Canon xa10

Chuck Fadely · April 28th, 2011, 10:31 PM

Got mine two or three weeks back. A few things to know about it (US model):

It does not come with a separate battery charger. You have to plug the camera into the A/C adapter to charge it. Buy the CG800 charger. The BP827 batteries balance pretty well with mics on the front and the readout onscreen says they'll last four hours. Ergonomically, it's a winner.

It comes out of the box set to the lowest image quality. Beware of online postings complaining about image quality. On the contrary, the image quality is pretty impressive.

LCD hinge feels cheap but the rest of it is ok and it has the lowest handling noise (audio) of any camera I've used. Sweet.

Menus suck. Very unlike Canon. You've gotta go deep in menus to format a card. Much worse than HF200 menus.

It has these funky cinema style settings that drive me insane because of their potential but lack of control. There's one setting that puts a beautiful vignette on the image but desaturates to a really ugly color palette. Oh, please Canon, give us menu control over all the parameters!!!!! Does anyone know if maybe you can control color settings with a computer?

Another thing that drives me insane is the story settings. You can in theory shoot a story by choosing story mode, following silly amateur prompts, then downconvert from one card to the other to SD, and upload your story, already edited in camera, directly online. But what you can't do is shoot normally, pick clips in the order you want and then downconvert and upload. (or at least I can't figure out how.)

Lens is sweet. Takes 58mm filters. Digital zoom is better than I expected. I'd say it's probably ok for most purposes up to 15x. (It's 10x optical) Past that it's SD and then online quality only - but it gets pretty long. I'm using it for news work, mostly online, and it's perfectly adequate for that at the long settings, which gives plenty of reach.

I'm still coming to grips with audio. There's no clipping warning on the meters so you can't tell when you go from being close to zero to actually hitting it. Audio gain controls don't feel like precision instruments. I'm used to riding audio to keep it loud without clipping but the XA10 doesn't seem to like that and it gets krunchy sounding before it actually clips.

Only drawback is the AVCHD. I wish the XA10 would mate with an XF100 and give us an XF10 tiny body with the XDCAM codec. That would be killer.

Buba Kastorski · April 29th, 2011, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Fadely

Only drawback is the AVCHD. I wish the XA10 would mate with an XF100 and give us an XF10 tiny body with the XDCAM codec. That would be killer.

me too, but who's gona buy XF100 then :)

Chuck Fadely · May 5th, 2011, 08:21 AM

More good stuff: the A/V output signal is clean - no red record dot or anything on the SD image coming out of the camera via RCA cables. You can feed it into a canopus or deck and get firewire into a computer for livestreaming. Only problem is you lose your headphones when you switch it to A/V output.

The autofocus is the best I've ever used - it locks onto a face and keeps it in focus. I am really impressed with it. I'm used to manual focus or push-to-focus and this does better than I can.

Gerald OConnor · May 10th, 2011, 07:21 AM

Hello I'm new to this forum. I have had the xa10 since April 1st and love it. I have bought and returned the Panisonic 700, 750, 900, Sony cx560 and NX5U before I got the xa10. The nx5u is an awesome camera no complaints except it was a little big for everyday use. The others had some fan noise, beeping sounds or wired color issues. I think for me the xa10 is an all around great camera for size, pq in bright daylight and low light shoots. I use the camera for little projects and mostly family stuff. I have posted a bunch of clips under my name on Vimeo and I have been very happy with most of the results from what I have used with this camera.
I'm very interested in the xf100 and wonder if I should trade in the xa10 while bh will let me. Thanks

Lou Bruno · May 11th, 2011, 06:48 PM

I used both cameras. I now own the XF-100, having just sold my XF-300, which was just too big-a great camera.

With that said, The XF-100 is the better choice and appears sharper to my eye. The profile settings are so interchangeable that there are thousands of combinations to adjust the picture. Less motion artifacting @50Mps.. .MXF files compared to AVCHD.

Don't get me wrong, the Xa10 is a good camera, especially in the VIVID setting.

Gerald OConnor · May 11th, 2011, 07:06 PM

Thank you sir I loved the xa10 and when BH said said they would exchange it for the xf100 I waisted a day and night trying to justify by reading posts/ clipsthat it was worth it. I only found good stuff so the xa10 has been returned and once they refund it they all send the xf100. I loved the size of the xa10 and had the nx5u and did not like the 4pound + for everyday handheld stuff. I hope the xf100' isn't to much bigger looks to be 1/2 pound heavier and 2inchs longer/

Matt McMeans · May 16th, 2011, 01:19 AM

gerald did you get the full refund when you returned it to bh

Gerald OConnor · May 16th, 2011, 03:31 AM

No I did not get a full refund had to pay 15% restocking fee. I'm still waiting for BH to give me a refund they got the camera on Friday and told me it would be 2 days.

Blake Tijerina · June 5th, 2011, 12:41 PM

Been doing a lot of work with my XA-10 and T2i. editing with the two is easy. last weekend i filmed a short with just the XA-10 Check it out let me know what you think.

