AF100 for news as a replacement to HPX2100?

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duncsharp

Member
I just wanted to start a discussion on how effective the AF100 could be as a news gathering tool.

have only ever used large, heavy and power hungry ENG cameras. Ive used the 171 and 200 which are great in certain scenarios but not great for feature / craft shoots due to their very large dof.

for me the af100 and the 5d would be the ultimate combo for news gathering and feature shoots.
 
I think applications that require getting the shot right on the first take aren't ideal for 35mm DOF cameras, especially news. ENG cameras/lenses are the perfect form factor for........well, ENG.
 
agreed - but stopped down it should be fine - generally your going to only be wide open in very low light which is tricky with the ENG camera, also my ENG camera is pretty poor in low light. Alot of my stuff is also craft shooting for news packages which is where it would come in really handy.

I think with the right range of lenses i think you could tick both boxes?
 
I think there is no substitute for ONE full coverage, fast ENG zoom lens--a 16-20X, f1.7-2.8 with a 2X extender can't be touched for speed, reach, flexibility, and light weight. Our HPX2700 is rated at ISO 640 at 0db, has plenty of gain steps(same as an HPX2100). No jello, no flash band artifacts, fits on the shoulder. An AF100 would be great as a B-camera for interviews and artistic shots as part of a news magazine package, IMO.
 
I think your right, am looking at it more for foreign travel when having less kit makes it alot easier on the back! although I dont find the HPX2100 light by any stretch! all our 2100'S have 20x zoom. although have just done a trip in Burma on a tourist visa armed with only a 5d and 24-105mm and did the job fine, if not looking professional was an option the 200 or 171 would have been better but couldnt have used the 2100 because of its size and weight as well has being crushed by 10 thousand people.

I usually travel with over 8 cases and on this trip just had a backpack with my edit kit and 5D. It was great not being burdened with all the kit I usually go away with so am trying to come up with a solution that cuts down on weight and clutter.
 
News features, POV-natsound (craft) pieces, Docs, News Magazine? Yes, probably.
General Assignment, breaking news? I would think not-so-good.
Though I would think a situation you could make work with a 5D, you could make work with the AF.
 
from Dino:
" An AF100 would be great as a B-camera for interviews and artistic shots as part of a news magazine package, IMO."

Exactly why I'm getting it. Basically to replace my 5D and compliment my EX1. For stories that are in a somewhat controlled environment, the AF would be my A-camera. This is also why I'm seriously considering the Sony F3, prime(still) lenses for controlled enviro's and the option of their soon to be released servo zoom for traditional ENG. No word on what this lens will cost so the F3 option is up in the air for me right now. Would love to travel with one camera rather then two.


from GroveChuck:
"Though I would think a situation you could make work with a 5D, you could make work with the AF."

..and then some. The fullproof audio alone on the AF, sends it flying past a dslr for what I do.
 
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duncsharp said:
I think your right, am looking at it more for foreign travel when having less kit makes it alot easier on the back! although I dont find the HPX2100 light by any stretch! all our 2100'S have 20x zoom. although have just done a trip in Burma on a tourist visa armed with only a 5d and 24-105mm and did the job fine, if not looking professional was an option the 200 or 171 would have been better but couldnt have used the 2100 because of its size and weight as well has being crushed by 10 thousand people.

I usually travel with over 8 cases and on this trip just had a backpack with my edit kit and 5D. It was great not being burdened with all the kit I usually go away with so am trying to come up with a solution that cuts down on weight and clutter.
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Well, doesn´t sound like classic ENG work to me. I guess if you like going out with the 5D and it did the job, then the AF100 will only be better in all ways (especially audio).
 
Don't get me wrong, I would need to still on occasion use the ENG camera from time to time. I like the challenge of using the af100 for breaking news. The 5d audio made that impossible with that camera along with lack of HD-SDI etc. With a lense like the 14-140 that would give me a good enough range to cover most bases. Then with option of fat primes for craft shootin or very low light from what I can see it could cover all bases.

I done mind travelling with 2 cameras if it means not having to babysit the large ENG camera all the way through the airport, on the plane, in the taxi etc. Also it would mean I could use a slider and light weight tripod like my miller ds20

Anyone see any flaws in my plan?
 
i still would consider the smaller models like HVX or EX1 or similar for the zoom and DOF. The AF100 is not ENG! I would take a dslr along for the artsy shallow DOF stuff and always as B cam to the other which does the real audio etc...at the same time.
 
With over 11 years' experience as a news photog, I would definitely NOT recommend an AF100 or F3 as a news gathering tool. There's just too much advantage to a zoom lens-equipped camcorder. Small depth of field can be a liability in a TV news environment.

If you're a really good shooter and can really work a manual zoom lens smoothly on an AF100 or F3, then maybe it's viable. But, with all due respect to my fellow photojournalists, they're better off with your typical camcorder rig. Most photogs simply don't have the time (or the knowledge) to work with DoF. They're trained to get the shot, and get it quick. And trying to shoot with more than one camera on a news story is way too awkward. Not to mention the confusion at editing time.

You're much better off with an HPX370, or the HM700, or an EX3, or the XF300. All are relatively cheap and lightweight camcorders, at least compared to the old Beta SP cams we used to use.
 
There's just too much advantage to a zoom lens-equipped camcorder.

