The AG-AF100 Micro Four Thirds mount videocamera
Photokina will not only be important for the classic photo-cameras but maybe also for the mirrorless video-cameras. A source told me a while ago that Panasonic has deleted the AG AF line. The reason for that is that the AF100 had not been selling well and had seen a significant price drop since launch.
So what can we expect now? “Rumors” are floating around the web saying that Panasonic will now concentrate on a Super 35mm camera. This may be indirectly a good news regarding the GH3. They can now focus to make that camera rule in terms of video quality without to fear that this will take away some AG-AF100 sales.
Hopefully I can get some GH3 info soon! As usual feel free to send me completely save and anonymous messages through the contact form you see on the right sidebar. No identification needed and no info (like IP) gets stored! Juts use a fake name so that I can recognize you in future. Thanks!
P.S.: The AG-AF100 has a $500 rebate ongoing at BHphoto until late September (yep…until Photokina). The still super GH2 sells for $1,129 with kit lens at Amazon (lowest price ever).
43 Responses
i hope they push the GH3 video quality up to this device capability’s since its all over AG-AF100, but i also wanna see a big improvement in picture quality because the GH2 quality is not that great to me.
I may be be forced to buy GH3. I smell some good spec. That tele prime, you remember? Macro, OIS, any news? Thanks!
yeah baby! AVC ULTRA FOR GH3! AND CLEAN HDMI!
According to Barry Green the idea that Panasonic is abandoning the AF100 is absolute nonsense. The sales of the AF100 were huge in the first year but has understandably slowed since.
Its a fantastic camera. I just finished this music video with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNboT0eeV7k
Currently there are no other comparable cameras in its price range..
AF100/101 sales presumably suffered a lot since the Sony FS100 entered the stage: Sadly it lacks ND filters but it has a far superior sensor (same as in Sony F3!) in the common S35 format – not a m4/3 sensor with unnecessary high pixel count. An AF200/201 was expected for last NAB, but Panasonic only brought an 1080p50/p60 upgrade for more than 200 Euro (if you don’t need sound, the AF100/101 could shoot 50p/60p already from the first day on in overcrank mode – so not really a spectacular upgrade). If there will be no information about a successor at IBC in September, I too wouldn’t expect an AF200/201 anymore at all. Panasonic would indeed do better when they concentrate on a new professional camcorder with S35 sensor and bump up the m4/3 photo camera GH3 a bit towards videography.
Nevertheless I don’t expect too much from the GH3 as a camcorder. The main problem of the GH2 is not video quality, but its the handling and the silly disabling of functions which makes me crazy every time I use my GH2. I doubt very much that the GH3, even inspite of being several hundred Euro more expensive, will solve all these shortcomings. At least it gets a standard 3,5mm microphone jack and not again the proprietary 2,5mm one. So maybe there is hope for a well thought-out GH3 for videographers?
Forgot about thd FS100. But I would still take the Af100. The Sony may have a better sensor, but the AF has better ergonomics, build quality, control lay out and lens colldction. After two years it still holds its own and can be had for down towards $3500.
Barry Green has made it clear that the AF-series will have a three year cycle, and is planned for next year’s NAB.
FS100 is a great cam; I use one frequently. Until the Blackmagic cam ships, the FS100 & GH2 are the best bang for the buck out there for under $5K.
I wonder whether this couldn’t slow down Schneider Kreuznach’s enthousiasm for entering into the mft lenses market : I’ve always thought that their market target was high end cine lenses ?
it’s a bit hard to know the truth on this matter, personally I agree with @ChristianG, I see a lot of video on TV which looks like it’s been shot with Panasonic mft ie the colours, depth of field, dynamic range etc so I believe sales where good … along with the busy AF100 forums on vimeo and dvuser,however I feel the AF100 know needs updating with a larger feature set…
If they are not careful they will make the same mistake Olympus did, they took too long to update the e1 and people left the system is heards.
