Canon XC10. What The Heck? My Thoughts On The New Hybrid 4K Camera
Okay. At first I was baffled by the Canon XC10. It didn’t make much sense to me. The price seems high and a 1″ sensor is going backwards. Who wants that? What the heck is Canon thinking?
Well after my initial negative first impressions subsided I started looking at it and trying to see how I could use it and then it started to make more sense to me.
Lets say I’m using the new C300 MKII and want a second angle or B-cam heck even a three camera setup. That would require either another Cinema EOS preferably or another brand’s camera. So for $2500 I could get a the XC10 that has a very close gamma setting to the C300 MKII. It also has C-Log and Wide DR and a very good codec too. More on that later.
Now, I don’t know how well the cameras color will match, but I have a feeling that it will match much better than a GH4 or A7s would. I’m comfortable with mixing camera brands for the most part due to necessity, but if I could make grading/matching easier you bet I would. Grading is time consuming. I’m not a colorist I just have to be. Will the XC10 match perfect? I dont know, but if it does it will be a nice timesaver in post.
Back to the price. It’s really dang expensive! Is it? The Sony A7s for me is a B-Camera. Many use it that way as well as the GH4. I have used both as a main camera too because I like them and they are really good cameras but they sure make life difficult in a production environment. These cameras are stills cameras first with very good video features. Lots of compromises have to be taken to use them as a main camera. Audio and monitoring isn’t easy without adding an external EVF or monitor and then you need a cage to hold all the bits in place. Anyway you know what I’m talking about if you use a DSLR or hybrid before as a video camera.
As I see it the $2500 price tag includes a pretty versatile lens. 8.9 to 89 mm (35mm Equivalent Movie Mode: 27.3 to 273 mm. (35mm Equivalent Photo Mode: 24.1 to 241 mm)
Yes it’s not very fast on the long end at f5.6 but f/2.8 is pretty good. It comes with a loupe style EVF and a grip like what the Cinema EOS cameras have.
New to Canon is 5-axis image stabilization. Only works in full HD. Doesn’t work when in 4K mode. Optical IS works in 4K as well as Face detection AF. Not bad, Would have been nice to also include Dual Pixel AF goodness. The twist with the XC10 is that it’s a video camera first and a stills camera second. A true “video camera” hybrid. As a B-Camera the 1″ sensor wont get in your way. Shoot the wides with the CX10. Get the portrait mediums with the C300 MKII or C100. Put it on the gimbal or jib. Get quick establishing shots with it. Use the tool for what it was meant for. I bet on the long end you still will be able to get some shallow depth of field even at f5.6. Something that I would like to test.
Now this is how I would use it but then again having a 1″ sensor that has a inherent deeper focus can be a benefit. In event shooting you wont have to deal with out of focus shots. You could get a higher keeper count. No reseting the shot in event shooting. If you miss it you miss it. Not every shot has to be shallow.
Okay back to that $2500 price tag. A GH4 cost $1600 plus you will need to buy lenses. Done. You just went over $2500 if you buy one lens for $900. The A7s cost $2500. Done. Now you need lenses and just went over. So now the price looks pretty good. Out of the box you can start shooting literally since the XC10 comes with one SanDisk 64GB CFast™ 2.0 Memory Card and CFast™ Card Reader. The SanDisk CFast card retails for $400 and the reader $50. Thats a $450 value. If you take that into account the camera is more like $2050.
Now back to that codec.
Below we see that this camera has pretty darn good bitrates and uses the new XF-AVC codec that is also in the new C300 MKII.
