KyleProhaska
Veteran
I've always been a Canon guy, until a week ago when my AF100 showed up. I was very nervous, having just decided (after speaking repeatedly with Timur about which camera I should go with) to just get it and see. If I was wrong and it wasn't for me, no harm done. Still as I opened it up I was just praying it was what I was hoping for.
Within like an hour of using it I was looking for ways to return it. I had a feeling in my gut of sickness realizing I would probably be packing this thing back up and getting my money back, etc. It's true as many others have said, the default settings of the AF100 are not pleasing at all and (after experimenting) I realized it was the settings that were making the codec respond so poorly (at least for me, not saying everyone will agree). My greatest disappointment was the codec BEFORE I purchased the camera. Again, with the default settings it had quite a few issues that I really hated. It was like a $5000 DSLR to me. However, for like 4 nights straight I used it around my apartment with nothing but a 500w Softbox, and when possible setting up shots in my office hooking the camera to a production monitor to tinker with the settings giving it multiple situations of highlight and shadow and color under different gamma settings and whatever else I could try.
Barry's book was CRUCIAL to understanding how to properly setup the camera for my uses. Finally I started understanding what the camera could do with the settings I wanted, and bingo...the results I was looking for began to show up. Each day I became more comfortable and by now I'm 100% sure this is the camera I'm going to be using for a long time. Anybody who honesty expects to take any camera out of the box and get beautiful stuff without any knowledge of the tool is ridiculous. I just heard a story about a guy who returned his immediately, said his 7D was better, etc. not realizing all he was giving up in my opinion. I almost was one of those guys, and now I understand my fault. Those who say this camera is incredibly NOISY have no idea what they're talking about.
The on-board codec also surprised me the more I used it and got my settings where I wanted them. The settings weren't changing anything about the codec itself but it was changing what footage the codec needed to deal with. Yes, the codec isn't the best thing in the world, but after hooking up the HDMI to my Intensity Card and recording some 422 8-bit footage to Prores, I don't think there's anything this camera can't do under the proper circumstances. On-board is perfectly fine for a lot of uses I'm finding, but external will be a must for me on a feature I hope to use this one (that's just me though). Either way the fact this camera at $5000 has HD-SDI and HDMI, can accommodate almost any lens, is built like a tank and weighs very little, and all the rest makes it an amazing product for its price. I love the build quality and how solid this thing feels too. That handle on the top feels like it can handle anything! One thing I love (which I hear isn't the case on the FS100) is the buttons are very intuitive. You know when you hit one and that's important to me, as it's easy to turn things on/off you really need and in all the craziness on a set not realize it. I would say the only fault I see that annoyed me is how hard it seems to be to hook up the AC bracket on the back. It's hard to get my fat fingers in there and get the thing attached. I haven't found anything else I don't like about the camera so far, but I'm not including any menu related things that some have brought about. It's a really SOLID product...period.
I was never a Panasonic guy, but I'm happy to say now I am
I think the AF100 will serve me well, and I say it proudly!
Any guys who are number crunching and doubting this thing let me just say that I WAS YOU, and then I got the camera and actually gave it some time and learned about it. Now I'm convinced there isn't any other choice I could've made in this budget range that makes as much sense as the AF100.
Typical Settings I found work best for me:
Detail L: -4 (lower is fine too but -4 is a good balance where I don't see any edge enhancement)
Detail V: -4 (also can go down to -7 if you want)
Detail Coring: -7 (basically unless you really need it, turning it off is a good option. It helps control noise but as you can see with it all the way down...I got barely ANY.)
Chroma Level: 0 (change in the negative to dull things a little if you want but -7 is way too far and can stress the codec a little to boost later)
Chroma Phase: 0 (if you have a good reason to alter this do it but I've found zero use for this for normal shooting situations under good and balanced light)
Master Ped: 0 (with B.Press turned on, any negative value of this seemed to take things too far, positive induced noise. If you need even more shadow detail then B.Press can allow, don't use B.Press and use something else. Set the proper gamma FIRST, then induce Ped if need be)
Gamma: B.Press (gives me good but not crushed black levels and knee control which I want. Also it's the cleanest of the gammas, and even with knee if you do overexpose it wont' give you a color shift in the highlights like Cine-D and V do...like the yellow tinge you can get. Cine-V is great as well but B.Press gave the contrast I personally wanted, Knee controls as well, and it's cleaner)
Knee: Mid (High is too much and gives you that grayish white, low is almost non-existent in effect...mid strikes a great balance I like)
Matrix: Norm2 (the cleanest color setting but after testing I feel like Norm1 and 2 and be interchanged without changing a thing to the eye (although barry suggests Norm1 is more technically accurate). If you need to drop your color a little, perhaps switching from 2 to 1 is a better option than dropping the Chroma level up top, but you'll have to make a judgment call.)
