Price drop on the AF100. Could this be the end of the line?

hscully said:
It's a few years old and still one of the most underrated, internet maligned, misunderstood, unappreciated, finest skin tones, excellent cameras I have ever shot with. I just finished shooting a doc with mine. My client is over the moon with the results. I'm upgrading, as I need to but as long as people are taking HD deliverables, I will keep my AF100. It's a bargain and if you have projects accepting deliverables of HD 4:2:0 8bit AVCHD, and be reasonable, there are many of them, then you should grab it up!
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I bought one in 2011, thought I didn't like it and sold it again quickly and continued shooting with my two GH2s. I am now editing some AF101 footage I shot in 2011 and asking myself why I sold it. Ok I checked my financial books, it was expensive, I paid about 4400 euro. Used ones now sell for 1000 to 1500 euro, I have a HMC151 in mint condition which I am now trying to trade for a AF101. I don't need 4K. The picture quality is awesome, the format great for shooting video and the XLR audio is excellent. I will get a Ninja, would be great to record in ProRes and start editing directly on the MacBookPro.
 
I'd recommed the Samurai over the Ninja, because the AF doesnt send stop start triggers over HDMI. You could use the S2H converter to solve that problem, but the you're in with more bulk and connections for equal money. The Blade version also makes for a nice monitor.
 
Thanks McBob. I first asked here about auto focus but found the answer on Google (yes it has push focus with certain MFT lenses). But then I also found something else... newer AF100s have a feature named expanded focus, if I buy a used 2011 AF100 will it also have this feature after a firmware update? Does anyone know?
 
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RieniO said:
newer AF100s have a feature named expanded focus, if I buy a used 2011 AF100 will it also have this feature after a firmware update? Does anyone know?
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no, this is not possible on the original AF100.

last night i dreamed that i got to play with the new af100 successor. it had a tiny foldable lcd-screen, which made me feel very disappointed. then i found out, that it had another huge foldout lcd (like the blackmagic ursa). :happy:

i really hope, they deliver something worth upgrading to.
 
Nothing from NAB... wow. With the C300 at $15K and the FS7s flying out the door at $8k, panny comes out with a 4k fixed lens type of camera, which is great for folks that need that but it's not helping the AF100 crowd one bit.
 
Well as I wrote before I was happy with the AF100 I just didn't realize it at that time. After I sold it I have been struggling with two GH2s with a Beachtek XLR adapter of which the 9volt battery had to be changed once every half hour, the batteries of the GH2 had to be changed all the time as well. The footage is awesome but getting it really was too complicated. The image of the AF100 is a bit softer than the GH2 and back in 2011 I didn't like that but now I do and the XLR audio of the AF100 is just perfect, best audio quality I've ever heard on a camcorder. I don't need 4k, as I understand it it's only useful for cinema display, my obscure stuff is distributed through the web only and watched on PC, smartphone and tablet screens. If I start shooting on 4K I also need to buy new editing software and a new heavier computer, etc. It's a never ending story. So I'll be happy with a cheap second hand AF100 and some really good glass.
 
I totally agree RieniO. The AF100 is really a great camera and you're right the audio is excellent. Getting the Speedbooster from Metabones really changed everything for me as well. The good news is they are getting very cheap so I'll probably pick another one up.

I'm so disappointed that Panny gave up on it. They were ahead of the curve for a minute then just stopped running, I don't get it. The new DVX200 is pointless for me. I spent a lot of money on glass and was really hoping there would be a successor to the AF100. Sure miss having Jan around.
 
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