Why are folks selling their AF100s?

MadMonkFish, there was one home computer system capable of video work, the Amiga :) The 1990 release of Video Toaster and then Lightwave 3D made all kinds of work possible, on a relatively inexpensive desktop.

Yup - had an Amiga myself (the 500 and the 2000)... but used for bitmap game graphics in the early 90's (the wonders of Dpaint! - ahh remember HAM mode? So many colours (4096!!! - the whole rainbow - LOL!). But the Toaster and Amiga didn't make any in-roads into the Pro UK industry...

In the late 90's I was involved in some studio set-ups (CG wise) and these were built on PC's using Lightwave... but again, LW didn't take off as a big player in the UK, but it's package I've used since '95. In the early 00's I was involved in another job that I managed to push through VT's so each artist had one on their desktop... most didn't know what they had :) I still like the VT system - great for SD editing (have 3 PC's all with them in). That spawned Speed Edit... which is a really nice HD editor... but one that most people haven't heard of or used. Shame really.

Long live the Old Dudes on DVXuser... maybe 'Greybeards' need a special forum to talk about old kit... :)
 
Dam I loved my Amiga 4000 W/Video Toaster. CG, Paint Box, and LW 3D I started with the Vic20 which you could program to print out like a CG to a VCR words with color background .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga

Now I know why I love the Amiga. Read the post
Mule
 
Last edited:
I've been a huge Amiga fan ever since I saw the very first A1000 in 85/86. Couldn't afford one back then (at least I had a C-64, which was a replacement for my VIC-20), but that didn't keep me from devouring all the information about them, and mooching time from a friend that had one :D Took a few years, but I wound up getting one (thank you AAFES DPP :D).

how did we get here?:undecided

These things have a way of meandering and then coming back ;) I, for one, would love to have another AF100, and don't see myself selling mine anytime soon. Most days I have to convince myself to leave it behind.
 
Well..the highlight issue is intriguing. If 5D has more pleasing/forgoving handling of that (according to comments) than a newer dedicated video cam/DSLR killer, gotta think something went askew. Hopefully, newer cams try to keep what was good about predecessors and address the deficiencies. An "old" Sony D30 I logged a lot of footage on had pretty nice highlight control/dynamic range circuitry that could be switched in via side panel toggles. It also had some distinct presets to start with that demonstrated the range of looks possible.

Well there lies the reason everyone bats these things back and forth until they're blue in the face...because the highlight handling benefits of a DSLR doesn't necessarily trump the resolution drop, lack of audio features and ND, blah blah blah...on it goes.
 
Wait people are selling off their AF100's? At record low prices?

Where? I mean I already have 2, but I'm in the market for (and have enough jobs / right type of jobs) 2 more… So point me in the direction of the ppl looking to get rid of this 'stinker' of a camera...

No one's calling the AF100 a 'stinker', the quality of the footage and the feature set is pretty clear to everyone. I'm simply asking what functional and IQ issues might be leading to people selling theirs.

It's like I mentioned way back on the first page of this thread... and I think everyone that has experience with these cameras agrees, both have strengths and weaknesses... but the differences are not 'that' major... 5% one way or the other maybe?

It depends on what you want... how you need to use it... what your shooting style is... and a million other things to long to list (LOL).

We've seen some great AF100 clips posted.... and some bad ones... same for the FS100... good and bad.

And therein lies the rub! Both cameras are great, and purchasing one is, realistically, just a start to building up my business to a point of eventually shooting on something Alexa/F3-SLOGesque because that's what my client's will require. But how do you separate that 5%?

It seems no matter how I tally the two cameras up - they both come up pretty much equal. Perhaps I just need to flip a coin? :undecided

Well..the highlight issue is intriguing. If 5D has more pleasing/forgoving handling of that (according to comments) than a newer dedicated video cam/DSLR killer, gotta think something went askew. Hopefully, newer cams try to keep what was good about predecessors and address the deficiencies. An "old" Sony D30 I logged a lot of footage on had pretty nice highlight control/dynamic range circuitry that could be switched in via side panel toggles. It also had some distinct presets to start with that demonstrated the range of looks possible.

But that's just the point. As fond as I am of the image the 5D generates (I've shot a couple of things on it and have been very pleased with the result) for the functionality and image quality the AF100 and FS100 offer at their price point, I'd rather not have worry/deal with the functional workarounds required to shoot with a DSLR.

That leaves the matter of which of the two cameras is a better fit for my shooting. And as I rarely have an additional assistant (beyond someone handling sound) to hold up a piece of diffusion that might get rid of, say, a hotspot on a subject's forehead - highlight handling does become a priority in my camera selection.
 
I was getting ready to pull the trigger on the AF100.

