2026-06-29 Canon Canosound 312XL-S Camera

I was having lunch with my wife’s minister at a local restaurant when I happened to mention our upcoming Photo Fair. Dave’s ears perked up and he said he had some photo equipment he was planning on donating he could give to me. Initially he could put his hands on the Canon Canosound 312XL-S camera and a baia film viewer/editor. A week later he sent home an Elmo ST-600 2-track 8mm sound projector. We will try to write separate articles about the last two.

    For now we are going to stay with the Canon Canosound 312XL-S camera. 

    It came with a Canon Boom Microphone (Model BM-70) in a case in a box. The handle—folded up to access the tripod socket on the base of the camera—holds six AA batteries and a lot of them had leaked. I managed to pry them out and cleaned out as much of the deposits as I could. I didn’t try loading AA-batteries, as I have no film. The Kodak sound cartridges were a little deeper than the standard silent cartridges, but the camera can take both.
    I should mention the Edmonton Film and Video Arts Society—known as FAVA—has this camera for rent and would probably appreciate the camera if for no better reason as it’s use as a spare parts camera. I tried contacting them and they didn’t get back to my phone message. They have two locations in Edmonton. I have donated items to them at their River Valley location (they used to be in the same building as the Edmonton Folk Festival, until the EFF moved to their own building). Now FAVA has a second location in the West End.

    Anyway, back to the camera. The boom microphone can be pulled out to get closer to the sound source. It would be pretty vulnerable to damage carrying the camera around with the boom microphone extended, but the improvement of the spoken word from a talking head makes this design attractive.

    The control side starts with a footage counter at the top. Then half way down the body there is a strip of inputs/outputs and a switch for auto microphone level (normal/low). At the bottom there is a three position power switch at the front left corner. 

    The camera’s zoom has a macro setting that can get the camera down to 21.5 cm (8.5 inches). This is an important advantage in a day of making and filming your own titles. From left the first two ports are the remote and microphone input plugs, then an auxiliary input (a place to feed sound from a public address system, or a record player or tape player). The monitor socket is to feed the camera’s sound out to an amplifier for a speaker or headphones. I think the mic level switch decreases the amplification of the microphone at the low setting.

    The footage counter has a battery check button at one end. 

    There is a warning on the film compartment door to not try inserting or removing the sound magazine while the main switch is set to the RL (Run Lock) position.

    The film magazine tips into place. The film gate for the zoom is at the right. The sound head is at the bottom. Needless to say film editing just got a whole lot more difficult!

Marketed November 1977
Original Price 68,500 yen
This was a sister model of the 514XL-S. It had an external metering system, replacing TTL metering, and some functions were dropped from those of the 514XL-S to lower the costs. A newly designed high-speed 3x f/1.2 zoom lens with macro function was applied. This lens had a built-in foldable rubber lens hood.
The new compact Canon Boom Microphone BM50 was developed for this model. The Canon Boom Microphone BM70 marketed together with the 514XL-S could also be used with this model.

Type Sound and silent Super 8 type 8mm movie camera
Image Size 4.2 x 5.7 mm (Projection image size: 4 x 5.4mm)
Film Sound or silent Super 8 film cartridge

Lens 

Focal 
Length/Speed 8.5 – 25.5mm f/1.2 (13 elements in 10 groups). Spectra-coating. Built-in rubber hood.
Zooming Ratio3x
Focusing Manual (Front lens group rotating method), 1.2 m to infinity
Macro Shooting Close distance shooting by turning the zooming/macro setting lever to “Macro” at wide-angle end. Close-up shooting distance from the film plane mark when the focusing ring is set at infinity is 215 mm and field of view is 84 x 118 mm (3.31 x 4.65 inch).
Zooming Power zooming (Approx. 6 sec.) coupled to film drive and manual zooming with zooming lever.
Filter Size 43 mm

Viewfinder 

Type Single-lens reflex type (Built-in eyecup)
Rangefinder Not available (Guess focusing)
Dioptric 
Adjustment -4 to +2 diopter
Viewfinder
Information Over/under exposure warnings, film transport indicator, battery check/film end precaution lamp, recording level indication and macro indication

Exposure Control

Type Outside metering EE with a CdS exposure meter. Automatic aperture setting coupled to loaded film speed and filming speed.
Metering Range ISO 250, f/1.2, 18 fps – ISO25, f/45, 18fps
Film Speed Automatic ISO setting by film cartridge
Tungsten type film: ISO 40, 160 and 250
Daylight type film: ISO 25, 100 and 160
CCA Filter A Color Conversion filter A is built-in. The CCA filter is automatically cancelled with loading of a daylight type film cartridge. Manual cancellation of the CCA filter is possible.
Manual Aperture 
Control For exposure compensation
Film Drive 
Type Power filming by high performance DC micro-motors
Filming Speed 18 fps
Footage Counter Counts up. Automatic resetting by unloading of a cartridge.
Film End 
Precaution A warning lamp in the viewfinder lights up
approx. 2 ft. before film-end.
Shutter

Shutter Opening 220 degrees (XL system that combines shutter and lens speed to         allow filming without requiring powerful lights)
Release System Magnet release system

Sound Recording System

Type Magnetic recording system on Super 8 sound film (continuous film drive by capstan drive)
Microphone
Input 3.5 mm diameter mini jack. Input impedance: Approx. 3 K ohm. Minimum input sensitivity: -80 dB (0 dB=1 V)
Accessory 
Microphone Impedance: 500 ohm.
Dynamic microphone sensitivity: -78 dB (0 dB=1 V/µbar 1 KHz)
Aux. Input 3.5 mm diameter mini jack. Minimum input impedance: Approx. 100 K ohm. Minimum input sensitivity: -20 dB (0 dB=1 V)
Mixing Mixing of microphone input and aux. input is available.
Sound Monitor An earphone and recording level indication in the viewfinder.
Automatic level
control (ALC) circuit is built-in. Auto and low level positions with lock.
Sound Fading Not available
Tone Control Two settings of soft and clear
Earphone Output Usable earphone impedance: 8 ohm
Remote Control 2.5 mm diameter mini jack. Remote control is enabled with a         remote control switch or microphone’s remote control switch.
Power Source Six AA batteries in the grip for film drive, power zooming, exposure metering and sound recording. 
External power pack (9 V DC) is available.
Battery Life Sufficient power for approx. 10 film cartridges under normal temperature
Battery Check Push button and lamp (LED) in the viewfinder
Main Switch Three way switch of on, off and running lock. A red warning mark appears at R and RL position to warn that power is on.
Grip Folding type. Contains batteries.

Other

Cue Light red LED
Accessory Shoe for Boom microphone
External Power 
Jack
Dimensions (W x H x D) 64 x 136 x 195 mm
(W x H x D) 2.52 x 5.35 x 7.72 inches
Weight 1,310 g (Body only)  1,420 g (Including batteries)
2.89 lb..    3.13 lb..