For sale: hardly used Panasonic AF101 plus Atomos Ninja recorder

Update: SOLD

 

 

We are selling one (the newest) of our two Panasonic camera bodies; this one including brand new Atomos Ninja recorder.

The AF101 doesn’t need further introduction i guess, but here is an English link to the page of the shop where this camera has been purchased in february 2011.
Comes with full extended warranty; still over 2 years. Further one extra large battery, nikon lens adapter, Barry Green’s AF101 book, original box and manuals.

The Atomos Ninja is a 10 bit ProresHQ recorder that flawlessly records from the AF101’s HDMI output. It comes with the original hardcase, two batteries and charger. See http://www.atomos.com . This unit has only be used for about an hour or two.

See Dutch markteplace ad here: http://audio-tv-foto.marktplaats.nl/professionele-audio-tv-en-video-apparatuur/489811187-panasonic-af101-met-nikon-adapter-en-atomos-ninja-recorder.html

Camera has NEVER been used outdoors and only shot limited hours for test purposes and one studio shoot.

Asking price is around 4000 euros for both camera and ninja. Please feel free to make a bid. Location of object: the Netherlands.

Negotiable: additional Shoot35 baseplate and rods, and RedrockMicro full options mattebox! Bid!
Mail me on m.beek at marvelsfilm dot com
Call me on +31646570853 (GMT evening hours)
Martin

AF100 / AF101 filming 24p in a 50hz country

If we all agree (for the sake of this article) that 24p (23.976fps) delivers the most beautiful cinematic look (and i personally agree), then we set SYSTEM FREQ from the OTHER FUNCTIONS menu to 59.94 herz – so that we can select 1080 24P from the SCENE FILE menu – and dial in the 180 degree shutter from the SYNCRO SCAN menu, and Bob’s your uncle..! We now have a real film camera; only things lacking are a $600 roll of celluloid, some extra kilos, a soothing clicking-sound (every click’ll cost you 3.5 cents) and at least 8 extra stops of dynamic range…

Well, that was easy! Let’s start shooting that indie blockbuster!

But, wait!
If you’re in a 50hz country (e.g. all European countries), you’re in for a nasty surprise when your encounter TL fluorescent tubes, cheap LED panels or a TV-set anywhere in the picture. TVs will show rolling black bars and spiky white lines. The TLs really mess up your picture, if the light is bounced off walls, floors or your subject. Your picture will show a pulsating gray bar, creeping along the screen. It may not be directly visible on your EVF, but it will surely ruin your shot. This is caused by the 180 degree shutter; it’s flicker (at roughly 48hz) interferes with the 50hz net frequency.
In order to solve this problem, and being able to shoot in 50hz countries without worrying about interference, the AF101 is one of the very few cameras that let us fine-tune the SYNCHRO SCAN shutter speed!

Do as follows. Go to the SCENE FILE menu and make sure that you have selected FILM CAM and set REC FORMAT to “1080p24”. Now  go to SYNCRO SCAN and dial-in 172.8d as new shutter angle, instead of the default 180d. This will eliminate any flicker and strobing in the picture, because now the camera’s shutter is in sync with the 50hz net frequency.
Try this setting out on a 50hz TV set, or TL fixture.

The maths behind this: (23.976 x 2) / (25 x 2) = 47.952 / 50 = 0.95904  ==>  180 x 0.95904 = 172.63 ==> Do some rounding off down the line and we’ll end up with 172.8 as new shutter angle.

 

Happy shooting!

Martin.

Panny af100 / af101 flat picture style for cinematic look

Update, august 11: detail settings altered – see note below

In addition to my previous article, here is our latest picture style recipe (“Scene file”) for the AF101.

We are currently in preproduction phase for our upcoming feature production “I miei geni”, a Dutch/Italian coproduction. We’ve rounded off a few days of test-shoots with our cameras, including the AF101 and we have settled for one definitive scene file.

Marvels Film cine-style profile for AF100/101:

• Operation type:
• FILM CAM
• Rec. Format:
• 1080/24P
• Synchro Scan:
• 180.0d
• Detail level:
• -6
• Vertical detail level:
• -6
• Detail coring:
• -4
• Chroma level:
• -4
• Chroma phase:
• -2
• Master ped:
• -2
• Gamma:
• Cine-Like-D
• Matrix:
• Norm2

Remarks:

1. We have corrected the chroma phase to reduce a magenta hue we experienced using the Norm2 matrix.
2. Updated august 11: Detail is dialed down to -6 instead of -7. The threshold of actually seeing electronic sharpening artifacts in the picture when zoomed in at 200% lies around the -5. I would personally not go higher as -4 at all times.  Panasonic has confirmed that -7 equals “detail off” on the AF101. Keep it at -6 or -7 for cine-style production. 
3. Updated august 11: Coring does smooth-out noise in the image, but also all high frequency detail. The coring mechanism is not able to distinguish between noise and fine detail, such as strands of hair or fine patterns on leaves. If you deliberately want a smooth-skin-plastic-video-image though, dial this setting up… For your peace of mind: the coring setting is less effective when detail is dialed down to -4 as we do. After talking to Panasonic, we have adjusted coring in our picture style to -4, to have it “eat up noise” in the blacks and low IRE regions only. Panasonic techies advise to keep coring two points above the detail value.
4. If you are concerned about noise in the image: don’t be! This profile is very low noise, but – and this might sound strange – not too low-noise thanks to the low coring setting. Too little noise in the image enhances the visibility of so-called “banding”, “solarization” or “posterization” in gradients. This (and all sub $10k cameras on the market today) are 8 bit cameras (4:2:2 color, having only 256 chroma levels). Masking banding artifacts in digital images (from both digital cameras and digitally scanned 35mm film) is done by adding noise! This might sound strange indeed, but this is common practice with all the prominent editing and grading facilities in the industry, for years already. So making the image even cleaner in-camera or during post can emphasize the 8-bit banding artifacts. The gradient is “broken up” (and less smooth) by the introduction of “obstacles” in the image (like  noise), forcing the imaging mechanism to calculate multiple gradients within one gradient, resulting in a perceptually smoother image.
5. Update: If you use the Cine-D gamma setting, you should consider lighting the scene following old-school film practice: 55IRE max on faces! You will probably apply a curve to the picture, or adjust contrast and/or gamma in post -> kicking up the middle range up to around 70IRE again. Lighting caucasian skin over 55IRE with Cine D will result in problems if levels are lifted in post.

