AF100a, any takers?

S

Sttratos

Veteran
It has been a while since the release of the AF100a now. But yet I haven't seen anybody here who said they have upgraded or posted a review.
I actually can't find any hands on review online at all. What happened?
 
Speak strictly for myself . . . I think the "A" crushed the resale on the non-A, to the sub-3k price point.
After taking the time to learn the AF100 properly I've had a good deal of sucsess and am pretty happy with it.
Where I'm at is, if I thought I could get 3k for mine I'd make the jump (but I don't see that happening).
In truth, again speaking for myself, I'm more likely to keep an eye on the market and secure another "non-A" as there is no compelling reason to make the change.
Admittedly I'm looking at things as more of a "want" than a "need" and that's an old bad habit I haven't given in to in a very long time--and probably won't.
(I'm also a happy shuttle2 owner).
 
IMO- the new features of the 100A over the 100 are a bit underwhelming. So I am sticking it out until 4K is mainstream and won't be getting a new camera until then. I'll know then the time is right when 4K televisions are under $1000. I'm not in broadcasting- so I don't need to be on the bleeding edge.
 
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I bought a GH3 and the two new Lumix X lenses. The 12-35 and 35-100. I'm keeping my AF-100 and will use it when the need arises. My work bought a Canon C300 so most of the broadcast stuff I used the AF-100 for will now be shot with the C300. I have no intention on buying the AF-100a.
 
It seems at that odd juncture of meh... not enough gee-whiz to urge AF100 owners to sell & upgrade, and not enough gosh-golly-gee to convince new buyers in the market.
 
I think thats exactly it. Do you think that Panasonic made this camera with the intention that AF owners would upgrade?
 
I too am sadly disappointed with the "A".. I have a documentary coming up in May that I desperately need more dynamic range for (African American high school kids in dimly lit interiors, mostly wearing white club jackets-tough)... I love my 100, and will keep it because it's not worth enough to sell. I've pre-ordered an MFT mount BMDCC, even though I absolurtely HATE the design, can't use my 12-35 or 35-100 and need to buy a new EVF, cage etc (luckily I already have Anton Bauers, matte box, audio mixer and a lot of MFT adapters). But even so, BMDCC's way cheaper than the new furnace I just had to put in my home.. Of course, there's probably no chance I will get it before May anyway.

I'd consider a GH3 if I thought it would do what I need - Eric, how does the out-of-the-box GH3 look to you for what I've described?
 
Mac said:
I too am sadly disappointed with the "A".. I have a documentary coming up in May that I desperately need more dynamic range for (African American high school kids in dimly lit interiors, mostly wearing white club jackets-tough)... I love my 100, and will keep it because it's not worth enough to sell. I've pre-ordered an MFT mount BMDCC, even though I absolurtely HATE the design, can't use my 12-35 or 35-100 and need to buy a new EVF, cage etc (luckily I already have Anton Bauers, matte box, audio mixer and a lot of MFT adapters). But even so, BMDCC's way cheaper than the new furnace I just had to put in my home.. Of course, there's probably no chance I will get it before May anyway.

I'd consider a GH3 if I thought it would do what I need - Eric, how does the out-of-the-box GH3 look to you for what I've described?
Click to expand...

I shot this with the 12-35 and the 35-100. Mostly with the 35-100. No grading and in AVCHD. This camera is very good. It's still a DSLR first so if your comfortable with that, and I'm not. I much prefer a video camera. High ISO is clean as well.
I love to shoot stills and time lapse so for me the GH3 is just great. The size is nice since it's a touch bigger than the GH2 and the image is very good on both ends. Big plus if you already have MFT lenses.

All settings on 0. No grading.


Side note. BlackMagic is now part of the Micro Four Thirds Consortium so we might see a electronic mount instead of a dumb one sometime in 2016 :)
 
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Yeah, I'm with you guys. I'm not going to upgrade to the AF100A. It doesn't offer enough of an upgrade. I am going to try to hang on to my AF100. I really love this camera and it has done well by me. I have a feature to shoot in the summer. I want to shoot it on an F3 Slog. I like that look a lot and the used ones are coming in at a great bargain. I kind of wish I liked the Scarlet more. I don't think I'd like the BMDCC but I have time to think about that and listen to you guys who get one... watch footage. My biggest crush is the F5 but I don't think I can make that happen.
 
Wow Erik, that looks fantastic. No blocking at all even on Vimeo. That's fantastic. Does it have a hack? How'd you do the audio?
 
I'm kind of blown away by it. I used a Rode VideoMic Pro VMP Shotgun Microphone direct into the cameras mic input, Adjusted the levels and monitored with headphones. Yes the GH3 has a headphone jack.
 
Based on all the interest in hacking GH2s perhaps they should come out with an Open Source 4k camera, provide an API to make hacking it easy, build in some safety features to keep you from hurting the camera, etc. and output an open raw format. Think it would sell?
 
I think they should have prepared a hardware upgrade for existing owners on top of discontinuing the AF100 for the AF100A, I don't see a lot of people going for the new camera over the old but I think a fare amount of us would have paid $500-800 for the hardware upgrade.

Its shocking that not even Panasonic has done a web advert video for the AF100A to demonstrate the new features.
 
Eric: In your opinion is the dynasmic range noticeably better than the 100?.. Your Vimeo looks like it, but I haven't seen any specs that specifically claim that. I figure I could trick out a GH3 with cage etc for about the same cost as the CC. And after years of film I'm not adverse to using NDs on exteriors or external audio... Need to with the CC too.

As for the BMDCC/MFT, I'm sure it will be sooner that they introduce an active mount, in fact probably about a month after I get the passive one - that's just the way it always seems to happen. BTW, I suspect that the DaVinci bundle will probably go away with the next introduction, which isn't a big deal for me because I'm not a "fix it in post" type - I'm one of those guys that used to send a list of printer lights to the lab with my negative, I want it the way I shot it - although I would like to play with it
 
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Considering that the GH2 has less DR than the AF100 and the GH3 is not even close to a miles ahead upgrade, I wouldn't think the GH3 has more DR. I have also not seen anything that shows it does.
 
Mac said:
Eric: In your opinion is the dynasmic range noticeably better than the 100?.. Your Vimeo looks like it, but I haven't seen any specs that specifically claim that. I figure I could trick out a GH3 with cage etc for about the same cost as the CC. And after years of film I'm not adverse to using NDs on exteriors or external audio... Need to with the CC too.

As for the BMDCC/MFT, I'm sure it will be sooner that they introduce an active mount, in fact probably about a month after I get the passive one - that's just the way it always seems to happen. BTW, I suspect that the DaVinci bundle will probably go away with the next introduction, which isn't a big deal for me because I'm not a "fix it in post" type - I'm one of those guys that used to send a list of printer lights to the lab with my negative, I want it the way I shot it - although I would like to play with it
Click to expand...

I think it does but without testing it side by side or other more technical ways. I can't really say. I think it's a great little camera and I'm glad I bought it but for me its a quick b-roll camera at work and it looks great. I just don't like all the rigs that much. I did get one Heliopan variable ND that fits both 12-35 and 35-100.

As for BMDCC and Davinci Resolve bundle I think they will keep it as a bundle. They want to sell you more hardware, and to use it to it's fullest you need a Black Magic Decklink card.
 
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