Financial Point of No Returns with AF100

[nugat]

The body is 5k. How much should I spend on the rest to still keep this investment viable?
After 10 days with the cam and accessories I believe the answer ( for me ) is: 10k total, or 5k on top of the body.
In my case it's two zuikos (14-35/2 and 35-100/2), tripod, manfrotto 521pfi focus control*.
Spending additionally on PL glass , rigs/rails/etc means the setup becomes too expensive (Sony F3/ RED level) to compete.
To me AF100 is a poor man's DOFcam, and that's where it should stay. On sticks, dolly, steadicam--in low budget quickly-made drama (hence varifocal glass), but using big budget selective focus film language. Too awkward (without rigging) for ENG-style mobility**, too limited for network drama; it nicely fills the niche that was before populated with "film" dslrs. Pimping it out for other uses simply will not work. IMHO.
* actually two cams is even a faster setup to do series drama in my experience (2xAF100 make sense)
**even rigged, the DOF will play against it here, 1/2-2/3 inch being so much easier for run'n'gun applications.

[danielc]

im not too sure what your asking here. but yes, if you dont have some things for this type of setup, 5000 is fair but depending on your setup and needs you may spend more. i myself have spent maybe around 6000 getting my needed gear to use the af100 in a way i like; nikon manual lenses, follow focus, new sticks(but these were due anyway), memory cards, adapter. i have my rail system so that is costs not spent. basically what im saying is it may seem like a lot because you dont have the gear yet. but once you have it all, and a new body comes out, you will just be buying the body and laughing at the rest; its all relevant. the af100 is perfectly capable of shooting body and lens, but if you require a certain shooting setup then more gear will be needed of course.

and even all rigged out it will not be close to the F3 or red one. the bodies may be close to a rigged out af100, but then where is all of the gear coming from. a full rigged out af100 unit is about 1/2 if not 1/3 the cost with comparable results. rig gear costs will just hurt at the beginning, but down the road it will pay off with any body. poorman is terms of price, but not quality=].

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

Nugat, that sounds like exactly what I am going to do. Only of course you will need some support for the 35-100 lens.

That all sounds good except that I'm not sure if the manfrotto 521pfi focus control will work for rack-focusing the 14-35 and 35-100? Have you tried it yet? Would be a really cool solution if it does...

[nugat]

Not really asking anything. These are rethorical questions that everyone answers himself for herself. Or the other way round.

[nugat]

Support needed of course. From the lecture the 521pfi should do the trick, waiting for delivery now.

Nugat, that sounds like exactly what I am going to do. Only of course you will need some support for the 35-100 lens.

That all sounds good except that I'm not sure if the manfrotto 521pfi focus control will work for rack-focusing the 14-35 and 35-100? Have you tried it yet? Would be a really cool solution if it does...

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

Cool! So you have heard that the 521pfi will work with the 35-100, very nice option.

.... If you don't mind can you share a little more what "lecture" you heard this in and what they said? Did they demo using an auto-focus lens with te 521 pfi?

[nugat]

The "lecture" was that 521 works guaranted eg. with hvx200. There is no reason Panasonic would change the protocol from one body to another. Of course I can be wrong, but then..my company has 2 hvx200 in the worst case. 300$ won't go to waste.
I tell you more interesting thing: Chrosziel has a pro wireless (300 yard) focus control called Alladin. It also controls HVX200 and has a changeover from hirose plug to HVX200 3.5mm+2.5mm plugs. The former controls focus/iris the latter start/stop. Same as AF100.
Now imagine professional focus pulling from the director/DOP 24inch monitor...
Of course there is a price on that, but what would be more worthy an investment on a film DOF camera than a pro focus free of all limitations of the mechanical one?

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

Sounds cool.
I am sure the 521PFI will be compatible with the AF100's input protocol, and probably with the Panasonic 14-140mm lens since it has "video-style" autofocus capabilities. What I am not sure about is if the Olympus 4/3 photo-lens will be able to be smoothly racked from one focus point to another using the 521PFI, which was more designed for use with 1/3" camcorders with integrated video lenses. I am crossing my fingers that it will work but but I'd like to know before I spend all this money... I don't have 2 HVX200's

[nugat]

If you can wait a week, I'll tell you.

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

Not sure if I can wait, but I'll be looking forward to your results either way.