With the XC10 4K Camcorder from Canon, professional UltraHD 4K recording capability is presented in package ergonomically designed for handheld operation and portability. The camera incorporates a 10x f/2.8 to 5.6 SLR-style manual zoom lens with auto and manual focus capability. The 4K recording in a compact form factor is made possible by the camera's 1" CMOS sensor that is backed by a DIGIC DV 5 image processor. With a 4224 x 3164 total resolution, it is able to capture video at up to 3840 x 2160 and 4:3 photos in up to 12-megapixels (4000 x 3000). The 8.9 to 89mm lens yields a 35mm equivalent focal length of 27.3 to 273mm in video mode and 24.1 to 241mm in the 4:3 photo modes. Video is recorded with H.264 compression and packed in the widely supported MXF wrapper. Bitrates 35 and 50 Mbps are available for 1080i/p recording, and there are 205 and 305 Mbps modes (depending on frame rate) for UltraHD 4K.

The size of the XC10 lends the camera to run-and-gun applications, such as documentary and many types of event shooting, where the larger form factor of an interchangeable lens cinema camera or DSLR might prove impractical. Another obvious use case for high performance in a small body is mounting on a medium-sized UAV such as a hexa-rotor. The camera features a hot shoe that supports Canon speed lights or works as a standard cold shoe for LEDs, microphones, or other third-party on-camera accessories. Still photos, user settings, and video up to and including 1080p are recorded to SDHC/SDXC memory cards. To handle the up to 305 Mbps bitrate of 4K video there is also a CFast card slot.