Canon XF300 low light capability problem

[Bencuri]

I have just been checking tests of camcorders between 2000$-10000$, and I found that several camcorder has a surprisingly low quality in low light. For example here is this Canon XF300 camcorder. I heard it is a reference model at BBC. I wonder how it can be, when it can even be seen at Slashcam.com that is has quite poor low light quality. The way much cheaper Canon HF G10 has much better low light capability. The same is the case with the Sony NEX 5. Seeing this, I cannot really decide if its worth investing into such a camcorder like the Canon XF300, or better choosing a DSLR. DSLR seems to offer more for the fraction of the price.

[poisondeathray]

I have just been checking tests of camcorders between 2000$-10000$, and I found that several camcorder has a surprisingly low quality in low light. For example here is this Canon XF300 camcorder. I heard it is a reference model at BBC. I wonder how it can be, when it can even be seen at Slashcam.com that is has quite poor low light quality. The way much cheaper Canon HF G10 has much better low light capability. The same is the case with the Sony NEX 5. Seeing this, I cannot really decide if its worth investing into such a camcorder like the Canon XF300, or better choosing a DSLR. DSLR seems to offer more for the fraction of the price.

Well it depends what you need it for. There are many more features that professional videographers require or would like that many large sensor , DSLR "type" cameras typically don't have

There are other factors to consider than low light ability, but small sensor cameras are usually poor for low light. In general, the smaller the chip, the lower the light gathering ability .

XF300 has 3 1/3 inch sensors . DSLR "type" cameras have very large single sensor, usually ~4/3 . There are more photosites to gather light. The problem with large sensor cameras designed for photography, is that they subsample the sensor for video (You're not shooting 20 Megapixel video), the video is very tiny 1920x1080 compared to a photo. They are prone to aliasing and moire issues because many of them pixel bin (they take every nth pixel instead of taking the full image and doing a proper resize because processing isn't fast enough), and they usually have very poor OLPF .

For general content, BBC has a minimum submission requirement of 4:2:2 subsampling (there are exceptions). Most DSLR type cameras record 4:2:0 (usually AVCHD or a variant using h.264). Most DLSR "type" large sensor cameras don't make the BBC approved camera list because of these 2 reasons (moire/aliasing, recording format not 4:2:2)

[Bencuri]

Could you show an example for this aliasing problem?

[poisondeathray]

Could you show an example for this aliasing problem?

Use search, it's all over the place, various DSLR/camera forums. It's the "biggest" problem for these types of cameras (along with rolling shutter), it's discussed everyday because it's makes many shots practically unusable (at least for professional use)

Search for "moire & aliasing"