YouTube - ‪BoxArtStudio's Channel‬&rlm;

April 28th, 2011, 10:31 PM	#16
Chuck Fadely Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 306	Re: Canon xa10 Got mine two or three weeks back. A few things to know about it (US model): It does not come with a separate battery charger. You have to plug the camera into the A/C adapter to charge it. Buy the CG800 charger. The BP827 batteries balance pretty well with mics on the front and the readout onscreen says they'll last four hours. Ergonomically, it's a winner. It comes out of the box set to the lowest image quality. Beware of online postings complaining about image quality. On the contrary, the image quality is pretty impressive. LCD hinge feels cheap but the rest of it is ok and it has the lowest handling noise (audio) of any camera I've used. Sweet. Menus suck. Very unlike Canon. You've gotta go deep in menus to format a card. Much worse than HF200 menus. It has these funky cinema style settings that drive me insane because of their potential but lack of control. There's one setting that puts a beautiful vignette on the image but desaturates to a really ugly color palette. Oh, please Canon, give us menu control over all the parameters!!!!! Does anyone know if maybe you can control color settings with a computer? Another thing that drives me insane is the story settings. You can in theory shoot a story by choosing story mode, following silly amateur prompts, then downconvert from one card to the other to SD, and upload your story, already edited in camera, directly online. But what you can't do is shoot normally, pick clips in the order you want and then downconvert and upload. (or at least I can't figure out how.) Lens is sweet. Takes 58mm filters. Digital zoom is better than I expected. I'd say it's probably ok for most purposes up to 15x. (It's 10x optical) Past that it's SD and then online quality only - but it gets pretty long. I'm using it for news work, mostly online, and it's perfectly adequate for that at the long settings, which gives plenty of reach. I'm still coming to grips with audio. There's no clipping warning on the meters so you can't tell when you go from being close to zero to actually hitting it. Audio gain controls don't feel like precision instruments. I'm used to riding audio to keep it loud without clipping but the XA10 doesn't seem to like that and it gets krunchy sounding before it actually clips. Only drawback is the AVCHD. I wish the XA10 would mate with an XF100 and give us an XF10 tiny body with the XDCAM codec. That would be killer.

May 5th, 2011, 08:21 AM	#18
Chuck Fadely Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: United States Posts: 306	Re: Canon xa10 More good stuff: the A/V output signal is clean - no red record dot or anything on the SD image coming out of the camera via RCA cables. You can feed it into a canopus or deck and get firewire into a computer for livestreaming. Only problem is you lose your headphones when you switch it to A/V output. The autofocus is the best I've ever used - it locks onto a face and keeps it in focus. I am really impressed with it. I'm used to manual focus or push-to-focus and this does better than I can.

May 10th, 2011, 07:21 AM	#19
Gerald OConnor Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Princeton MA Posts: 142	Re: Canon xa10 Hello I'm new to this forum. I have had the xa10 since April 1st and love it. I have bought and returned the Panisonic 700, 750, 900, Sony cx560 and NX5U before I got the xa10. The nx5u is an awesome camera no complaints except it was a little big for everyday use. The others had some fan noise, beeping sounds or wired color issues. I think for me the xa10 is an all around great camera for size, pq in bright daylight and low light shoots. I use the camera for little projects and mostly family stuff. I have posted a bunch of clips under my name on Vimeo and I have been very happy with most of the results from what I have used with this camera. I'm very interested in the xf100 and wonder if I should trade in the xa10 while bh will let me. Thanks Last edited by Gerald OConnor; May 10th, 2011 at 08:57 AM.

May 11th, 2011, 06:48 PM	#20
Lou Bruno Go Cycle Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Huntington, NY Posts: 815	Re: Canon xa10 I used both cameras. I now own the XF-100, having just sold my XF-300, which was just too big-a great camera. With that said, The XF-100 is the better choice and appears sharper to my eye. The profile settings are so interchangeable that there are thousands of combinations to adjust the picture. Less motion artifacting @50Mps.. .MXF files compared to AVCHD. Don't get me wrong, the Xa10 is a good camera, especially in the VIVID setting. __________________ Lou Bruno

May 11th, 2011, 07:06 PM	#21
Gerald OConnor Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Princeton MA Posts: 142	Re: Canon xa10 Thank you sir I loved the xa10 and when BH said said they would exchange it for the xf100 I waisted a day and night trying to justify by reading posts/ clipsthat it was worth it. I only found good stuff so the xa10 has been returned and once they refund it they all send the xf100. I loved the size of the xa10 and had the nx5u and did not like the 4pound + for everyday handheld stuff. I hope the xf100' isn't to much bigger looks to be 1/2 pound heavier and 2inchs longer/

May 16th, 2011, 01:19 AM	#22
Matt McMeans Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Jamestown Ohio Posts: 49	Re: Canon xa10 gerald did you get the full refund when you returned it to bh

May 16th, 2011, 03:31 AM	#23
Gerald OConnor Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Princeton MA Posts: 142	Re: Canon xa10 No I did not get a full refund had to pay 15% restocking fee. I'm still waiting for BH to give me a refund they got the camera on Friday and told me it would be 2 days.

June 5th, 2011, 12:41 PM	#24
Blake Tijerina Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 26	Re: Canon xa10 Been doing a lot of work with my XA-10 and T2i. editing with the two is easy. last weekend i filmed a short with just the XA-10 Check it out let me know what you think. YouTube - ‪BoxArtStudio's Channel‬&rlm;