Overview

The Canon XA40 4K UHD Pro Camcorder is designed for fast performance in both capture & transmission, & is excellent for the world of Electronic News Gathering (ENG), as well as documentary, journalistic, corporate & higher education video production. The camcorder features an advanced 4K UHD CMOS Pro Image Sensor, along with a powerful DIG!C DV 6 Image Processor, and a remarkable 20x High Definition optical zoom lens. The XA40 camcorder records expansive, high-quality 4K UHD video. Its dual SD card slots are compatible with universal SD, SDXC and SDHC memory cards, providing super-high capacity & ultra-fast data transfer. The compact XA40 features a detachable handle for low-angle shooting & portability. Its XLR inputs & an external microphone holder are featured when the handle is attached. Made with a light-weight design, the XA40 has a 1.56 million dot electronic viewfinder, & a 3.0" touch panel LCD, making it comfortable to operate for longer periods of time & many different environments.  This powerful and compact camcorder delivers the speed, quality & connectivity to drive a 24-hour news workflow.

Optics & Focus:
The Canon XA40 features a Genuine Canon 20x High Definition Optical Zoom Lens that has a highly versatile zoom range, with a 35mm equivalent of 29.3-601mm, to help record newsworthy footage near & far. Its impressive image quality is further enhanced by an 8-blade Circular Aperture design, which helps to avoid the “starburst” effect of light sources, which can occur in non-circular aperture designs. This allows out-of-focus areas to appear natural & smooth. Its endless-type focus, as well as its zoom control, features user-programmable direction & sensitivity modes. The zoom speed can be set to a variable, or constant speed setting (with 16 levels), & includes fast, normal or slow zoom speeds.  Its focus assist feature allows your focusing capability to be enhanced, & includes enlargement, which allows you to capture your subject in razor-sharp focus. This feature provides a 2x magnification of your subject, which is automatically cancelled when you begin recording. Also included is color peaking, which provides you with the shooting object's focused areas in natural colors.

Sensor & Screen:
The Canon XA40 is designed with an advanced 4K UHD CMOS Pro Image Sensor, which allows for impressive low-light performance, & helps you capture incredibly sharp & detailed high-definition video footage. This camcorder features a 1/2.3-inch, 8.29 Megapixel 4K UHD CMOS Pro Image Sensor, making it able to capture approx. 3840x2160 pixels. The sensor's high sensitivity helps the XA40 to provide vivid & accurate recording through a remarkable signal-to-noise ratio.
Its design features a low-luminance noise rating of +3 dB, making it able to capture clear & sharp images with amazing detail, even in low light. 

Its Dual Recording feature offers format choices that  can be found useful for many post-capture options. The AX40 is designed with a 3.0" (460,000 dot) LCD display, which provides high contrast & vivid colors. Its wide-view angle (over 80° at all angles) assists in composition versatility, & regular chromaticity adjustments, helping to ensure correct brightness & color reproduction. Its electronic viewfinder is a 0.24" tilt-type, color display, & has 100% field of view. The viewfinder has 1.56 million dots of resolution to assist in critical focus adjustment, with peaking applied if necessary. The viewfinder can tilt up to 45 degrees for low-angle shooting. A joystick is featured to the right of the viewfinder, where the thumb rests, allowing the control of camera settings on the viewscreen.

Image & Video:
The XA40 is designed with multiple recording modes, frame rates, & resolutions to  make it creatively flexible & adaptable to virtually any news-gathering environment. The XA40 can record to an SD card in 4K UHD & Full HD resolutions, using MP4 recording, at multiple bit rates, & even record simultaneously.

It features an HDMI terminal that supports FHD 60p output, which can be connected to a standard external SSD/HDD recorder, allowing you to convert your files to ProRes & DNx formats for post-production editing, as well as storage. It also features dual SD card slots that are compatible with all SD, SDHC & SDXC memory cards, which provides you with super-high capacity & ultra-fast data transfer. For safety, as well as convenience, its double-slot recording allows you to record simultaneously to both of the SD memory card slots, which provides an instant backup for your footage. Its Relay Recording feature allows the XA40 to automatically switch recording from one SD card to the other when the first card becomes full. Its Dual Recording function provides format choices that are useful for many types of post-production options.

