AF100 lived up to the HYPE?

P

pathfinder

Well-known member
Ladies and gentlemen of the first wave of AF100 owners, would you share your honest thoughts on whether or not the AF100 is really what it's cracked up to be? Sometimes we loved our new gadget so much, we tend to ignore its weaknesses. So, what are its goods as well as some of the bads and challenges that you've encountered using it? Anything from the tiny buttons on the camera to its delivery of picture quality.

Please do share so those of us who will be second and third wave owners know what to expect and what not. Much appreciations.
 
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So far, i find it to be an amazing tool. Gives me the shallow depth of field, very nice dynamic range, color, noise level, sync sound, easy to edit.

My only issue is the way the codec handles gradations in light.
 
Agree Completely...and I think the "banding" issue has been blown waaay out of proportion. The few times it has been noticeable in my work (by my standards) it has been acceptable considering the trade offs and price point of the camera.
 
This camera is just plain fun. We're getting great results from it, it works great cutting with our 500 and it's just plain fun. We have a whole rack of lenses that we can slap on it from macro to wide to telephoto. With our 500 we'd be looking at expensive rentals or spending another 20k for a single lens.

At the same time it works with all of our other gear. We're not pixel peeping that much, we're just using it and liking what we see. It's definitely more sensitive, but not blowing us out of our chairs sensitive.
 
I shall post my opinions soon. Looks like my camera is ready for pickup! Woohoo!! Time to shoot my butt off!
 
Why the AF100 Rocks.

Why the AF100 Rocks.

Ok, my opinion is that the AF100 ROCKS!

I just came back from a strange yet interesting shoot for a client. Due to certain circumstances, there were two separate crews present filming the same interviewee in the exact same location. We were both going to use the same lighting setup and audio, just simply switch cameras and interviewers. Basically the guy was being interviewed for various videos, and for one of the videos the person paying for it wanted to use this specific other crew for reasons I don't need to go into for this example.

We had the AF100, they had the 5D. We both had a SmallHD DP6 hooked up to our respective cameras. They shot their interview, and I simply moved my sticks to exactly where theirs were for our interview. And lo and behold they were shooting at 100mm on the 5D and we were shooting at 50mm on the AF100, so it was literally exactly the same shot. I can safely say from looking at the two monitors (both of which had the same settings), the images looked nearly identical. For all practical purposes, you would not be able to pick out which camera was which if someone just looked at the two monitors and didn't know how they were being fed.

Ok, so now the kicker. While both shots were the same, ours was incredibly easier to actually achieve and operate.

First - the DP said he had to shoot at f4, as any less would result in too shallow a depth of field to keep the subject in focus if he moved. I was able to shoot at f2 and get pretty much the same look, and my depth of field was fine (thank you smaller sensor that is not ridiculously massive.) This also meant he was shooting at ISO 800 while I was shooting at ISO 400. I think this is a huge advantage that gets overlooked when comparing 5D to AF100.

Second - we had a waveform on our camera to help get proper exposure. They were simply eye balling it (it did look really nice, don't get me wrong.) But again, a huge advantage to the AF100.

Third - we had the sound guy feed us audio direct to camera. They had to shoot to a digital recorder and slate the shot. It's easy to overlook how nice that can be, simply plugging in your XLRs and having audio synced to video. There are advantages to double system but not for the kind of work we do.

Fourth - I could shoot all day (well, 3 hours continuous without changing out the 16GB cards I had in there). They had to stop every 12 minutes. And it was made very clear that the interview subject did not like all the hullabaloo of a big shoot with lights/sound/camera, etc. So I can only imagine this would add to his issues of being filmed. I was not in the room for the actual interview so this is conjecture to be fair.

Fifth - HDMI/SDI out. My DP6 worked straight form the box when I plugged it in to the AF100. It displayed the signal perfectly. The other DP said "have you tweaked your monitor at all?" To which I said "no" and he replied "well you must have, the image fits the screen just right. I had to mess with it to get the image to display properly." Not owning a 5D I'm not sure exactly what he did, but it obviously has to do with the HDMI out not being a proper HD signal. Also +1 for the fact that the HDMI out on the AF100 is regular size, not mini. The other DP complained about how many cables he goes through, namely because the mini-HDMI connector that goes into the 5D is so weak.

In the end these may not seem like big differences, but for me they are huge. Especially when filming for a client with a high profile interviewee. You don't want anything to go wrong. The AF100 guarantees that. When I said something like "the AF100 gives you the look of DSLR without the downsides," the DP laughed "downsides?" So I guess they didn't really have issues with working with a DSLR. But for me the AF100 is the winner every time. I'm still going through various settings to achieve the look I want, but even though it's not perfectly dialed in yet, the images look great every time.
 
You nailed it.

I sold my 7d.

I just shot a video on Monday where the lady was wearing a herringbone jacket.

I would have been absolutely SCREWED had I tried to shoot that on a DSLR.

I may be ordering another af-100.
 
I used it in I think 30F, possibly slightly lower (in my first test film I posted a couple weeks ago) and it worked fine.
 
EidolonFilms said:
Ok, my opinion is that the AF100 ROCKS!

I just came back from a strange yet interesting shoot for a client. Due to certain circumstances, there were two separate crews present filming the same interviewee in the exact same location. We were both going to use the same lighting setup and audio, just simply switch cameras and interviewers. Basically the guy was being interviewed for various videos, and for one of the videos the person paying for it wanted to use this specific other crew for reasons I don't need to go into for this example.

