First Look, Panasonic AG-AC90 at DVExpo West

Do we know anything about the wide angle adapter? Is it new? Can it hold focus through the zoom range? How wide is wide? Coming out a little later than the camera? (would mean it's new I guess).
 
Barry_Green said:
...when the iris display reads out f/6.4, it's actually f/2.8 plus all the ND filter the camera can deliver. If you stop the iris down any further, it actually starts closing the iris again....
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Thanks a lot Barry, this ND information is very useful and totally different than all other cameras I had. (I still don't understand how an physical optical ND can do this seamless, but never mind ;-)

You know a lot, so I hope you can solve my most important 'issue' for the AC90:
In general -but especially in bright sun light and movement - the image is overexposed in automatic settings.
The whites are highlighted too much. I understand this has to do with the auto settings, small sensor/ dynamic range etc.
But I think this can be 'fixed' a lot with the camera settings (Knee, Gamma, auto iris setting minus something?)
I know it is a 'personal taste' but could you please tell me what settings YOU would use? or I could change to get:
- more detail/ 'information' in the highlights (so it will not be too overexposed)
- best/ good image for grading. (so enough 'information' in black and white)
- Perhaps you can suggest some settings to get the most 'cinematic' quality (as with a DVX100 the scene file)

I ask this, because when I get the camera the end of this month, I need to go immediately abroad to shoot (so I can not test those things anymore).
Thank you so much!
 
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To yank down the highlights, you would use cinelike-D gamma (or, if any other gamma, use KNEE set to LOW), and drop the color saturation down some (maybe -3 or so).

To lower overall exposure to avoid highlight clipping, you could set the A.Iris level setting to a negative value, each increment accounts for about 1/6-stop drop of exposure.

For the flattest image for grading, use cinelike-D, norm1 matrix, drop the color saturation, and maybe raise the master pedestal about to +2 or so.

"cinematic" is not an easily definable term. What is "cinematic" to one person may look totally non-cinematic to another. Some people think a flat, washed-out, milky-black look is cinematic. Others think sharp contrast and rich color = cinematic. Those are settings that you'll really have to determine for yourself. But using cine-D, cinematrix, and 1080/24p are a good start on making a cinematic image.
 
Many thanks for your settings suggestions, I will definetely try them out!

Barry_Green said:
"cinematic" is not an easily definable term. What is "cinematic"
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Sorry , I know "cinematic" it is too vague.

Barry Is there a way I can stay up to date with your tips/ suggestions for the AC90 camera features? Or just follow these topics? Thanks again
 
Regarding the wide angle adapter for the AC-90:

According to the new AC-90 brochure that was posted to Panasonic's web site on 10/16/12, it lists an optional VW-4907H-K Wide Conversion Lens, but no specs are given (see top of page 6). B&H sell's the Panasonic VW-4907, 0.75X wide angle converter for the x900 & v700, with a 49mm thread size. Could it be the same adapter since it has the same core part number?

Link to Brochure: http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/broch_pdf/ag-ac90p.pdf
 
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Probably very similar. I don't know that it would be the same, because the numbering is pretty obvious ("4907" = 49mm, 0.7x) ... even if it is 0.75x, still, the numbering seems pretty obvious. But as to whether it's the exact same product or not, that remains to be seen.

In any case, I would expect the existing B&H product to work with the AC90, as it's just a 49mm screw-in wide-angle adapter, so even if it's not the same, it'll still work...
 
solutions said:
Barry Is there a way I can stay up to date with your tips/ suggestions for the AC90 camera features? Or just follow these topics? Thanks again
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Everything I know will be published in The AC90 Book, due out in about a month or two. Short of that, yes, just stay tuned here on DVXUser...
 
What is the likelihood of a new POV camera coming out based on the AC90? The AG HCK10 is/was a POV camera based off the HMC40, with comparable performance but in a much smaller package. It couples to the remote controller/recorder HMR10 but the system does not do 1080/60P. So, I am wondering if an AC90 replacement POV would arrive, if it would require a replacement for the HMR10 recorder as well, or if the recorder could be upgraded to record 1080 60P.
I am curious about this since I already own the HCK10 system. It isn't very good in indoor lighting and doesn't have a wide enough lens, but offers incredible flexibility for both traditional and creative/unusual shots and with enough light, captures very good images.
 
