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Canon: IP enabled compact X-series camcorders

Canon has added two mid-range models to its X-series camcorder family. The XF205 and XF200 sit between the existing XF100/XF105 and XF300/XF305, although as the XF200 models each have a single slightly-bigger-than one-third-inch CMOS sensor, they are nearer the 100/105 than the 300/305.

As is the trend, they are IP-enabled, with Wi-Fi and Ethernet LAN connectivity allowing direct or wireless connection to smartphones, tablets and laptops, including camera control, remote viewing and the ability to transfer files via FTP without additional software. A new CameraAccess function allows lower-quality proxy files to be streamed to another device via Wi-Fi, improving the speed in which content, such as news flashes, can be shared.

Each camera has a 20x zoom lens (3.67 – 73.4mm equivalent to 28.8 – 576mm on a 35mm sensor, f1.8), double the optical zoom of the XF100, using Hi Index Ultra Low Dispersion glass lens elements for compact size and reduced chromatic aberrations. It has a minimum focus distance of 60cm (throughout the zoom range) or 10mm in Wide Macro, plus a built-in ND filter.

They record at 50Mbps (MPEG-2) 4:2:2 MXF on Compact Flash (to dual card slots), and can simultaneously capture 35Mbps 4:2:0 MP4 files to an SD card, in HD or lower resolutions – useful for shooting for both broadcast and web channels.

Audio capture has been upgraded, with four-channel linear PCM recording, with two XLR inputs. The XF205 also has selectable 3G-SDI/HD-SDI, Timecode and Genlock connections for easy integration on multi-camera shoots or with other broadcast equipment.