305 Mbps in 4K is pretty good and it’s 4:2:2, 8-bit. This is better than any hybrid camera on the market today without using a external recorder.
| Bitrates | 4K 305 Mbps: 29.97p, 23.98p 205 Mbps: 25p1080 / 720p 50 Mbps: 59.94p, 50p 35 Mbps: 59.94i, 50i, 29.97p 25p |
- 1″ CMOS Sensor and DIGIC DV 4 Processor
- UltraHD 4K at 29.97/25/23.98p
- H.264 Recording in MFX Wrapper
- Up to 305 Mbps 4K / 50 Mbps HD Recording
- SDHC/SDXC and CFast Card Slots
- HDMI Output – Supports 4K Monitoring
- 10x Zoom / 8.9 to 89mm Focal Length
- f/2.8 to 5.6 Aperture Range
- 100 to 20,000 ISO Range
- Ergonomic Tilting Hand Grip
An interesting feature is the jpg capture. In playback you can select and export a frame to an SD card. I like that. Could come in handy.
Here are some other features worth noting. Rotating grip (rotated approx. 90°), Slow & Fast motion recording, pre-recording (only in the HD recording mode), interval recording (only in the Photo mode), Audio Scene, powered IS, Magnification (Moving the position to be enlarged is possible), Color bar, peaking, Zebra pattern display, Function customizing, assign button (3x), marker display, digital teleconverter (2x), GPS support (GP-E2)
On another camera site they stated that IS doesn’t work in 4K mode. I asked Canon directly and they told me that all resolutions including 4K work with image stabilization.
Is this the best all around camera? For me no. but for a second or B-cam I can see it’s potential and I think event shooters and journalist are going to like the features that are designed with them in mind. The IQ looks pretty good. Detail is nice and will match well if you use a C300 or C100.
The Canon XC10 is an interesting camera that is breaking into a new segment. A video first hybrid camera with a very robust codec and log gamma that should match well with the Canon Cinema EOS Cameras. I cant wait to see it at NAB and hopefully give it test drive soon.
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Canon XC10 Specifications
| Image sensing device | Sensor | CMOS sensor (single panel) | |
| Size | l.0-inch (16.0mm on the diagonal) | ||
| Total pixels | Approx. 13.36 megapixels (4224 x 3164) | ||
| Number of effective pixels | Movies: approx. 8.29 megapixels (3840 x 2160) Photos: approx. 12 megapixels (4000 x 3000) |
||
| Filter | RGB primary color filter (Bayer array) | ||
| Lens (CANON 4K VIDEO LENS) | Magnification | 10x | |
| Nominal focal length | 8.9to 89 mm | ||
| 35mm equivalent | [Movies] 27.3 to 273 mm [Photos (4:3)] 24.1 to 241 mm |
||
| F number | f/2.8-5.6 | ||
| Aperture | 8-blade iris diaphragm | ||
| Shutter | Mechanical shutter incorporated | ||
| ND filter | 1 unit (single density) | ||
| Image stabilizer | Optical system + electronic system | ||
| Operating rings | Focus ring/zoom ring | ||
| Exposure | Exposure mode | In the Auto / programmed AE (P) / shutter priority AE (Tv) or aperture priority AE (Av) / manual exposure (M) / SCN (Portrait / Sports / Night Scene / Snow / Beach / Sunset / Low Light / Spotlight / Fireworks) | |
| Other | Exposure lock/AE shift/Highlight AE | ||
| Focus | Mode | AF/Manual (Focus ring) | |
| AF system | TTL-video signal sensing system | ||
| Other | Face detection & tracking, AiAF (in photo mode), PUSH AF, touch focus function provided | ||
| LCD monitor | 3.0-inch (7.66 cm on the diagonal) color LCD (with 3:2 aspect ratio) Approx. 1,030,000 dots, 100% view field coverage Electrostatic capacitance-type touch panel, variable-angle supported |
||
| Viewfinder | Not available (but viewfinder unit comes with it) | ||
| White balance | Auto / Daylight / Shade / Cloudy / Fluorescent / Fluorescent H / Tungsten / Flash (*) / Color Temperature / set (1/2) | ||
| For photos (*) | |||
| Movie recording (Video Format: XF-AVC) | File format | MXF | |