Within like an hour of using it I was looking for ways to return it. I had a feeling in my gut of sickness realizing I would probably be packing this thing back up and getting my money back, etc. It's true as many others have said, the default settings of the AF100 are not pleasing at all and (after experimenting) I realized it was the settings that were making the codec respond so poorly (at least for me, not saying everyone will agree). My greatest disappointment was the codec BEFORE I purchased the camera. Again, with the default settings it had quite a few issues that I really hated. It was like a $5000 DSLR to me. However, for like 4 nights straight I used it around my apartment with nothing but a 500w Softbox, and when possible setting up shots in my office hooking the camera to a production monitor to tinker with the settings giving it multiple situations of highlight and shadow and color under different gamma settings and whatever else I could try.
Barry's book was CRUCIAL to understanding how to properly setup the camera for my uses. Finally I started understanding what the camera could do with the settings I wanted, and bingo...the results I was looking for began to show up. Each day I became more comfortable and by now I'm 100% sure this is the camera I'm going to be using for a long time. Anybody who honesty expects to take any camera out of the box and get beautiful stuff without any knowledge of the tool is ridiculous. I just heard a story about a guy who returned his immediately, said his 7D was better, etc. not realizing all he was giving up in my opinion. I almost was one of those guys, and now I understand my fault. Those who say this camera is incredibly NOISY have no idea what they're talking about.
The on-board codec also surprised me the more I used it and got my settings where I wanted them. The settings weren't changing anything about the codec itself but it was changing what footage the codec needed to deal with. Yes, the codec isn't the best thing in the world, but after hooking up the HDMI to my Intensity Card and recording some 422 8-bit footage to Prores, I don't think there's anything this camera can't do under the proper circumstances. On-board is perfectly fine for a lot of uses I'm finding, but external will be a must for me on a feature I hope to use this one (that's just me though). Either way the fact this camera at $5000 has HD-SDI and HDMI, can accommodate almost any lens, is built like a tank and weighs very little, and all the rest makes it an amazing product for its price. I love the build quality and how solid this thing feels too. That handle on the top feels like it can handle anything! One thing I love (which I hear isn't the case on the FS100) is the buttons are very intuitive. You know when you hit one and that's important to me, as it's easy to turn things on/off you really need and in all the craziness on a set not realize it. I would say the only fault I see that annoyed me is how hard it seems to be to hook up the AC bracket on the back. It's hard to get my fat fingers in there and get the thing attached. I haven't found anything else I don't like about the camera so far, but I'm not including any menu related things that some have brought about. It's a really SOLID product...period.
I was never a Panasonic guy, but I'm happy to say now I am
I think the AF100 will serve me well, and I say it proudly!Any guys who are number crunching and doubting this thing let me just say that I WAS YOU, and then I got the camera and actually gave it some time and learned about it. Now I'm convinced there isn't any other choice I could've made in this budget range that makes as much sense as the AF100.
Typical Settings I found work best for me:
Detail L: -4 (lower is fine too but -4 is a good balance where I don't see any edge enhancement)
Detail V: -4 (also can go down to -7 if you want)
Detail Coring: -7 (basically unless you really need it, turning it off is a good option. It helps control noise but as you can see with it all the way down...I got barely ANY.)
Chroma Level: 0 (change in the negative to dull things a little if you want but -7 is way too far and can stress the codec a little to boost later)
Chroma Phase: 0 (if you have a good reason to alter this do it but I've found zero use for this for normal shooting situations under good and balanced light)
Master Ped: 0 (with B.Press turned on, any negative value of this seemed to take things too far, positive induced noise. If you need even more shadow detail then B.Press can allow, don't use B.Press and use something else. Set the proper gamma FIRST, then induce Ped if need be)
Gamma: B.Press (gives me good but not crushed black levels and knee control which I want. Also it's the cleanest of the gammas, and even with knee if you do overexpose it wont' give you a color shift in the highlights like Cine-D and V do...like the yellow tinge you can get. Cine-V is great as well but B.Press gave the contrast I personally wanted, Knee controls as well, and it's cleaner)
Knee: Mid (High is too much and gives you that grayish white, low is almost non-existent in effect...mid strikes a great balance I like)
Matrix: Norm2 (the cleanest color setting but after testing I feel like Norm1 and 2 and be interchanged without changing a thing to the eye (although barry suggests Norm1 is more technically accurate). If you need to drop your color a little, perhaps switching from 2 to 1 is a better option than dropping the Chroma level up top, but you'll have to make a judgment call.)
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