New gear in the house. Canon XC10 and Rode NTG4+. Micro review.

Exciting new equipment in the house. Canon XC10, 4K video camera and XLR Rode NTG 4+ microphone.

Why these?

Photography, run and gun documentary and even cameraman equipment.

Canon XC10 is a 4k video camera with 1 inch sensor and fixed 24-240mm lens filming in Canon C-log. Even though some people put this camera down, we all have different needs. Not everything can be filmed with shadow depth of field. There is many situations where I actually prefer wider DOF in order to capture much more of the scene. I do events and documentaries and I can't imagine trying to pull manual focus on my DSLR and f1.8 lenses. Face tracking AF makes it easy for interviews. Other useful features like full stop ND filter, image stabilisation, 3 custom buttons, 12MP jpeg images while recording and a loupe for bright outdoors moments make this camera quite enjoyable for quick turn-around jobs, documentaries, run & gun filming and did I mention wireless control with exposure change?

Rode NTX 4+ is a wonderful XLR mic. I use it with Tascam DR-40 and a Y XLR cable in order to get a left and right mono audio. An update to a Rode NTG 2 with better performance and one main advantage. Build in rechargeable battery. Of course it's always possible to phantom power. With 150+ hours of recording time on one charge, it seems like I'll be recharging this beast some time next year. Built in High pass, Low pass and 10db pad for instant equalisation. Pure pleasure to use and it sounds great.