| Video compression formats | MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 | ||
| Video Quality | (1) 4K recording (size: 3840 x 2160), (2) HD recording (size: 1920 x 1080) | ||
| Bit rate/Frame Rate | (1) 4K recording | ||
| 305 Mbps | 29.97P/23.98P | ||
| 205 Mbps | |||
| (2) HD recording | |||
| 50 Mbps | 59.94P | ||
| 35 Mbps | 29.97P/23.98P/59.94i | ||
| Color sampling | YCC422, 8-bit | ||
| Audio | Linear PCM (16-bit/48kHz), 2ch | ||
| Rec Media for Photos | Image type Size |
JPEG [3:2] 4000 x 2664 (10.66M) [4:3] 4000 x 3000 (12M) / 640 x 480 (VGA) [16:9] 3840 x 2160 (8.29M) |
|
| Other | Photo recording in movie recording mode and photo capture during movie playback also possible (In these cases, the image size will be the same as the size of the images in which the movies are recorded and played back.) Single shot. Continuous or AF Continuous available with drive mode setting | ||
| Recording media | CFast | 4K recording | |
| SD Card | Recording of HD video images, photos (JPEG), menus, etc. possible | ||
| ISO/Gain setting | lSO160 – 20000/Gain 0.0dB – 42dB Auto ISO limit/AGC limit functions incorporated |
||
| Time code | Count-up Operation mode | Drop frame* or non-drop frame Rec run, free run, regeneration |
|
| Image customizing (settings that give the images a particular “look”) | (1) In the movie mode; Standard, EOS Std., Wide DR, Cinema EOS Std., Canon Log, User Setting (1/2) (2) In the photo mode: Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Sepia, Monochrome, User Setting (1/2) |
||
| Other | Rotating grip (rotated approx. 90°), Slow & Fast motion recording, pre-recording (only in the HD recording mode), interval recording (only in the Photo mode), Audio Scene, powered IS, Magnification (Moving the position to be enlarged is possible), Color bar, peaking, Zebra pattern display, Function customizing, assign button (3x), marker display, digital teleconverter (2x), GPS support (GP-E2) | ||
| Playback | Playback operations | Normal playback, fast forward (at speeds of 5x, 15x, 60x), fast reverse (at speeds of 5x, 15x, 60x), frame forward, frame reverse, forward skip, reverse skip | |
| Index displays | 3×4 (clip) index screen [4K Clips, HD Clips, photo playback indexes] |
||
| Other | Enlargement zooming (in photo mode), HD image extraction playback (in 4K Clips playback mode) | ||
| Edit | Deletion only | ||
| Wi-Fi | Provided (5 GHz/2.4 GHz dual band) | ||
| Accessory shoe | Speedlite supported | ||
| Terminal | HDMI OUT connector, USB connector, MIC jack, headphone jack, DC-IN socket | ||
| Image processing platform | DIGIC DV5 | ||
| Power supply-related specs | Battery Pack(*): LP-E6N(7.2V 1865mAh) Battery Charger: LC-E6 Compact Power Adapter CA-570 |
||
| (*) Interchangeable with EOS models (5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, 6D, 7D Mark II, 7D, 70D, 60D, 60Da) | |||
Filed in: 4K • Canon • Canon Cinema EOS • Featured Post
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Erick I love all of or most of your post but really? Do You think this camera can be better therm a A7S AS A SECOND CAMERA? I think we lo de Canon so much that we aré Trying to accept what they bring as good.
To be honest for that I better go to a full camcorder instead.
Let’s see what this bring us to the field. Imagine changing lighting just because you need to go close on a scene and the lens is closing down. I am lretty sure ISO performance will be worst then on the 7DM2.
I’m looking at it as another option. We need to use it and see what the real potential is but I think it’s an interesting concept. If your shooting 4K then I do think it could be a better than using the A7s. That camera is great but no internal 4K so a recorder has to used.
Hi Erik…In general, I agree with your assessment of the XC10. Couple of sticking points not mentioned, however.
1.) No XLR jacks.
