dxl
04-06-2012, 07:32 PM
since 2007 i have used dvx100 which i like the latitude and color, but not happy with the sharpness and noise
than i used hvx200, in dv mode the only advantage over dvx100 was the faster auto focus. HD recording on p2 card was a pain and was only a bit sharper. recording a few live shows had to use adobe onlocation for HD recording.
later i bought 5d2 in 2009, i was like WOW!! i bought the GH2 i was like WOW finally a real 1080P recorder, however the color, the grain and dynamic range and the peak to white isn't as good as 5D2.
now i still have gh2, 5d2, a 60D with a faster lens when used with 5d2. the the 5D2 is at 1600 F4, 60D will be at 640 F2.8. gh2 for wide shot 320 F1.8 etc. (ISO higher than 800 on GH2 is quite hard to match Canon color)
i have been wanting to have a camera with motorized zoom and with a separate focus ring so i can shoot some staged live shows and some sports.
even though I had some success shooting volleyball games with gh2 14-140, but if i had a camera like ac160 things might be better. however for any staged concert or shows with dramatic light changes gh2,5d2,60d would not be able to cope with the changes.
i was considering XA10 or XF100, but with only one control ring... just isnt enough. and seeing many review and online videos showing that they are not good in low light. the color is good and the sharpness is just fair.
xf300... i really like the canon color, but the low light samples are not good... well... its still a 2009 model.
NX70... water proof!! but only with one control ring and the zoom servo rocker sucked... even thought the lowlight samples seems to be the best in the sub $8000 small chip cameras with motorized zoom.
I bought the AC160 because
28mm wider than other cameras with 3 control rings (adding wide angle lens will reduce resolution and add more chromatic aberration)
I thought it will match the color of gh2 and be as sharp. yes the color is closer gh2 than to the canon but it isnt as sharp as gh2.. but which one is?
after turning the noise reduction all the way down on ac160, it still doesnt look as organic as 5d2, which it have the most organic film like grains than other hd cameras i have used (hvx200,fs100,60d,gh2)
after some testing these are my final settings
detail level +2 or +3
vertical detail 0 (dont use this for sharpening or softening)
detail cornering (noise reduction) -7
chroma level (saturation) -7
gamma cine-like D
matrix FLUO
skin tone off
many of the sample for ac160/130 i have seem online seem like they were using normal pansonic factory settings with minor changes. which look very digital camcorder like. the color is overly saturated to a point that they look like they are blown out. and without setting the cine-like-D, highlights get blown out very quickly. very contrasty. The default setting for noise reduction at 0 have too much of the noised reduced smeared look.
on 5D2 i'm used to turn sharpness all the way down to avoid aliasing, which still shows nice small organic grains
on gh2 i'm used to turn noise reduction to -2 to avoid that noise reduced photo look. turn sharpening to -2 to avoide digital sharping look
on ac160 when the detail and noise reduction is all the way down the noise look smeared like low end digital video noise. raising the detail level seems to make better finer looking noise.
noise performance seem to be the same as gh2 with a fast lens
Just like pretty much all super-zoom lenses, chromatic aberration can be a problem.
ac160 have some problem at the widest and the longest ends.
when using wider part of the lens, set the Fstop to 2.2 or higher number to greatly reduce chromatic aberration
at the tele end set to F4.5 or higher number to reduce the problem.
the 22x zoom is great even tho it become F3.6 at the end ( i donno why they advertise F3.4), however my most used range can still have a F2.4. 3.9-14mm
image stabilizer isnt as good as sony, but i will be using this on tripod mostly anyway
i'm still getting to know this camera
hope pansonic will or better rollout the 60p firmware update AND would be nice to have 32mb or higher recording mode as it support UHS-I, theres no way it doesnt have the power to write in higher bitrate.
ohhhhh and i think they need to fix the HDMI out, the ghosting is very bad, cant use for recording at all!
than i used hvx200, in dv mode the only advantage over dvx100 was the faster auto focus. HD recording on p2 card was a pain and was only a bit sharper. recording a few live shows had to use adobe onlocation for HD recording.
later i bought 5d2 in 2009, i was like WOW!! i bought the GH2 i was like WOW finally a real 1080P recorder, however the color, the grain and dynamic range and the peak to white isn't as good as 5D2.
now i still have gh2, 5d2, a 60D with a faster lens when used with 5d2. the the 5D2 is at 1600 F4, 60D will be at 640 F2.8. gh2 for wide shot 320 F1.8 etc. (ISO higher than 800 on GH2 is quite hard to match Canon color)
i have been wanting to have a camera with motorized zoom and with a separate focus ring so i can shoot some staged live shows and some sports.
even though I had some success shooting volleyball games with gh2 14-140, but if i had a camera like ac160 things might be better. however for any staged concert or shows with dramatic light changes gh2,5d2,60d would not be able to cope with the changes.
i was considering XA10 or XF100, but with only one control ring... just isnt enough. and seeing many review and online videos showing that they are not good in low light. the color is good and the sharpness is just fair.
xf300... i really like the canon color, but the low light samples are not good... well... its still a 2009 model.
NX70... water proof!! but only with one control ring and the zoom servo rocker sucked... even thought the lowlight samples seems to be the best in the sub $8000 small chip cameras with motorized zoom.
I bought the AC160 because
28mm wider than other cameras with 3 control rings (adding wide angle lens will reduce resolution and add more chromatic aberration)
I thought it will match the color of gh2 and be as sharp. yes the color is closer gh2 than to the canon but it isnt as sharp as gh2.. but which one is?
after turning the noise reduction all the way down on ac160, it still doesnt look as organic as 5d2, which it have the most organic film like grains than other hd cameras i have used (hvx200,fs100,60d,gh2)
after some testing these are my final settings
detail level +2 or +3
vertical detail 0 (dont use this for sharpening or softening)
detail cornering (noise reduction) -7
chroma level (saturation) -7
gamma cine-like D
matrix FLUO
skin tone off
many of the sample for ac160/130 i have seem online seem like they were using normal pansonic factory settings with minor changes. which look very digital camcorder like. the color is overly saturated to a point that they look like they are blown out. and without setting the cine-like-D, highlights get blown out very quickly. very contrasty. The default setting for noise reduction at 0 have too much of the noised reduced smeared look.
on 5D2 i'm used to turn sharpness all the way down to avoid aliasing, which still shows nice small organic grains
on gh2 i'm used to turn noise reduction to -2 to avoid that noise reduced photo look. turn sharpening to -2 to avoide digital sharping look
on ac160 when the detail and noise reduction is all the way down the noise look smeared like low end digital video noise. raising the detail level seems to make better finer looking noise.
noise performance seem to be the same as gh2 with a fast lens
Just like pretty much all super-zoom lenses, chromatic aberration can be a problem.
ac160 have some problem at the widest and the longest ends.
when using wider part of the lens, set the Fstop to 2.2 or higher number to greatly reduce chromatic aberration
at the tele end set to F4.5 or higher number to reduce the problem.
the 22x zoom is great even tho it become F3.6 at the end ( i donno why they advertise F3.4), however my most used range can still have a F2.4. 3.9-14mm
image stabilizer isnt as good as sony, but i will be using this on tripod mostly anyway
i'm still getting to know this camera
hope pansonic will or better rollout the 60p firmware update AND would be nice to have 32mb or higher recording mode as it support UHS-I, theres no way it doesnt have the power to write in higher bitrate.
ohhhhh and i think they need to fix the HDMI out, the ghosting is very bad, cant use for recording at all!