The XA40 has a DiG!C DV 6 Image Processor, making you able to experience simultaneous recordings  in the web-ready MP4 format, at different bit rates. Its "native 24p recording" is a must for serious documentary work, because it matches the frame rate of a traditional film camera, which gives it the same feel & temporal motion for "film-like" quality.

Its Slow and Fast Motion Modes allow the XA40 to record a different frame rate than the playback frame rate, creating a fast or slow motion effect during playback. The camera is recording real frames & modifying the playback rate, so there is virtually no loss of quality, & the maximum image quality is maintained.

The XA40 has an interval recording function, which allows you to record frames at specified intervals. This function provides time-lapse recordings of up to 1200x, & slow motion down to 0.4x of the original speed. Full HD image quality is provided with Canon's XA series camcorders, but is greatly improved through the XA40's "Over Sampling HD Processing", which lets you record Full HD by effectively using the remarkable capabilities of the 4K UHD CMOS Sensor.

The XA40 Professional Camcorder delivers truly excellent image quality & reproduction, while its 20x Optical Zoom Video lens is able to maintain amazing quality throughout the zoom range. The XA40 offers a strong optical image stabilization system, which is used to help reduce image blur in a great variety of shooting situations. The image stabilization options can be selected manually, or the "Intelligent IS" function can be used as an automatic detection system to choose the proper stabilization mode for the situation.

Also featured is "Dynamic Mode", which provides electronic correction of roll & tilt. "Dynamic IS" is used for image stabilization at the wide end, & builds on translational stabilization, adding roll axis correction, vertical roll correction & horizontal roll correction for five-axis correction. This allows Image distortion to be reduced, even when shooting while in motion. "Macro IS" corrects angular & shift-type shake in wide-angle shots.

An "Infrared Mode" function is included to allow the capturing of video in  difficult lighting conditions with little to no ambient light. Compared to the XA25 and XA20, the XA40 can film at brightness levels that are approx. 1.4 times more sensitive, allowing low-light capture. This function removes the infrared cutoff filter from the optical path. The XA40's specially designed lens allows the infrared light to pass through to the image sensor.

Other Features:

• Advanced Display Features: Zebra, Color Bars/Test Tone Color bars, & test tone can be selected & recorded. Enhanced zebra pattern (70% or 100%) indicates “blown out” or high brightness areas, which helps you set the proper exposure. The white balance control provides you with six available presets selectable through a variety of day & artificial light conditions (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Tungsten), as well as two manual white balance settings. Color temperature may also be manually set from 2,000K to 15,000K in 100K increments.
   
• The XA40 Professional Camcorder provides you with incredible control over the image, as well as immense creative freedom when it comes to inputs and outputs. A HDMI Output, Composite Video Output, USB Hi-Speed Terminal (2), XLR Audio Input, Microphone Input (3.5mm), Headphone Jack (3.5mm), and  Accessory Shoe (when handle is attached) are all included.
   
• The XA40 Professional Camcorder is equipped with five assignable buttons, giving you the ability to set the specific preferences to meet your needs.
   
• Its compact design, weighing less than three pounds including the detachable handle, lens hood, & battery, this Professional Camcorder is ideal for high–action shoots when both mobility & speed are essential. A detachable handle provides you with expanded audio performance & additional flexibility. Removing the handle makes the camcorder more compact for storage when travelling. 
   
• The XA40 offers a variety of ways to record audio. Two XLR terminals, an internal stereo mini-jack mic terminal, or the camcorder's internal stereo mic allow you to have options for recording your audio. In addition to AAC 2ch audio, the XA40 offers support for high-quality linear PCM 4ch audio & manual gain control.

Product Reviews

In The Box

• XA40
• Lens Hood (with Lens Barrier)
• Battery Pack BP-820
• Compact Power Adapter CA-570
• Handle Unit
• Mic Holder