FINALLY!! AF100 HACK Pledge

I'm in for $100. Maybe more if the hack provides features like 4:2:2 and/or 10-bit. (Yes, I know 10-bit is unlikely.)
 
4:2:2 is also unlikely with a hack. Just saying.

If you want 4:2:2 grab an external recorder.
 
I contacted VK over at personal view. Hopefully we'll hear from him, shortly.
Here's a copy of the letter. I hope I wasn't presumptuous in speaking on behalf
of the thread. Feel free to voice any disagreements. Cheers.

Vitaliy,
Thanks for all your hard work!
Over at DVXuser, we're dying to hear from you about the AF100.
I heard through various sources that you can hack it, but refuse to. In the vein of the GH2 project, we would like to set up a donation page or a kickstarter project for you to begin hacking the AF100. We'll pitch in and buy a guinea pig AF100 for you, plus we'll give you $1500 to start. We've currently amassed an unofficial pledge of $6,900, and this doesn't include the purchase of the guinea pig AF100. The AF100 will be bought with "pioneer" pledges of $15 each from 300 pioneers. There are $3000 AF100s out there, used. We'd get the camera and give you the remaining $1,500. If there's anything else you require... let us know.


I for one have bought every single Panasonic camera since DVX100 that gave our forum its name. While I understand Panasonic, I'm not happy that the bitrate was lowballled on the AF100 for captialistic expedience. I and many of us fully agree with your rational for not hacking the AF100, but we also believe that's all the more reason why you should. We represent the little man, the 99% and you'd be saving me and many others from spending another $5000 when the successor to the AF100 comes out. This successor would have to take the capabilities of a hacked AF100 into account. A good thing, wouldn't you agree? And at the very least, you'd be saving many of us little people from the need to purchase external recorders and media. That's at most a saving of $5000 and at least $900. The banks got bail outs, CEOs get golden parachutes. What do we have? But probably a hacked AF100 will ease some of our pain. We'd love to hear from you. Please come join the conversation at DVXuser.
 
Tim Joy said:
I'm wondering what a hack could actually do. Here's my thinking.. which could be wrong, of course.
The GH2 was built for stills and video, so it stands to reason that the OLP filter is not as strong as the one on the AF100, so there is more sharpness/ resolution to be gained on the gh2 by increasing the recording quality. If the AF100 effectively has a 'blur' filter over the sensor, then there's only so much resolution you can get out of it, right?
Of course that's not the only consideration.
A higher quality compression and/or color resolution would have less artifacts/ macro-blocking...etc and be much better for grading and color correction. But as some said, an external recorder could do this AND speed up and simplify your workflow, which would seem much more desirable to me.

How much would I pay? Nothing. I don't own an af100. :)
I have donated to the GH2 fund though and will again as long as it keeps getting better and better.
Click to expand...

Agree with all of this. =B Let's ask Panasonic to offer an OLPF change option, then apply the hack after that.
 
I raised $20,000 on kickstarter last summer. I think it's a good idea if there aren't any legal reason why it's impossible. Like I said, Im in.

I think we should open up a strong dialogue with the hacker team and find out what exactly is possible before betting the farm. We all have a wishlist, but Im very curious to know what is actually possible. Thanks for heading this up dtzfilms. There's nothing wrong with trying to improve a tool.
 
dtzfilms said:
While I understand Panasonic, I'm not happy that the bitrate was lowballled on the AF100 for captialistic expedience.
Click to expand...

Well, I know we're not supposed to really be disusing politics here... but I'd just like point out that low-balling the bit-rate is more of an exercise in Collectivism (corporate Socialism) than capitalism.

I'm not trying push any views here... just pointing out a few definitions. :)

Zachary Halberd said:
I think we should open up a strong dialogue with the hacker team and find out what exactly is possible before betting the farm.
Click to expand...

Most likely would just be the same as the GH2. Internal (nearly uncompressed) intra-frame 4:2:0 footage. The 4:2:2 output is most likely hard-wired in the processors for external recording only. Overall, the IQ would probably still be worse. I think they said in the community over there, that the AF-100 is using an older GH1 era sensor, so the dynamic range will always be 1-2 stops lower. Also, there won't be as much detail as the GH2, since it's using an OLPF instead of a software one. But the 60fps over-cranking on the AF-100 in 1080p would be very nice with a high bit-rate. Same with the Intra-footage... the motion is SO MUCH better with all I-frames... much more film-like.
 
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Man, this is getting very exciting! I have been a bit depressed about about my af100 after the GH2 hack. This has to go through!!!
 
I just heard back from Vitaly. He understandably expressed a reluctance to join this conversation with "rabid AF100ers," but asked me to open up a PM discussion with him over at Personal View. I've done that and I'll keep us all posted. It's nice to hear the voice of a GH2 user for some perspective on the GH1 sensor and what not. Obviously, the first goal is to get VK to agree to hack, then we can go for some basic goals. GH2 User by Capitalistic expedience, I meant profit-driven expedience...but thanks for the correction.. Shooter, er, if you mean me, I went to watch the All Star Game and the Oscars...

Pot now at $7,400.
 
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