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Convince me not to buy a AF100
  • Chaos123xChaos123x

    I love my Gh2 I really do. I think it has great image quality and I invested in some great lenses and things for it.

    But I only bought it because I could not afford the AF100 last year.

    Now I ran into some extra money and I can pick up the Af100 if I wanted too.

    Are the little things like XLR input and a headphone jack really worth the price? I'm going to keep my Gh2 no matter what, but I am toying with idea of getting the af100.

    Why would you or wouldn't you buy the AF100 if you had the cash in hand?

  • 54 Replies sorted by
  • bwhitzbwhitz

    @Brian202020

    hmmm... interesting. Could be pretty nice. If they can just finally ditch that crappy 24mb/s codec and offer some high frame-rate options it'll be a real winner!

  • Brian202020Brian202020

    @bwhitz

    Specs like that from the broadcast division I would expect, but the rumored camera announcement tomorrow is supposedly coming from the Lumix division.

  • bwhitzbwhitz

    "It's rumored to be the AF100 little brother (no SDI, no ND wheel, and a smaller body)."

    It better also have Intra 100mb/s and 4:2:2 color space with 120fps... and a sensor like the GH2 or better.

  • Brian202020Brian202020

    @rda I've shot many projects that donen't look like video with the AF100. It's all about the settings. That said I did finally sell it. I felt it's time was coming to an end. I'll probably get a D800 to replace it, maybe the FS700 as well.

    Here is the last short film I shot with the AF100

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev It's rumored to be the AF100 little brother (no SDI, no ND wheel, and a smaller body).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Also tomororow it seems that AF100 will be replaced with new camera

  • hankhank

    plus glass wont be a problem cause it s got fixed 22xzoom on it.

  • hankhank

    "I used to shoot 3/4 Umatic, Betacam SP, and DVCPRO" if u aren t after small dof and filmlook, have look at Panasonic AG-HPX250 you at least get avc intra in 422 and 10bit and has 3 sensors as well

  • nomadnomad

    If you want to go next level, go FS100, but not AF100.

    All that has been said against it here is true from my experience, tested them all (and against Scarlet as a reference). Highlight handling in particular is crap.

  • rdarda

    I bought an AF100 and sold it a couple of weeks later. I just couldn't get the image to not be video-y and kind of ugly despite lots of preset tweaking. I also didn't feel like I could confidently focus the AF100 with a fast prime and the built-in LCD. There's no LCD-zoom function to help with focus, and the red-outline focus assist is spotty. I'm much happier with my GH2 and external HD monitor (TV Logic), though I miss the built-in ND filters and onboard sound recording... I'll be really happy if the AF200 (or whatever they call it) has a sensor as good as the GH2 and better focus assist.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Send that link to B. G.

    LOL.
    At international stage Barry is, in fact, official Panasonic pro division representative slashing any other cameras (especially all HDSLR current and future) without compromise.

  • RamboRambo

    Send that link to B. G.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Panasonic AF-100

    Possibly my least favorite camera. This is Panasonic’s first try at a single sensor camera so I’ll cut them a little slack, but they did not get this one right. It’s very, very contrasty and the highlight handling is horrible. Bright saturated clipped colors just turn a flat, bright color, often with a little 8-bit color halo around the outside of the highlight.

    Other Panasonic cameras offer great flesh tone rendition in CineLike V gamma, but not in this camera. Something changed. I think I used CineLike D gamma and Norm B color matrix to get a look that I liked, and then dialed the saturation down some to make blown-out highlights look less like neon tubes in the background.

    This camera is 8-bit through and through. Not only does it record 8-bit AVC, the DSP is 8-bit and the SDI output is 8-bit. Banding is rampant. The last thing you want to shoot with this camera is a very subtle transition from one shade to another. Flatly lit walls will show a lot of crazy banding artifacts. (Not so good for green screen, I suspect.)

    Under very, very, very controlled lighting this camera can look great.

    Via: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/cameras_now_its_rocket_science/

  • proaudio4proaudio4

    " I think it's a bad time to buy a brand new camera, especially this close to NAB in April."

    Isacc_B nailed it here. Well put.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @Chaos123x

    It all depends on how you plan on distributing your content. You said that you are not going to show it on the big screen so resolution won't matter as much. If you are going to be scaling it down and streaming it out over the net then bit rate and lossless audio won't matter as much as well.

    Why don't you show us some of your footage you have already and point out how you expect to improve on it. Then we can tell you if we think a different camera will actually improve on that.

