VFR mode on the AF101 may have cost me my biggest client today!

traviswears, to echo Barry- have you done the firmware update?
You will still get audio in the headphones and on the VU meters, but you'll also get a red warning icon in the lower left corner... it's the best we've got for now.
 
To be made out to look like a fool because of a design flaw in a 5k dollar camera that I convinced my client was the right choice to buy is disheartening to say the least.
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The camera was probably the right choice...the fact you did not test it and become totally familiar with it and its "foibles" maybe another matter.

That said...its a real bad design flaw and I am sorry that anyone gets so badly bitten by it. Panasonic should be pretty ashamed of this.
 
one more reason to have the nanoflash . the nanoflash can't properily record in VFR mode so you'll know you're in it. save your next shoot and get 4:2:2 and higher bit rate recording!
 
While the Nano could have assured that you wouldn't get burned, it shouldn't be necessary to have to resort to a $2900 aftermarket product just to make sure your shoot isn't screwed up. I'd like a big flashing warning icon that makes it painfully clear to everyone when audio isn't being recorded. Or, maybe better yet, leave the audio meters up but turn them all entirely red -- that would scare anyone to death about whether their audio was being recorded, and nobody could miss it. That's my vote -- turn the audio meters red.
 
groveChuck - I will of course do the firmware update NOW. but no, I hadn't done it today obviously. and though I'd tried my best to scan these boards thoroughly in preparation for the shoot today, I missed this discussion.
 
shooter - I did test the camera. I got the camera in on Tuesday and spent a considerable amount of time on it Tues/Wed, adjusting the scene files to match my 60D bcam and trying to get a feel for where everything was in the menu so that on the shoot day I wasn't stumbling around looking for anything. that being said, I think it's pretty hard to become accustomed to a foible that one is unaware of. I had actually tested audio and everything seemed fine, like I said, I'm familiar with the other Panasonic HD cams so I saw no reason to think this problem would exist.

during shooting today, we were shooting at 24p w/VFR enabled. everything looked like 24p, sounded great and was metered appropriately on the LCD. I will admit that I should've run playback on a test clip before we started rolling for real. unfortunately I forgot. that being said, I've NEVER, not once heard audio through the phones, saw audio registering properly on the meter and had the camera set up properly and NOT had sound come back to me on playback, so I think you'll forgive me for thinking that in this brand new camera, the same thing should be expected.
 
HVXguy - I explained everything to the client. they were understanding but the shoot cannot be rescheduled. the on-camera talent is leaving for Africa and will not return before this video is due to be delivered. what that means for me is that I'm out my pre-production work fee, my day rate and my editing fee, which is a substantial amount. the video is simply canceled. embarrassing and unpleasant to say the least.
 
I'm really sorry to hear that mate. I was lucky in the end that my client was understanding and that a re-shoot was possible.

I would like to second Barry's suggestion of different coloured audio meters as a more long term fix. Something that cannot be missed!
 
Standard operation for a pro-audio recorder is for the level meters to function normally on all channels that are being actively monitored, allowing you to confirm that audio levels are set correctly before engaging record mode. Level meters on inactive channels should always be muted. No audio recorder I've ever encountered has displayed live audio levels in record mode on a channel that is inactive.
 
Shooter said:
My vote would be Turn the Meters OFF and leave the struck thru' ICON on the screen
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Also would be nice to have them mute the headphone out, which is often used for return monitoring. Since it's software controlled - they could just just have the volume set to "0" and the Audio Mon buttons which control the volume disabled when in VFR.
 
This finally bit me. I picked up the camera this weekend real quick because it was close to me, so I could film my girlfriends son opening his birthday presents. I forgot I was messing around with over and under cranking the night before. It sucks but thank god it wasn't a paying client. It was shot at 18fps so maybe I can salvage the footage and make it look like an old western or something.
 
Brian@202020 said:
This finally bit me. I picked up the camera this weekend real quick because it was close to me, so I could film my girlfriends son opening his birthday presents. I forgot I was messing around with over and under cranking the night before. It sucks but thank god it wasn't a paying client. It was shot at 18fps so maybe I can salvage the footage and make it look like an old western or something.
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Film scratches + sepia tone + western title cards = one happy cowboy
 
I just finished a run and gun styled gig with the AF100. I had to switch to VFR quite often. The symbol that marks out the audio on the new firmware helped me out a lot. I know the risk is still there, but I am careful and always checking the symbol.
 
blackcat said:
I just finished a run and gun styled gig with the AF100. I had to switch to VFR quite often. The symbol that marks out the audio on the new firmware helped me out a lot. I know the risk is still there, but I am careful and always checking the symbol.
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So why keep on discussing forever an issue that has been resoved ?
 
danap said:
So why keep on discussing forever an issue that has been resoved ?
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Because many people didn't consider the current fix to be adequate, myself included. Blackcat has been good enough to report back, that in a situation where this issue would be highly likely to occur, the current fix was extremely useful in preventing it.

Personally I think this feedback was incredibly useful and I can only imagine this is an issue you have never faced, otherwise you wouldn't feel that we had been discussing it "forever"
 
CraftyClown said:
Because many people didn't consider the current fix to be adequate, myself included.
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Ditto. The firmware updated worked for me, but I would like something better. That gig was just the first time when I truly ran a big risk with VFR. Luckily, it worked out. I could totally see someone having a problem with the new firmware. The symbol is quite small, and sometimes we don't get a lot of time to think about what we are doing in the menu during a run and gun scenario. Now, I at least have a symbol to look for. I am glad that I didn't do a run and gun gig like this before the update.

All of my work with the AF100 up to now has been planned shoots. When I have the opportunity to plan things out, I give the scene file a quick review. Messing up with the VFR would be annoying for a personal project, but it is a huge issue for a paid gig.
 
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