In the AG-AC90's operating instructions and elsewhere I see "64 GB" referenced with using SDXC memory cards. Does this indicate that SDXC cards greater than 64 GB are totally incompatible, or is the additional space not recognized? Or hopefully these are just harmless examples of common sizes, because this would be a baffling constraint.
 
I think it will not recognize the extra space. You will have 6 hours on one card, and frankly I think that is a lot of hours on one small card.

Best,

Jan
 
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Originally Posted by jimith
. Can you connect a standard def monitor to the ac90?
Barry_Green said:
Yes.

Yes-ish it has a custom port that outputs component or composite and a breakout cable that cable has yellow/red/white ends that will go to your monitor.
[quots]Does the information on the camera's LCD HD screen appear on a monitor connected the the AC90?
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Yes, if you tell it to. Some thing (like zebras) won't.
[/QUOTE]

From page 75 of the AG-AC90_Operating_Instructions_Advance "HDMI is the interface for digital devices. If you connect this unit to a HDMI compatible high definition TV and then play back the recorded high definition images, you can enjoy them in high resolution with high quality sound." Page 76 does say "3 Change the mode to to play back." (Emphasis on Change)

I am not clear if the AG-AC90 does live view (external director monitor) mode via the HDMI. You are indicating it does from the reply, but the user manual, isn't telling the same story (very clearly). The the press release had said Standard professional interfaces include an HDMI output, but it doesn't say its uses... I assume you have your hands on one and have tested it or because the old model worked that way correct?

Probably like most of us I would have preferred an HD-SDI, but I am seeing cheap converters now. Thanks Barry for all your work here and at BMCuser.com.

I am interested in this camera for corporate and event work just as its intended. Its going to be interesting seeing just what would work to make it really comparable to a stedi-cam when walking, since it has such an advanced OIS. Maybe something as simple as a lightweight tripod or the $14 3/4" pipe stedi-cam without the weights. I would love to have more stedi-cam looking shots if they were not so tiring to pull off smoothly.
 
Spray-on hair artifacts

Spray-on hair artifacts

What is causing some of the people in the posted AC90 clips to look like they have spray-on hair? It seems to happen more for people in the background, and for people with dark hair. I don't think its motion blur because the rest of their face is sharpish. Is it an compression artifact, or the effects of in-camera noise reduction on a small sensor camera in a low light environment? Thanks.


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I think only Bob would know that question since he uploaded it..It looks to me like Skin Tone Detail has been turned on??? That tends to smooth out wrinkles so it would also smooth out hair strands. Bob Diaz can confirm whether the default scene file was set to zero all the way ...I wouldn't mind knowing that too cos the AC-130/160 with the defauly scene file settings is very flat indeed!!! If you have a Vimeo Plus account I'm sure that Bob also uploaded some uncompressed footage too ..early in the thread.

Chris
 
That's worth a lot then...it certainly then cannot be any issue with an on-line video if the frames were grabbed directly from the MTS file. Did the image on the monitor also look like spray painted hair?? The camera definately looks like it's doing some sort of smoothing of detail there...on indoor shots on my HMC82's with original MTS files in the editor you can define individual hair strands and the only time I have seen "smudgy" faces/hair is when years ago I tried the Skin Tone preset on a scene file. A grab from a native file should have awesome detail even on the chip size and it looks like the Expo was fairly well lit cos the faces are fairly well detailed.

Maybe guru Barry Green can throw some light on the subject???

Chris
 
I too, was at DV Expo and also shot some footage with the AC90. I noticed the same thing in my clips. The smearing in the hair could be noise reduction and/or compression artifacts. But there's something more going on. It looks like the AC90 applies temporal noise reduction when the lens is zoomed in. You can clearly see the ghosting in these pictures. The camera was panning left to right.

View attachment 61931View attachment 61932

On the second picture, I count 5 ghost images. You can easily reproduce similar effects in post. (Ex: use the Temporal Noise filter in VirtualDub)
 
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