  • Isaac_BIsaac_B

    AF100 image quality is underwhelming, but ergonomically it is great. What I mean is it behaves like a traditional video camera. I use it at work, but the image has never ever wowed me, and it isn't half as good as a hacked GH2 when you view it purely on image quality. Just go to vimeo and look at the clips between both cameras. At the end of the day the image is more important to me and I see no sense in spending a few thousand dollars on a camera only to be unsatisfied with the image created. The FS100 is hands down and easily a more robust/resolute and pleasing image. But that's just my opinion. I think it's a bad time to buy a brand new camera, especially this close to NAB in April.

  • huataohuatao

    I know this is a video forum.

    But I also use my GH2 + panasonic 8mm fisheye for panoramic virtual tours. This is something AF-100 can never do haha.

    It's quite amazing that the GH2 can be mounted on a pano head and take HDR 360 images. Then next minute mounted on my wondlan stabilizer and film actual walk through videos. And next minute connected to my wireless flash strobe triggers and take product photos. And next minute mounted on my dolly and take some sliding product videos. All using the same camera.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    XLR makes no difference in sound, and for good sound record to a flash recorder. Still, can be handy. Ummm headphone jack? How about keeping the GH2 and adding a nice juicy Vixia G10. HDMI out, touch tracking, touch exposure, HP Jack, rock solid IS, full manual and you can buy a handle for it that has XLRs which will not sound any better but will look very cool. AND it has less aliasing than the GH2.

  • bwhitzbwhitz

    I'd like to see AF-100 60fps slo-mo next to GH2's 60fps slo-mo... wonder if their would be any perceived quality difference? The AF being 1080p 60fps and GH2 720p, obviously. Although, 1080i60 on the GH2 with a proper de-interlace seems like it would be right around the sharpness/detail as the AF-100's softer image.

  • troyjasontroyjason

    my .02 cents

    I recently rented an af100 because I needed 60p at 1080 for a few clips. It's image quality was AWFUL when compared to Quantum 9b.

    Be prepared for a HUGE drop in picture quality - you are paying for audio and 60p. Thats it.

    If you want picture quality rent Red Scarlets for your productions. If you want audio - do it off camera.

    Cheers!

  • kavadnikavadni

    If I had the money for an AF100 .. I'd go the extra thousand and get an FS100

  • robmneilsonrobmneilson

    "For the money of 1 AF100 you could get 1 Zeiss Cp.2 Lens, maybe 2. Would this make any sens? For a workflow improofment you would need the howl set. For a pure image quality improofment it would not be a very big bang for buck. What would be a wise glass investment for the future?"

    The CP2's are ok lenses, but I ended up investing in some nice Lomo glass, it took me awhile to put together a nice set, but for $3-4 grand I was able to put together a nearly complete set, that IMO has a superior look to the CP2's. At some point I'll spend the cash to get these changed into a PL mount (once I get a PL camera).

    I think the Lomo's are probably the cheapest cinema glass you can get, and have a comparable look to older Cooke lenses. They take a big of the edge off the digital look for sure. I've used them on a 7D, then a GH2, and now an FS100...I hope they last me through many more camera bodies, until I can throw down some serious cash on K35 lenses or better.

    I do miss my GH2 though, I wish I kept it and didn't need the cash, would be a great Bcam to use with the FS100. Still was worth it to upgrade the camera though.

  • ace_rimmerace_rimmer

    I was also debating the AF100 and FS100 for my next purchase and have since gotten to use an FS100 on a few shoots. If you need extreme lowlight ability for these sizzle reels, I'd recommend the FS100. However I get the feeling that the next iterations of both of these cameras will be world beaters. If you can, wait until after NAB or the Canon 5DM3 debut to make a decision. (EDIT: Nevermind. Hopefully the Mark 3 is all that.)

  • Chaos123xChaos123x

    FS100 is off the table. All my glass is for micro four thirds. If I'm going to switch mounts I will go to Canon when they have something better than the 5D Mark II and cheaper than the C300.

  • AlexAlex

    so you have the extra time to fiddle with the "unprofessional side" of the GH2? The AF100 would save you some time and probably would give you more security because there is less stuff to take care of or its easier to take care of. If you have the time to care, I can't see any reason that speaks for the AF100. Otherwise the FS100 seems to be the better choice.

  • Chaos123xChaos123x

    Sizzle Reels for proposed TV shows.

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