Canon XA20 Professional HD Camcorder

The Canon XA20 Professional HD Camcorder is a compact "run-and-gun" camera that is suitable for ENG, event coverage, independent and documentary filmmaking. The camera features a 1/2.84", 1920 x 1080 CMOS sensor that captures video at various frame rates up to 59.94p, including a 24p mode for a more cinematic feel. The integrated Canon 20x HD Optical zoom lens has a 35mm equivalent zoom range of 26.8 to 576mm and features an 8-bladed iris to render highlights in a more natural manner. The final piece in the image chain is Canon's Digic DV 4 Image Processor. This high-speed image-processing engine powers Canon's Dynamic IS (Image Stabilization) mode reducing image distortion over traditional up-down left-right image stabilization by adding correction for camera roll in three axes. The power of the Digic DV 4 allows the camera to simultaneously encode your video to two different codecs and bit rates, allowing you to have web-ready versions of your master footage available as soon as you stop recording. The XA20 features both a 3.5" OLED Touch Panel view screen with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and a color electronic viewfinder with 1,560,000 dots of resolution. The camera features full manual control and auto modes for exposure, focus, white balance, gain, and shutter speed. The camera provides professional features such as a pre-record buffer, peaking, zebra bars, color bars, and reference tone. The zoom speed is adjustable with variable, constant (with 16 different speed levels), fast, normal and slow settings. The camera features a detachable top handle with zoom toggle, record start/stop, IR emitter, tally light, accessory shoe, external mic holder and two XLR connectors with phantom power and manual audio level controls. The XA20 includes a built-in headphone jack and an HDMI mini connector, and outputs composite video and audio via a 3.5 mm four pole mini jack. Two built-in SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slots allow you to record video to available media cards in both slots at the same time. This allows you to create an instant back up copy for archiving and data protection or you can capture high resolution AVCHD or MP4 video files on one card while creating a lower data rate MP4 more suitable for the web on the other card. When using two media cards and the camera is in Relay mode, there is no need to stop shooting to swap out a full media card. When one card becomes full, recording seamlessly switches to the other card. Built-in dual-band Wi-Fi allows you FTP video files directly from the camera, or playback footage from the memory cards to Wi-Fi enabled TVs and Computers. You can also remotely control select camera functions from a smart phone or tablet over Wi-Fi, freeing you from remote cables. Canon Native 1920 x 1080 CMOS Sensor The XA20 features a new 1/2.84-inch HD CMOS Image Sensor with 2.91 Mp. The large size of the individual pixels enable a minimum subject illumination of 1.2 lux for shooting in low-light conditions. 20x Optical Zoom Lens The Canon 20x HD Zoom Lens provides a zoom range with 35mm equivalent of 26.8mm-576mm, and a minimum object distance of just 23.6 inches (60cm). The lens features an eight blade iris design providing a more natural look, out of focus areas are smoother and more appealing. The lens features an endless-type manual focus/zoom ring and the built-in power zoom control includes user-programmable direction and sensitivity modes. Zoom speed can be set to variable, constant (with 16 levels), fast, normal or slow. Digic DV 4 Image Processor The DIGIC DV 4 Image Processor works in concert with the HD CMOS Image Sensor to provide images with low noise and rich color depth. It also powers the new Dynamic Mode of the image stabilization system, which is an electronic correction of rotational distortion. The processing power of the Digic DV 4 enables the simultaneous encoding of video to different codecs and bit rates for recording to two separate SD cards at the same time. Image Stabilization The XA20 offers optical image stabilization (IS) useful for reducing image blur in a wide variety of shooting situations. Additional IS modes can be manually selected to enhance the optical image stabilization, or you can select Intelligent IS and allow the camera to identify the appropriate stabilization mode for the situation. IS Modes Dynamic IS: improves on standard on translational IS (up-down/left-right) stabilization, by adding three additional corrections - roll axis correction (tilting/rocking of the camera forward and back), horizontal roll correction and vertical roll correction for five-axis correction when shooting on the wide end of the lens. Macro IS: corrects angular and shift-type shake in wide-angle shots. Powered IS: corrects for low-frequency camcorder shake when shooting at the long (telephoto) end of the lens Auto Focus Canon Auto Focus (AF) features include natural-looking medium-speed, instant, and Face Detection AF,