Jarek Zabczynski
Veteran
I sold my AF-100 2 days before I got my Scarlet allocation notice and I feel great!
I sold my AF100 and I feel fine
- Thread starter DustBowl
- Start date
Shooter
Veteran
If I sold my AF102 and got a Scarlet..I would be feeling like I made a big mistake.!
The form factor is wrong for what I do most of. ( Tabletop)
Just shows we all have different needs.
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Rick Burnett
Section Moderator
I think people need to understand the difference between highlights and overblown or clipped areas. These are NOT the same things. I'm not saying you are implying they are, but the two issues are not the same issue.
When I look at overblown areas on the 7D, there isn't more information there, it's actually less, it's just that it goes to white very gracefully and sooner.
In say a yellow area on the AF100 or FS100, there is actually quite a bit of detail retained in that yellow area in shades of yellow because the algorithm to handle the blowout is different. On the Canon, it just ramps up the other colors that are not clipping to be clipped so the roll-off is to white and is graceful.
The problem is that if you are looking to keep that detail in the yellow or cyan, then your advice is absolutely correct, you NEED to expose lower. In my case, that's not the issue. I want the footage to blow out, I just don't want that yellow or cyan in there at all.
Worse, once you fix the footage to get rid of those colors, the detail they had goes away, and then you start trying to exposure for how you are going to fix it in post, and then you are really trying to figure out where the actual clip point is going to be if you are doing something creative with the blowout. (If that makes sense). The other option, which others have done as well, is just underexpose and blow out the footage in post, which is valid as well. Still, I wish I could just shoot closer in camera what I want. That's one thing I do miss about the 7D. I really like how Canon handles clipping.
Rick Burnett
Section Moderator
I spent A LONG time deciding if I wanted a Scarlet. For me it's wrong as well. My biggest problem is battery life. Where I shoot there is not always power and the quantity of batteries required for a 15 hour day would be staggering.
That said, I still LOVE the video from it.
Just like all the footage I shot with my AF100, I still love that footage. I have no regrets for the time I had it and what I did with it. It's a wonderful camera to me, just not made exactly for my type of shooting.
Erik Naso
Veteran
He asked…. "How do you deal with the clipped highlights in post? Desaturate Highlights or the like?”
Hence my answer.
I love me some highlights!
BrianMurphy
Veteran
I was very happy to read this thread and I agree with Kegan. I think that there are those who go on the attack and that would be because they feel attacked. Then there are those who have a vested interest in promoting Panasonic products and they just point out factual omissions or clarify details and remain silent. A silence I find uncomfortable when so many technical issues are raised that few deny exist and that are not addressed by Panasonic.
I found myself being taken to task for comments when the AF100 came out and I questioned several issues and questioned how it compared to the Sony FS100. It was not pleasant and I was "told off" in a technical manner more or less by several including the Panasonic rep.
From day one when I started following the AF100 there has been just too much hoopla and not enough solid response from Panasonic to encourage me to invest in one. So I waited and thought maybe buy a Scarlet, but I won't based on the bad experiences so many people I know have had with Red and Epic cameras. Unless of course you are a multi-million dollar production. Not likely for me.
This thread, I believe came from an honest person willing to share his experience with the AF100 and the membership of DVXUSER. So if the second or third post had been from Panasonic or someone else with a vested interest in the product and addressed the issues, well I would at least feel better. But it didn't. A few rallied to support his honesty, others used it as a platform to profess their prowess and others questioned his decision based on the twenty lines he wrote or just decided he was not qualified to own the camera. Nonsense and insulting.
So all of this to say thanks Will for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge with us. I read and learned. Next week I am selling my trusty HMC 150 and GH1 and I will probably buy an FS100 for now and an F3 or C300 after NAB.
I found myself being taken to task for comments when the AF100 came out and I questioned several issues and questioned how it compared to the Sony FS100. It was not pleasant and I was "told off" in a technical manner more or less by several including the Panasonic rep.
From day one when I started following the AF100 there has been just too much hoopla and not enough solid response from Panasonic to encourage me to invest in one. So I waited and thought maybe buy a Scarlet, but I won't based on the bad experiences so many people I know have had with Red and Epic cameras. Unless of course you are a multi-million dollar production. Not likely for me.
This thread, I believe came from an honest person willing to share his experience with the AF100 and the membership of DVXUSER. So if the second or third post had been from Panasonic or someone else with a vested interest in the product and addressed the issues, well I would at least feel better. But it didn't. A few rallied to support his honesty, others used it as a platform to profess their prowess and others questioned his decision based on the twenty lines he wrote or just decided he was not qualified to own the camera. Nonsense and insulting.
So all of this to say thanks Will for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge with us. I read and learned. Next week I am selling my trusty HMC 150 and GH1 and I will probably buy an FS100 for now and an F3 or C300 after NAB.
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I think you bring up a good point about the response in addressing the issues that have commonly been brought up and aren't unrealistic to fix. The biggest complaint seems to be the handling of highlights and I'm surprised that Panasonic has done nothing to address this. Jan was at the SCCE shootout screening and an example of the highlight issue was shown and discussed there, so she has to be aware of the problem. It's clearly a problem and is definitely costing Panasonic a lot of sales. It's been a year now and I don't see why it hasn't been fixed.
PaPa
Major Contributor
The GH2 does this also in Cinema mode. It simply has a curve that is trying to retain the most detail in the highs as possible until the point of clipping, which canons or other film modes on the GH2 don't do. If you use another gamma on the AF100 you won't see nearly as much of this. The basic rule of thumb is that if you're getting ugly clipping highlights, then that detail was meant to be gone in the first place, so either over expose the image knowing that nasty yellow highlights is going to have to be dealt with using a curve to brighten it to clipping white or under expose in camera and don't let those highlights get there in the first place.
