New from Canon XA30 XA31

Full press release at DV Info Net: Canon USA Introduces XA35, XA30 Camcorders for Professional Videographers (http://www.dvinfo.net/news/canon-usa-introduces-xa35-xa30-camcorders-for-professional-videographers.html)

XA30
1/2.84" HD CMOS Pro Sensor
1920x1080 up to 59.94p
20x Canon Optical Zoom Lens
Wide DR Gamma (600%) Mode
Highlight Priority Mode
3.5" OLED Touchscreen & EVF
2x XLR Audio Inputs with Manual Controls
Dual SD/SDHC/SDXC Media Card Slots
Built-In Wi-Fi with FTP Capabilities

XA35
•1/2.84" HD CMOS Pro Sensor
•1920x1080 up to 59.94p
•20x Canon Optical Zoom Lens
•HD/SD-SDI Output
•Wide DR Gamma (600%) Mode
•Highlight Priority Mode
•3.5" OLED Touchscreen & EVF
•2x XLR Audio Inputs with Manual Controls
•Dual SD/SDHC/SDXC Media Card Slots
•Built-In Wi-Fi with FTP Capabilities

Resolutions and Frame Rates AVCHD
1920 x 1080 / 59.94p (28, 17 Mbps)
1920 x 1080 / 59.94i, 29.97psf, 23.98p (24, 17 Mbps)
1440 x 1080 / 59.94i, 29.97psf, 23.98p (5 Mbps)

MP4
1920 x 1080 / 59.94p (35 Mbps)
1920 x 1080 / 29.97p, 23.98p (24, 17 Mbps)
1280 x 720 / 29.97p, 23.98p (4 Mbps)
640 x 360 / 29.97p, 23.98p (3 Mbps)
Slow and Fast Motion Recording 1x to 2.5x (59.94p, 35 Mbps playback; 17.5 max. recording bit rate)
0.5x to 1200x (29.97p, 24/17 Mbps playback; 48 Mbps max. recording bit rate)
0.4x to 1x (23.98p, 24/17 Mbps playback; 60 Mbps max. recording bit rate)
Maximum Recording Time With 64 GB card:

35 Mbps: 30 min.
28 Mbps: 35 min.
24 Mbps: 40 min.
17 Mbps: 1 hr.
5 Mbps: 3 hr.
4 Mbps: 4 hr. 20 min.
3 Mbps: 5 hr. 40 min.

Still no 3G-SDI? The camera is capable of 1080 60p, but STILL doesn't output that over the SDI?

The XA20 is a really great B and daytime event and grab camera, I'm very happy with the S/N and DR, really the only extra I would have wanted in an upgrade is a dial up ND filter.

Has anyone heard if there will be a consumer version? Last time, all three were announced together...

I can't find the specs for it's 4k recording mode?

Maybe because there is none?

As you guessed, there are none Noa.

I think this is the final refinement of an old model to keep it fresh enough until the new generation is ready. Canon do this quite often - reminds me a bit of the HV20/30/40. I wonder if there will be a similar update to the XF200?

I just hope they include the zoom-speed dial beside the rocker switch on all the new models when they finally arrive. My XHA1s is getting rather long in the tooth now, but the XF300 is too expensive and heavy for my needs and the XF100/200 lacks that singularly useful gadget.

Maybe because there is none?

Ah, my bad, this is clearly thread from 2013! Not 6 weeks from 2016...

Has anyone heard if there will be a consumer version? Last time, all three were announced together...

lol.. this IS the consumer version.

lol.. this IS the consumer version.

The consumer version would be a HF G40 which would not offer either HD-SDI or XLR audio.

Looking at the initial posting of :
Maximum Recording Time With 64 GB card:

35 Mbps: 30 min.
28 Mbps: 35 min.
24 Mbps: 40 min.
17 Mbps: 1 hr.
5 Mbps: 3 hr.
4 Mbps: 4 hr. 20 min.
3 Mbps: 5 hr. 40 min.

Those numbers appear to have been pulled from the B&H website product page. Those numbers make no sense. For instance, 24 Mbps chews through a 64 GB card in 40 minutes? That implies 1.5 GB / minute which is far to high for AVCHD. Or 35 Mbps chews through 2+ GB / minute? I don't think so.

By my calculation the numbers should be:
Maximum Recording Time With 64 GB card:

35 Mbps: 4.0 hours.
28 Mbps: 5.0 hours
24 Mbps: 5.9 hours
17 Mbps: 8.3 hours.
5 Mbps: 28.4 hours.
4 Mbps: 35.6 hours.
3 Mbps: 47.4 hours.