We use 2 Af-100 with Zeisssss and the worked
so how we expectetd it. In 3 Weeks hardnekwork
they run auns run and run… and footage was good.
now post.
the af-100 is the only value-i-make-film-cam that
works ina normal $$$ sice and it is unspectacular.
It solves. My hope that they will bring a 35 afa 303
will be one..but since BLACK MAGIG beginns tu cut….we will
see SONY with a 5000 $$$ fs 888. 4k and the do it because
the are SONY….big enought to counter a wide Market now
in on roll up.
The GH-3 would bee good if they realy understand, what is
in this litte MINIBEAST… means plase more outputs, real MIC- jacks and so on and yes i am a 190 cm big Man, i am not
from planet “stuart litte” i have place in my studio and outgear i do not neet a pockedcam and yes i do not carry it in my poket-and no – if it is 2 kilos i will not breake..
pleas wherever you are technical ma of pana and sony and canon
THINK CREATIVE
THINK LIGHT
THINK FILM
THIMK LIKE AN PAINTER
soory for written mistakes of my crcked htc with ios and
i do not want a 1mm tampoon
I WANT A CAMERA..
mike grown up with AATON / ARRI / P+S / NIKON / CANON / and others…
going super35 would make sense if you wanted to be in the movie business, not sure it has a great sales potential, and they dont have a single lens for it
so what should they do? same as always, they need pdAF
I split my time shooting between photos and videos, and that’s why I went Sony… the GH1 just didn’t have the dynamic range, ISO quality, or focus speed in photos for me.
But if Panasonic brought out an awesome MFT sensor AND PDAF in the GH3, I’d think hard about switching to MFT.
maybe they shoud release a more entry-level version?
Is that a camera? LOL! Doesn’t look like a camera????
I think it could do with a serious face-lift!
I think super 35 is a buzz word and most people don’t have very much context. The af100 sensor is not significantly smaller than super 35, Gh2 is a bit closer, and since they are in 4:3 aspect you can use anamorphic lenses. If Panasonic was smarter, they would just update the af100 sensor to be a tid bit larger, and then they would release anamorphic lenses for with software and fast m4/3 specific t-stops and that would make Sony and Canon look like weak offerings.
I don’t know anyone who can argue that the Fs-100 has a better lay out, ergonomics, and features than the Af-100- it just has way better low light capability and color (along with color issues from what I’ve read).
They should enlarge the sensor to S35 to meet “industry spec” and just utilize a crop mode for 4/3 and m4/3 glass. The mount itself would be designed in a modular fashion that easily adapts to PL glass, 4/3 and m4/3 with a separate mounting flange for each…. that’s just common sense, so it probably won’t happen given the entrenched thinking that exists in the “PRO Video” segment at Panasonic.
The longer Panny waits to respond to a runaway market, the quicker they will fall into irrelevance… and I don’t give a crap what Barry Green says or thinks in regards to the product cycle. Free markets don’t wait around for 3 year product cycles like they may have before the Internet came along. Disruptive technologies cause paradigm shifts that can decimate a company’s sales overnight. They will either wake up to this fact or die in the segment.
“if Panasonic was smarter”, yeah I bet they wished they had hired a forward thinking genius like you!
AG-AF is a great product such a shame that it stumble between not enough bell and whistle for professional but too expensive for enthusiast video grapher. Especially since Sony release the NEX-VG series. Panasonic just don’t have comparable type in this class. I hope Panasonic either push the AG-AF to this class for enthusiast video grapher or creating entirely new type. While GH-2 can bring great video with hack it’s just not the form that feels right for serious video work. And I don’t see the idea GH-3 could replace the AG-AF not if they want retain the DSLM form.
Among other things, I hope Panasonic creates a camera similar to the one I describe here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?280640-Dear-Panasonic-Please-make-a-GH-quot-box-quot-m43-camera-head!&s=0120c970ca8274b89c24c6fd6244596f
… but, meanwhile, I have a Blackmagic Cinema Camera on pre-order! 😉
(And I’m keeping a close eye on “GH3” news, too. Hedging all bets!)
