Barry_Green
Moderator
Hey, someone took a photo with the 20mm pancake on it! Awesome. We set up that rig at IBC but forgot to shoot a photo of it.
AF100 preview from CREWS.TV
- Thread starter Barry_Green
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Barry_Green
Moderator
Nobody pays for reviews. Neither I, nor Bloom, nor Wilt, nor any of us, has ever been paid one penny by any manufacturer for a "review". E-VAR. It isn't done.
If you're doing a review for a magazine, the MAGAZINE will pay the writer. But the manufacturer never does. And never, ever, have I been told by a magazine what I'm allowed to say and what I'm not allowed to say.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Of course not. This is a PROTOTYPE. Positive things are said to the public, because previewers let the public know what the manufacturer got right. Negative feedback is given to the manufacturer, to tell them what to fix.
It's not finished yet. What possible purpose would it serve to point out what's not working yet? Wait for a finished product review before finding out what they didn't fix.
Would you want Microsoft to unveil the very first version of Word to the public, so the beta-testers can say "wow, I found a bug where if you type 'butthead' into the word processor, it crashes!" What possible purpose would that serve, other than to spread fear, negativity, and doubt about a product? Previewers and prototype testers are there to find what's wrong so that the production team can fix it, and to make suggestions as to how the team can make the product better.
Case in point. You've just exactly illustrated why nobody with any credibility or sense would go pointing out the shortcomings on a PROTOTYPE. Because this may (and unquestionably WILL) be a total non-issue on the final product, but already you've found something to cast aspersions on. Even though no buyer or user will ever encounter this. So it's going to be a complete non-issue, except for the bashers.
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Barry_Green
Moderator
That's what Panasonic has said. They haven't revealed what the sensor's pixel count is, but they have said that the OLPF has been tuned to the sensor to deliver sharp HD images while minimizing or eliminating aliasing and moire.
Yeah, the OLPF optimization for HD video is going to be a big difference between this camera and an DSLR. Makes the encoding much more efficient as you are not having to deal with detail levels that are not relevant to HD, but you still get the advantages of oversampling for better color saturation and fine detail rendering compared to a 1080p chip.
robertrogoz
Carbonite Member
Having shot in the desert countless times and in cold places like Denali or Canadian Rockies mid winter I have never seen camera having problems in the heat, but in the cold. I had an LCD freeze a few times. However I have never had a camera start acting up in the temps above freezing. Wind chill does not effect the camera, as there is no moisture to evaporate from the surface, so as far as equipment goes air movement doesn't make equipment colder- simple physics. And cameras tend to react different, depends on the model- DVX was a workhorse and I could take it out to about -20C without a jacket (as long as I kept the tapes before shooting warm), JVC's GY-HD series were crap, every single one I tried. HM100 is in the middle, EX1 thus far is the single best camera on the market for now (that I have used). HPX 170 did not pass test last summer as it stopped working on summit of Rainier in about -5C
So if AF100 has issues working in above freezing temps, maybe engineers from Panasonic should also look into this issue.
The other issue is SDHC card failure, which Transcend are notorious to do in slightly below freezing temps. Thus far Panasonic 32GB class 6 and Sandisc Extreme III did not have many cold weather issues.
Barry_Green
Moderator
For purposes of clarity and to address some of the issues that have been brought up, I've renamed this thread from "review" to "preview". That more accurately reflects the nature of the article; it's a preview. There can't be an actual "review" until the product is finished and released (or, at least, until the manufacturer says "you can review this model as a fully working model.")
Michael Olsen
Veteran
Well, there you have it...Barry's blowing the lid off this yellow journalism! This'll be hot news, I tell ya!
Federal regulatory law requires that a reviewer disclose any affliation with the manufacturer of the product reviewed.
At my site I state, as do others:
Disclosure of Material Connection: Unless specifically stated in any post, review or tutorial, the author has not received any compensation to author the same. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services I have mentioned in my posts, reviews, or tutorials. This disclosure is made consistent with the Federal Trade Commissions, 16 CFR, part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
At my site I state, as do others:
Disclosure of Material Connection: Unless specifically stated in any post, review or tutorial, the author has not received any compensation to author the same. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services I have mentioned in my posts, reviews, or tutorials. This disclosure is made consistent with the Federal Trade Commissions, 16 CFR, part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Lumiere
Well-known member
I worked for a documentary last year and that was in China, we used hvx200 and in some conditions it was under -10°C, and for the same project in Turkey over 40°C, the only problem i had was focus ring, it didn't worked properly when its too cold, that's it.
Barry_Green
Moderator
The HPX170 works in much less than -5 Celsius! Ask the guys who shoot the Iditarod in -60 degrees, they use HPX170s. Yes the focus ring gets stiff, but the camera works fine.
Rick Burnett
Section Moderator
That is amazing. As a note, most off the shelf IC components are rated -40c to 125c as per the specifications they are built to. This is mostly based on the characterizations of the silicon processes by the foundries and the library providers for all the silicon components you are using. Although I have do a few chips to -60c (I think one of them was for a satellite chip I worked on).
Given all the mechanical parts in tape-based, that is amazing as well. Metal expands/contracts A LOT. Especially anything made of aluminum.
I'll just be glad if I can shoot in the sun on a hot day. My 7D overheated quite a bit during some shoots this summer at even 24p, and if I tried to shoot at 720p60 it was even worse. We'd use two cameras so one could be cooling while the other was shooting. Not my ideal solution.
I just don't understand why the AF100 doesn't automatically edit my footage for me as well.
