Af 105a announced in japan

David W. Jones said:
Too bad it's dithered 8-bit and not true 10-bit output.
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I'm still decidedly curious about what exactly the AF100A is doing with its hdmi/sdi output. "Dithering" has a very specific meaning within the context of computer graphics. As most of us probably already know, dithering algorithms are used to squeeze images into a smaller color depth by using slight differences in neighbouring pixels to approximate the higher-depth original. Just for a very crude example, if you have a 1-bit-per-pixel limit for your final image (meaning only black or white pixels, and nothing in between), you can still get an image that looks to the eye like a greyscale image, provided you have sufficient resolution to work with. A dithering algorithm that uses 2x2 blocks of pixels could produce a good approximation of a 2-bit greyscale source image within the limitations of the 1-bit b&w final image.

So, the implication is that if the AF100A is literally "dithering" it's HDMI and SDI signal, then what might be going on is that it is taking a 10-bit image, dithering it down to only 8-bit, with the 2 least significant bits in the final 10-bit output being only padding. This would be good news for Nanoflash owners, because it would mean that they would not need to upgrade to a 10-bit recorder to get the benefit of the improved processing.

(There's also temporal dithering, but I'll leave that alone for now.)

An alternative interpretation is that the AF100A is taking an 8-bit image and expanding it to 10-bits through some interpolation algorithm. That would mean that all 10 of the bits in the output signal are technically being used, but that's an effect that can be done in post on any 8 bit image from any camera, so...not much of an upgrade in that case. That's also not technically dithering.

Of course, the AF100A may be doing neither of these and something else is going on to deliver this alleged "fake" 10-bit. I'd be interested to see some samples taken from the AF100A's output.

Maybe this has been explained elsewhere and I have just missed it.
 
Hmmm gh3 $1299 + BMC $2999 equals $4298 for two cameras ...one really mobile with great image at 50mbs one 2k raw (if needed) great colour depth..both cut well together..can do two camera shoots ... or an band-aid old technology af100 This IS a hard choice!
and IF the Kinraw mini shows up and is ok at 4K you could have 3 cams for the price of the sony F5





Larry
 
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larryfine451 said:
Hmmm gh3 $1299 + BMC $2999 equals $4298 for two cameras ...one really mobile with great image at 50mbs one 2k raw (if needed) great colour depth..both cut well together..can do two camera shoots ... or an band-aid old technology af100 This IS a hard choice!
and IF the Kinraw mini shows up and is ok at 4K you could have 3 cams for the price of the sony F5
Larry
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NAB. Pana has to step up its game (and most likely will). The AF100 is a great, great camera, but buying it new ATM: I don´t think so.
 
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