Pause for a second. Professional ? Consumer?

[Philip Goetz]

I am researching the Panasonic AF100 and GH2 Micro Four Third cameras. I've known a lot about Panasonic Broadcast and Professional for over 5 years now, but nothing about Consumer. I didn't really care about CES or Apple's retail products, I cared about NAB and Mac Pros. I knew about the GH1 somewhat, but mainly worked with video cameras. No 5Ds. No DSRLs. All of a sudden Panasonic Broadcast says "AF100 Micro Four Thirds" and I am thinking, what in the heck is that? Next, as a reseller I start looking at distribution and stocking Lumix and Olympus lenses with difficulty. By "resell" I mean "local camera shop". Since Lumix lenses are not broadcast are they not professional? HD glass for the JVC GY-HD250 / HPX500 and other interchangeable cameras are traditional zoom lenses and $5000 - $25000. Now we have $350 - $800 pancakes and non-traditional (from a video background) zoom lenses. I was just on the Olympus site and was clicking around on lenses and noticed through the bread crumb trail that I was on "consumer" as opposed to "medical", "life science" or "industrial". Doesn't "consumer" mean there must be a "professional" area? With lenses, no. It's all under "consumer". PM me if you want to hear my thoughts on IMAGE USA recently held in San Antonio, TX. It was a traditional photo show with video / cinema people as well... http://www.olympusamerica.com

 

[milksac]

A replacement lens kit for the Go Pro camera is about $20. Because of it size and cheap cost this camera is often used to capture unique angles for the Extreme Games sports. The unique shots captured are sometimes used in an X Games opener which is then broadcast. Does that mean a $20 lens is now a "broadcast lens" ? More importantly, does anyone care? The term broadcast is meaningless today. About as broad of a term as the word digital.

 

[HorseFilms]

I think technology is progressing to the point where the line between professional and consumer really blurry. It's how you use it that makes the difference. I guess that's always been the case, but things are so much cheaper now.

 

[Terry_Lasater]

 

[Barry_Green]

Well, here's the distinction: "professional" means equipment made to suit the needs of a professional shooter. And a professional shooter is one who earns his living from using the equipment.

"consumer" means equipment made to suit the needs of the average consumer.

As far as Panasonic goes (with the AF100 and GH2) they are offered by two different companies, one who is focused on the needs of the professional and whose products are marketed through pro video dealers, and the other is made by the consumer company and their products are distributed through Best Buy and Wal-Mart and the like.

Panasonic Pro does't make lenses for the pro, and never has -- they've always relied on Fujinon and Canon for that.

Panasonic Consumer makes lenses suitable for consumer use -- autofocus, auto-iris, focus-by-wire, all that stuff.

Are the lines blurring? Sort of. Professionals have certainly been making use of consumer gear recently, wedging it into professional applications. But, I think the pendulum swings both ways, and I think that a lot of people who have been "making do" with consumer gear, are going to be very happy to move back to more professional equipment. An AF100 can use m43 lenses, and most of those are all-auto focus-by-wire, but what's the hottest m43 lens going? The Voigtlander 25mm, which is anything but a consumer lens, it's on par with the Zeiss ZF's.

I personally am not satisfied with any SLR lenses, at all, for pro cinema use. I greatly prefer the use of real cinema lenses. Those are designed with the needs of the professional shooter in mind. There are some good and even great SLR lenses out there, but using them is always a compromise as compared to using dedicated cinema glass.

The other class of professional, the non-cinema guy, is the pro video shooter, and for them, the Olympus and Lumix lenses offer the best options right now. They are not, however, on par with what pros are used to using -- which would be the lenses off an ENG camera, or the lens on a fixed-lens pro camera like the EX1 or HPX170.

There is a tendency among folks to co-opt the word "professional," saying "anyone who gets paid to do something is a professional." I don't think that's a fair use of the word -- if someone gets paid fifty bucks to shoot his friend's band's music video, that doesn't make that person a professional. The word should be used in proper context. A dentist is a professional. A lawyer is a professional. An accountant is a professional. Someone who makes their living working in a certain profession is, by definition, a professional. And "professional equipment" is made to meet the demands of that clientele.

Now, this isn't to say that someone who has a day job, can't be as good as someone who makes their living with the gear. But just like a waiter might be a good singer, they're not a professional singer until they're making their living at singing -- they're a professional waiter who sings as a hobby. Might be a better singer than Michael Buble, as far as we know, but the thing is, Buble makes his living professionally as a singer, not by waiting tables. So when someone crosses the line from "a hobby" to "I depend on this for my livelihood", that's when they change from being a hobbyist or part-timer or enthusiast, and cross over into being a professional.

A hobbyist, part-timer, enthusiast, or prosumer can certainly get professional results, whether they're employed in the profession or not. And putting pro gear in the hands of a hobbyist doesn't mean they'll get professional results, any more than putting amateur gear in a pro's hands means he'll turn out amateur results.

But as simple terms, a professional is someone who makes his or her living working in a certain profession. And "professional equipment" is that equipment that's designed specifically for the needs of the professional user.

And so that brings us back to the AF100 - there really is no such thing as a suitable, professional, ENG-style lens for it. There are plenty of lenses for the professional cinema shooter -- you can use PL mount, or Eclair CA mount, or BNCR, or even c-mount or Aaton-mount pro cinema lenses. No problem, there's lots of those out. But for the pro "video" shooter, there aren't any great solutions. There are some lenses that are better than others (the Olympus and the 14-140 being the main ones) but none of them are really across-the-board satisfactory replacements for a true "pro video" lens.