically most new mid to high level consumer cameras) are considerably cheaper.

 

[Tugela]

panasonic have a camera that can do much the same things for half the price. not the gh4, but a camcorder based design. faster lens too. And a servo zoom.

Most camcorders will take stills as well, there is nothing new about that concept. The only problem with them is that the stills they take do not compete well with those from proper cameras since they are basically frames taken from the raw video stream.

 

[Tinky]

I haven't seen the stills quality from the xc10.

Its a video orientated camera, which appears to lack phase detect af. I think if still quality is of paramount concern you'll already have and already be shooting with something more stills orientated.

This seems targeted at aspiring amateurs or run and gun news gatherers on a budget. Where fast enough, portable enough, convenient enough is as important as good enough (for web, for newsprint)

 

[knagar24]

My thoughts on why the the Canon XC10 wont be a game changer-

https://kshitijnagar.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/nabshow-roundup-quickthoughts-on-why-the-canon-xc-10-is-not-a-game-changer/

 

[Tugela]

The Sony RX10 mark II was announced today. That will be the new king in this form factor, not the XC10. Sorry Canon. Maybe better luck next time, when perhaps you will have a clue.

 

[Tinky]

correct. affordable memory. constant f2.8 zoom lens.

add a tascam or beachtek and you are away.