Reviews on the AF100

I have to say Im totally happy with my camera. I'm amazed at the negative comments people make on these boards, it blows my mind.

I've been working for the past few months for a company much bigger than mine. And sadly I have mostly been managing the post side of their projects so I haven't had a lot of time with my af102. The camera ops I have using it on my company's gigs say they love it and I love the images Im getting back from it, so do my clients.

But what I have found most interesting is the work I am doing for this company at the moment. The media I am dealing with is from a huge variety of sources, some from really good operators, some from bad operators. We have been shooting on F700, F800, Hvx202, Red, Canon 5D, 7D, Ex3, Ex1, Panasonic 502, some old as sh*t handy cam, some strange consumer things with really odd codecs, Sony BlogE, anything.

What I have noticed is that the complaints leveled at the Af102 are mostly due to a lack of information by the complainers.

The lens flare/sensor flare, we are getting this with EVERY camera we are dealing with. Point a camera at a train with its lights on and you get a mirrored, upside down greenish version of the train reflected in the image, this is on EVERY camera we are using. (Actualy the little old handy cam just flipped out and gave a pink smear over the whole image)

Strobing, yep we get that too. Easy fix is change your sequence settings field dominance to "none" and compression to native and your sorted.

Vsync/vertical brake up. This one does exist, and it exists on any progressive set up. I haven't had a problem but I did see some one show an example of it. I was then shown the same thing in 'The good the bad and the ugle' I never noticed it before, now I see it every where!! :)

The on board codec is stunning. I have clients that need long duration recording, I can do that now with no stopping and little expense. It beats the EX codec hands down, and I haven't had the problems we some times have with the XDCAMHD 50mbs.

Not only that but the equipment I buy for this cam I will be able to use on most any camera system I purchase in the future.

So to panasonic, I say thank you.
And to Jan, well to have some one from panasonic actively involved in the community is totally fantastic. You wouldn't find that many other places. So thank you Jan for being involved.

So all in all top camera.
 
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I haven't had time to read through this thread, just the initial post. I've had some disappointments with the AF100. Primarily, I'm disappointed that the Cine-D setting isn't equivalent in usefulness as it was consistently before, as on the HVX. However, I haven't as of yet shot any footage on an AF100, so all of my take on that is what I've read on the threads.

I got a GH2, and it's a lovely camera and an amazing deal. However, a couple of days after receiving it, I got to see an AF100 in person at my local FCPUG. It was as I expected; I'm still planning on an AF100 as my A Cam since it provides the form factor and work flow that I'm accustomed to from the HVX. For the GH2, I've already purchased a Rode video mic pro , a $400 Singh-Ray variable ND, a cable and adapter to hookup my wireless Sennheiser lav w/ monitoring, a monopod for some stability when trying run-n-gun. So a lot of this helps to compensate, but it's still just not the same. There's a lot missing, and all of the modularity is great as it provides versatility. However, I like that the AF100 also provides modularity, while providing the essential form factor and built-in essentials, so that those essentials aren't a required part of the modularity.

I know it's been said before, but I too would like to express my gratitude that Panasonic allows Jan the license to be so directly involved with our community.
 
Thanks Jan for starting this thread! I've shot so much great stuff with this camera and so happy to have it on jobs v.s. dslr with all the struggle on a paying gig to monitor the image and have the client be able to see it. And to not have any suprises in post. To have confidence when I turn the footage over.

Check out this piece I shot with the AF100 for Best Made Company

So happy with how it looks and turned out. Thank you Jan and Panasonic for listening to us!
 
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I have to say Im totally happy with my camera. I'm amazed at the negative comments people make on these boards, it blows my mind.
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Yep. What this camera currently is giving back to me personally - after having written, directed and produced a lot of feature length movies for TV and cinema in my country - is the possibility, at a reasonable price, to play and to experiment and to learn and to actually work for the media all at the same time. This in a way I only could when I went to the film academy (shortly after the dinosaurs vanished from the face of the earth)..... ;-)

This for me is the purest (and btw affordable) joy imagenable for the moment. I can learn, I can test, I can check and I can shoot anything anytime I want, collect shots for future movies, try the impossible, investigate situations with a small, semi-pro cam. I will start to shoot somewhat "experimental" semi-documentary short films about my home town beginning this summer - and have to ask nobody. I do it if I want it. So: The days of my old Bolex 16 mm are back again - on an at least semi-professional standard with a toy tremendously versatile and nice and easy to handle with a big sensor and the possibility of achieving nearly cinema style aesthetics.

If in the future the industry's "green-lighting guys" are not enlightened enough concerning a project of mine - I will not sit around worrying. I go out with my AG-AF and shoot something I want - like as a writer nobody can make you stop writing, only you yourself, this camera helps me late in my career to become an independent film-maker again. After so many years. What a great, great fun that is.

And apart from what some pixel-peepers and codec-sniffers may say, I say: Thank you Jan and Panasonic for that.
 
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