AF 100 or not?

For some reason I remembered syd's last post:
syd said:
I'm finding, sadly, that this camera isn't the right choose for me right now. If best lens option for our kind of work are Lumix M4/3, so I won't buy it, they are expensive and slow. I shoot mainly in south america, most of the time in Colombia streets and jungles, and carrying rigs and stuff like that (sometimes even a tripod) is not and option to me due to my subjects and shooting environments... If a mount or adapter comes out to comunicate the camera with IS lenses and to control aperture, then this will be the camera we all were expecting. By now I sadly have to say that this kind of HD image isn´t in the real doc world yet. Hope this changes soon...
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To add to your considerations of lenses, bodies, codecs, etc. I'll add media.

Yes, P2 is, without doubt, the most reliable.

But I haven't lost anything on SD cards yet, and one thing to ask is how much will you be shooting each day, and will you be offloading cards each night?
A half dozen SD cards holding a couple of hours each would obviously be more economical than a week's worth of P2. just food for thought...
 
Thank you again. Looks like its time for some more homework. I'm off climbing in the Sierras tomorrow and Saturday. Will plan on reaching out for your expertise again on Sunday/Monday. Happy Memorial Day until then!
 
Thanks GroveChuck for finding Syd's post. Certainly confirms that HPX250 is the better path. Maybe the AF100 can come in as a second purchase as I get closer to the documentary/PSA style work.

Dustylense, I ruled out the XF100 because I heard that it does mpeg-2 compression and that therefore the AC160 and HPX250 were superior. Also, I have heard that HPX250 does well in low light. I will keep my eye out for an alternate way to do stills.

Thanks Matt, the zoom abilities of HPX250 at 22x seem compelling.

Mike, can you please clarify what you mean by the HD-SDI and variable framerates? I looked at the differences between AC130 and AC160, and AC 160 seems more appropriate.

Erik, is it worth stretching to the HPX370, the ENG camera? I am assuming that is the minimum accepted as a roll A camera in the broadcast/film world.
 
I can answer a few of these questions.

The XF100 uses mpeg-2 but at a high bitrate and color space. It is better than AVCHD but not better than AVC-Intra. 50mbps mpeg-2 is a broadcast standard and considered professional quality. I looked at the XF100 and thought it was to small and fiddley. The XF300 is great but my opinion was Canon made the XF100 a little too 'consumerish' for my tastes.

The HPX 250 and the HPX370 are virtually the same camera outside of form factor and the lens. I would not think of the HPX370 as an upgrade but rather a lateral option is body style.

Hope this helps.
 
Not to rain on choosing a Panasonic, which are indeed fine cameras (we have several), but I would also seriously consider looking for a used (or even new) Sony EX1 or EX1r. We have an EX1 and they are extremely well built. have fantastic image quality, and record to readily available SDHC Cards using a $40 adapter. They have three 1/2" CMOS sensors, so with the larger sensors you can get shallow depth of field when you want it by using a little zoom and the built in ND filters to keep the lens open wider. We use several cards in our adapters, all Sandisk Extremes or Ultras, from class 4's up to class 10's and have never had an issue. Our current card of choice is the Sandisk 32GB Extremes, which gets you about 110 minutes on a card at full 1080P HD. There is even an inexpensive setup to shoot directly to a portable external hard drive. XDCAM is also a great codec that plays nicely with all the major editing systems. The EX1 is also able to flip standards between PAL to NTSC, and can even record both to the same card. The EX1 is also on the BBC HD approved list when recording to an external recorder.
 
Thanks for the replies. Another friend who has done some recent work for Discovery etc also suggested both the XF 100 and the EX1r. I found a thread here in the DVXUser group that compares the EX1r to the HPX250. Please see: http://tinyurl.com/6uqedef

HPX250 continues to be the forerunner I think.

Have to figure out what a full kit with accessories and case might contain? In particular a case that will allow it to be safe even if placed on a motorcycle on a long distance journey through dual-sport terrain.
 
G4MM said:
Mike, can you please clarify what you mean by the HD-SDI and variable framerates? I looked at the differences between AC130 and AC160, and AC 160 seems more appropriate.
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Certainly, the AC160 has an HD-SDI output, the AC130 doesn't. The AC160 also can do 2fps-60fps for slow or fast motion. The 130 is 24fps, 30fps, and 60fps only. The AC160 also has the option for uncompressed audio and is NTSC/PAL switchable.

Here's the product page that spells out the differences... http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/02products/products/ag-ac160_130/index.html
 
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I'm very comfortable shooting with the HPX370 handheld. Cant beat the ENG form factor. You will end up spending a least twice as much in the end for the HPX370 after you get all the goodies for it so keep that in mind. The viewfinder is better as well.
 
Well, I called B&H and had them email an invoice for the HPX250 + accessories. It came up to $6500 and included a couple of microphones.

Also, posted on ADVrider forum regarding cases that can protect the camera traveling on a dual-sport bike and possible snow/ice climb situations etc.

Thanks
 
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Okie. Cool. Will post something there. (Was unable to find a for sale listing).

Worth waiting for the HPX255? Its a month away.
 
G4MM said:
Worth waiting for the HPX255? Its a month away.
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The HPX255 is identical in all ways to the HPX250, except for one - it has a remote control port for using a paintbox. If you plan to use an RC-4 paintbox with your camera, definitely consider waiting. If you're not going to use a paintbox, there's no reason whatsoever to wait for the HPX255 - and the HPX255 is going to cost $1000 more too, so ... no, unless you need paintbox capability, no reason to wait.
 
In my opinion, the AF100 is just plain SOLID! The FS is sharper and cleaner but lacks many options the AF has, for example ND filters and a few other things. The 5M3 is very nice as far as pic is concerned but it is a DSLR and not the FEATURES of a video camera. I've used them all (Except the 5D3) and a few of them could give you a better output for a final product. If you consider the cost, you are getting more with the AF, but to me this is not the selling point. The AF100 is simply SOLID! And if you're familiar with the "Panny Mojo", it definitely has it! You will not be disappointed!
 
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