But so far there’s only one or maybe two video-optimized lenses that offer this. Here’s a shot made with the latter.Ĭlearly with the right lens, Micro four-thirds is plenty big to create a shallow-focus look. ![]() Panasonic does offer a 14mm prime that’s F2.5, and an awesome 20mm pancake at F1.7. But with these lenses, you’ll be hard-pressed to create a sumptuous, DSLR-like narrow-focus world. The top reasons for a big sensor are light sensitivity and control over depth of field. Most of these lenses are zooms, and rather slow: You might save enough money in follow-focus add-ons and blown takes that the AF100 could start looking less expensive than a kitted-out 7D.īut if you want to take advantage of this revolution, you must chose from Panasonic’s small selection of continuous-AF, video-optimized glass. The idea that I could enjoy shallow depth of field with (occasionally, mind you) reliable, fingertip-on/off face-tracking autofocus is actually quite revolutionary. Even with my Redrock Micro EyeSpy Deluxe rig and my Zacuto Z-Finder, I find shooting with my 5D and 7D to be laborious for the simple reason of focus. A big part of the cost and advantage of a camera like the AF100 is sophisticated autofocus. The marketplace reason has to do with the availability, cost and quality of lenses for the AF100, and how those issues meld with the camera’s unique features. At 24mbps, the maximum allowed by the format, will the images from the AF100 be “good enough?” That strikes me as a sad question to be asking about a $5,000 camera body with a mission statement of quality. We’ve discussed this codec here before, and while opinions vary, few would argue that it is a professional codec. One artistic, one technical, and one marketplace reason.įirst, the technical reason to doubt the AF100: its codec. No reason? Oops, I meant to say three reasons. Between this an all the other pro features of this camera, such as its focus and exposure aides and various gamma modes, there’s no reason to doubt that this camera will make superior images to the current crop of HDSLRs. They have repeatedly stated that their target is zero aliasing artifacts. When I tweeted about the availability of the AF100 for pre-order from B&H Photo, I got a couple of replies to the general effect of “but will the images hold up to those of the 5D?” Now, why would a person ask that? Obviously Panasonic has gone to great pains to emphasize that this is a camera for grown-ups, with no pixel binning or line skipping. It’s easy to understand his enthusiasm - this is everything we’ve been wanting. Watch this video and/or read his detailed write-up - Barry Green does a much better job than I ever could of pimping this thing. Waveform monitor and focus-assist peaking in the viewfinder. A proper video camera that will presumably ace its test charts, and also sports a 4/3” sensor like the GH1 and GH2. I added: Buttons and features and resolution charts just had their ass handed to them by sex appeal.īut can we have both? Panasonic says yes. Still, it seems to be obvious that what I predicted two years ago is true: It’s no longer OK for video camera manufacturers, whether they be Sony or Canon or RED, to make a video camera that doesn’t excite us emotionally. The result is that we’re making sexy-looking video (just don’t look too close) with cameras that costs only a grand or two - and most of that cost is due to features we’re not even using. We can complain all we want, but we’re the beneficiaries of a glorious happy accident of “good enough” coupled with Canon’s years of experience hacking OK-looking movies off point-and-shoot sensors. To pull a full 5616x3160 image off the 5D Mark II’s sensor every 24th of a second would likely require a much more expensive sensor and a method of dealing with the resultant heat. The line-skipping or binning issue is not simply a question of will or understanding - it’s an actual limitation of how fast data can be streamed off the back of the sensor itself. I’ve been a part of this complaining, but I don’t share the opinion of some that the challenge is easy, if only Canon or Nikon or whomever cared to rise to it. Won’t someone come along and make a camera with a huge sensor, interchangeable lenses, and proper video features? We’ve been having a lot of fun shooting with DSLRs, complaining the entire time about all the obstacles they present. You can buy a fancy slider (I did, I love my Glidetrack HD), or you can feel so much more clever and agile turning any tripod into a jib arm. ![]() It’s kinda fun doing things the wrong way.
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