BobbyMurcerFan
Well-known member
I just got back from an open house at the American Society of Cinematographers, and was surprised that a number of DP's brought up the AF100. I heard the AF footage described as "lovely," "beautiful."
I came away thinking that right now, the AF100 is the best entry level real digital cinema camera.
There is the F3, but it's much more expensive. Yes it will be able to do 4:4:4 w/ a firmware upgrade, but the sensor is still Bayer, so the extra chroma data is a result of interpolation more than anything else. And there is the problem of how to record the data. External RGB recorders are expensive. But I don't kid myself into thinking that the F3 won't look better than the AF, it will. But at a price.
There is Red's fixed Scarlet, but you are limited to 2/3rd's. Yes it can be workable, but if you are doing cinematography it's about learning and knowing your options. 2/3rd's does restrict what you can compose significantly. All these guys talked about experimenting, doing wild things in terms of focal length, f stop and framing. The Scarlet is limited in this regard.
The DSLR's are too much of a kludge, have image issues and lack in other features that have all been well documented.
So, in my opinion, at present time, the AF100 is the pound for pound, dollar for dollar, digital cinema camera king.
I came away thinking that right now, the AF100 is the best entry level real digital cinema camera.
There is the F3, but it's much more expensive. Yes it will be able to do 4:4:4 w/ a firmware upgrade, but the sensor is still Bayer, so the extra chroma data is a result of interpolation more than anything else. And there is the problem of how to record the data. External RGB recorders are expensive. But I don't kid myself into thinking that the F3 won't look better than the AF, it will. But at a price.
There is Red's fixed Scarlet, but you are limited to 2/3rd's. Yes it can be workable, but if you are doing cinematography it's about learning and knowing your options. 2/3rd's does restrict what you can compose significantly. All these guys talked about experimenting, doing wild things in terms of focal length, f stop and framing. The Scarlet is limited in this regard.
The DSLR's are too much of a kludge, have image issues and lack in other features that have all been well documented.
So, in my opinion, at present time, the AF100 is the pound for pound, dollar for dollar, digital cinema camera king.
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