Philip Bloom's "Hirano San"

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henryolonga said:
I'm out.......and this footage, although preliminary, has confirmed a few things for me. I cancelled my pre order a few days ago anyway - mainly because of the Sony anouncement and RED prepping for the Scarlet release soon. I also know that better is just around the corner and three months wait won't kill me. 3k RAW or 1920 X 1080 S-Log at 4;4:4 is the most compelling reason for me. I have graded footage from the Alexa and RED in Speedgrade and Cineform firstlight and trust me - when you have had the pleasure - there is no going back. My concerns were about dynamic range and deep colour information.This camera will work for many folks but I have just realised that I want more and that the £ 4000 I save can go toward a better cam that leaves me never complaining about blown highlights, limited colour or noisy low light footage etc

I am in no way suggesting that this cam is not great. It is a very big step up from what we have had.It is crazy sharp and recorded to a Nano will be amazing.But one still has to watch out for reaching the camera's limits. With Scarlet's HDR mode - those blown out scenes wouldn't happen - period.That's the main reason I will force every ounce of patience in me to ride this out a few more months.
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Probably good for you to do so. But save that money, because it's likely everything else is gonna be above, significantly above, 10k. Under that mark this is probly gonna be your best bet for a year or more. This cam never was gonna beat the RED One... Closer than ever for only 5k though.
 
There is Rev - the Fixed Scarlet 2/3rds (abeit I will put it on a DOF adaptor ) - the cam is gonna go for about 5K. I already own the SGBlade and for the medium shots at normal frame rates where I need more shallow DOF - this should work well. For other stuff - the camera alone will suffice.

The AF100 IMHO does not compete against the RED Scarlet in frame rate, bit depth, dynamic range or price. It just has a larger Sensor. To me - that's it.

If anybody were brave enough - an Andromeda hack to this camera would be amazing.
 
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Were you all expecting a five thousand dollar RED Epic?
I think its ridiculous that everyone is using the term "video" like a curse word.
 
I guess I was expecting as nice image as the 5D/7D but without aliasing/moire. It's pretty free of aliasing/moire but I really don't get how bad these demo clips look. What's going on?
Even with the GH1 I've accomplished a better result.
 
bwhitz said:
Compression aside... it looked like video. Good quality video, but still video.
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Isn't the AF100 a video camera ...........


Nothing worst then the "Haters" coming out of the wood works.

Now to me this footage looked Excellent! Phillip is a Master at just capturing the environment and the mood when he shoots. That man imo is a genius and I have seen him shoot amazing stuff on all kind of cameras.
 
Wow, we are picky... very picky. I think it's rather silly to expect much and demands more on a 5 grand camera. To me, coming out with an affordable camera that gets rid of all the extra baggages of silly lookingDOF adapters and accessories is good enough. But then in the end, it's each man's hard earned dollars. He best spend it with the camera he most satisfied with.
 
Tough crowd indeed. I don't think it would take very much grading to achieve what most would consider to be a film look. A little tweak of contrast, saturation, maybe a grain plug-in. To our eyes video has always looked too sharp relative to film, even sd. Muddy it up a bit to get the look you want. Even film looks like video now, after a DI and grain reduction, especially on a 120 hz or higher flatscreen.

The 'Film' look is over, people want sharp and clean on their HDTV's. But shallow DOF is needed to hide detail we don't want seen in 1080p.

What excites me about this camera is the ability to achieve a variety of looks with cheap and available lenses, the option of auto focus, or touch follow focus on certain lenses. Most shoots with this camera will not have a full crew and pro focus puller. The high end options will all be PL based, which is fine. On those shoots the cost of the camera is incidental.

This camera has been made for the DOF adaptor crowd, not for the cinema camera community, and in that role I think it is performing well.
 
life4eva said:
Isn't the AF100 a video camera ...........


Nothing worst then the "Haters" coming out of the wood works.

