Canon XA25 Professional Camcorder

I thought long and hard about buying this XA25. I was almost sold on a Canon XA-10 until I started looking at the Canon XA-20. I then compared the XA-20 to this XA-25 and took a few days of going back and forth until buying the Canon XA-25. The only difference is the SDI port, so that feature costs $500. While I do not currently need the SDI port, I realized that this purchase was a long term investment and the extra $500 was worth it to future proof my investment in case the day came when I needed it.I could throw out specs left and right, but if you are looking at this camera, you already know almost everything about it. So, I will just sum up my review by saying that I am pleased with the Canon XA-25 camera. I would purchase it again in a heartbeat, it really does create a professional video quality. I would also suggest you go ahead and buy the Canon Charger (it comes with an AC cord that plugs into the camera and also charges the battery). Using the Canon Stand Alone Charger means you can charge the battery off the camera. I do wish Canon would have included this at no charge, or at least at no charge on the XA-25.Overall, I am very happy with the XA-25 and can be comfortable knowing it will see good use for at least 5 years, and maybe much more. Some people have brought up 4K, but honestly I wasn't concerned about it and won't be for at least the next 5 years or more.

Camera included no accessories as they were pictured. I could never read where they were not included.

I purchased three of these cameras primarily for the SDI output capabilities. Unfortunately one of them has already been sent to Canon repair twice because of a terrible focus issue where the camera keeps hunting like crazy. In addition to that one problematic unit, the other two work but I'm constantly disappointed by their slow focusing.I would not recommend these if all you need in an SDI capable studio camera. Instead, look at the new Blackmagic studio cameras. However, if you need one camera that can record as a standalone unit, and also has SDI output, this is one of the least expensive you can buy and it will get the job done. Usually.

For my uses, I have found the perfect video camera, absolutely love it and in my opinion, takes superb video. I do a lot of nature and family history stuff, and for my own enjoyment small video productions of various sorts and also some "utube" stuff," . This camera is advertised as a great "run'n'gun" type of camera and I find that it functions extremely well for that type of use. I have not yet used the SDi connection to record "compression free" (4-2-2) video, simply because thus far I am completely satisfied with the quality I get recording directly to the SD flash cards. I always use an external mic, so I cannot comment on the quality of the internal mic audio. I have found myself using the auto functions most of the time, and have been very satisfied with the quality, I just have not found a need to use the manual settings all that much, but when I do, they are easy to manipulate. However, I do use a polarizing filter quite often and on occasion, external lighting. I do not plan on getting into the "4K" realm yet, and likely will not in the foreseeable future, I am that pleased with this camera and the video I can get from it. I will likely get its "smaller cousin," the XA20, as a second and/or backup (or maybe third) video camera before I go 4K, if I ever go 4K. What more can I say!

We use 3 of these as live production stage cameras & they perform great in fairly low light. I went with the XA25 for the wifi access, and while better than most wifi interfaces (I'm looking at you, Sony), we never need to log in and adjust things. We were highly pleased right out of the box.ONE ANNOYING THING ABOUT THE WIFI: I thought this camera would connect into my existing network and act as a mini server for me to log in and adjust the white balance and exposure. Anything but an in-depth combing of the manual will lead you to believe this because that's more or less how every other device like this on the planet functions. And it does connect to your network like this via wifi, but that connection is restricted to the FTP and metadata workflow -- NOT the white balance and exposure adjustments!In order to access those adjustment settings via a browser window, you have to put the camera into an AP mode where it broadcasts as it's own SSID. Maybe read that sentence again. I couldn't believe it when I figured it out. It's a royal pain dropping out of my internet connected AP for the Canon AP just to make an adjustment. Also, clutters up our wifi spectrum. Not a deal breaker, but annoying nonetheless.

XA20, XA25, HF G30 (same cmos, same menus)This camera works great for my use of corporate video recording. However it doesn't meet it's potential. I'd hope that firmware, Magic Lantern or SDK would solve.1) It is great to have a camera control unit via WiFi - but as soon as this camera begins recording you lose control of iris and other settings.2) The user interface / menu takes a while to know - and to quickly get to the most used settings. The custom buttons do not offer all of the setting options.3) My biggest complaint is not being able to quickly switch from auto exposure to manual exposure. I usually rough set exposure using the camera's automatic aperture - then with a single button or lens slider switch to manual exposure to increase or decrease F stop. This camera doesn't allow for a one step process to do so. It is great that in manual setting the custom button on bottom next to rotation knob allows you to toggle between aperture, shutter, and gain - but there isn't a quick auto aperture to get out of the manual setting. If you set one of the buttons to custom as exposure - it doesn't work in manual setting.Pros - gain does a fine job with low noise.I hope this can be fixed with firmware updates.