I'm looking for a reasonably priced B cam to the AF100 for events. I used the HV30's with my canon setup, but am unsure how these will match up with the AF100. I read a little about the TM700 being a good little cam. Are there others out there I should know about? I'm looking for something that will sit on a tripod and capture a second or third angle, so I need it to be fairly self sufficient once set to record so I'm not sure how the GH1 or GH2 will work for that. I assume you'd probably have to man those cams while recording?
reasonable B cam to AF100
- Thread starter swanny
- Start date
Peter J. DeCrescenzo
Veteran
Especially if you'll primarily be shooting 1080p24 (native progressive, with no pulldown), I'd recommend the GH2. It can record in this mode very reliably, with video quality similar in some ways to the AF100.
Plus, a GH2 (& GH1) have the same field of view & DOF characteristics as the AF100, and can use the exact same Micro Four Thirds & adapted lenses, and many of the same accessories, as the AF100.
The GH2 supports live HDMI _video_ monitoring even when the cam is in record mode (suitable for external monitoring only, not external recording), whereas a GH1 (hacked or otherwise) can _not_ output live video when it's in record mode. Neither the GH2 or GH1 support live monitoring of _audio_ in any mode.
The GH2 features an "Extra Tele Conversion" mode that uses the center 1920x1080 area of the sensor to produce very clean full HD. This crops the field of view of course, which can be very useful especially for telephoto shots (even with relatively wide lenses).
The GH2's electronic viewfinder is slightly higher res (1.5 million dots) than the GH1 version, and both are quite good for framing & focusing. Note that you typically won't need to purchase an add-on LCD magnifying loupe for the GH2/GH1 LCD screens because their EVFs are so good. And both cams feature a magnify mode in live preview (not during recording) which makes accurate focusing very easy.
A "stock" (unhacked) GH1 is not able to record 1080p24 (especially scenes with high-detail motion) with anywhere near the quality of either a hacked GH1 or the GH2.
However, if you will often be shooting a wide range of video formats (in addition to 1080p24), there can be advantages to using a hacked GH1, but only if you're OK with _not_ using the hack's 24p native (progressive) option. A hacked GH1 running in 24p progressive mode is not reliable. It will sometimes randomly stop recording (especially in high-detail, static scenes) due to a known issue when used in this mode. There is no reliable fix for this. However, when shooting 1080p24 with pulldown (not in native progressive mode) a hacked GH1 can be a marvelously reliable cam. Of course, you will usually need to remove the pulldown from these recordings in post, which adds a bit of extra work & time to your workflow.
As John Frey mentions, the TM700 is a very nice, small-sensor camcorder especially if 1080p60 is a high priority. And being a "conventional" camcorder, it's simple and reliable. Of course, in general it can't make use of m43 lenses and other AF100 accessories.
Plus, a GH2 (& GH1) have the same field of view & DOF characteristics as the AF100, and can use the exact same Micro Four Thirds & adapted lenses, and many of the same accessories, as the AF100.
The GH2 supports live HDMI _video_ monitoring even when the cam is in record mode (suitable for external monitoring only, not external recording), whereas a GH1 (hacked or otherwise) can _not_ output live video when it's in record mode. Neither the GH2 or GH1 support live monitoring of _audio_ in any mode.
The GH2 features an "Extra Tele Conversion" mode that uses the center 1920x1080 area of the sensor to produce very clean full HD. This crops the field of view of course, which can be very useful especially for telephoto shots (even with relatively wide lenses).
The GH2's electronic viewfinder is slightly higher res (1.5 million dots) than the GH1 version, and both are quite good for framing & focusing. Note that you typically won't need to purchase an add-on LCD magnifying loupe for the GH2/GH1 LCD screens because their EVFs are so good. And both cams feature a magnify mode in live preview (not during recording) which makes accurate focusing very easy.
A "stock" (unhacked) GH1 is not able to record 1080p24 (especially scenes with high-detail motion) with anywhere near the quality of either a hacked GH1 or the GH2.
However, if you will often be shooting a wide range of video formats (in addition to 1080p24), there can be advantages to using a hacked GH1, but only if you're OK with _not_ using the hack's 24p native (progressive) option. A hacked GH1 running in 24p progressive mode is not reliable. It will sometimes randomly stop recording (especially in high-detail, static scenes) due to a known issue when used in this mode. There is no reliable fix for this. However, when shooting 1080p24 with pulldown (not in native progressive mode) a hacked GH1 can be a marvelously reliable cam. Of course, you will usually need to remove the pulldown from these recordings in post, which adds a bit of extra work & time to your workflow.
As John Frey mentions, the TM700 is a very nice, small-sensor camcorder especially if 1080p60 is a high priority. And being a "conventional" camcorder, it's simple and reliable. Of course, in general it can't make use of m43 lenses and other AF100 accessories.
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I finally came to the wild and crazy conclusion that the best way to match footage to my GH1+20mm f1.7 was to add another GH1+20mm f1.7. 
For the first time in 20 years of using video cameras, I have footage that actually matches. That is...until I swap the lens on my main camera after the wedding ceremony starts...kit lens=fail. lol
Personally, I'd rather have 2 x GH2, versus an AF100 and a palmcorder. You have two matching cameras...and two great still photography cams to boot. I mostly want an AF100 because I think they look totally cool.
For the first time in 20 years of using video cameras, I have footage that actually matches. That is...until I swap the lens on my main camera after the wedding ceremony starts...kit lens=fail. lolPersonally, I'd rather have 2 x GH2, versus an AF100 and a palmcorder. You have two matching cameras...and two great still photography cams to boot. I mostly want an AF100 because I think they look totally cool.
Personally, I'd rather have 2 x GH2, versus an AF100 and a palmcorder. You have two matching cameras...and two great still photography cams to boot. I mostly want an AF100 because I think they look totally cool.
Well I'm getting an AF100 because I want a video camera with pro video camera features.
The second cams are used for maybe 10% of my shooting, so you can see why I want something that will look fairly close, without buying another AF100