Now to me this footage looked Excellent! Phillip is a Master at just capturing the environment and the mood when he shoots. That man imo is a genius and I have seen him shoot amazing stuff on all kind of cameras.
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If you mean random shots laid to music and uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube - yes he is good at that. However, telling a compelling story that captivates a paying audience and that gets rave reviews with real film critics is another thing. We all have done, I am sure, the kind of crappy video that has meaningless nice pictures that make us all feel like filmakers. Most people on these forums have developed into filmakers who have come to worship at the altar of BOKEH.

But when it comes to the real DOPs on movie sets that is a whole new ball game my friend. They are not the guys who spend time on online forums discussing the merits of low end stuff - the cameras they use work well in most areas or they find something that does.These guys use light meters, focus pullers, camera assistants and have big budgets. I am one of the wannabes myself and that is why the AF100 was compelling. I have just realised that I am becoming as picky as a real DOP would be. It's not always about the specs but when the specs ruin a few shots - then it is a problem.


On an aside - I would use the word genius sparingly my friend.....there are very few of those in the world............... and they tend to win Academy awards.
 
pathfinder said:
He best spend it with the camera he most satisfied with.
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It's the RED-Killer for 785 $ that will come out about spring 2019 or winter 2021 and will be a video camera that shoots pictures either in native Caravaggio (25 p) or 8k Turner non-video video-style (probably 3D). Maybe I re-consider my pre-order..... not.
 
I'm looking at this and thinking, this is great stuff that I could grade well. Personally I would not shoot as contrasty or quite as saturated either because I prefer to maximize contrast in post. Panasonics always have given super rich colors and I always adjust sat levels down in post.

I still think we are looking at these images too harshly. He was casually TEST shooting...
 
I just downloaded and watched it. Most of the artifacting I noticed probably came from post. The noisiest clips were all night-time clips, and I'd wager those were shot at 3200iso.
From my perspective, this camera absolutely kills the images put out by the canon dslrs. Especially all the 5D stuff where the DOF is like 1 inch thick and looks retarded. But more specifically it kills the gooey, mushy, smoothed-over look that they produce.
I missed fine detail in the 5D craze. I don't know if the cameras can't show fine detail or if people just hide it to avoid moire, but I like my fine detail where it is.
And honestly people, when I look at this footage I think "Wow, I've never used a camera with anywhere near that dynamic range".
Dynamic Range isn't about whether something is blown out. It's about (to me anyway) the amount of gradation between blown-out and crushed. And I see so many shots in this video where nothing is blown-out or crushed, and any camera I've ever used would've blown-out AND crushed.
 
henryolonga said:
If you mean random shots laid to music and uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube - yes he is good at that. However, telling a compelling story that captivates a paying audience and that gets rave reviews with real film critics is another thing. We all have done, I am sure, the kind of crappy video that has meaningless nice pictures that make us all feel like filmakers. Most people on these forums have developed into filmakers who have come to worship at the altar of BOKEH.

But when it comes to the real DOPs on movie sets that is a whole new ball game my friend. They are not the guys who spend time on online forums discussing the merits of low end stuff - the cameras they use work well in most areas or they find something that does.These guys use light meters, focus pullers, camera assistants and have big budgets. I am one of the wannabes myself and that is why the AF100 was compelling. I have just realised that I am becoming as picky as a real DOP would be. It's not always about the specs but when the specs ruin a few shots - then it is a problem.


On an aside - I would use the word genius sparingly my friend.....there are very few of those in the world............... and they tend to win Academy awards.
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Who are you again? I'm more than sure you or many people will never reach the status that Philip has....So instead of you judging my opinion you need to look in the mirror for a second and ask why your not in Japan right now with a Panasonic Af100.....

* Philip is a genius as he has bridged the gap with what we thought is possible

-Hi Haters
 
tipota said:
It's the RED-Killer for 785 $ that will come out about spring 2019 or winter 2021 and will be a video camera that shoots pictures either in native Caravaggio (25 p) or 8k Turner non-video video-style (probably 3D). Maybe I re-consider my pre-order..... not.
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I think RED are moving now.The AF100 has stolen a few potential customers for sure. They know that this ship may sail. Word is that S35 may be out before NAB and Scarlet is before that in the schedule.This time - they have to sink or swim.

Again - waiting a few more months is my strategy. I have had buyers remorse before - when I dived in too quick and a few weeks wait would have earned me a better deal.Only saying.
 
