In my opinion, the Canon XF200/205 is just about the perfect camcorder, ergonomically speaking. It improved upon the ergonomics of the XF100 by adding three lens control rings, a rotating grip, and a third start/stop record button on the front left of the camera. It's a shame these ergonomics did not carry over into later XF cameras, which seem to have gone in two directions: the XF400 retains the same small form factor of the XF100/200 (smaller, even, with its removable top handle), but reverted back to the single lens control ring of the XF100, while the XF705 seems to have spawned from the more professional grade XF305, with its larger body, three lens control rings (on L-Series glass!), and LCD screen located on the top handle; neither has left side record button or the rotating side handle featured on the XF200. I reached out to Canon a few years ago about my desire to see these features implemented in the next iteration of XF camera; lo and behold, the XF605 was released (basically just a shrunken down XF705 with better codecs), and while it is closer in size to the XF200, it still does not feature the rotating side handle or left side record button; if it did, I would have purchased it in a heartbeat! Please, Canon, if you ever put out an XF500 or XF805, I humbly request that it feature a rotating side grip, left side record button, and three lens control rings (L-Series glass would be nice too!). Thank you.
