Thinking of upgrading to Canon XF705

[Bob Safay]

I have been a Vegas user since version 5 and I am now up to version Pro 16. I am thinking of upgrading to the new Canon XF705 however in order to shoot 4K in must use the new format H.265. Does anyone know if Vegas will upgrade their editing software to support H.265?

[George Dean]

Hi Bob,

As you have Vegas Pro 16 (the latest build is 361), I assume you have downloaded some sample XF705 HEVC footage to test in VP16 and found it didn't work. I don't have any test footage so I certainly don't know, but I also assume you wouldn't be asking if it worked.

From what I have read VP16 will read h265 420 8 bit, and some h265 10 bit if it is in an mov container.

I doubt anyone will know when Magix will incorporate native support for Canon's XF-Hevc until they release it, of course except those within Magix and they aren't going to spill the beans until they are sure they can implement it and get it released.

Until then, I think you are stuck with transcoding to something like ProRes HQ or DNxHR which you can use within VP16.

Sorry I cannot be of any help!

[Mike Kujbida]

According to this thread on the MAGIX Vegas forum you're out of luck until Canon gets their act together.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.in...ro-16--114363/

[Bob Safay]

Thank you for getting back to me. At this point I was only "thinking" of upgrading to the XF705. I have been using the XF300 for 6 years and still love the video that it produces. So, since there really isn't anyway to edit the H.265 format, other than going to Resolve of doing a lot of decoding/recoding mumbo jumbo I will stick with what I have. IF at some point I am forced to upgrade due to a total breakdown of my XF300, and Vegas hasn't come up with a way to decode H.265, then I may look at shooting in 1080 H.264 rather than 4K until Vegas gets its act together. I love Canon and don't want to go with another brand, nor do I want to go with the C200 because I have no desire to use CFast cards.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Bob Safay

I have been using the XF300 for 6 years and still love the video that it produces..

Bob thanks for that and... “Me Too!”. Currently I don’t have a Business Plan/Model requiring, forcing me to UG to the XF700. Plus - thanks Bob - the thought of retraining my NLE VP creativity around Resolve makes my 21 Century brain power wanna barf. I’ve been reading the Resolve Forum lately....

Yup, staying with my rock solid 1080 XF300, if I need to dabble my toes in 4K I’ll hirer one out. But presently? Not so much.

[Chris Hurd]

(Sorry, not NLE related)

What I loved most about the XF300 was that beautiful 18x lens that opened up to f/1.6 at full wide and ramped down only to f/2.8 at full telephoto. That's gone now on the XF700, due to the physics of sensor size (1/3rd inch before vs. one-inch now).

The XF700 is f/2.8 to f/4.5, which isn't bad at all, but I sure loved that fat max. ap. on the old XF300.

[Bob Safay]

Chris, I think I would also miss the 18X reach on the XF300 compared to the 15X on the XF705. IF I ever bought the 705 I would probably have to buy the 1.5 tele extender. Or, go with the C200. One other thing that I think about is the fact that I travel to Africa, South America and points in-between videoing wildlife. I then post the videos on Vimeo and offer my fellow travelers either a DVD or Blu-ray. Less than half of them even have a Blu-ray player! So is 4K really worth it at this time? Fortunately, my XF300 is alive and well and still producing fantastic video.