We had the AF100, they had the 5D. We both had a SmallHD DP6 hooked up to our respective cameras. They shot their interview, and I simply moved my sticks to exactly where theirs were for our interview. And lo and behold they were shooting at 100mm on the 5D and we were shooting at 50mm on the AF100, so it was literally exactly the same shot. I can safely say from looking at the two monitors (both of which had the same settings), the images looked nearly identical. For all practical purposes, you would not be able to pick out which camera was which if someone just looked at the two monitors and didn't know how they were being fed.

Ok, so now the kicker. While both shots were the same, ours was incredibly easier to actually achieve and operate.

First - the DP said he had to shoot at f4, as any less would result in too shallow a depth of field to keep the subject in focus if he moved. I was able to shoot at f2 and get pretty much the same look, and my depth of field was fine (thank you smaller sensor that is not ridiculously massive.) This also meant he was shooting at ISO 800 while I was shooting at ISO 400. I think this is a huge advantage that gets overlooked when comparing 5D to AF100.

Second - we had a waveform on our camera to help get proper exposure. They were simply eye balling it (it did look really nice, don't get me wrong.) But again, a huge advantage to the AF100.

Third - we had the sound guy feed us audio direct to camera. They had to shoot to a digital recorder and slate the shot. It's easy to overlook how nice that can be, simply plugging in your XLRs and having audio synced to video. There are advantages to double system but not for the kind of work we do.

Fourth - I could shoot all day (well, 3 hours continuous without changing out the 16GB cards I had in there). They had to stop every 12 minutes. And it was made very clear that the interview subject did not like all the hullabaloo of a big shoot with lights/sound/camera, etc. So I can only imagine this would add to his issues of being filmed. I was not in the room for the actual interview so this is conjecture to be fair.

Fifth - HDMI/SDI out. My DP6 worked straight form the box when I plugged it in to the AF100. It displayed the signal perfectly. The other DP said "have you tweaked your monitor at all?" To which I said "no" and he replied "well you must have, the image fits the screen just right. I had to mess with it to get the image to display properly." Not owning a 5D I'm not sure exactly what he did, but it obviously has to do with the HDMI out not being a proper HD signal. Also +1 for the fact that the HDMI out on the AF100 is regular size, not mini. The other DP complained about how many cables he goes through, namely because the mini-HDMI connector that goes into the 5D is so weak.

In the end these may not seem like big differences, but for me they are huge. Especially when filming for a client with a high profile interviewee. You don't want anything to go wrong. The AF100 guarantees that. When I said something like "the AF100 gives you the look of DSLR without the downsides," the DP laughed "downsides?" So I guess they didn't really have issues with working with a DSLR. But for me the AF100 is the winner every time. I'm still going through various settings to achieve the look I want, but even though it's not perfectly dialed in yet, the images look great every time.
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I still have two 5DII's, because they still hold some value for video, but yeah, you pretty much nailed it, the AF100 is easy, natural, whereas the 5DII couldn't be much more awkward to operate as a video rig.

robertrogoz said:
I want to have an honest opinion how the camera works in let's say 15-20F temps?
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Look at several clips in the video section which were obviously shot well-below-freezing temps. As with any other camera, the biggest trick is keeping the batteries warm.
 
EidolonFilms said:
First - the DP said he had to shoot at f4, as any less would result in too shallow a depth of field to keep the subject in focus if he moved. I was able to shoot at f2 and get pretty much the same look, and my depth of field was fine (thank you smaller sensor that is not ridiculously massive.) This also meant he was shooting at ISO 800 while I was shooting at ISO 400. I think this is a huge advantage that gets overlooked when comparing 5D to AF100.
Click to expand...

I just thought this deserved a bump!
 
Love it!

It's THE perfect camera for me. I can use all my nikon glass without an adapter (woohoo!). It's the right size.
The AVCHD workflow is great (Windows/Vegas...native editing). I just put the LensBaby on it and HOLY SH*T...sweet!
SloMo (which I think we are going to be seeing too much of because it's fun & looks great). Interval recording, VFR...good God, does the fun ever end?

So... in a nutshell...love it.
 
A bit early for me to comment too much except...it is fun , it is easy and instinctive to use, it is very capable, it makes great pictures....


I do hate fitting the mains adapter to it. ( Bad design for guys with big hands and short fingers)
 
GraphicPlanet said:
EidolonFilms, keep your 7D and use it as your B camera during interviews.
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Actually we have a GH1 and have been doing exactly that. And using it for certain shots where smaller is better. Don't get me wrong, DSLRs still have their place and I will continue to use one along side the AF100. It's nice to literally be able to fit your B cam in a small slot in the camera bag and share lenses.
 
EidolonFilms said:
Actually we have a GH1 and have been doing exactly that. And using it for certain shots where smaller is better. Don't get me wrong, DSLRs still have their place and I will continue to use one along side the AF100. It's nice to literally be able to fit your B cam in a small slot in the camera bag and share lenses.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Yep, GH2 is going to be my B-cam, the commonality of the gear is amazingly attractive

Good thread and good posts, thanks everyone
 
my only two qualms,
power switch is not in the best spot
no 1:1 focus assist

other than that, This cam kicks so much ass. I love it. Everything is so natural and convenient to use.
 
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