Robert Varnam
Forum Replies Created
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I certainly aim to keep things as well-lit as possible. I very rarely shoot outdoors, so can’t give an experienced answer about those conditions, but I do aim to keep the iris as open as possible, and go for slow shutter speeds, in order to keep the gain below 0dB.
Most of my final output ends up on YouTube, where, to be honest, the compression is such that there are actually very few problems with noise on the XF200 footage. But I do have to be careful to avoid zooming in too much on footage for effect, and some compositing effects are difficult. For example, when adding a vignette effect, the mid shades can really emphasise the noise.
BUT – this is still a great camera for what it is. 10bit 4:2:2 recording on a small, cheap camera is great. And the combination of the handling, image stabilisation and auto controls (if you want them) mean you’ll often get much better footage than with other similarly priced cameras, regardless of the noise.
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There are many great things about the XF200, and, in my view, it’s a very definite improvement on the XF100. However, I’m really struggling with the image noise. Even at low gain, it’s very intrusive.
I’ve put more of my thoughts here – . But I’d recommend checking other reviews and some footage before definitely settling on the XF200. The 300/305 are bigger and heavier, which is a problem for my needs. But I greatly prefer the image from them.
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I’ve had my XF200 for a month now. Definitely some pros and cons.
Pros:
- Form factor. It’s lovely to hold and handle, in a variety of positions.
- 3-ring lens and the manual buttons add to the positive handling experience (all except the Push-AF and M/A focus buttons, which are slightly hidden in some screen positions
- Data rate, colour space, etc. Really nice to have professional formats on what is still a relatively cheap camera.
- Wifi & browser remote. Even though highly compressed & low frame rate, seeing the picture and controlling the camera from a phone/tablet is enormously handy on occasions.
- Dynamic range. This is good. Not astounding, but good.
- Quality. The preamps are really pretty good for a camera, battery life is better than I’d expected, and the whole thing feels sturdy enough.
- 4 channel audio. Having the ability to always capture audio from the built-in mics, in addition to the XLRs, is a great safety feature. I now always have a wildtrack, and it’s saved my bacon when I rushed into an interview and forgot to switch the radio mic on.
Cons:
- Noise. Even at 0dB and below, this is a very noisy sensor. I’m no expert, but there’s something about the noise which is odd, too. It’s harder to ignore, subjectively, than you’d expect, even given the amount of it. In many scenes, I honestly prefer my old XA10, allowing for its poorer dynamic range.
- No touch screen. For me, a tiny navigator button for menus just isn’t as good as a touch screen. Although the physical buttons are great during shooting, I’ve found it takes as long or longer to set up a scene on the XF200 as on an XA10 with touchscreen.