Given all the mechanical parts in tape-based, that is amazing as well. Metal expands/contracts A LOT. Especially anything made of aluminum.
I'll just be glad if I can shoot in the sun on a hot day. My 7D overheated quite a bit during some shoots this summer at even 24p, and if I tried to shoot at 720p60 it was even worse. We'd use two cameras so one could be cooling while the other was shooting. Not my ideal solution.
I just don't understand why the AF100 doesn't automatically edit my footage for me as well.
walnutcrunch
Well-known member
You know, when we got a production sample of the 3DA1 to play with for a week we had to sign an NDA. We were allowed to talk about using the camera but we were not allowed to talk about any errors or crashes.
The Panasonic rep explained it very clearly. She said it was a camera who's software was at the alpha stage. Not even beta. There were lots of known and documented issues. The fixes were part of the standard development process and would be in place before launch.
If we talked about any errors, people would not understand the software development process, and would blow them out of proportion on the internet, therefore we were not allowed to mention those issues.
Case and point with the above preview. How long do you think people will be asking temperature questions about the AF100?
The Panasonic rep explained it very clearly. She said it was a camera who's software was at the alpha stage. Not even beta. There were lots of known and documented issues. The fixes were part of the standard development process and would be in place before launch.
If we talked about any errors, people would not understand the software development process, and would blow them out of proportion on the internet, therefore we were not allowed to mention those issues.
Case and point with the above preview. How long do you think people will be asking temperature questions about the AF100?
Yves Simard
Member
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to quickly add my 5 cents here.
Firstly, we were not asked my anyone to write anything. The unit was in town and we as potential customers were asked to evaluate and contribute our findings. Myself, CREWS.TV have been doing this a long time. We were involved in XDCAM with prototypes in its early phases there and I was one of the first to get a 5D, mind you from Singapore.
All evaluations that we did was on behalf of our members and we would recommend to them our findings. I think CREWS.TV flew under the radar as we normally keep to ourselves but anticipation on this product is rather high and we only recently started twittering and blogging.
I can categorically say that we are not bias. We have not been paid, nor compensated in fact we are not even sponsored. Our membership pays for everything we do.
Regarding cold weather. This is mute point as Barry is completely right. Its a pre-production model so we can only assume that this will be fixed and we have been assured so. We are not into self-censoring our stories but rather lay out the facts the best we can. I could delve into the problem further but it would serve no purpose as we would simply be guessing at the issues and so would you but excluding it all together we felt would discredit us. We have a bit of a warts and all approach.
Anyhow good thread I'll be sure to come and visit DVX more often.
Yves
Just wanted to quickly add my 5 cents here.
Firstly, we were not asked my anyone to write anything. The unit was in town and we as potential customers were asked to evaluate and contribute our findings. Myself, CREWS.TV have been doing this a long time. We were involved in XDCAM with prototypes in its early phases there and I was one of the first to get a 5D, mind you from Singapore.
All evaluations that we did was on behalf of our members and we would recommend to them our findings. I think CREWS.TV flew under the radar as we normally keep to ourselves but anticipation on this product is rather high and we only recently started twittering and blogging.
I can categorically say that we are not bias. We have not been paid, nor compensated in fact we are not even sponsored. Our membership pays for everything we do.
Regarding cold weather. This is mute point as Barry is completely right. Its a pre-production model so we can only assume that this will be fixed and we have been assured so. We are not into self-censoring our stories but rather lay out the facts the best we can. I could delve into the problem further but it would serve no purpose as we would simply be guessing at the issues and so would you but excluding it all together we felt would discredit us. We have a bit of a warts and all approach.
Anyhow good thread I'll be sure to come and visit DVX more often.
Yves
Camera Expert
Well-known member
As far as being paid to do a review, who wouldn't want to review a highly regarded camera before it comes out for free? I know I definitely wouldn't mind doing it for free. Theirs absolutely no need to pay anyone. If for example, Panasonic were to hire someone to go to lest say India and do a mini doc with the AF100, that's a different story. It would be considered a promotional piece.
robertrogoz
Carbonite Member
Sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about on this one.
alaskacameradude
Veteran
Ummmm....I beg to differ. I did some corporate video at the Iditarod for one of the sponsors.
Barry is definitely right, the Iditarod Insider (the official webcast show and video production
guys of the Iditarod) were DEFINITELY using Panasonic cameras.....including the
HPX 170 as well as other Panasonic P2 gear. It's one of the known reasons that P2
and XDcam camers are used up here in cold weather.
Rick Haywood
Member
If you think that Panasonic can't make cameras for cold temperatures let me tell you that we
gave a prototype HVX200 to a world renowned cameraman who immediately high tailed it to the South Pole with our precious camera in hand. When I say South Pole I mean the stick in the ground where every compass points north. The temperature was somewhere close to -60c. He shot for thirty minutes without so much as a jacket on the camera. The only issue was that the LCD became a bit sluggish. It doesn't get much harsher than the downiest of downunder.
So can we stop talking about temperatures, it was a PROTOTYPE. It may not even have been the temperature that affected it.
gave a prototype HVX200 to a world renowned cameraman who immediately high tailed it to the South Pole with our precious camera in hand. When I say South Pole I mean the stick in the ground where every compass points north. The temperature was somewhere close to -60c. He shot for thirty minutes without so much as a jacket on the camera. The only issue was that the LCD became a bit sluggish. It doesn't get much harsher than the downiest of downunder.
So can we stop talking about temperatures, it was a PROTOTYPE. It may not even have been the temperature that affected it.