David@Leo's Camera
Leos Camera Canada
I don't take issue with the OP not getting along with the camera and moving on to something for suitable for his needs. However I don't like how he implies that every problem he has with the camera is a result of Panasonic cost-cutting or saving upgrades for a future model that they can sell to you again.
If his speculations on Panasonic's motives were removed from the post then I think it would be a useful guideline for potential buyers who aren't aware of some of the camera's shortcomings.
If his speculations on Panasonic's motives were removed from the post then I think it would be a useful guideline for potential buyers who aren't aware of some of the camera's shortcomings.
Ed Kishel
Veteran
Jarek Zabczynski
Veteran
I think the AF-100 is a great cam for what it is. For me though, going from HVX+35mm Adapters it was more like two steps forward, two step back. I got to something I've been craving, more resolution and less fumbling around with lens adapters. On the other hand I got "thinner" codec with less colorspace. The tradeoff was ok for the time being, hey it was the best thing I could get at the time. But I think I knew from the start that for me, the AF-100 would be a temporary purchase. I still have my HVXs for my live or "video" work, but for my music videos, commercials and other narrative work I've gone RED.
Ditto -- are we talking about the purple haze that people were reporting seeing when things get too over exposed? I've had that issue if that's what that is...
Did the same and come from a similar background. However, I skipped the AF100 and went DSLR, bought lenses. If Panasonic came with an AVC-INTRA P2 version at the time of the AF100, or even F3 launch, I would've probably gone Panasonic, since I am a Panasonic man for over 10 years, from the DVX 100 to the HVX200 . Like you, Jarek, I still keep my HVX200, it still produces a Great image, more than enough for local broadcast programs. But for my films and my higher end material, I've decided to go Red. The AF100 just seemed too close to DSLR's for me to purchase it. It always felt as a in between camera to the P2 Panasonic professional world. Many here have proven me wrong with fantastic material done with it, but it just wasn't for me. I was quite happy with what i got with my 5D and 7D, even with aliasing and moire. Now is the time to jump to the big league
I am happier with my AF100 than I ever have been. However... this will probably be my last Panasonic camera, at least in their broadcast division as I'd still happily buy a GH2 (I have one now) or similar camera. I really don't think Panasonic listens or cares what we're really looking for in the cameras. This is evident from things that Barry told Panasonic when he tested the pre-production camera and they basically ignored him and did things their way anyway. Then there are things that could likely certainly be fixed with firmware that Panasonic just won't do. I just feel like Panasonic is missing the boat. Don't get me wrong, the AF100 is a good camera and a good value for the money. But when the GH2 can shoot 150Mbps+ intraframe it really makes me wonder what Panasonic's broadcast division is thinking. We're told the hardware isn't capable of it, but clearly it is. And if it truly truly isn't, then I have to ask why the GH2 encoders and processors aren't inside the AF100. I'd easily pay $800 (the price a GH2 body, which could actually be found for as little as $650) more for the AF100 for that capability. Really makes one wonder....
As much as people may not like Red's attitude (or that of some of it's users), you have to admit Red is doing things right. Yes, they were very very late on delivering and the Scarlet 2/3 never happened, but what they did deliver is actually better than what they originally announced and Red completely changed the landscape of cameras. And the Scarlet-X at $9750 pretty impressive, even when you figure another $5k-$10k to make it work and be fully usable. And it will only get better with firmware updates (Panasonic says they can't add features with firmware) and even hardware upgrades (Dragon sensor). Being able to upgrade a camera I've spent a considerable amount of money on is something that's important to me, and being that other manufacturers are doing it (even Canon has done it), I think Panasonic needs have that mindset if they expect to continue to attract independent filmmakers.
As much as people may not like Red's attitude (or that of some of it's users), you have to admit Red is doing things right. Yes, they were very very late on delivering and the Scarlet 2/3 never happened, but what they did deliver is actually better than what they originally announced and Red completely changed the landscape of cameras. And the Scarlet-X at $9750 pretty impressive, even when you figure another $5k-$10k to make it work and be fully usable. And it will only get better with firmware updates (Panasonic says they can't add features with firmware) and even hardware upgrades (Dragon sensor). Being able to upgrade a camera I've spent a considerable amount of money on is something that's important to me, and being that other manufacturers are doing it (even Canon has done it), I think Panasonic needs have that mindset if they expect to continue to attract independent filmmakers.
Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
Sorry, but I have to raise the BS flag on this one.
Members of this very board were asked what they would like in the AF-100 and most of those features made it to the camera.
Try going to Sony or JVC and asking for specific features and see what that gets you.
No BS at all. Barry said himself multiple times that Panasonic didn't do things with the camera that he and others said they should when they went to Japan to test the prototype/preproduction model. And I don't know of one person who prefers the current method of focus assist over the zoom in to focus feature. And that was a requested feature that was omitted, and is an extremely important one because it's not easy to focus the camera now unless you connect an external monitor that does have zoom to focus. Numerous times I've found that the focus assist feature built-in to the AF100 is not accurate or reliable enough.
And I guess Sony and JVC need to pay attention also.
And I guess Sony and JVC need to pay attention also.
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First off chill out. Secondly, it wasn't a complaint. I've had the issue both when it's been over exposed and in normal lighting conditions but recently got a new adaptor and haven't had the problem since. The hell is everybody so riled up for? Geez.