Panasonic AF301 prediction from Philip Johnston (4:2:2 processing).
This years NABshow will be held in mid-April. It’s the largest international digital event for audio, video, film, broadcast and communication. And it’s very likely that Panasonic will show a new successor of the AG-AF101 Micro Four Thirds camcorder. And there is a first “prediction” coming via Philip Johnston from HDwarrior: “The AF301 a direct poke at Canon C300 will have 10bit, 4:2:2 processing as seen on the HPX250 and will swap over to P2 giving us AVC Intra, I don’t see Panasonic going away from micro Four Thirds as they have invested far too much development on lenses. I hope we see a far better viewfinder and far higher resolution on version two (1000 lines +).”
P.S.: Search links for the current AG-AF100 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
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Recent comments
Comment from Keith: The 5D has aliasing issues, uses line sk...
Comment from scot jay: You are correct. When will these manufa...- Comment from : In my opinion there is a noise issue.
A...
Comment from Peter J. DeCrescenzo: My mistake ... the link to Philip's arti...
Fepate
6 months ago |And weather sealed?
marsupial2go
6 months ago |A poke to the Canon C300 is about 20,000 u.s. dollarz sans lens. It’s good Panny is trying to compete with the bigboys and to up the resolution HUGELY with the P2 codec on a M43 machine. The major caveat is the limited number of people with disposable finances who buy these things. Sell a few? Lucky if even that.
Tim
6 months ago |I think these will do very well if they get the tech right. It’s a natural route for GH2VK users, especially those starting to move from no-budget to low budget.
matt
6 months ago |any chance we will see the gh3 alongside the AF301 at NAB?
cameras like a cat
6 months ago |I hope for a far better viewfinder *position*. The actual position is outdated for professionell movie cameras since about 40 years. Panasonic, this is the only good ergonomic:
http://www.fdtimes.com/articles/Rune_Ericson/Rune_Ericson-Aaton866p.jpg
c.d.embrey
6 months ago |Give me an Aaton or an Eclair, I don’t want no stinkin’ Bolex.
I think that the problem is that these cameras (AF100, FS100, C300) came from the still camera people. The Broadcast divisions provides proper ergonomics.
Hacky
6 months ago |If the camera will provide also 1080p60 and frame synchronisation (for stereo 3D), this would be really interesting. Even better if the GH3 will fullfill these specs.
admin: The link for the AG-AF101 does not work.
scot jay
4 months ago |You are correct. When will these manufactures listen to us?
The canon 5D quality blows away the AF 100. NO DOUBT. Search you tube and see for yourself. No comparison!
Now it is simple. Make the camera full frame instead of micro four thirds Panasonic. Why would Panasonic go to P2 cards for intra? If Canon can use a reasonably price card and get such amazing result, then Panasonic should use compact flash also. Who cares how much they have invested in Lens. They want to compete with Canon, then they need to come out with a camera ( SLR Image Quality) that is 50Mbps 4:2:2 and under 6000.00 ( IN A COMFORTABLE VIDEO CAMERA STYLE) with a reasonable priced media card. Point made. Then they will blow everyone out the door.
shooter
6 months ago |I hope panasonic are listening,
the camera requires significant sensor improvements, not just better encoding!
jules
6 months ago |Is the AF101′s sensor lagging that badly behind in terms of video performance?
Anonymous
6 months ago |In my opinion there is a noise issue.
And maybe not as detailed as other offerings in its class
Keith
3 months ago |The 5D has aliasing issues, uses line skipping, and the video quality has many issues. It’s a kluge on top of a kluge. The sensor size is too big, and unnecessarily so. If your subject doesn’t move much, if you don’t do much camera movement, and you have one, it’s great. No video tools like zebra, vectorscope, focus indicators. M43 is very close to classic 35mm movie size, and I doubt that all of those Hollywood movies suffered from DOP problems. Its a good match between having DOP when you need it and ditching it when you don’t.
If you have noise issues or detail issues with the AF100, then you are probably using default settings and have not built a settings profile to get the look you want. It can do all the detail you want, and noise depends greatly on the settings. Even having settings profiles is an advantage.
Plus, all the junk you have to add to a 5D to get it up to snuff for video work is a pain.
Оleg Kalyan
6 months ago |Exciting, Bring it on!
Dusty
6 months ago |Not successor but more like brother. If it does ever surface
YouDidntDidYou
6 months ago |I hope the Panasonic AF301 has apps to assist the film maker
Rado Stefano
6 months ago |I wish Panasonic Camcorder and Photo camera departments communicated more. GH2 is an engineering marvel and light years ahead of AF100.
Max
6 months ago |So much for my deposit on the AF-201.
Tulio
6 months ago |Who cares about the AF100/101? It is not even worth the R&D.
The GH2 is the best video camera Panasonic ever made, if Panasonic wanted to be takes seriously, they would stop crippling the GH2 firmware.
jules
6 months ago |I love my GH2 too, but I consider the AG AF to be a totally different form factor addressing a totally different market.
Joey
6 months ago |Its just some guys prediction.
Tulio
6 months ago |The AF100 has the worst form factor ever seen, that viewfinder looks like was designed in 1993.
If Panasonic could make the gh2 into a rubik cube size with XLR ins, ND filters, 50Mbps 4:2:2 and “add your own hdmi viewfinder” for under $4000, then maybe.
Peter J. DeCrescenzo
6 months ago |Time will tell if any of Philip’s (HDWarrior.com) “predictions” come true or not — all we have to do is wait.
In the meantime, in response to some of the comments here:
For many decades Panasonic has sold hundreds of different model video cameras ranging in list price from a few hundred dollars to many tens of thousands of dollars each. Basically, pick a price point and Panasonic sells a camera, plus or minus a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.
Included in the above are various professional “box” or “block” cameras which share internal hardware from their prosumer & professional studio/EFP product lines, but are stripped-down versions designed for specialized applications. I would expect they will continue selling box/block cameras based on ever-newer internals as their other product lines evolve.
In _addition_ to m43, I think Panasonic will soon (<1-2 years) start selling S35 (APS-C) size sensor video cameras. Obviously they have the financial means to design & produce them, and because others are making money selling S35/APS-C cams, Panasonic will too.
Panasonic's ongoing investment in m43 lenses doesn't preclude them from selling S35/APS-C sensor cams. There are many excellent vendors of lenses for use with the latter. For decades Panasonic has made 2/3" size sensor pro video cams which use 3rd party lenses. They will do the same with S35/APS-C cams, too. They may even start making lens for larger sensors, too, if they think they can profit by doing so.
It goes w/o saying that all the cam companies, including Panasonic, will continue to gradually improve their sensor, processing & compression technology. Same as always.
I agree that Panasonic and they other cam manufacturers need to look at the ergonomics of classic Aaton and Eclair motion picture film cams, especially regarding eyepiece placement and on-the-shoulder balance. Those cams were a joy to hold, even for extended periods. The same can't be said for 99% of modern video cams.
Cheers.
Peter J. DeCrescenzo
6 months ago |My mistake … the link to Philip’s article is:
http://www.hdwarrior.co.uk/2011/11/27/large-sensors-in-2012-a-look-into-the-future/