2.) Stabilization does NOT work in 4K; only works 1080. That makes it not so friendly when used on any rig, off tripod. This taken from the DP Review page describing the camera. “It also includes 5-axis image stabilization, though IS only works up to 1080 resolution.” Haven’t seen that anywhere else, but it would be a deal breaker for many.
Len
I dont think IS wont work in 4K. I’m pointing out mostly using the XC10 as a B-camera personaly. Again the GH4 and A7s dont have XLR either. We will learn more next week at NAB.
Did you skim Len’s comment? He gave a direct quote about IS not working in 4K. What is the basis for your conclusion (double negative no less), “I dont think IS wont work”?
Ha! I have no working knowledge that it wont work. I’m going on what the specifications state thats all. Relax. It’s just a camera. I’ll have a look at it on Monday and get all the details.
George. I just got word back from Canon and they verified that IS works in all resolutions. The DPreview article is incorrect.
Thanks
Erik
Hey Len I just read the DPreview article and I don’t see the mention of IS not being supported in 4K. Could you please send me a link. Email is fine too. Thanks buddy! Here is the article I read.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/0450641439/canon-xc10-what-you-need-to-know?slide=8
I look at this as a step up from an ENG style camera. The footage I have seen have very good detail. The drawback I think is that is does not have ND filters (as far as I can tell).
It has a single ND filter.
Hi Erik…it’s from this link. Scroll down to the paragraph that says, “Enter the XC10.” It’s below the photo in that section.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/1113663915/opinion-why-the-canon-xc10-is-a-big-deal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=generic
Great! Thanks Len. I reached out to Canon today to ask about that. To me it doesn’t make much sense. I also read in that paragraph that it has ND filters. The specifications say “1 unit (single density)” Confusing. Is that one 2 or 4 stop? I have no idea.
Hi Len
I just got word back from Canon and they verified that IS works in all resolutions. The DPreview article is incorrect.
Thanks.
Erik
I had the same first reaction to this camera, then I starting thinking about how we would use this camera and started to get excited. We shoot dog training videos and this would be great as a second camera in bright daylight which is where we shoot 95% of the time. In that case the slow lens does not matter and you can put it on a wide shot hit record and walk away 🙂 But others won’t have this same situation but for some it could work as a great little b cam.
I updated the post to make it more clear about image stabilization on the XC10. 5-axis image stabilization only works in full HD. The XC10 lens has IS that will work in all resolutions.
Erik…I’m not really sure this makes things more clear. Please elaborate on this a bit.
Thanx!
Len
From Canon:
The XC10 camcorder incorporates Canon’s advanced and proprietary DIGIC DV5 signal processor to support in-camera 4K video acquisition and 5-axis image stabilization (full HD only) as well as slow and fast motion recording.
How the 5 axis IS works is not clear but it seems its in the sensor and processor. My mistake about mentioning IS lenses because it’s a fixed lens camera. I’m having a post NAB hangover 😀
Would this then be a choice above the c100 mk2 if I were in the market for a new camera?? Interesting……
Depends on your needs and what look you want. I dont see it as a camera that would replace the idea of a C100 MKII but rather a B-camera to it. I need a larger sensor look. For me the XC10 would be on a jib or 3-axis gimbals. Shots that benefit from deeper focus.
But for a doccumentary set up where a large sensor look is not essential the xc10 would be ideal. It even gives you the ability to shoot timelapse. Ok the audio will need an additional xlr module but it ticks all the right boxes for 90 percent of doccumentary style of work. Of course one now needs to see the actual footage coming out of the camera. If it Can work as a b cam surely it says a lot..
Then yeah. Like I said depends on your needs. The XC10 has a very solid codec too.
Eric, any idea when we will start seeing test footage on the net?
Other than the Canon promo shoot I haven’t seen anything yet.
Hi Eric,
So, after the A7sii release seems everybody has put this little camcorder on the side for many reasons.
Now after several months of release, what do you think of this camcorder. Have you been able to work with it?
I haven’t tried it but it doesn’t have a sensor I’m interested in so right of the bat It’s not a camera I would want. Seems kind of limiting for the price.