PANASONIC AF100 Impovements / Wishlist

PANASONIC AF100 Impovements / Wishlist

  • Total voters
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mediaplexx

mediaplexx

Active member

UPDATED with a poll, that summarizes your wishes and my personal favorites.

What would you -

THE AF100 OWNERS - like to see or be improved through an official or unofficial firmware 4 the AF100 ?

I´m not asking for dreams..... BUT .....for realistically implementable improvements!

THX!

Can somebody of the admins put a "r" between Imp.. and ...ovements please?
 
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Setting ISO Speeds

I wish that setting ISO speed was as quick and easy as using a thumbwheel. It slows me down and (somewhat) limits my choices when you can only have three speeds loaded in the 3-way toggle switch.

Jeff
 
jdesignhi said:
Setting ISO Speeds

I wish that setting ISO speed was as quick and easy as using a thumbwheel. It slows me down and (somewhat) limits my choices when you can only have three speeds loaded in the 3-way toggle switch.

Jeff
Click to expand...

I will never understand this one!

How does it slow you down?
 
a setting(gamma profile?) that clips the red channel towards neutral, at higher ire, like what the gh2 does.
 
Shooter said:
I will never understand this one!

How does it slow you down?
Click to expand...

Some people sometimes shoot in an environment where the light is low and they can't entirely control/add lighting. When doing quick run and gun style shooting in low light/nighttime scenes, you want to shoot with the lowest (cleanest) ISO and still get a decent exposure. Lenses are only so fast. You may have NO or limited control over the lighting. The only thing left is adjusting the ISO. Using a DSLR in dark, uncontrolled, run and gun situations was great because you could quickly adjust the ISO, but only raise it as much as you absolutely had too. And you could do it quickly, shot to shot. Imagine run and gun in live environments, outdoors at night, or in dark clubs etc.
 
Make VF grid overlay an map- able item for a user button.

Kill he head phone jack in VFR mode

Iso settings for 50 & 100 ISO

I just finished shooting a Film in the high desert of California and the 200 Iso setting was much too sensitive outdoors on a sunny day
 
Phil H. said:
Some people sometimes shoot in an environment where the light is low and they can't entirely control/add lighting. When doing quick run and gun style shooting in low light/nighttime scenes, you want to shoot with the lowest (cleanest) ISO and still get a decent exposure. Lenses are only so fast. You may have NO or limited control over the lighting. The only thing left is adjusting the ISO. Using a DSLR in dark, uncontrolled, run and gun situations was great because you could quickly adjust the ISO, but only raise it as much as you absolutely had too. And you could do it quickly, shot to shot. Imagine run and gun in live environments, outdoors at night, or in dark clubs etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Phil. The issue, Shooter, is that you can only load 3 ISO speeds into the 3-way toggle switch. If you need a speed that is not loaded, you have to go into the menu system and load another. This is time consuming. I shoot documentaries. We move quickly. I would like to be able to go to the thumbwheel at the back of the camera, and roll to the ISO I need for the shot at hand.

Jan, is something like this feasible?
 
jdesignhi said:
Thanks, Phil. The issue, Shooter, is that you can only load 3 ISO speeds into the 3-way toggle switch. If you need a speed that is not loaded, you have to go into the menu system and load another. This is time consuming. I shoot documentaries. We move quickly. I would like to be able to go to the thumbwheel at the back of the camera, and roll to the ISO I need for the shot at hand.

Jan, is something like this feasible?
Click to expand...

I love that dial in the back. I'm surprised ISO isn't already there.
 
jdesignhi said:
Setting ISO Speeds

I wish that setting ISO speed was as quick and easy as using a thumbwheel. It slows me down and (somewhat) limits my choices when you can only have three speeds loaded in the 3-way toggle switch.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Or maybe assign it to the little thumbstick on the side under the LCD. I keep forgetting that thing is even there.
 
I'm with you on killing the headphone jack and the audio bars on VFR, ISO on the back dial and independent colour controls for the built in LCD to "de-green" it.

By default, change the "lens check" menu option to off, so people don't unbox, put on a lens adaptor and get a black picture.

Personally I'd like to see auto shutter and auto ISO specifically when interval shooting: it would make the camera more timelapse-friendly. I know this is starting to compromise the pure video camera concept for a stills-like shooting style, but if it could be added for interval shooting, I'd be very happy. Timelapse with a 7D with the shutter going clunk every few seconds is not conducive to sleep, so the silent interval shooting of the AF100 is a nice feature for me.

I'd also like to see interval shooting controllable with a dial or at least much finer control- I don't see any reason why they can't shoot at 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 whatever second intervals, it has to be a restriction of menu choices rather than a fundamental limit of the camera doesn't it?

Extend interval shooting beyond 24 hours, even if it has to be split into multiple clips I don't want to have to go back to the camera to do it.

1:1 pixel display on the LCD for focussing. I know, I know, low pass filter and all that. I don't care. Give me one *output* pixel per pixel on the LCD, even. Shooting with wide angle prime lenses (or non-parfocal zooms I guess) you really appreciate all the help you can get so even a zoom in by a factor of two would assist. I'm currently using a dirt cheap 23" LED TV as my field monitor for this reason. Not exactly compact, but very good for checking focus! Focus in red works well, but only if you have a sharp high-contrast edge to get it spot on, and for some subjects you just don't.


For an AF100"A" version - a record button at the back of the camera, roughly where it was on the HVX200 ;-)

All in all a remarkably small list. The ergonomics and general shooting experience are excellent (especially after dSLR hell!)

Cheers, Hywel.
 
I don't want to see an AF100a - I want to see an Af200 - modular viewfinder, P2 capability (modular "magazines" maybe) - AVC-I -

And stop worrying about the $5,000 ceiling, I don't mind paying for something that will not be obsolete in a year -

But first, crank out some affordable "cine" style 5:1 f2.8 zoom lenses with long revolution manual focus and iris rings - both with big readable numbers. You've got the glass and the guts, just repackage them.
 
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Regarding ISO's beyond three pre-programmed, while I think it would be cool to have on the wheel, I've never used more than three gain settings(ISO's) in a day of shooting--never considered gain as a routine way to change exposure. The AF100 is more likely to be used this way because of the noise reduction keeping the ISO noise levels similar from one to another, but this changing ISO speeds all day long comes from stills/VDSLR shooters. I've always relied on ND filters and lighting for exposure control.
 
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***focus assist (pixel zoom in) for lcd focus check****

***manual adjustment of white balance****

***more dynamic range***

***better bitrate***
 
It does seem weird that you can manually pick white balance in 100degree increments with the function stick but you cant use it for ISO/gain adjustments. And the lack of 1:1 zoom for focusing is a big deal. I'd love more useful gamma options and DRS that just shifts highlight and shadow latitude like HTP in Canon DSLRs or ISO in Alexa, not the funky cocktail of random image ingredients that each level of DRS is.

My number one improvement would be user-creatable LUTs for custom gamma modes.
 
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