In one of his extremely brief visits to Miami, I met with Ríchard Izarra of PRODU.com, who was debuting his Canon XA20 1080p HD camera. Frequent readers will recall that I previously published how the XA20 (and XA25) are the closest cameras yet to fulfilling my Beyond AVCHD Manifesto specs. Although I haven’t yet received a review unit from Canon, Ríchard gave me initial impressions while I snapped a couple of photos with my Nexus 4.

Tapeless HD cameras that Ríchard Izarra has used previously

Before the Canon XA20, Ríchard previously used several other tapeless HD camcorders, including the Canon XA10, and several Sony cameras like the EX1, EX3, and most recently the NX30. Some of these other models continue to be used by other videographers from the PRODU.com staff, which are based in different countries of Latin America.

Ríchard’s initial impressions

Since he received the Canon XA20, Ríchard records 1080/29.97p in .mp4 (not AVCHD) mode. I was able to confirm visually that (as Canon had previously replied) the viewfinder thankfully indicates the framerate as 29.97p (not the excessively rounded “30p” on some other cameras which misleads some innocent editors to use improper settings in their software). Ríchard is very happy with the XA20, although he still hasn’t had time to take advantage of some of the new features, like the WiFi monitoring and remote on smartphones and tablets. He says that the XA20 has a better, lens, image and a better build quality than the predecessor, the XA10. He also likes the fact that (at least in the .mp4 mode he uses), it solves the Malignant PsF issue that the XA10 records in the so-called “PF30” mode, which I covered back in my PsF missing workflow series, together with workarounds. Fortunately, those workarounds are not required when recording 1080/29.97p in .mp4 mode with the XA20. Ríchard says that the only thing that surprised him (and that he missed) from the XA10 and NX30 was the internal memory. The XA20 has no internal memory and only records on SDXC or SDHC cards.

Still awaiting review unit from Canon…

I am still awaiting the review unit from Canon, and will evaluate it and publish it shortly after.

Related articles

• Canon XA20 and XA25 take key steps towards Beyond AVCHD by Allan Tépper from May 24, 2013
• NAB 2013: Canon XA20 & XA25 Camcorder by Clint Milby from May 13, 2013
• Canon answers most of Tépper’s questions about XA20/XA25 from May 24, 2013
• Beyond AVCHD: a proposed new standard for AVCHD cam manufacturers by Allan Tépper from May 20, 2013
• Canon’s new XA20 and XA25 cameras fulfill wishes from my Open Letter to pro AVCHD cam manufacturers by Allan Tépper from April 26, 2013

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