What I see...

M

Mark Smith

Veteran
I received my AF 100 this past Tuesday. After I opened the box, mounted the lens and turned the camera on I kind of yawned and set it aside.

The last 2 days I started shooting a bit more intently with the camera, and as much as I long for and would have paid for a grown up version of the camera with P2 AVC I and some other features, I have to say that the AF 100 is pretty wow - amazing.

As a 10K investment with some decent lenses this camera really knocks it out of the park.

The only thing that freaks me out are the SD cards- they are so tiny, I'm concerned Ill lose one in my pocket and it will go through the wash. I'm P2 oriented, nice big fat secure cards, not consumer media.... But i Might get over that till a grown up version of the camera comes along.
 
Mark Smith said:
I received my AF 100 this past Tuesday. After I opened the box, mounted the lens and turned the camera on I kind of yawned and set it aside.

The last 2 days I started shooting a bit more intently with the camera, and as much as I long for and would have paid for a grown up version of the camera with P2 AVC I and some other features, I have to say that the AF 100 is pretty wow - amazing.

As a 10K investment with some decent lenses this camera really knocks it out of the park.

The only thing that freaks me out are the SD cards- they are so tiny, I'm concerned Ill lose one in my pocket and it will go through the wash. I'm P2 oriented, nice big fat secure cards, not consumer media.... But i Might get over that till a grown up version of the camera comes along.
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I had pretty much the same experience. When we were shooting "Verse…", I really got zero time with the camera. Which is fine, because I had other things to be doing. So when mine came the other day, it was pretty much the first time I'd really had a chance to play with it.

And it is indeed quite an amazing camera for the money. I've put every kind of lens I could on it, from the 7-14mm Panasonic to the Zeiss ZFs I have, to a Nikon 55mm Macro I borrowed from a friend. Shooting with the AF-100 is a joy, to say the least.


Now, as to your concern over SD cards, I'll tell you this…

Use the Panasonic Gold cards. I accidentally put one through the wash (and dry) with data on it, and the card was still perfectly fine and readable. This is not a suitable method for formatting cards, however.
 
ZazaCast said:
Have they changed the design of P2 cards...
Click to expand...
Yes.

So, if you've been using P2...you've been using SD cards. :thumbsup:

Is this correct?
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Not anymore. The very earliest first cards were made of SD cards, but even then, they weren't SD cards you could buy, they were said to be special zero-defect fault-free cards that weren't offered for retail sale.

But they only used that design for the first 4GB and 8GB cards. Ever since the first 16GB cards were introduced, SD cards have not been part of the design. With the 16, 32, and 64gb cards they went to using core memory components -- which let them create denser cards faster, and also vaulted up the speeds; today's "E" cards are twice as fast as the original SD-based 4GB and 8GB cards. The "R", "A", and "E" series P2 cards do not use SD cards.
 
ZazaCast said:
Have they changed the design of P2 cards... because as far as I know, a P2 card is a RAID system that uses SD cards (all in the PCMCIA card)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P2_(storage_media)

So, if you've been using P2...you've been using SD cards. :thumbsup:

Is this correct?
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Yes BUT P2 cards are physically larger and for me that it s a good thing, because I probably won't lose a P2 card as easily as I might a SD card. 6 years ago I had a DV tape with some crucial material on it go thru the wash and I managed to play it back once- while making a clone- and that was it for the tape. I have concerns about consumer storage media at the level of SD cards and CF cards. I was scoping out lenses at Abel the other day and talking with another DP who had a Panasonic 2700, but was shooting something using another camera and a nano flash as a record device. There was a problem with a CF card and he lost a significant amount of material because of that faulty card... On the other hand I have been if some really difficult, down right nasty places shooting P2 and have found P2 to be incredibly reliable. I have no concerns paying the P2 premium for that peace of mind when it comes to recording media.

Consumer media storage concerns aside, the AF is really a a kick ass product. It makes some really fine images and the ability to use almost any glass with the proper adapter is such a huge plus for the camera and the people who will be shooting with it.
 
Thanks again for the great information Barry!

Mark... I know what you're saying, those cards sure are small! Then there's those microSD things.
I'll never go there.
 
Mark Smith said:
Yes BUT P2 cards are physically larger and for me that it s a good thing, because I probably won't lose a P2 card as easily as I might a SD card. 6 years ago I had a DV tape with some crucial material on it go thru the wash and I managed to play it back once- while making a clone- and that was it for the tape. I have concerns about consumer storage media at the level of SD cards and CF cards.
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I never put bare media in my pockets. They go from the camera/computer to a storage case or from the storage case to the camera/computer. http://pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=0910 Problem solved.
 
Mike@AF said:
I never put bare media in my pockets. They go from the camera/computer to a storage case or from the storage case to the camera/computer. http://pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=0910 Problem solved.
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Wow, a Pelican case for SD cards. That would be nice, but I saved a few bucks and use a different case for my media storage. They are are not as impressive, but they work.

altoidsII.jpg
 
I'm also using a dedicated case for SD cards, and always take them out of the camera directly to computer or Nexto for backup.
Also now if i will record to a Nano i will always record also to the camera SD.
 
the thing about p2 being two sd cards in a raid gave me an idea. The AF100 has two SD slots, could there be a "RAID Mode" That records to both at once? I would be down for that.
 
Got a chance to play with our AF100 yesterday and have to agree it's a pleasure to shoot with. Had a last minute green screen shoot come up (quick car spot) and thought what the heck, lets do it on the AF100. Client came in after post and was wowed by the overall look, he knew something was different without me telling him it was shot on a new camera. Then we started talking about how we could use this camera, conceptualizing shots for other clients, etc. He was really jazzed about it. That's what it is all about, we can please ourselves all we want but when the person who writes the check says "I really like that" that speaks volumes.
 
As a Laundromat owner, I can safely say, that 100% of the sd cards I find in washers, and dryers have worked when I used them. My only suggestion, would be to make sure it's completely dry before using them.
 
Since this seems to have turned into an SD card thread…

Running numbers / looking at budgets of upcoming shoots where we hope to use the Af100 (if our pre-oreder ever arrives)- it would seem that even using the Panasonic Gold class 10 cards - these could be a single use item akin to tape or even neg.
Studio days we have an offload station and dedicated tech, but there are some locations where not offloading and having enough cards for the job would be a bonus (side of a mountain, streets of Hong Kong or Bangkok). Also even on jobs in studio the cards seem like a natural 'Archival' back-up device; single use with offload to NLE, then store the orig card for archive.
Being new to this type of card, what are the long term storage capabilities? All media eventually breaks down, and all technology quickly moves fwd leaving orphans (remember floppies, Jazz drives, etc) - but 5-10 years from now are these SD cards stable if properly stored as archive material?
 
Mike@AF said:
I never put bare media in my pockets. They go from the camera/computer to a storage case or from the storage case to the camera/computer. http://pelican.com/cases_detail.php?Case=0910 Problem solved.
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We use these also. They are only $16 at B&H. Since the data on the cards are invaluable, it only makes sense to invest in something to take care of it. These cases are great. They have soft cutouts where the card fits perfectly. They hold 8 cards. We usually use 4 per case. Clean or formatted cards are kept on the bottom row. Used cards are placed in the top row so there is never any doubt about what is used. We have numbers marked permanently on the back of the cards and then a sheet in kept in each case for each shoot with the numbers of the card preprinted on them and then we simply fill in what shots each card has.
 
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