How it should have been

[Steve Rosen]

Exists only in Photoshop, but hopeful for the future.

[Brian Drysdale]

Yes, these cameras are getting too large for the handicam layout. With a LCD on the side you can also do the off shoulder style as well.

[Godfrey Kirby]

Remember the EVF (viewfinder) is modular, Panasonic (or third party) might offer the upgrade. As for the V-lock batteries - visit the Hawk-Woods website. The bars and mattebox - lots of people. The lens? Not too sure what that is. Cooke/Zeiss? It may be not so Photoshop after all.......

We live in interesting times. (Chinese curse 'May you live in Interesting Times')

[Olof Ekbergh]

I just got back from a intro demo of the AF100.

I think it is a very well executed design.

It is not meant to be a shoulder cam out of the box. It really is the kind of camera that will be on sticks dollys stedicams etc most of the time.

It is not for ENG.

Panasonic states in the PowerPoint presentation. The market is:

Indi film makers
Production companies
Documentary film makers
Film Schools

She also mentioned Wedding market as probably being big.
I think I got that right, they said newsroom will not be buying this cam.

They also state it is not a DSLR killer, different market. $1,000.00 cams available.

It is not a competitor with the F3. Different market. $20K. This is not a Varicam class camera.

It is exactly what I have been hoping for. An XDcam/P2 class inexpensive SDOF VIDEO camera. Emphasis on Video. In my mind it replaces the 7D, not the 5DmkII (still the SDOF champ). It is a modular cam really waiting for you to turn it into what you need. With huge selection of cheap to expensive lenses.

The codec looks very good. Though I will personally shoot with a NanoFlash most of the time.

The camera is in my mind very rugged looking and only weighs 2 1/2 lbs. It looks exactly like what it is. A workhorse for the low to midrange (my subjective view) market outlined in the presentation. 3 year warranty is nice too.

The base is rugged with both 3/8 and 1/2 threaded holes, the design team had to fight for this. This is great because this is one camera that will use rails matteboxes etc a lot of the time.

Very impressive and good looking, I am glad I have ordered mine.

[John Wiley]

I think you're spot on that they designed it keeping in mind that the primary target market would be using it in existing cinema setups - rigs with matteboxes, external monitors, dollys, cranes, steadicams etc and with multiple operators, focus pullers, assistants etc.

That's why the design is so basic, and I see nothing wrong with that logic.

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

It is not meant to be a shoulder cam out of the box. It really is the kind of camera that will be on sticks dollys stedicams etc most of the time.

It is not for ENG.

Hand held is also part of the vocabulary of drama productions, just not news gathering. Quite a lot of documentary production is shot hand held as well. Perhaps there's too much shaky cam (sometimes deliberate), but an ergonomic design does help avoid this.

Balance is the reason why the V/F on the front is the base point for larger cameras. They then extend the V/F back for working on tripods (commonly it isn't on non drama productions). but with LCDs also being fitted, these are often used rather than the V/F on the tripod.

The front V/F has been design feature since the early 1960s and came the standard in the 1970s. The V/F at the rear is an older design feature replaced because it was poor for hand held. The "on shoulder" front V/F allows a hand to be free for pulling focus or stop on the fly (and operating the zoom on film cameras) without disturbing the camera because of the stable shoulder support.

You can also go in for free wheeling hand held camera body positions, if required, using the LCD.

It would be good if the design is modular so that you can set the camera in something other than the out of the box layout. It doesn't need to look like an ENG camera, some extremely good hand held cameras have flat bases.

[Olof Ekbergh]

I will definitely be making a shoulder rig for mine, that will work with heavy lenses. I will post here when I have it done.

I was just saying that the primary use of this camera is not shouldering. And Panasonic has done a few really good things to make it possible to rig this camera any way you want. One of the most important is a very solid base with both 1/4" and 3/8" threaded holes and it is nice and flat as well.

I have a setup I use with my 5DmkII where I use a 5" LCD up at the front of the lens on the left side. This makes the camera very balanced for shouldering, and much more compact than the huge erector sets some people use. I will base my AF100 rig on this sliding shoulder pad setup. Your shoulder can be under the camera or even under the lens, with a really large lens. And the center of the pad is under the center of the camera weight, so it is not left side heavy.

It also looks like the AF100 will be perfect to use on a StediCam, the solid base and compact design really helps here.

From the short time I saw and handled the camera in Boston, I was really impressed with it. It really is a new class of camera. And it will be fun to make a rig for shouldering it. And the price is right.

I think it would have cost a lot more to have a removable VF. And the camera is actually pretty wide already, much wider then an EX3/1 so having a side VF would be awkward unless it is removable. It would have been nice, but I think this is a good compromise. It is pretty hard to find a good small runbag, even for an EX3. I use a Betacam runbag for my EX3. Now this cam will fit in a really small bag, that is also a consideration.

I am sure there will be many good shoulder solutions for this really cool camera.

[Brian Drysdale]

Something like this may work, although I won't expect it to be in the league of a high end V/F.

http://store.redrockmicro.com/EVF