Panasonic has announced it will deliver its high profile AG-AF100 camcorder on Dec. 27. The AF100 is expected to deliver the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of the large imagers found in DSLR camera rigs.
Targeted at the video and film production communities, the AF100 uses the same micro 4/3in lenses, filters and adapters that work on Panasonic’s Micro Four-Thirds still photo equipment. The full HD 1080 and 720 production camera offers native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates, professional audio capabilities and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC flash media cards.
But it’s the 4/3in sensor that affords depth of field and field of view similar to that of 35mm movie cameras that makes the camera special. The AF100 incorporates a MOS imager that minimizes skew with fast imager scanning and incorporates low pass filters for elimination of aliasing and moiré.
It also has a built-in optical ND filter. The camcorder records 1080 at 60i, 50i, 30p, 25p (native) and 24p (native), and 720 at 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p native in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mb/s). It also records in AVCCAM’s HA (17Mb/s) and HE (6Mb/s) modes, 1080i only. Ready for global production, the camcorder is 60Hz and 50Hz switchable.
Equipped with an interchangeable micro 4/3in lens mount, the AF100 can utilize a variety of low-cost, widely available still camera lenses as well as film-style lenses with fixed focal lengths and primes.
Variable frame rates are available in 1080p, selectable in 20 steps from 12p to 60p at 60Hz and 20 steps from 12p to 50p at 50Hz. Standard professional interfaces include uncompressed 4:2:2, 8-bit HD-SDI out; HDMI out; and USB 2.0. It records SMPTE time code and is able to perform synchronizing via the video output seeing timecode in.
The camcorder has a built-in stereo microphone and features two mic/line, switchable XLR inputs with +48V phantom power capability. It can record 48kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording (in PH mode only) and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3 in any of the modes.
With two SD slots for continuous recording, the AF100 can record up to 12 hours on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode, with automatic clip spanning across the two cards.
Weighing only 3.5lbs (without lens or battery), the AF100 includes Dynamic Range Stretch in all modes and frame rates; six built-in, customizable scene files that are exchangeable for matching between multiple cameras; seven built-in gamma curves with four selectable color matrices; Syncro-scan shutter and a high-resolution LCD and viewfinder.
