Because I am using my AF100 mainly with steadicam (without a focus puller) I am totally dependent on using the auto-focus features of the camera. With the 12-35mm lens the autofocus works quite well. But it still has huge issues with faces (probably because faces usually don't have any sharp edges to use for contast AF). A great solution to this could have been the "face detect" function (which in itself works great). But for some strange reason the engineers decided that you need to also activate auto exposure to use "face detect". Auto exposure however makes any footage unusable since the camera constantly adjusts for the smallest of changes in light.
I have been hoping that there someday would be released a new firmware update that would fix this nonsense (can't think of any reason that this should be complicated to program, just remove the AE requirement). But have more or less given up hope since it seems that Panasonic is not interested in this camera or its users anymore.
I know this issue have been touched upon in a thread a long time ago, but just wondering if anyone since then has come up with any solution to this? Is there any smart way to trick the camera into locking /disabling exposure even if it is set to auto? Any lens that would support autofocus but not auto exposure?
My solution so far has been to buy a GH3, which magically does face detect without any need for auto exposure at a fraction of the price (and also has much better/faster AF). The downside is that the GH3 lacks most of the other things that makes the AF100 great (ND-filters, XLR inputs, volume knobs, focus peaking, usable audio monitoring since the geniuses placed the heaset output on the GH3 right behind the swivel screen to make it impossible to swivel it). The only two advantages it has (in my opinion) is its auto-focus features and the better codecs. Would have been so nice to be able to use the AF100 for all purposes and not having to move back and forth between the two cameras. But for now it is GH3 for steadicam, AF100 for anything else (just shot a sci-fi TV-series with it).
I have been hoping that there someday would be released a new firmware update that would fix this nonsense (can't think of any reason that this should be complicated to program, just remove the AE requirement). But have more or less given up hope since it seems that Panasonic is not interested in this camera or its users anymore.
I know this issue have been touched upon in a thread a long time ago, but just wondering if anyone since then has come up with any solution to this? Is there any smart way to trick the camera into locking /disabling exposure even if it is set to auto? Any lens that would support autofocus but not auto exposure?
My solution so far has been to buy a GH3, which magically does face detect without any need for auto exposure at a fraction of the price (and also has much better/faster AF). The downside is that the GH3 lacks most of the other things that makes the AF100 great (ND-filters, XLR inputs, volume knobs, focus peaking, usable audio monitoring since the geniuses placed the heaset output on the GH3 right behind the swivel screen to make it impossible to swivel it). The only two advantages it has (in my opinion) is its auto-focus features and the better codecs. Would have been so nice to be able to use the AF100 for all purposes and not having to move back and forth between the two cameras. But for now it is GH3 for steadicam, AF100 for anything else (just shot a sci-fi TV-series with it).