The XA15 Professional Camcorder features a Genuine Canon 20x HD Zoom Lens that provides a highly versatile zoom range with 35mm equivalent of 26.8–576mm, and a minimum object distance of just 23.6 inches (60cm) to help capture newsworthy recordings near and far. The impressive image quality is enhanced by an 8-blade Circular Aperture design, which helps to avoid the “starburst” effect of point light sources in non-circular aperture designs. Out-of-focus areas are smooth, natural and appealing. An endless-type focus and zoom control includes user-programmable direction and sensitivity modes. Zoom speed can be set to either a variable or constant (with 16 levels) speed setting, with Fast, Normal or Slow zoom speed levels.
For incredibly sharp and detailed high-definition video recording, the XA15 Professional Camcorder features a 1/2.84-inch, 2.91 Megapixel HD CMOS Pro Image Sensor that captures approximately 2136x1362 pixels. Thanks to the sensor's high sensitivity, the XA15 helps provide vivid, accurate recording through an excellent signal-to-noise ratio.
Featuring a low-luminance noise rating of +3 dB, the XA15 Professional Camcorder is able to capture clear, sharp images with incredible detail even in low light.
Multiple recording modes, resolutions and frame rates make the XA15 Professional Camcorder creatively flexible and adaptable to virtually any news-gathering environment. It can record in Full HD resolution in both AVCHD and MP4 recording codecs, at multiple bit rates, and even simultaneously.
Dual Recording offers format choices that are useful for various post-capture options. The DIGIC DV 4 Image Processor and dual SD card slots enable simultaneous recording in AVCHD format and web-ready MP4 format, as well as MP4 at different bit rates.
A must for serious documentary work, Native 24p matches the frame rate of a traditional film camera, giving the same cadence and temporal motion for "film-like" quality.
The XA15 Professional Camcorder amplifies convenience with an HD/SD-SDI terminal, whether streaming directly to a broadcast van or connecting to a recorder to make high-quality video recordings for archiving purposes. Designed for professional broadcast use, HD/SD-SDI output provides an uncompressed signal at a 1920x1080 resolution with 4:2:2 color sampling and embedded audio and time code.
The XA15 Professional Camcorder represents Canon's Full HD System, delivering truly excellent image quality and reproduction for most any news-gathering application. With its 20x Optical Zoom HD Video lens, its HD CMOS Pro Image Sensor and the powerful DIGIC DV 4 Image Processor working together to capture and process the images at hand, the XA15 is positioned to deliver HD video that is nothing short of stunning.
The 3.0-inch 460,000 dot LCD display provides vivid colors and high contrast. A wide-view angle (over 80° at all angles) aids in composition versatility, and regular chromaticity adjustments, which are prompted by the camcorder, help ensure correct brightness and faithful color reproduction.
The 0.24-inch tilt-type color electronic viewfinder on the XA15 Professional Camcorder has 100% field of view, and 1.56 million dots of resolution help ensure critical focus adjustment, with peaking applied if necessary. A joystick located to the right of the viewfinder, where the thumb rests, enables control of camera settings on the viewscreen without having to use touch panel controls.
The XA15 Professional Camcorder is compatible with universal SDHC and SDXC memory cards, which provide super-high capacity and ultra-fast data transfer.