AF100A footage not holding up against Canon DSLR

M

Mountain Wolf Films

New member
I was on a shoot with two other videographers a few weeks ago. We were shooting a music video in relatively low light with three cameras: My AF100A, a Canon 70D, and a Canon t5i. All cameras were shooting at 400 ISO and all cameras had constant aperture F2.8 zoom lenses. The particular lens I was using was the Lumix 12-35 F2.8. When we showed the rough cut to the client, they seemed to notice that the shots from the AF100A were noticeably noisier that the other two cameras! The other two DSLR videographers agreed as well. I was shooting at F2.8 with the default F5 Cinelike V setting with Cinelike color Matrix and all other settings at default 0. It's kind of disappointing that the AF100 can't even compete with footage from DSLRs anymore, especially since it was supposedly designed to fix many of the issues that shooters are confronted with when shooting with DSLRs. I bought this camera about 2 1/2 months ago as an upgrade from my HMC-150 and frankly, I thought the footage I was getting out of it was relatively decent. When clients with untrained eyes start noticing issues with the footage is when I start getting concerned...
I took all of the precautions in order to minimize noise. I even black balanced between every shot and shot with the iris wide open! We had studio lights set up, even though it was still relatively dark, as that was the look the client wanted.

I don't want to have to sell the AF, but if the footage can't hold up in 2015 and clients are scared away as a result, I feel like I have no choice. If I do end up selling it along with the my two lenses, I would either go for the DVX200 or the Sony FS700R, which has dropped in price considerably since the announcement of the FS5. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! I've attached an image from the music video for reference (The music video was pretty "artistic" as you can see!:grin: ).
 

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There are low noise setups for the AF100....in the stickies at the top of the AF100 section of this forum....and other places on the Internet.

Cheers - Tye
 
Went to the scenes thread,..which one is it? I have been using the Canon 5DMkii emulation....I quite like it.
 
Well, ISO 400 is this camera's native ISO. Anything lower than that and the image would have been too dark, and anything higher would have added more noise. Also, Cine-like V is supposedly a relatively low-noise gamma, ecspecially compared to Cine-D. Maybe the Cine-like color matrix is the issue?
 
I used the AF100 hot and heavy for some time and never had a problem going up with the ISO when needed. That's what it's there for.

Neat Video is also a must have for noise reduction.

For what it's worth, I found that to compete with S35 cameras in low light, adding a SpeedBooster and fast manual glass like f1.4 makes all the difference in the world.

I routinely cut footage from the AF100 with other cameras and clients could never tell a difference.

If you do end up selling your camera, I would skip the FS700 as a replacement, same basic age as the AF100, and get something with a more modern sensor.

Even a low cost used GH4 will eat an AF100 & FS700 lunch.
 
cinebuddy said:
Not with a 7Q...not event close. But then you're spending in a different price bracket.
Click to expand...

And a 7Q+ could just as easily be added to a GH4. So much for not even close ;)

The whole point of mentioning the GH4 was in regard to choosing a camera with a more modern sensor.
 
David W. Jones said:
And a 7Q+ could just as easily be added to a GH4. So much for not even close ;)

The whole point of mentioning the GH4 was in regard to choosing a camera with a more modern sensor.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. As an owner of the combo...the 7Q breathed so much life into the FS700 that it's insane(so many great features HFS/Raw). But naked...no I would not consider it as a replacement for an AF100, and a year after purchasing myself I would not consider the combo, if only for the bulk and ergonomics. Couple that with all of the new offerings and the OP has options for days.
 
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