Panasonic AG-AF101 Review

GRENCH said:
Did you guys see how great the images was on the Lumix 14-140 at F4-5.6. Brilliant!
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On a big screen, there was a world of difference between the Zeiss glass and the 14-140mm. The shots from the zoom were OK- but the Zeiss shots were spectacular. The micro-contrast was better, the detail and sharpness was significantly better and I preferred the colour rendition somehow too. It was obvious to me that the glass you use is going to make a big difference- now it always DOES make a difference, but I really preferred the look of the CP.2 to the Lumix. So much so that I decided not to buy the 14-140 (I was on the fence anyway because that f/4 to f/5.8 seems like a big limitation) and just use primes, starting with the 20 mm pancake I already have, the Voightlander 25mm f/09.5 that's on order, and my Canon primes with an adaptor to tide me over until I can pay for a set of CP.2's.

I think if they'd just shown us the Lumix shots I'd have thought it was OK, but to get the best out of the camera I don't think it is the lens for me. Of course, if you are run and gunning or shooting in uncontrolled situations, the usability features will sell the lens and the Lumix will deliver perfectly acceptable stuff with none of the faff of primes.

Cheers, Hywel.
 
Personally, I'm waiting for news about the Birger mount.

There has to be other people besides them doing something like this.

I'm dying to use the Tokina 11-16 on the AF100, can't tell you how.
 
dustylense said:
Editman. The Af-100 will smoke the 5d any day of the year. The codec in this camera is just far more advanced using I P and B frames. The look will just depend on how it's set up. Now, if this camera acts like my HVX200, there are so many different ways to achieve a look.
There is just too many judgements made of this camera while we've only seen footage from less than 10 PRE-PRODUCTION units out there. In many cases, the users got LESS than a day to shoot with the AF100. Why don't we wait until this bad boy is in the hands of 1000's of users then lets start comparing footage.

Oh and ya, I don't really know the last time I watched a FILM were I thought to myself, "if only that actors eyebrows weren't aliasing".. Filming at f/1.4 on a 5d really does't look like FILM to me. It has it's own unique look, yes. Compared to a 1/4in. chip, yes. But go watch some movies and tell me just how many times you see eyelashes ONLY in focus. Plus, I'm getting quite bored of seeing 5d footage shot where the filmmaker is SEARCHING for focus, in and out in and out in and out. I have a 5d (mostly for my stills studio). I MORE than excited about getting my hands on the AF100. To me, it's the perfect balance between my 5d and HVX. I can't wait to make my DOF adapter a coin jar!
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I totally agree the AF101 will probably smoke all Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras when it comes to video. It' wasn't the image quality but it's features (like shallow DOF, fps and motion blur) that are somewhere inbetween video and film cameras on DSLR cameras. I also agree 5D can get to shallow so I seldom shoot at 1.4, if ever, more like F2-F5.6. I think a 7D is better than the 5D because of it's movie frame like size.
 
Nice review but but but .... hi contrast of lunch time sun!!! I think he implies dynamic range, where did the guy see this. One of the shot representing it was overexpose with some nasty clip highlight. I can' t understand until now how people can judge dynamic range from such dull environment. More so, when the only shots of human being are at night. So the new craze after the super shallow depth of field of the 5d will be people at night!!! So every human being film will be shot at night... until now I am reserving my opinion on the af-100 since the Japan footage, when I will see some human face in contrasty sunlit conditions and I am not talking about uk winter here. I am not asking for extreme condition like at noon with sun (not winter uk ones) but in the afternoon at more reasonable angle of light to see how the roll-off looks like on human skin.
 
Hi Badger here. The storyline footage was graded but the 101 shots were completely clean. The blocking is NOT present in the rushes - it is a result of the upload compression :-)
 
Badger said:
Hi Badger here. The storyline footage was graded but the 101 shots were completely clean. The blocking is NOT present in the rushes - it is a result of the upload compression :-)
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Hi Badger,

are you squirrel's best friend? If so: Nice review. Squirrel is indeed a great cranker and me too waited for shots of kids vomiting from the roundabout... how can they not on a German Christmas-market in Birmingham...? And I love the car.

These really important issues aside: Did I miss the link for a possible download of original mts-files? I am extremely interested in some night-time shots. What settings were used? Did you over-crank on high ISO? What is your estimation about the usability of that cam in terms of setting it up for shooting, complexity of menus & manual?

ARRI has this nice online-toy where you can play with the settings of an ALEXA - would really be fun if Panasonic would do the same for the AG-AF together with a tutorial (<- hint for Jan).
 
Gentlemen, thank you all for your comments on the review. Here's the scoop:

All the AF100 footage was shot on the camera's Cine V setting and there is no further grading applied.

We had limited time with the camera and only a single Zeiss 35mm T*2.1 CP.2 and a Lumix 14-140mm F4-5.8 zoom. There is a 2x crop factor when using a full frame 35mm lens on the AF101.

