Canon has introduced the XF305 and XF300 professional camcorders. Both models employ an MPEG-2 4:2:2 50Mb/s codec — Canon XF Codec — for capturing and recording native 1920 x 1080 video onto affordable, universally available compact flash cards. Uniting video, audio and metadata into a single file, the Canon XF305 and XF300 use an MXF file wrapper to maximize compatibility with existing industry infrastructure and nonlinear editing systems.
The camcorders include a Canon 18x HD L-series lens, providing documentary filmmakers and news camera operators with the focal-range versatility required in the field. Each model includes three Canon developed and designed native 1920 x 1080 CMOS image sensors, and the new Canon XF Codec for extreme color detail required for accurate chroma-keying, color-grading and compositing for digital filmmaking. For finer transitions in tone and color, 4:2:2 color sampling offers twice the color resolution of HDV and other 4:2:0 formats. In addition, Canon’s XF305 model features industry-standard HD-SDI output, genlock and SMPTE time code (in/out) terminals for multicamera or 3-D productions.