When it comes to choosing a professional video camera, filmmakers have often had one set of demands for making cinematic-style documentaries and another set of requirements for broadcast delivery, which has meant two very different camera setups. However, the launch of the Canon XF705 4K UHD camcorder offers the best of both worlds, as pro filmmaker and Canon Ambassador Sébastien Devaud discovered on one of the first shoots with the XF705.
"When I first tested the Canon XF705, I had the exact same feeling as when I first used the Canon EOS 5D Mark II – it's a revolution!" says French filmmaker Sébastien, who shoots for broadcasters as well as adverts and music videos. He lived through the transition from SD to Full HD, then the transition to 4K, each of which transformed filmmaking. Now the XF705 makes 4K production so much easier, he says, it's revolutionary. Its new codec achieves the high quality required for cinema and the small file sizes demanded for fast-turnaround, efficient broadcast delivery.
Here, he tells us how the camera has helped him – particularly on one shoot, which profiled French sprinter and European 100m champion Jimmy Vicaut, where he used the versatile camera to capture Jimmy in action, in a static interview and even in slow motion.