This Camcorder exceeds all my expectations. I came from the Sony PXW-Z190 and I do miss the 25X optical zoom but now I have more clarity and 4K is awesome. The recording in HEVC files makes the files half the size of the regular .264 or MPEG files with double the quality. The 30X zoom is very usable. The slow motion is buttery smooth. The U30 battery that comes with it won’t give you all day recording, so get the U60 for that. The Canon L glass shows clear and precise. I haven’t tested low light yet, but the groups and forums on Facebook have tested and uploaded clips that say its a winner in that regard as well. The biggest compliment is the use of SD cards...Initially I was leary about getting this camcorder because FCPX couldn’t read the HEVC files...6 months later, FCPX can read the files and edit them. Just be sure you have a fairly newer MacBook Pro because I have two, one I bought in 2014 and the newer one I bought in 2017...I recorded two different church services and loaded each on the different laptops. The newer 2017 model processed the files with no problem, but the older 2014 would load in FCPX but that’s it. So I took a clip 30 seconds long, updated my software, updated FCPX and tried, still no processing or saving the clip...So now I will be getting a new MacBook Pro to make sure I have a New Laptop that I know should work and also a backup in my 2017...Oh and Canon just released a new firmware for the XF705 with some nice improvements and fixed some problems people were experiencing...I didn’t have any problems but then again I’ve only had it two weeks...It’s not cheap but if you got about 8000 laying around go for it...

bought this solely for the smaller size, autofocus tracking and 10 bit 4:2:2 as i already own cinema counterparts, does not disappoint!

You can rename the file from .mxf to .mpg and then Adobe Media Encoder will recognize it. You can convert the file to 10 bit ProResHQ 422.

As we acquire more advanced multimedia storytelling skills, using the camera has to become almost second nature to us. The real emphasis evolves from which camera and lens to use into always being ready to capture the story as it unfolds with interviews and supporting that story with plenty of supporting B roll media and stills. 

The alternative is simply missing the action or out of focus stuff while fiddling with a cinema camera. For solo shooters or a very small crew, the new Canon XF705 will do a fantastic job for most all projects. Its ease of use, solid feel, shallow DOF and low light capabilities, ability to shoot 4k on fast inexpensive SDXC cards offers a very different workflow to using a Cinema camera and heavy rail system much less trying to keep those Cinema lenses in focus. 

As of today, the Canon utility for the brand new camera allows you to view the 4k media on either a PC or Mac, but neither FCP X, nor Adobe are able to ingest that media. That will be coming soon they tell me.

Well worth the money!

I purchased this camera knowing that Adobe Premiere Pro would not import H.265, but I thought that Adobe would soon fix that problem. Sadly that is not the case as of this review in March of 2019. 
I have been using my Atomos recorder as a work around.

Left camcorders behind several years ago and shot video exclusively with DSLR cameras. 

Shot full manual with Canon EOS 5D and used Canon Log to get the most out of the vids in post production.
Of course the 5D shoots massive sized 4K .mov files. So I would spend 36 to 40 hours re-encoding them to h265 files BEFORE I took them into post so I could store the original files in some kind of way that wasnt going to use up all my storage drives.
And the footage was beautiful. Shooting with Canon Log and then putting a Canon LUT on the footage in post was awesome.
The XF705 also had Canon Log. BUT...it has two big processors inside and is designed to be able to live stream broadcast quality footage from news gatherers right to the local television station.
So I did what I never thought I would...shot FULL AUTO. 
Wow!
The video is beautiful. Just beautiful. I think it looks even better than shooting with Canon Log and using an LUT.
Never thought Id say that. But there it is.
And of course the files are .h265 right out of the gate. So storage is no longer a problem.
Camcorder...Im back in the fold. Sold my DSLRs and Im very happy!
-Robbie
Las Vegas, NV

I do a lot of live performance and have been using the Canon XF 300s with good success, so for me the upgrade to the 705 was a no brainer.
Ive only had the 705 for about a week now but I did a 90 minute test filming in camera to H.265/HEVC 4:2:2 10 bit and outputting via 12G SDI to a Shogun Inferno set to Pro Res HD.
After the 90 minutes of filming, the Shogun Pro Res amounted to a 1.2 TB file in my Macs Premiere Pro. However, I was unable to import the H.265 from the camera file into Premiere Pro CC 2018. I assume that Adobe will soon provide a firmware update to allow H.265 files to work in Premiere Pro without having to convert them.
In any event, Im very impressed with the camera and am looking forward to taking advantage of all the improvements they have made over the XF 300.

This has everything I wanted in a pick up and shoot, quality camera. The image stabilization when zoomed all the way in is great. The autofocus is excellent. Being able to record in Log is great too.