If you're a really good shooter and can really work a manual zoom lens smoothly on an AF100 or F3, then maybe it's viable.
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In case you are not aware of, F3 has a built in zoom rocker, and Sony will be releasing a zoom lens specifically designed for the F3.
While i don t dispute the fact that a dedicated ENG video camera is best for ENG shoots overall, I also believe F3 may serve ENG content producers, provided zoom lens they are about to release is similar to a ENG lens (parfocal, unlike cine/stil lenses, which are varifocal)
 
No it wont be a replacement for ENG cameras. One of the reasons that hasn't been mentioned above is unlike the HPX170, of even HPX3700... the AF100 will NOT be compatible with lenses that have a zoom motor built in. Focus motor will work with Panasonic/Leica lenses, but thats about it until sophisticated adaptors reveal themselves.

Really looking forward to the AF100.

Now that I've said all that, I work on a news/doc type television show and we shoot with the 5D Mark II... so maybe everything I said can be thrown out the window LOL.
 
I got out of the news shooting business (thank god) several years ago, before tape started going away. But I would think the on board AVC codec of the AF100 would present some issues for all but features and production shoots. Time spent transcoding or rendering is dangerous in a news environment. Which is why P2 is so good in the news environment. As others have said, for sit-downs and feature segments, perhaps, but for the daily work, no way. But even for features, it would look so different than all the other footage, that I think that could be an issue in itself.
 
That's dependent upon the system the news department is using. P2 has the same transcoding on FCP just as AVCHD. That's why Premier and other systems that do native codec editing do have this advantage. Otherwise you'll be basically looking at the same thing. The advantage of P2 is that you can use older systems and don't need as much horsepower to transcode.. My old G5 handled P2 very well, but the AVCHD needs a beast like I have now.. Either way, it's got major advantages over tap. I think I can transcode 10 minutes of content in under a minute.
 
Nobody was using FCP for news when I was still in the business - it was Avid News Cutter. In fact I learned NLE on Newscutter way back in '94. And I am still happily on Avid/P2, and there's no rendering or transcoding to see and edit my footage on the timeline. And now with Avid AMA there's no drive scan. Export is quicktime reference, and it's after that is the only time I have to encode the footage (for dvd or web). Are people actually using FCP for news now? Seems like a lower budget solution but a real pain in the ass when you need to edit right away. And the AF100's AVC would be a much bigger burden in news / Avid than P2.
 
No transcoding is necessary when working with P2 footage in the Apple editor; it supports native editing of DVCPRO-HD and AVC-Intra. There is a file-format conversion necessary if using their Log & Transfer function, but it doesn't involve a transcode, it involves a rewrap. And that step can be avoided by using Calibrated's MXF Importer or by using Raylight.
 
The definition of "news" these days is very broad. Traditional nightly news, local or national I know nothing about. What I do know about are some of the largest online news magazine's, that in general dont have daily news deadlines. They are editing in FCP and are working with almost every camera codec. Mostly due to the fact that the majority of the videojournalists working for them are freelance and are using their own equipment; from EX1's to 5D's to HVX, HMC, Sony NXCAM, etc. Anyone that says the AF100 can not be used in THIS specific type of "news" industry, doesn't work in it. A number of people here are on the exact same page as me. Forget traditional news, yes a ENG with servo is made for it and Im not selling my EX1 anytime soon but I and others are not speaking about traditional news. The "news" pieces we're producing are basically short docs, 5-8 mins in length and are not chasing car crashes or cat's up a tree where a 20x servo is requisite. A lot of our viewership see's the difference in the aesthetic and content quality compared to nightly news dribble. If the 5D, AF100, F3, etc. can help differentiate our work from what viewers see all day long, all the better.

Like AnthonyB mentioned, the news/doc show he works on uses 5D's. The three biggest broadcast tv news magazine/doc show's in the U.S. have used the 5D quite often as a 'B' camera and more then once for the whole show. At least two of them are editing in FCP also. What a lot of us are trying to do in this new short doc/news environment, is to bring a cinematic aesthetic to our work, hence the 5D. Personally I cant wait to semi-retire my 5D and be using a real video camera like the AF100 again. Situation always dictates, they'll be times I'll be using only my EX and others using my AF and believe it or not, maybe the 5D again. Lol..
 
I think you need to define what "news" you're talking about when talking about the AF100 in a news environment. I shot National Press Photographers (NPPA) style and was a member of that organization for years. It dictated composed photography and visual storytelling applied to feature work or daily TV news packages edit on deadline, and it made a difference on the air. The gear we used was traditional ENG. It was extremely durable, made beautiful images (for its time), and was very expensive. But that's news. I generally wouldn't consider shooting the stuff you're talking about "news", as it has more in common with corporate shooting, in terms of the rigors, production value, and workflow. If I were to shoot another feature package in a KC-135 on a refueling mission knowing I needed to edit a kick ass story that night, I would not choose the AF100 for that task, I would go for the traditional ENG camera, or even the multi-tasker HVX. If you're talking about shooting red carpets and sit down interviews, then the AF100 would be an economical alternative to more expensive ENG gear. But to me, that's not "news". It's news magazine. Different beast.
 
Barry_Green said:
No transcoding is necessary when working with P2 footage in the Apple editor; it supports native editing of DVCPRO-HD and AVC-Intra. There is a file-format conversion necessary if using their Log & Transfer function, but it doesn't involve a transcode, it involves a rewrap. And that step can be avoided by using Calibrated's MXF Importer or by using Raylight.
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Barry, since I'm an Avid guy, can you tell me on FCP, can you playback video, say that P2 footage, on your timeline, as soon as it shows up in your project? Back in the day, that was always Avid's advantage. But you're saying there's no difference now in speed now when it comes to dropping footage in your timeline and playing it back? And with FCP, can you export that timeline as a Quicktime reference, as you would with Avid, thereby avoiding the transcode process?
 
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