I had pre-ordered an FS700, not because of the slo-mo (I got burned out of seeing slow motion a month after the intro of the AF100) but because of the increased dynamic range and - some may think a minor reason, but not to me - the fact that the 700 supposedly allows output with screen info via HDMI while outputting a clean image via SDI. However, after going through footage during a re-edit of a show shot last year with the 100, I cancelled the order. Why? you may ask...
First - the stuff from the 100 looks excellent and, frankly, the highlight clipping and chroma clipping are really (nearly) non-issues - maybe because I use Cine-D, generally tend to underexpose a stop or two, and I set my chroma at -4 (Barry suggests -7). And, after years of shooting film, a little noise doesn't bother me - in fact I kind of like it in some places. I'm afraid, and embarrassed to admit, that I was beginning to believe the pundits who have posted here complaining about these things - luckily I was able to objectively re-evaluate my own footage.
Second - I really do like the MFT size because it allows for larger option of lenses and a slightly smaller camera.
Third - I mostly handhold and with the 100 set up the way I have (Z-Finder, custom shoulder mount and Aaton grip) the light body (nearly a third of the weight of the 700) and potentially lighter lenses makes for very comfortable and steady shooting.
Fourth - I've said often that I wish there was a decent light-weight 5:1 zoom for the 100 - Well, there still isn't, so I "solved" that six months ago by getting an HPX250 for the times when I need a longer zoom. Not a perfect solution, but it cost less than some zooms and changing cameras isn't much more difficult than changing lenses, and I've intercut the two seamlessly.
So what am I going to do with the nearly 10 grand (camera, batteries and lens adapters) I've saved by changing my mind? I've ordered two lenses, the Lumix 12-35 (which I hope I like) and the Voigtlander 17.5 (which I know I will}. The rest I will keep in savings until Panasonic finally decides to release a new and improved version of this camera - 100b, 200, I don't care what they call it - there are already too many threads here that provide those wish lists - but I do hope they consider the option to output HDMI separately from SDI in the future camera.
First - the stuff from the 100 looks excellent and, frankly, the highlight clipping and chroma clipping are really (nearly) non-issues - maybe because I use Cine-D, generally tend to underexpose a stop or two, and I set my chroma at -4 (Barry suggests -7). And, after years of shooting film, a little noise doesn't bother me - in fact I kind of like it in some places. I'm afraid, and embarrassed to admit, that I was beginning to believe the pundits who have posted here complaining about these things - luckily I was able to objectively re-evaluate my own footage.
Second - I really do like the MFT size because it allows for larger option of lenses and a slightly smaller camera.
Third - I mostly handhold and with the 100 set up the way I have (Z-Finder, custom shoulder mount and Aaton grip) the light body (nearly a third of the weight of the 700) and potentially lighter lenses makes for very comfortable and steady shooting.
Fourth - I've said often that I wish there was a decent light-weight 5:1 zoom for the 100 - Well, there still isn't, so I "solved" that six months ago by getting an HPX250 for the times when I need a longer zoom. Not a perfect solution, but it cost less than some zooms and changing cameras isn't much more difficult than changing lenses, and I've intercut the two seamlessly.
So what am I going to do with the nearly 10 grand (camera, batteries and lens adapters) I've saved by changing my mind? I've ordered two lenses, the Lumix 12-35 (which I hope I like) and the Voigtlander 17.5 (which I know I will}. The rest I will keep in savings until Panasonic finally decides to release a new and improved version of this camera - 100b, 200, I don't care what they call it - there are already too many threads here that provide those wish lists - but I do hope they consider the option to output HDMI separately from SDI in the future camera.
