XF605 UHD 4K HDR Pro

Coming from an XF400, this is an enormous upgrade. The buttons are laid out perfectly. I’ve never had this convenience. It is so worth the extra cost.

Network connectivity is important to me, especially since this is my first camera without a wireless remote. Getting browser remote working takes patience. You have to ‘forget’ your regular wi-fi connection every time (that’s Android’s doing). You have 2 passwords, one for camera access point (1 time entry if you use that) and another to access the web interface, each time. There are separate network and connection settings to configure. If you are patient, this actually becomes easy and completely reliable. Took me 90 stressful minutes to crack the code.

Every focus feature Canon has is packed into this and they all work very smoothly. AF-Boosted MF is a dream.

The camera is quite a bit larger than an XF400 but strangely light-weight, which is really good!

The huge hood has excellent benefits. You can leave huge filters and diopters (500D) attached with the hood in place. Its also effortless to attach and remove. Never thought I’d be so happy to have a labeled lens barrier switch.

Shutter angle is new to me and is now the default. Set it and forget it! Also my first manual aperture ring, which I now totally get.

I shouldn’t leave out the very first thing that jumped out at me. The rocker arm rocks!!! It takes no effort or concentration at all to perform smooth slow zooms. What a quality mechanism!

I use it with a Ninja Inferno, which it pairs well with. The 605 includes most of the assistance function of the recorder so it is great get to pick which works best.

There’s tons more, but long story short, it is everything I was hoping it would be. No more drooling over the unaffordable XF705 🙂

I use this camcorder to film high school sports, primarily football and basketball. For the past 4 years I’ve been using another brand of pro 4k camcorder with a 1/2.3 MOS sensor. So far, filming in U.S. high school gyms this XF605 provides much improved color and much less low-light noise than the prior vidcam. I’m using the general autofocus setting for basketball (not just face or eye detection modes) and it’s doing a wonderful job of keeping the main players and ball action in focus without hunting or choosing background over the foreground action. In gyms the auto WB hasn’t done a good job, but when I create a custom WB with a grey card in each gym (which is very simple and easy to do with the XF605) the results are superb, even with a gym’s poor and inconsistent color-cast lighting. I’ve manually set my shutter and let the camera handle gain, iris & exposure and it’s done a great job (my previous camcorder wouldn’t allow partial manual settings – it was all manual or all auto). I’m using V60 SDXC II cards to record 4k 60p 10 bit 170 mbps mp4 files and they keep up with the recording rate and are 3 times faster downloading than the SDXC I V30 cards used in my prior vidcam. So far I’m 100% satisfied that I updated and upgraded to the XF605, and anticipate that I should get many years of quality, no-fuss results from it.

The lack of 24p isn’t great. There also seems to be a weird hunting anomaly that happens when Powered IS is turned on and you’re at the longer reaches of the zoom. In contact with Canon about this issue. As it appears to be a common issue. That’s where the cons stop.

This camcorder is incredible value for money. Loads of zoom. Great AF. Lightweight body. CLog3. Wide DR. And the fantastic 422 10 Bit internal.

Hands down best camcorder I’ve ever owned.

Not being a professional videographer, I think this camera rates at the very top of the list! Best I’ve seen for my purposes.

I use a C200 cinema camera for all my interviews and locked off shots. however, from time to time, especially outdoor events, highly uncontrolled shoots… near shots, far shots, lots of moving, it is great to have an ENG camera again. 15X optical zoom! Very smooth rocker switch. 4K footage with pretty incredible auto focus, touch screen, etc. A great tool to have. built in ND… lots of features.

I thought about getting the Canon XA70 as it was cheaper and would get the job done well enough.

However, I researched the XF605 and decided that it was a much better camera, look at the specs.

The XF605 is the one to get.

This is my first Canon Pro Camcorder. I love it .

I was a Sony user for many years. I’m glad I switched. Great image quality. I have only shot one event with it so far (indoors-well lit). I used a 2 channel Picomic system with the 3.5 mm mic input, a shotgun on XLR1 and an Audio Technica Lav system on XLR2. It seems as if you can only monitor 2 audio channels with headphones (although I could be wrong). You can, however, see the all 4 audio levels on the display at the touch of a button. I love the smooth and responsive zoom. My old Varizoom VZ-Rock zoom controller works flawlessly. Whether using the LANC interface, the zoom rockers or the lens ring, I get great results. I have one nagging question-why is the word PUSH on the XLR release tabs written upside down? Also, why no printed manual? You get a simple printed guide but there is a comprehensive downloadable one on the Canon website.