external recorders with Canon XA10 and XA25

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offbeatbryce

Well-known member
Hello,

I have both the Canon XA10 and XA25 cameras. Internally it has an effective 2.91 MP sensor but it really records at 2.07 MP since it's 1920x1080 resolution, the XA25 goes up to 35mbps in 59.94fps while the XA10 only goes up to 28mbps and it can't record 59.94FPS as it's restricted to 60i which is 29.97fps.

I found this on bhphoto

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/co...1_fJ06c3uFwRoCkS_w_wcB&is=REG&m=Y&sku=1137319

If I bought this could I effectively record 59.94fps regardless of what the built in settings are on the xa10? Will i get up to 10bit color mode with this connected via HDMI to my XA10 and XA25 cameras?

both the cameras internally only record up to 8bit.

thanks,

Bryce
 
Whether using Black Magic Video Assist, or one of the Atomos recorders or similar devices - they can only record what the camera outputs to it via the HDMI or SDI port. If the camera is not capable of recording 60p, then you cannot record 60p externally. The recorder will auto-sense what standard it is receiving (like 1080i or 1080p) and record with matching settings. Your cameras use 8-bit color and are not going to output 10-bit color. I have a Sony X70 that records 10-bit internally, but the HDMI output is 8-bit. So no, you are not going to get a 10-bit 60p recording out of a camera that does not support it. I should clarify, that YES the ProRes recording is technically 10-bit, but if you fed it an 8-bit source it is 8-bit quality still, does not get magically better. However, you will gain from recording 4:2:2 color while in-camera the AVCHD uses 4:2:0 color.

If 1080i is the best the camera records, that is exactly what the external recorder will record. The benefit of the external recording is avoiding the AVCHD compression in the camera - the ProRes or DNxHD recording will be higher quality and hold up better to color correction and multi-generation encoding. There is FAR less compression applied to the video with ProRes, so you do have more detail to work with.

Don't expect miracles though - I've seen so many people buy one of these recorders and then say "the footage looks the same to me". Well, yes it does when you just watch it on a monitor. You're not really going to pick up on the quality difference when watching AVCHD vs. ProRes "on the fly" on a monitor. When you WILL see the difference is when you try to chroma key the footage, or push the color correction, or just pixel-peep and directly compare the two recordings in your NLE, then you will see less compression.

But the naked eye doesn't pick it up watching live video.

Thanks

Jeff
 
SHARBOR said:
Whether using Black Magic Video Assist, or one of the Atomos recorders or similar devices - they can only record what the camera outputs to it via the HDMI or SDI port. If the camera is not capable of recording 60p, then you cannot record 60p externally. The recorder will auto-sense what standard it is receiving (like 1080i or 1080p) and record with matching settings. Your cameras use 8-bit color and are not going to output 10-bit color. I have a Sony X70 that records 10-bit internally, but the HDMI output is 8-bit. So no, you are not going to get a 10-bit 60p recording out of a camera that does not support it. I should clarify, that YES the ProRes recording is technically 10-bit, but if you fed it an 8-bit source it is 8-bit quality still, does not get magically better. However, you will gain from recording 4:2:2 color while in-camera the AVCHD uses 4:2:0 color.

If 1080i is the best the camera records, that is exactly what the external recorder will record. The benefit of the external recording is avoiding the AVCHD compression in the camera - the ProRes or DNxHD recording will be higher quality and hold up better to color correction and multi-generation encoding. There is FAR less compression applied to the video with ProRes, so you do have more detail to work with.

Don't expect miracles though - I've seen so many people buy one of these recorders and then say "the footage looks the same to me". Well, yes it does when you just watch it on a monitor. You're not really going to pick up on the quality difference when watching AVCHD vs. ProRes "on the fly" on a monitor. When you WILL see the difference is when you try to chroma key the footage, or push the color correction, or just pixel-peep and directly compare the two recordings in your NLE, then you will see less compression.

But the naked eye doesn't pick it up watching live video.

Thanks

Jeff
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice
 
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