I bought a Panasonic TM700 in 2010. One of the first consumer camcorders to do 1080 60P. The TM series is great, but has only seen incremental updates since then. I bought a GH2 last year, mainly so I could use wider focal lengths for video than the TM700’s 35mm wide end.
I would love for Panasonic to release a micro 4/3 prosumer camcorder in the same price range as the Sony VG-20. I love my GH2, but for video I prefer the ergonomics of a camcorder.
after all users bought a pana..what should thex do?
let it fall into a vulcano..then buy a next?
the af 100 is a price worth and solide cam…
teh BMC now lines the price-tag new up.
then somebody else reacts and the game runs new…
so what is with all this good young-used gh2 af100
fs100 d5 and so on?
yes. safe money and take it make it…..
and a 34 years old glass makes you happy…
Why do Panasonic use a 12MP sensor in a video camera? This simply doesn’t look efficient. I read it’s relatively slow even for HD and won’t do 4K at all, so why spend power on 12 million pixels where 3-4 million will probably suffice…
OTOH I don’t think they will expand outside m43. There’s hardly anything wrong with this sensor size for video, and it’s got lenses already.
I work everyday with af101. the image quality is not good and it is rather awkward. I do like the pro video controls and audio, but I’d rather use a nex-vg instead. clients ask for both video and photo at the same project and a GH3 type of camera, with better features.
I dislike using the af101 each time I take it out of the bag. a camera this size is supposed to deliver pristine images but this one fails.
but the AG-AF100 & GH2 already produced a box office movie -> THE RAID: Redemption
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899353/
Would a s35 sensor fit within the mft mount? This would enable existing
Lenses to be used plus offer new s35 lenses.
probably not
at least what they want is very high quality lenses, lenses that wont shift focus under zoom, with little vignetting, sharp all over. You wont get that out of mFT lenses except for a few primes and selected others. Im not sure SHG can be pushed that wide either. If they cant/dont use these they have to go for cine lenses which are very expensive, and theyre MF only.
So its a matter of utility, if it were me I would use the biggest sensor SHG can use and keep AF and/or use cine lenses, suffer the loss in sensor size elsewhere.
Movies unlike news broadcast is an art medium so some tolerance can be handled, The Hurt Locker was shot on 16mm entirely. News OTOH doesn’t need S35, so those are the compromises I would make.
I agree with above that S35 is a buzzword. Also, to Misu above, I’m not sure what you mean by “pristine” images. I get great images out of mine. Do they compare to Red, an F3, or Alexa? Of course not, but I bought my camera for $4,500. For a $4,500, you shouldn’t expect images that rival a $20k, $30k, or $60k camera.
I think the biggest problem has been the lack of native 4/3 fast zooms, and that’s being solved with the 12-35 x and 35-100 x lenses.
I love this camera, and it’s making me money. I have a hard time seeing Panasonic deleting the line and going S35 in the sub-$10k market, especially when they have no native glass or a lens mount for that size.
“Panasonic will now concentrate on a Super 35mm camera. ”
Give us an FS700 competitor and I’ll drop all aspirations of GH3 🙂
well, there is no way you can go above 400 ASA and get a clean image. the noise has vertical and horizontal patterns. the overexposure has a color bias and the latitude is very small. the only good thing about it is the very reduced aliasing.
compare this with any dslr, not to mention fs100, fs700, ex1 or above.
Misu, are you sure it’s the camera and not something else? I get no noise until about ISO 1,600.
Here is a really enlightening (but looooong) thread at DVXUser about it…
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?233060-Getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-noise-complaints-is-it-h-264-uncompression-software
the other thing is competitor (insert fav bad guys) now waste time and $ in examining S35 development for lower level operators
Camera is dated now. everyone expected a new model at nab but panny announced a pay for firmware update instead. Black magic is coming!
