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Sunday, January 30, 2011

News From Here & There

Panasonic AG-AF100 (AG-AF101) Review
Philip Johnston over at HDWarrior has put together a 20 minute plus video review of the Panasonic AG-AF101. He's had the camera for a couple of weeks, and has already posted some bits and pieces about it.

The review starts on a troubling note; "When I first got this camera, I wasn’t that impressed with it. Sometimes it could produce fantastic pictures, and sometimes it was a bit noisy."

He goes on to explain that after taking some time to get to know the camera, he's figured out what to do to make it work properly; notably set Gamma to Cine-Like V and Matrix to Norm 2. These two options, he explains, give "far better pictures."

He also notes that the auto-focus is not too clever and that it hunts when you least expect it, so he leaves it off.

Philip provides a good over-view of the options of the camera, and talks about what he likes about it. The big plus of the camera, as he sees it, is the ability to change lenses, and he spends some time on lens options. He likes the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95, which does a great job of producing a shallow depth-of-field but this perhaps highlights one problem that the comparatively smaller Micro 4/3rds chip camera has when compared to the really large full frame Canon 5D Mark II; you have to go to a really big aperture to get comparably shallow depth-of-field.

One other problem; it's really hard to find the Nokton lens.

Philip finishes with some low light examples, and demonstrates using the camera with a pull focus Bebob FOXI Focus; a remote focus control that works with Panasonic cameras (similar to the Manfrotto 521PFI.)
HDWarriorPanasonic AG-AF101 User Review (20mins)



Comparing Panasonic to Canon
Perhaps in response to the video from DigitalRevTV comparing the GH2 and Canon 60D, EOSHD has written a post comparing the Panasonic and Canon images. I'm not too sure how helpful it is, as it appears to try and balance two opposing points of view:
Canon seem to win on warmer tones.

[Pansonic] win hands down on the resolution battle, but a cinematic image is often thought of as being quite soft - so sharpness goes someway toward accentuating people's view that the GH2 and AF100 are producing quite a 'video-like' image. Technically better but not aesthetically.

I personally prefer the GH2 for most things.
EOSHD: Which is most cinematic? 5D, 60D, GH2, AF100
NotesOnVideoDigitalRevTV Compares Panasonic GH2 to Canon D60



Shane Hurlbut on Redrock Micro
Shane Hurlbut is not a man of small gestures or luke warm opinions, so he's not going to give a casual endorsement. He loves Redrock rigs, and has written up a post extolling their virtues.
HurlbutVisualsRedrock Micro: Battle Tested Rigs, Innovation at an Affordable Price



Canon's Five Year Plan
PhotoRadar reports on Canon's rather vague five-year-plan, though it is noted that in 2011 Canon expects to sell 30 million digital cameras and forecast a 10.6% increase in net sales over 2010
PhotoRadarCanon sets out 5-year strategy



Amazon Studios Changes Script Sharing Options
One of the - several - things that upset people about Amazon Studios when it first appeared was that anyone could upload revisions to a script (a revision doesn't replace an existing script, but it is listed in the script project.)

Now they've added some new options. Scripts collaboration can be set to:
  • Open: Any Amazon Studios participant can freely revise your script and add that revised script to the project.
  • By Permission: Only Amazon Studios participants that obtain your permission by using the "Request permission" button can add a revised script to the project.
  • Closed: Only you can add revised scripts to the project.
You can change the script collaboration settings at any time, though Amazon encourages you to leave the options as open as you feel comfortable. Also, if you set a project to open, and then later change your mind, that does prevent additions, but it won't remove a script that's already been uploaded.
Amazon StudiosSubmitting a script
NotesOnVideoAmazon Studio's gets mixed reviews


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