Canon XF200 + XF205 launched

Canon’s new XF205 and XF200 compact video cameras fit into the XF range between the existing XF100/XF105 and XF300/XF305, although as the XF200 models each have a single slightly-bigger-than one-third-inch CMOS sensor, they are nearer the 100/105 than the 300/305.

Canon EOS C500 4K camcorder launches

Canon has announced a new 4K digital cinema camera, the EOS C500, which will be available late this year for a likely list price of £20,000/€24,600 including VAT (US pricing hasn’t been revealed, but should be under $30,000).

Speed Reading with Lexar USB 3.0

New Lexar USB CF and SD card reader

I have a couple of Lexar card readers for transferring video and stills from my Compact Flash cards onto my Mac. It connects via USB which is OK. I'd have preferred a FireWire version - but I couldn't find anyone who made them.

Luckily Lexar has announced it is launching a professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader that can potentially shift 500MBps. My USB 2.0 version is supposed to clock 60MBps - although in reality it is considerably slower than that thanks to the overhead of the USB protocol, which means that if all the planets are in alignment you might conceivably get up to half the advertised speed.

Training Course Notes: Tapeless - Compact Flash Media

The Canon XF300 and XF305 record to compact flash cards. This tapeless workflow worries some people. But it shouldn’t. Yes, you will see some horror stories on forums telling tales of lost data. But, tape had its problems too. So here is a guide to working tapeless without tears.