Cheers to you all, and special thanks to Jorgen Escher (http://colorbyjorg.wordpress.com) for his explanation of the coring and banding technology.

Martin Beek
Twitter: @martinbeek
http://www.martinbeek.net
IMDb: http://imdb.me/martinbeek

AF101 / AF100 vs GH2 vs ? – Stop moaning, Start shooting!

Courtesy of Shooting Star Video

When i bought a demo Panasonic AF101 two weeks ago, and tweeted about it, i received an unexpected number of negative responses. Not that the responses were negative as-such, but were mainly providing me with links that showed me that i’d made the wrong choice. People were eager to point out that the AF101 sucks and that there are much better cameras on the market today. I had to endure watching crazy comparisons with Red and Sony F3 cameras (that cost 4 times the price of an AF101) and even with the Canon 5D and 7D, in order to learn that the Panasonic AF101 is probably even worse a camera than the 900 euro Panasonic GH2.

But thank you all, i knew all that the moment i bought this camera. Before i get into detail about the possible shortcomings, and explaining why i still went for this camera,  let’s see what some shooters have found testing the AF101. I’ve included links to the discussions.

 

• bad handling of highlights, color channels burn out easily and give these parts a nasty yellow hue – link – link
• “plastic-looking” skintones when not correctly exposed (see the point above) – link – link
• noisy, and the noise is linearly distributed along the gamma curve; so: noise everywhere – link – link
• the BBC has tested this camera thoroughly and came to the conclusion that the sensor sucks with less than 1300 lines and a lot of distortion – link
• it has an old HVX type of sensor and not the new GH2 type generation; it is not suitable for taking stills or according to some, not even suitable for shooting HD video
•  it is a commercial hype; a cheap DSLR in a videocam housing and the rest is a lot of marketing – link
• the affordable Panasonic GH2 is better than the much more expensive AF101 – link

If you read the articles carefully, including the comments, you learn that 33% of all “problems” can be solved by properly exposing and dialing down the detail settings. Another 33% of the camera-bashing is delivered by people that have never used the camera themselves and judge quality based on Vimeo movies. The final 33% base their judgement on comparing the camera with the Sony F3, a camera four times as expensive as the AF101.

Did i start worrying after reading all the provided “thumbs down” links? Well, to be honest…. a bit…

I was very happy and even a little surprised to see that the camera performed surprisingly well in The Great Zacuto Camera Shootout 2011, episode II

When i finally had the chance to play with the camera for a few days, i was able to redeem all the bullshit about this camera. When properly set up, using the flattest picture profile, with “Detail” AND “Coring” dialed down all the way (-6 or -7), properly exposed using the great waveform monitor, this camera DELIVERS! With the right lens (Voigtlander Nokton 24/0.95 or better) and maybe occasionally underexposing 1/2 to 1 stop, you get your filmic quality.

Oh, yeah… Since i own both the GH2 and the AF101, i can tell you that the whole “The GH2 is better than the AF101” is another myth, plugged by GH2 fanboys, and regularly by people not even owning either one of these cameras. They can hardly be compared, specially if the comparison is done based on charts. The AF101 sensor works in a totally different manner. It derives perceptual detail in a totally different and also inventive manner compared to the GH2 (using aliasing as a vehicle). The perceptual detail of the GH2 could look better when shooting charts, but the GH2 is using straight-forward electronic detail-enhancing that you can’t switch off AND uses a totally different way of rendering the picture from chip data.

Recording from the HDMI output using the Atomos Ninja recorder delivers great images from both the GH2 and AF101, but they are different! I can’t say that one is better that the other, just different.

My personal feeling is, that the GH2 has smooth roll-off of highlights by using a kind of auto-knee mechanism. It protects the highlights, but only up to 100-ire! This is a pure consumer camera that performs best as a run-and-gun camera. The AF101 has several controls for protecting the highlights, as well as a 110-ire range! Considering this, the GH2 has less latitude than the AF101 when both are exposed “to the right”; the GH2 up to 100-ire and the AF101 to 110-ire (“super-white”). The AF101 is not a consumer camera, simply because it’s too complex for most amateur users.

Out of the box, the AF101 is NOT a run-and-gun camera at all; it will produce video-like images, instead of the GH2. The AF101 is a video camera, the GH2 is a photo camera. At least, out of the box that is.

People who don’t understand how waveform-monitors, picture styles, matrices, gammas and knees work, should not even consider testing or reviewing the AF101, and keep their comments to themselves…

To loosely quote Philip Bloom: stop shooting charts, start shooting people!

Fort those interested. I’ll publish our AF101 settings in the following post.

Cheers!

Martin Beek

Twitter: @martinbeek

http://www.martinbeek.net

IMDb: http://imdb.me/martinbeek