It's not just a casual test ... I thought they were there on panas invitation

First footage counts a lot in forming public opinion. This affects sales.
 
With anyone that can choose between spending 5k and 15k, I'd wait too! Scarlet and the Sony are good options that may look better than the AF100. And to some it will be worth the extra $$$'s, and to some it won't. The image the AF100 is producing is VERY worth it at 5k...
 
henryolonga said:
If you mean random shots laid to music and uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube - yes he is good at that. However, telling a compelling story that captivates a paying audience and that gets rave reviews with real film critics is another thing. We all have done, I am sure, the kind of crappy video that has meaningless nice pictures that make us all feel like filmakers. Most people on these forums have developed into filmakers who have come to worship at the altar of BOKEH.

But when it comes to the real DOPs on movie sets that is a whole new ball game my friend. They are not the guys who spend time on online forums discussing the merits of low end stuff - the cameras they use work well in most areas or they find something that does.These guys use light meters, focus pullers, camera assistants and have big budgets. I am one of the wannabes myself and that is why the AF100 was compelling. I have just realised that I am becoming as picky as a real DOP would be. It's not always about the specs but when the specs ruin a few shots - then it is a problem.


On an aside - I would use the word genius sparingly my friend.....there are very few of those in the world............... and they tend to win Academy awards.
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Not all of us are pretending, or even implying we are "Film Makers". I myself would LOVE to have the opportunity to shoot a short, or a feature, and get payed for it. For you of those that get payed to do this, you are lucky in my eyes. I do however pay the bills as a self employed person, shooting weddings, corporate training videos, commercials, music videos, etc, and this camera will be a huge step up from what I currently use. If you have the budget to purchase a $50,000 setup, I'm jealous, but please do knock a camera that does not meet your expectations in a sub $5,000 camera. They are in COMPLETELY different price brackets, as well as performance brackets. I cannot afford a $15,000 camera and believe me I wish I could. Will this AF100 deliver a higher end product than what I currently put out? I surely hope so. With that in mind, this is the option for me and really look forward to working with this camera. If what you want is totally out of the scope of the AF100, it seems pointless to knock the camera and bring it down. I could write all day on here, bringing down camera's that I don't like, or don't have all the options that I want, but it seems like a waste of time to me. You can't make a Ferrari out of a corvette, but some of us only want a corvette, and will be plenty fast for the majority of us. If you want a RED or the Sony, go buy one and tell me how cool it shooting with it, but in the meantime I'll be putting out a higher end product than what I currently am now, and that is the whole point of this camera.
 
life4eva said:
Who are you again? I'm more than sure you or many people will never reach the status that Philip has....So instead of you judging my opinion you need to look in the mirror for a second and ask why your not in Japan right now with a Panasonic Af100.....

* Philip is a genius as he has bridged the gap with what we thought is possible

-Hi Haters
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I am no body special friend. I am just a musician who wants to make his own videos and make some feature films and if you read my post - I admitted that I am a wannabe.
I admire Phillips ability to do tests and get a feel for the look of certain cameras but apart from the short 'people and places films' he has made I have yet to see a real film from him.Surely the phrase 'genius' should be reserved for those who have done it and been recoginised by the critics that count? Only saying........
 
henryolonga said:
Only saying.
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No problemo. It's only that I am a bit befuddled by the dynamics in this forum, as I am relatively new here. First people seem to scream about that the new wonder-kid will arrive and then they start yelling that the kid is only a kid.

And coming from old-school of film I realized that hardly ever the equipment makes pictures great but some decisions taken by picture-takers who know their instrument. The AG-AF seems to meet rather perfectly what I need for now and if I need more our DoP's do go to a cine-rental house anyway.

Up till now I tend to believe this will be a perfect go-between that can help us in a wide range of situations - not to the least as it seems to be excellent handling-wise. Only saying.
 
Awww I canceled my pre-order as well. This camera is just not working for me. I'm sure it will for a large audience but for double the price of a dslr with the same quality errr.

My interest now is in the (x3 priced) sony, but I'd rather invest in something ill actually use.
 
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