But then I heard a bunch of rumors alleging that Canon's new EF mount camcorder will be unveiled before the end of this year. I'm not in a crazy rush to buy the AF100 (I'm still able to get by with my current set up for the time being) - so I'm delaying the purchase. I've always bought stuff at the wrong time, I put down the money and then the new model comes out, or the price is reduced (or they throw in some freebies) or a competitors model that is better/cheaper comes out.

(And yes, I know it shouldn't matter, and yes I know the camera will pay for itself, and yes I know there is no point waiting for vaporware when there are jobs to do today; but its still annoying when it happens).
 
I guess many of us end up with different cameras for different gigs!

I have two Ex 1s for concert and broadcast work, and a HMC 150 for weddings because I'm getting old and the EXs kill my back when carrying it around for hours.

My AF 100, with it's shallow depth of field is great for interviews and music videos, and I'm looking at buying at least one AG-AC130 for football matches with it's long reach! If it proves a good camera I'll replace the Ex 1s with another one as they're getting a bit long in the tooth now, and I'm finding that one is starting to get a bit noisey in it's old age.

I guess it never stops really until you retire!

Cheers,

Vaughan
 
One of my friend sold his AF100 then he brought FS100,I asked him why you sale your AF100?,then he told me,he like AF100 and all the professional features ,but FS100 offer him S35mm F3 sensor,so that's why he sold his AF100
 
I was getting ready to pull the trigger on the AF100.

But then I heard a bunch of rumors alleging that Canon's new EF mount camcorder will be unveiled before the end of this year. I'm not in a crazy rush to buy the AF100 (I'm still able to get by with my current set up for the time being) - so I'm delaying the purchase. I've always bought stuff at the wrong time, I put down the money and then the new model comes out, or the price is reduced (or they throw in some freebies) or a competitors model that is better/cheaper comes out.

(And yes, I know it shouldn't matter, and yes I know the camera will pay for itself, and yes I know there is no point waiting for vaporware when there are jobs to do today; but its still annoying when it happens).

Which Canon EF camcorder are you talking about?
 
4 weakpoints of the AF100: Poor Highlight handling, resolution is a very good 720p not 1920p, relative small sensor compaired to dslr, bitrate is too low.
Good points: sturdy build, lots of controls, relative low price, nice picture, pro look.
 
One of my friend sold his AF100 then he brought FS100,I asked him why you sale your AF100?,then he told me,he like AF100 and all the professional features ,but FS100 offer him S35mm F3 sensor,so that's why he sold his AF100


So he gave up built in NDs and all of the other better features of the AF-100 for a slightly larger sensor.

Okay.
 
4 weakpoints of the AF100: Poor Highlight handling, resolution is a very good 720p not 1920p, relative small sensor compaired to dslr, bitrate is too low.

I can't agree with any of those points, but you are entitled to your opinion.

The AF-100 handles highlights as good as any other camera near that price range.

It is a native 1080p sensor, so I have no idea what you are talking about re: 720p is better.

The sensor is just 15% smaller than a s35 film frame.

And the bitrate is too low compaed to what? I have graded, keyed, and done everything else to the AVCCAM footage that I have done with DVCPro HD footage with the same, if not BETTER results.
 
4 weakpoints of the AF100: Poor Highlight handling, resolution is a very good 720p not 1920p, relative small sensor compaired to dslr, bitrate is too low.
Good points: sturdy build, lots of controls, relative low price, nice picture, pro look.

Highlight handling is not poor, it is similar to virtually every other camera in its price range, resolution is within 40 lines of the F3, the imager is closer to 35mm film than a full frame DSLR which offers too much shallow depth of field, and the bitrate on the DSLR, while higher is only I frames and Prediction frames, which is the worse combination for a content adaptive codec like H.264.
 
Which Canon EF camcorder are you talking about?

Prolly this:

"I’ve received more contact that EF and PL mount camcorders are coming from Canon over the next 6 months or so. We’d see the EF mount camera most likely before the end of 2011 and the higher end PL mount version sometime before Q2 in 2012.

The source said the EF mount camera looks to be “affordable” and would be extremely popular, the PL mount camera would be a higher end professional solution."

http://www.canonrumors.com/
 
Prolly this:

"I’ve received more contact that EF and PL mount camcorders are coming from Canon over the next 6 months or so. We’d see the EF mount camera most likely before the end of 2011 and the higher end PL mount version sometime before Q2 in 2012.

The source said the EF mount camera looks to be “affordable” and would be extremely popular, the PL mount camera would be a higher end professional solution."

http://www.canonrumors.com/

Yep that's the one. I know its only rumor at the moment, but this has been a long time coming. As I said, I dont need a new camera super-urgently (as my current set up still does the job) so I'm willing to wait until the end of the year. If I needed a camera right now then the AF100 suits my requirements.
 
Back
Top