BBC approved the Panasonic AF101 for full HD television acquisition (+ tested with Voigtländer)

Good news for the Micro Four Thirds system. BBC approved the AG-AF101 as a HD specialist cameras. You may don’t know that only a few cameras are on the BBC list. That includes the much more expensive ARRI cameras, the Sony’s CineAlta F35 and the Red modular cameras. See the full (short) list of approved cameras -> Download .pdf. Low budget documentary filmmakers will be very happy to read that news. But there is only one “limitation”. You have to record the images on the external recorder to capture footage at 50Mbps via HDMI. (Read the article at Dvuser.co.uk)
You can get the AG-AF100(or 101 or 102) at BHphoto (Click here) or [shoplink 22129 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Dvuser.co.uk (Click here) tested the Voigtlander 25mm F0.95 Micro 4/3rd lens on the Panasonic AF101 camcorder. Is the lens good enough for video? Nigel Cooper says :”I’ve been shooting with the Panasonic AF101 with the [shoplink 15659 ebay]Voigtlander 25mm MFT lens[/shoplink] for some weeks now and to say I’m impressed is an understatement. The quality that the Voigtlander optics produces is truly amazing. As for the Bokeh, it is truly amazing. At F0.95 you can achieve the shallowest depth-of-field; it’s incredible and it yields some incredibly artistic results.” The final rating is 5 start of 5! Thanks Nigel for your very detailed review!

The best thing is that now there are plenty of Nokton lenses in Stock in [shoplink 15659 ebay]European eBay stores (Click here)[/shoplink]. All new and with the normal price (which is 899 Euro). Click on the shop names: [shoplink 22125 ebay]Foto Mundus[/shoplink], [shoplink 22126 ebay]infoto2[/shoplink], [shoplink 22126 ebay]infoto2[/shoplink], [shoplink 22127 ebay]eu-shphoto[/shoplink], [shoplink 22128 ebay]deutscher-digitalhandel[/shoplink] (ships worldwide!). Our US readers can buy from Europe only because US stores do not have them in Stock. BHphoto accepts preorders (for a very good price) but they still don’t know when they will have them in Stock (that’s what they told to me).

UPDATE: In France you can find the Nokton for 749 Euro only at lapetiteboutiquephoto.com. Don’t know why they are much cheaper than other stores but I have been assured that this is a very reputable store!