Canon is expanding their market by releasing the XF300 Professional Camcorder, the 2012 best professional camcorder according to Videomaker magazine (January issue). It is par with leading camcorders in the market, and packed with 50 Mbps MPEG-2 4:2:2 HD recording. It is set to meet the needs of professional and ambitious videographers.
Pros
1. Fit for action videos
The XF300 is manufactured to be used by anyone in many types of production. Run-and-gun shots can be taken with ease, especially on a tripod, with its well thought design. Buttons on the camcorder’s body is well placed and easy to get used to. It also weighs considerably light even for its size.
2. It is durable
One of the main concerns when taking action footages is the durability of the camcorder. This camcorder is able to take hits, bumps, drops and even bad falls. It is solidly built, thus adding to the professional feel of the camcorder as well.
3. Better zooming and stability
Since the camcorder serves HD quality videos, zooming has better magnification, and the movement is seen to be more stable. It provides a good shooting quality that can be seen on the LCD screen.
4. Shooting can be made in multiple shooting formats
This camcorder is very useful for videographers who shoot in many situations. Videos can be taken in these formats 1920×1080 or 720×1080 at 50Mbps and 35 Mbps, even 1440×1080 at 25 Mbps. It can also shoot in 60p, 60i, 30p and 24p.
5. Better high definition videos
It has twice the color resolution than HD videos with the 4:2:2 color sampling. This is useful when shooting under green screen because of the XF codec color sampling.
6. Compact Flash cards can relay between it
Operation is tapeless with the XF300’s utility of CF cards. The two 32 Gigabytes CF cards on the camcorder slots can record up to 80 minutes at 50 Mbps, and information can be relayed from one card to the other.
7. Significant affordability
The XF300 is sold at a considerable price. You can have a quality camcorder without spending much.
Cons
1. Difficult power-off switch
The power switch of the camcorder is a little bit difficult to operate since it lies between the media mode and camera mode. Turning it off requires the camcorder to be on the media mode first (traditionally known as play mode).
2. It comes in a large size with expected weight
Some videographers may see this camcorder as burden with its large head and 6.5 pound weight. Even though, tripods can solve this problem. Moreover, size and weight can be disregarded with its quality HD video recording ability.
Bottom Line
Coming out of the shadow of good DSLR cameras, Canon’s XF camcorder has proven to be at par with popular camcorders in the market. Aside from its XF codec and design, what more is in Canon camcorders that will define it in the professional videocamera industry? This question will surely be addressed in its promising future.
The Canon XF300 Camcorder is a good choice for action video taking. It is especially built for quality outdoor video recording, but it is also a force to be reckoned with in indoor videography.
Price And Availability
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