What I've learned so far about the AF100

dcloud said:
based on my tests, the noise linearly goes up.. theres no native ISO
black balance wise, i just do it before i shoot
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This has not been our experience, we don't see a lot of change in the noise when incrementing the ISO's(gain), and it's anything but linear. There is a lot of noise reduction going on. In general, I feel that CMOS is not as linear as CCD when boosting preamp gains. I also believe that the camera does have a native ISO and if we could turn off noise reduction, we'd see what is really going on between noise vs. latitude and sensitivity.
 
Dino said:
Adam Wilt, Art Adams and I were testing DRS and found a very odd artifact in DRS 3, on a high contrast transition, there was a shadow/halo effect. DRS 3 does weird things to flesh tones with my HPX2700, so best never to use DRS 3 with any Panasonic camera, however, DRS 1 can be useful at times--this was the consensus between the three of us.
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Which you'll also see recommended in the AF100 Book too -- I think DRS 2 and 3 are only for emergencies, because of the bizarre shadowing effect that can happen on a strong-contrast light/dark transition. DRS 1, on the other hand, is pretty benign. It yanks the highlights down and adds something like 1/2 stop of usable dynamic range on the top end, and it adds up to 3dB of gain in the shadows so the noise impact is minimal. I still wouldn't use it unless I needed it, but if necessary DRS 1 can be employed with little regard for side effects.
 
Barry_Green said:
Which you'll also see recommended in the AF100 Book too -- I think DRS 2 and 3 are only for emergencies, because of the bizarre shadowing effect that can happen on a strong-contrast light/dark transition. DRS 1, on the other hand, is pretty benign. It yanks the highlights down and adds something like 1/2 stop of usable dynamic range on the top end, and it adds up to 3dB of gain in the shadows so the noise impact is minimal. I still wouldn't use it unless I needed it, but if necessary DRS 1 can be employed with little regard for side effects.
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This is what i'ev seen as well.
I been pointing the camera at areas of high contrast, out of focus to see the blooming effect on both and DRS1 seems to add VERY minimal levels of noise but gives us a little push in detail in the shadows when compensating to save the highlights. I am debating whether or not to keep DRS1 on all the time because i have yet to see circumstances where it degrades the image to the point where I would rather have it off.
 
Bassman2003 said:
I do not have the AF-100 but your findings sound like they are in line with every other sub-$20,000 Panasonic camera I have used. Very consistent across the camera models.
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Really? I've found that with the HVX, Cine-D and cinelike matrix are useable and not too strong on magenta. I also bumped up the sharpening on the HVX rather than down.
 
I believe it has to do with how many coatings the filter has, and how they are applied. I had a Formatt UV and circular polarizer for my HVX, but those were $150 each. I don't want to spend that much on UV filters for each lens on my AF/GH2 ... does anyone have recommendations for cheaper solutions that are quality?
 
Saddler said:
Really? I've found that with the HVX, Cine-D and cinelike matrix are useable and not too strong on magenta. I also bumped up the sharpening on the HVX rather than down.
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In my experience, the Panasonic look has a red/magenta cast in the skin tones for all modes. As far as detail, your eyes might have wanted to see more detail with the HVX but by raising the detail edge fringing would come into play. I have always shot at negative detail levels and sharpened in post which allows for a smoother edge while gaining a more detailed look.
 
Iva also noted that many are saying they are shooting at -7 detail and -7 vertical detail - is this the consensus? I did my day with -7 detail and 0 vertical detail and results were good, but that was pre pro model.
 
Noel Evans said:
Iva also noted that many are saying they are shooting at -7 detail and -7 vertical detail - is this the consensus? I did my day with -7 detail and 0 vertical detail and results were good, but that was pre pro model.
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I don't know if it's a consensus; I know that in the quest for the lowest noise, people liked that. Personally I think it's going a tad too far, I prefer more around -5 or even -4, but there are definitely folks who want -7 at all times.
 
Just be careful when turning down sharpness to much. In certain Matrix settings you get a smeared image instead. In order to get the most out of the AF one have to find a mixture of all settings and change the mixture for different light conditions and scenes. There is not one golden setting that fixes everything. For instance when you preserve some noise in the image it helps 8-bit video to reduce banding and as always with noise reduction when you go to far you start to smear the image.
 
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