I think the error the person at B&H made in calculating recording time to a 64 GB card is a common one. They are reading (for instance) 25 Mbps and instead of thinking Mega-bits-per-second they are thinking Mega-Bytes-per-second. All the times are off by a factor of eight.

The consumer version would be a HF G40 which would not offer either HD-SDI or XLR audio.

Looking at the initial posting of :
Maximum Recording Time With 64 GB card:

35 Mbps: 30 min.
28 Mbps: 35 min.
24 Mbps: 40 min.
17 Mbps: 1 hr.
5 Mbps: 3 hr.
4 Mbps: 4 hr. 20 min.
3 Mbps: 5 hr. 40 min.

Those numbers appear to have been pulled from the B&H website product page. Those numbers make no sense. For instance, 24 Mbps chews through a 64 GB card in 40 minutes? That implies 1.5 GB / minute which is far to high for AVCHD. Or 35 Mbps chews through 2+ GB / minute? I don't think so.

By my calculation the numbers should be:
Maximum Recording Time With 64 GB card:

35 Mbps: 4.0 hours.
28 Mbps: 5.0 hours
24 Mbps: 5.9 hours
17 Mbps: 8.3 hours.
5 Mbps: 28.4 hours.
4 Mbps: 35.6 hours.
3 Mbps: 47.4 hours.





AVCHD Recording Mode
Memory
Capacity 28 Mbps 24 Mbps 17 Mbps 5 Mbps
8GB 35 min. 40 min. 1 hr. 3 hr.
16GB 1 hr.15 min. 1 hr. 25 min. 2 hr. 5 min. 6 hr. 5 min.
32GB 2 hr. 30 min. 2 hr. 55 min. 4 hr. 10 min. 12 hr. 15 min.
64GB 5 hr. 5 min. 5 hr. 55 min. 8 hr. 20 min. 24 hr. 30 min.
128GB 10 hr. 10 min. 11 hr. 55 min. 16 hr. 45 min. 49 hr.

MP4 Recording Mode
Memory
Capacity 35 Mbps 24 Mbps 17 Mbps 4 Mbps 3 Mbps
8GB 30 min. 40 min. 1 hr. 4 hr. 20 min. 5 hr. 40 min.
16GB 1 hr. 1 hr. 25 min. 2 hr. 5 min. 8 hr. 40 min. 11 hr. 25 min.
32GB 2 hr. 2 hr. 55 min. 4 hr. 10 min. 17 hr. 20 min. 22 hr. 55 min.
64GB 4 hr. 5 hr. 55 min. 8 hr. 20 min. 34 hr. 45 min. 45 hr. 55 min.
128GB 8 hr. 11 hr. 55 min. 16 hr. 45 min. 69 hr. 30 min. 91 hr. 55 min.

Well, here's my answer:

Canon Vixia HF G40, R700, R72, R70 Release Date, Price and Specs - CNET (http://www.cnet.com/products/canon-vixia-hf-g40/)

No 4K. It's unreal how far behind the times Canon is. Talk about a company that's lost it's way...at least in video.

<rant>

Don't believe that article. It lists Australian Dollar prices for these models, but that is bull$#!t. As previously, Canon is releasing all these models in the NTSC world, but the crappiest, most cut down model, the R706 in PAL land. You think these are bad cameras, try the R706. At least the higher end NTSC versions get mic in and headphones out. But they are all missing the mini hot shoe.

These cameras produce a nice image, at least my HF200 does, and it is in the same series of camcorders, why did they have to go and bugger them up after this? It now seems that if you want to get something decent in this range you have to go to the HF G series. At $1300 it is a bit too much for what you get, and what you can get elsewhere.

Canon has lost the plot.

</rant>

Canon has totally dropped the ball... compare to the just released Sony FDR-AX53 4K Ultra HD Handycam Camcorder which is priced at $998 (and that is NEW LIST PRICE). I expect the price will be under $800 within a few months.

Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* Lens with 20x Optical Zoom

XAVC S
3840 x 2160p / 30 fps (100 Mbps)
3840 x 2160p / 24 fps (100 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 60 fps (60 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 30 fps (60 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 24 fps (60 Mbps)
AVCHD
1920 x 1080p / 60 fps (28 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 30 fps (24 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 30 fps (17 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 24 fps (24 Mbps)
1920 x 1080p / 24 fps (17 Mbps)
1920 x 1080i / 60 fps (24 Mbps)
1920 x 1080i / 60 fps (17 Mbps)
1440 x 1080i / 60 fps (9 Mbps)
1440 x 1080i / 60 fps (5 Mbps)
MP4
1280 x 720p / 30 fps

I usually agree with Canon dropping the ball, but if it has better sensitivity and a pseudo log it could be interesting anyway.