AF100 / AF101 - initial report

Gary Senda said:
I can confirm: the camera is in Italy now and we have shooted a short film today (don't ask for the clips because it is not possible). Several functions were limited or disabled and other were unavailable on this copy of the camera. The image is simply fantastic and we have not seen any aliasing or moirè. The dynamic range is good but it needs to be a little improved, in my opinion. The result with the photo lenses are wonderful: we have tried Zeiss lenses with nikon mount, Canon FD lenses and even M42 DDR old lenses.

This camera is going to establish the standard for the next years.

Thank you Panasonic

Gary
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We need a DVXLeak for the footage :evil::Drogar-Evil(DBG):
 
When the prototype is close enough, there will be footage. It's just too early. It's enough to show where they're headed, but I think they're thinking it's not really ready to withstand the barrage of pixel-peeping superscrutiny that the internet crowd will put it through.

There will be footage before it's released, certainly. And hopefully it'll be better-shot and more representative of what the camera can actually do, and what it's designed to be used for.
 
there will never be a perfect camera for all, this is not a silver bullet but so far it looks pretty damn good

Barry_Green said:
When the prototype is close enough, there will be footage. It's just too early. It's enough to show where they're headed, but I think they're thinking it's not really ready to withstand the barrage of pixel-peeping superscrutiny that the internet crowd will put it through.

There will be footage before it's released, certainly. And hopefully it'll be better-shot and more representative of what the camera can actually do, and what it's designed to be used for.
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Understood at least we got to see some footage even though it's not a full representation of it's full capabilities, working prototype that's out there in the field and a RELEASE DATE!

Last time I was sucked into that whole "release date" of a next-gen cam I was heart broken a couple of times.
 
My experience with Panasonic (nearly eight years since the DVX100 was released) is that they don't miss release dates. They originally announced the DVX100 would be available in October, and it actually came out early. They announced the HVX would be available in December, and ... it was (barely); first units arrived Dec. 29th, I think. They hit their target date on the HVX200A, and on the HPX170, and on the HMC150.

So I am pretty sure they will have some AF100's available in December. Of course, I'm not counting on them a minute before midnight on December 31st, but ... hey, they may surprise us.

I do, however, think there will be backorders galore and it's likely that widespread availability won't be there for the first month or two. That's just speculation, but that's what happened with the HVX200, and it followed a very similar announcement-production-release date path.
 
Barry_Green said:
When the prototype is close enough, there will be footage. It's just too early. It's enough to show where they're headed, but I think they're thinking it's not really ready to withstand the barrage of pixel-peeping superscrutiny that the internet crowd will put it through.

There will be footage before it's released, certainly. And hopefully it'll be better-shot and more representative of what the camera can actually do, and what it's designed to be used for.
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I agree with this philosophy: this is just a wonderful working prototype, the only one in the world I think. The next month we should receive the first preproduction models (all over the world) and that will be the moment to see the footage on the web.

Note, everyone who is at the demo can see the footage. Only the internet diffusion is not allowed
 
I'd rather wait and see the footage after they have tweaked out the performance as much as they want to for release. It's that extra bit they are pumping out that I am sure most people are going to care a lot about and where a lot of cameras are being scrutinized in my opinion. I want a lower noise floor than my current cameras, along with everything else. And with things like rolling shutter, I have learned that until *I* can test the camera myself, I'll never really know how well it performs in that department to what *I* am used to. Granted, I can understand it being better. Like, when looking at the HV30 and the 7D, the HV30 handles skew better, but knowing that does not tell me how far I can push both.

This is why more than anything, I look forward to testing one thoroughly through *MY* tests :)
 
Hey Barry,

Good Stuff! Thanks for all your hard work. Did you see any help on the protoype for c-mount lenses? Possible windowed sensor or optical zoom?

Thanks again!
 
I don't think there will be an optical zoom, because the unit uses an OLPF that's designed to deliver full HD at full sensor size. So if you did an optical zoom or windowed sensor, you'd probably get (at most) 960x540 of detail out of a 2x zoom.

c-mount lenses from 35mm on up work, but wider-angle c-mount lenses will probably need some post-cropping.
 
Barry_Green said:
So I am pretty sure they will have some AF100's available in December. Of course, I'm not counting on them a minute before midnight on December 31st, but ... hey, they may surprise us.
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This has been confirmed by Panasonic Europe today to the biggest european retailer: the camera will be available in december.
 
Barry,

Does the view finder rotate below 0 degrees ?

One of my pet peeves with the 200/170 is the inability to tilt the view finder down when the camera is top shelf on sticks etc.. with nary an apple box to be found.

So... any luck ?

Thanks
 
hotchkiss said:
Does the view finder rotate below 0 degrees ? One of my pet peeves with the 200/170 is the inability to tilt the view finder down when the camera is top shelf on sticks etc.. with nary an apple box to be found. ...
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Barry would have the hands-on word on this, but looking at the photos & video it appears the answer to your question is no, the VF doesn't tilt down past horizontal.

However, the VF & LCD have close to the same (relatively high) resolution, ~1 million dots or more. So a solution would be to use the LCD, tilt it down, and if necessary use a hood/shade or magnify loupe on it. Preliminary VF& LCD specs are here:
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/news_info/news100913/100913.html
 
EVF resolution must be much better (as it is 16:9 and 852 x 480). About the same as in GH1.
While LCD is 640x480 (they use 1920x480 for marketing purposes here).
And I do not see how this is 16:9. So, in reality LCD resolution in 16:9 mode is even lower (640x360).

I really hote to see next generation VF to be in 1280x720 territory. But looking at manufacturer news it won't happen in next year. May be 2 or 3 years.
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
Barry would have the hands-on word on this, but looking at the photos & video it appears the answer to your question is no, the VF doesn't tilt down past horizontal.

However, the VF & LCD have close to the same (relatively high) resolution, ~1 million dots or more. So a solution would be to use the LCD, tilt it down, and if necessary use a hood/shade or magnify loupe on it. Preliminary VF& LCD specs are here:
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/news_info/news100913/100913.html
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I suspected as much- buy hey, a guy can dream.

Using a hood or shade on the LCD is a "back to the future" kludge solution IMO- ala the VDSLR that this camera is attempting to deliver us from. The view finder configuration on these small form factor cameras is a bummer compared to a (traditional) professional camera.
 
How will the AVCHD codec change the workflow compared to DVCPRO HD? It will, I assume, eliminate the P2CM and Raylight programs now needed to "injest" the footage as was needed for P2.

With the SDHC and SDXC cards will we be going back to copying files without a program in between?
 
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