Night time shots were at ISO 800 and 1250 which equates to 9 and 12dB of gain (0dB = ISO400), however the images are extremely clean on ISO800, with only slight graining at 1250.

All shots were recorded at 24Mb/s onto SD cards and even on 50p footage there is no apparent moire patterning or aliasing. I was very pleasantly surprised. The AF101 delivers footage that has a far more 'organic' look than anything from an EOS 5D and it is far easier to use.

What was surprising is that when I put the camera from 25p into 50p 'over-crank' mode there was no corresponding drop in exposure level and I of course expected to lose a stop. At first I thought the mode had not changed, but on playback the footage was indeed silky smooth 50p. At 50p the recorded data rate is halved, so 12Mb/s but there was no discernible drop in quality. Amazing. The AVCHD codec is clearly very good. Anyway, we'll put up a few short uncompressed clips for critical evaluation later in the week so you can judge for yourself. Once these are available we'll post a link.

I had no manual for the camera but the AF101's menu system is easy to navigate.

The only real dislike is the viewfinder resolution - It's better than a 5D but well short of what a seasoned pro requires for critical focusing. That said, this is a very low cost camera for the performance it delivers and a third party device such as a Cineroid EVF4 or Zacuto Z-Finder EVF should correct this deficiency! For handheld work I'd also want a decent shoulder-mount rig (such as the forthcoming MOVIEtube CR) too...

When it comes to lenses the Zeiss CP.2's are the best and I'd start out with a 21mm (Equiv. 42mm) or 25mm (Equiv. 50mm) plus a 35mm (Equiv. 70mm). If these primes are above your budget then take a look at the Olympus Zuiko 14-35mm F/2 and 35-100mm F/2 as they offer great performance and flexibility for a modest price. The Lumix 14-140 is OK in well illuminated scenes and worth having in your kit bag 'just in case' but the slow aperture does diminish the shallow depth of field effect - Use with care!

SQUIRREL
 
Squirrel said:
What was surprising is that when I put the camera from 25p into 50p 'over-crank' mode there was no corresponding drop in exposure level and I of course expected to lose a stop. At first I thought the mode had not changed, but on playback the footage was indeed silky smooth 50p. At 50p the recorded data rate is halved, so 12Mb/s but there was no discernible drop in quality. Amazing. The AVCHD codec is clearly very good.
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This is extremely interesting to read. Wondered too that there seemed to be no discernible change in overall picture quality at 50 p. And somewhat clean 800 ISO is good enough for me for that price of the cam. Will wait patiently for the files to come up and will give Buster & Scarlet, the two squirrels rampaging our balcony at times, an extra walnut... thank you.
 
The bit about the data rate being halved does not square with what Barry has said about overcranking. According to him, overcranking increases the bitrate to something like 35mb/s?
 
As I understand it the AVCHD standard provides for a fixed maximum bandwidth of 24Mb/s however since off-speed footage is mute, the bandwidth normally allocated to 2 channels of uncompressed audio might be re-allocated to allow extra video bandwidth.

Either way the footage acquired in 50p mode is sublime.
 
I'm 100% sure the bitrate actually increases when overcranking. Barry stated that you need a higher class SDHC card to overcrank. Card class determines bandwidth.
 
It should be pretty easy to check. Just check the data rate on the file created. If it is 17.5 mb/s or so then it was recorded at 35 mb/s. If it is 12 mb/s it was recorded at 24 mb/s, etc.
 
I think Barry's last word on the subject was that indeed the data rate can climb to 35mbit per second in overcrank but in a 24p timeline as the footage is in slow motion the effective mbit/second number is reduced. So in essanve though it was shot at 35mbit it now plays back at <24mbit.

Hope this is a correct interpretation of what Barry stated.
 
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TheReverend said:
Does anyone who has used the camera have anything bad to say about it?

Cause the only complaining that exists so far comes in the form of pixel-peepers.
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I never trust such reviews, particularly from the "chosen few", who get early model cameras. Classic was P.Bloom and his review of JVC HM100, which is plagued with problems, but he never any of them.
 
olof said:
It should be pretty easy to check. Just check the data rate on the file created. If it is 17.5 mb/s or so then it was recorded at 35 mb/s. If it is 12 mb/s it was recorded at 24 mb/s, etc.
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This is correct. 60p overcranked footage shows up with a data rate of about 14mb/s. It plays back at 2.5x slow mo, so 2.5x14 = 35mbps.
 
Steve Kahn said:
I think Barry's last word on the subject was that indeed the data rate can climb to 35mbit per second in overcrank but in a 24p timeline as the footage is in slow motion the effective mbit/second number is reduced. So in essanve though it was shot at 35mbit it now plays back at <24mbit.

Hope this is a correct interpretation of what Barry stated.
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You understand correctly.
 
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