Canon XF605 -- Anyone here bought and/or used one yet?

[Doug Jensen]

The touch focus and great Face/Eye AF of the FX6 have really spoiled me as much as the eND has. But maybe you can speak to either of those points.

Well, no video camera in the world has better AF than the FX6, so that is a tough standard to go by.

Normally when I'm using AF on the Z280 I'm shooting human faces, and in that regard it is just as good as the FX6. Keep in mind that the Z280 has edge enhance peaking (not found on the FX6 or the two Canon camcorders) that makes manual focusing very easy. When I rented a XF705 earlier this summer manual focusing was really, really difficult due to the poor peaking performance and very short throw on the focus ring. The focus ring on the Z280 is much smoother with longer throws. Plus the OLED viewfinder on the Z280 has 30% more resolution than either of the Canons, thus making it even easier to focus.

Comparing AF on the Z280 to the two Canon camcorders is probably more important that comparing it to the FX6, anyway. In my testing I found the Z280 and XF705 to perform pretty much the same for general b-roll and stuff like that. I don't know about AF the XF605.

Ah, one more hesitation: I'd need to invest in a new media ecosystem (SxS cards/reader).

Yeah, that is one thing in the Canon's favor. A few years ago I would have given you a song and dance about how SxS cards were safer, etc., but now having used Sony TOUGH SDXC cards for a year and a half on the FX6 without any trouble, I don't think those arguments about SxS hold water anymore. For some of the less-demanding codecs you could use a SDXC card adapter. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...d_adaptor.html

 

[Doug Jensen]

The thing about working with a 1/2" sensor is that the AF doesn't have to be that great. .

I'd have to disagree with that. Something is either in focus or it is not. Yes, you'll have a little more DoF to work with on a 1'2" camera (all things being equal) but that doesn't change the fact you still need to be correctly focused on the subject for perfect sharpness. Also, the Canons are only f/4.5 lenses when zoomed in vs. f/1.9 on the Z280, so the DoF difference between the cameras is barely anything at all.

 

[cpreston]

I'd have to disagree with that. Something is either in focus or it is not. Yes, you'll have a little more DoF to work with on a 1'2" camera (all things being equal) but that doesn't change the fact you still need to be correctly focused on the subject for perfect sharpness. Also, the Canons are only f/4.5 lenses when zoomed in vs. f/1.9 on the Z280, so the DoF difference between the cameras is barely anything at all.

Somehow, I still think we are agreeing with each other. If the OP is coming from an FX6 with fast lenses, he might be used to dealing with the camera mistaking the hair or shoulders for the point of focus. In that case, the eyes are noticeably out of focus. On the 705 or Z280, getting focus on the hair is good enough.

Also, I didn’t say that the DOF wide open would be different on the Sony or the Canon. In fact that is one of my annoyances with the Canon. Canon markets the camera as having a bigger sensor than other camcorders, but any benefit of a bigger sensor is lost with putting the same size lens on the camera. In fact, a three chip CCD sensor is probably better than a the 1” CMOS.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Yes, I understood what you were saying and was just adding more info to the discussion for someone to think about when comparing the cameras. I did not mean to imply you had said something different.

The only point I disagree with you on is . . . "On the 705 or Z280, getting focus on the hair is good enough." Sure if you're on a wide shot, but if you are zoomed into anything closer than a medium shot there is definitely a difference between being focused on the hair or the eyes. A small-sensor camera is no excuse for getting sloppy or having reduced standards.

 

[drboffa]

Thanks for such a thorough reply, Doug. I appreciate the insights from someone who has as much experience with the Z280 as you do. I should rent one to see how I like using it in a real world scenario, as on paper it's very appealing for some kinds of work.

Yeah, that is one thing in the Canon's favor. A few years ago I would have given you a song and dance about how SxS cards were safer, etc., but now having used Sony TOUGH SDXC cards for a year and a half on the FX6 without any trouble, I don't think those arguments about SxS hold water anymore. For some of the less-demanding codecs you could use a SDXC card adapter. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...d_adaptor.html

Do you have much experience with these adapters? I used one with an old EX1 and it was dodgy—I seem to recall that sometimes it just wouldn't work (like it didn't even recognize media was inserted). Although maybe I was using an SD card with too much capacity.

 

[Doug Jensen]

I have a first-generation MEAD-SD01 adapter for testing purposes, but I own enough SxS cards that I don't need to use adapters on real shoots. But I'd have 100% confidence using Sony TOUGH V90 cards for the formats that the camera would allow them to be used. Other cards might be good enough too, but I can only endorse what I have actually used myself. Also, you don't need the newest greatest SxS cards. All types of SxS cards, except for the SxS-1 cards (orange trim) will work with anything the Z280 can put out.

 

[drboffa]

Good to know, Doug. Thank you!

 

[jcadge]

I have the 605 and use it mainly for live event shoots and hand held B-roll, very good stabilizer to give smooth hand held work, so far footage has looked really good, only major gripe is lack of a wide focal length, not nearly wide enough for me, maybe the equivalent to a 35mm, I have rarely used the long side of the lens so I would much prefer more wide and less telephoto, which I know is tough with the sensor. Low light might look noisy for some but for the shoots we have had so far in various interiors the available light looked fine, shooting C Log 3 slightly over exposing on waveform (but below 100) to take keep the blacks quiet in post.

Jeff Cadge

 

[dfphoto]

Yes I own the XF605 R6 and the R7 I have owned other camcorder type of cameras, I also do not love the 2.8-4.5 lens but it works well, the face-eye autofocus is unbelievable and better than expected even better than the R6, I did a favor and shot a wedding (Jewish so it was dusk and I opted to go full auto which I never ever do and did with no issues. This camera is amazing in that you can turn it on and be recording in 10 seconds if you have planned in advance a bit. Meaning selecting audio impute if you are going with a wireless into the camera.

The camera shoots low light quite well about the same as the APC r7 the weird thing for me is the gain setup as you can only set 3 settings for toggle switch usage. in my case I choose 3 fairly close ISO (my preferred) and that worked well same for the white balance. I use 256gb v90 300mb/s cards I own 8 that was a decent amount of money. Interestingly, the camera is not bad at getting a shallow depth of field look but if you think about it, 90% of the time you just need your shots in focus and deal with other issues later and getting a soft depth of field is not that hard for a video to get I have 2 extra 90 batteries not canon brand and they last a long time. I was working on a job last week and the guy had a C300mk2 and saw him swapping lenses and all that and while it looked a bit better meaning Canon pro L lenses but overall the hassle he was going through was not equal to the look of the files...

I'm not trying to knock a 10k camera vs a 4500 camera but 90% its the same. I think you should consider renting one for a weekend to see if it works for yourself no way asking questions will tell you enough... The camera feels solid to me, the screens are good the eye piece works and I like the files The one thing to remember, the camera numbers the cards and if you pull one it adds that number I thought I erased a card by accident when I did a quick test instead so know that...