Panasonic AG-AF100

[Ryanrhinkle]

Heyo. Has anyone actually used a Panasonic AG-AF100 here? I'd like to know some of your thoughts on your time using it. Until recently, I was planning on loading up on two 5DMk2s or 7Ds, and working thru/around all the issues (12 min timer, hdmi that downgrades to SD, moire, aliasing, etc.), but I'm starting to get very interested in the AF100. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

(i'd be using it for sermon capture in addition to all the standard promo, bumper, testimony, etc. stuff)

[Jay M]

I'm not using it, but I'm always on the lookout for batter quality. How do you plan to handle the lack of motorized zoom and focus? Won't the shallow depth of field make it nearly impossible to keep a moving pastor in focus for an hour?

thanks,
~Jay

[tdangelo]

I've not used the AF100 but I own a Canon 7D and have used a Sony PMWF3.

If you must have a large sensor camera (presumably to achieve a shallow depth of field) and are doing narrative style work (scripted announcements, youth videos, etc.) the F3 is a great camera. The XDCAM EX workflow has now been around for a while and is well supported by NLEs. It’s a 1920x1080 native 23.98p camera, it has a 10 bit HD-SDI output, professional audio connections, the ability to upgrade to dual-link output, etc.

The AG-AF100 is a AVCCAM file format camera and it’s HD-SDI output is 8 bit. It also costs less than half the F3.

If you are shooting a sermon, I would never consider shooting with a large sensor camera, whether the 7D I own, a F3 or the AF100. Here are some reasons:

Shooting a sermon for me usually requires shooting with long lenses. In 35mm terms 400mm or longer. Lenses that long which are fast F2.8 are very expensive.

Shooting a sermon for me usually requires many focus adjustments. DSLR AF lenses have a very narrow focus barrel rotation making it difficult to manually track focus while shooting video. DSLR lenses also do not offer many great solutions for remoting the focus to camera operator (behind a camera) position. S35 film lenses offer to great focus barrel rotation (up to 280 degrees) making focus tracking while shooting video also challenging. S35 lenses are also expensive.

Shooting a sermon for me usually requires many “on-air” zoom adjustments. DSLR lenses do not offer many great solutions for remoting the zoom to camera operator (behind a camera) position. S35 film lenses offer good rear zoom accessories which also tend to be expensive.

The shallow depth of field capability of these cameras are a drawback in this shooting style as many pastors move around requiring constant focus adjustments if shooting at wide aperture settings. Lighting in many churches require shooting at wide aperture settings, thus creating a cyclic problem.

So, my advice to you would be if you were going to use this camera for narrative work, great … but for sermons, I think there are many cameras out there far less problematic.