I have huge doubts on this ‘news’
Delete? Thats not even the right term. They dont discontinue a product unless it has a replacement or its really old. Dvx100 was introduced in 2001 and discontinued only recently. Like 2012. So far few have only been.discontinued and most of these have had a long time in the market.
Panasonic broadcast is different from panasonic consumer division. Broadcast is not affected nor influenced by photokina at all.
Talk about gullible, admin?
It would be foolish for Panny to punt this close to the goal line. A M4/3 dedicated video camera has inherent size, economic, and ergonomic advantages over Sony/ Canon et al. With all the high quality glass now available (the two Noktons, the 20mm, 14mm, the Panny-Leica 45mm, and the new 12-35 X zoom are all simply stunning) The fact that they are much smaller and a fraction of the weight of the competition is huge. And unlike a still camera, the smaller sensor size of M4/3 is no real disadvantage. The bottleneck in video is not sensor size, its bit rate and codec compression. These big sensors all receive far more pixel data than they can process and stream into video. Hence the compression codecs. The Canon C300 still records 8 bit at a relatively low mps. A hacked GH2 to my eye looks as good or better at a tiny fraction of the price/size. Large sensor cameras only hold an advantage in very low light where a larger pixel size increases sensitivity. But a GH2 with a Nokton is a stunning low light combo.
Panny could score a game winning touchdown with a 10 bit, higher mps version of the AF100. I think their about-to-be released Intra codec indicates such a strategy. Even at a higher price point than the 100, a camera like this would rival the IQ of an F3 or even an Alexa at a fraction of the cost/size.
I agree with all of this. The AF100 has a great little niche. An AF100 with a slightly improved m4/3 sensor and AVC-Long G would be killer camera on par with cameras much more expensive than it.
On a side note to some of the other commentors… the camera is less than two years old. Panasonic’s broadcast division runs on three year cycles, so expecting them to have a brand new camera announced at this years NAB is a bit unrealistic.
I agree with this as well. I bought one when the price hit $3500 (w/rebate) and am generally pretty happy with what it does for that price. I think m43 hits a nice sweet spot for video sensor-wise, but the two things that I would like to see improved (and would warrant purchasing a successor for me) are the latitude & the AVCHD codec. On the first point, I can see a huge difference in the footage from the camera when I cut it with EX3 footage – and for me that’s more a factor of latitude & highlight handling that anything else. On the second point, as much as I want to get a scene file setting that gives me pleasing footage right out of the camera, there are always going to be clips that need grading – and AVCHD just doesn’t hold up as well as other formats I’ve used (and really slows down my NLE whenever an effect is applied).
I have a GH2, the 20mm 1.7, the 14-140 and a fisheye… with the 12-35 on pre-order – and I don’t mind a bit being ‘married’ to m43.. as long as incremental upgrades & new models eventually appear.
That’d be a little bit of a waste wouldn’t? It’s affordable and can do everything from weddings to movies (or films depending on your level of pretentiousness.) I was actually waiting for the second generation as I figured it would be out early next year to replace this piece of garbage canon SLR.
I have and shoot professionally on both the AF100 and GH2. I know a lot of folk really want the GH3 to be the end all video camera…but the af100 is so much better as a film/video camera. Sure the images looks similar…but usability is no comparison. The only thing thing its missing (in my estimation) is better lens control, 10 or 12 bit color (and 422 with 444 SDI 3G out) and a log curve, Perhaps the new large chip camera will bring these to the game?
They deserved it. after boycotting the GH2 at shows, afraid of losing camcorder sales.
Just let the GH2 be that video-camera.
Jan Crittenden has confirmed over at DVXUser that this rumor is completely *False*
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?288296-Has-The-Panasonic-AG-AF%28100%29-Series-been-Discontinued&p=1986180837&viewfull=1#post1986180837