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  • Introduction

  • Lens & Imaging System

  • Front

  • Right

  • Back

  • Left

  • Compression

  • Media

  • Auto Mode

  • Focus

  • Exposure

  • Aperture

  • Shutter Speed

  • White Balance

  • Gain

  • Color & Image Controls

  • Other Manual Controls

  • Ease of Use

  • Handling

  • Portability

  • LCD & Viewfinder

  • Audio Features

  • Connectivity

  • Conclusion

  • Photo Gallery

  • Specs

  • Introduction
  • Lens & Imaging System
  • Front
  • Right
  • Back
  • Left
  • Compression
  • Media
  • Auto Mode
  • Focus
  • Exposure
  • Aperture
  • Shutter Speed
  • White Balance
  • Gain
  • Color & Image Controls
  • Other Manual Controls
  • Ease of Use
  • Handling
  • Portability
  • LCD & Viewfinder
  • Audio Features
  • Connectivity
  • Conclusion
  • Photo Gallery
  • Specs

Introduction

The AF100 isn't as exciting or as impressive as the new 4K camcorders on display this year at NAB—like the Canon C500 and the Sony NEX-FS700—but its $4995 price tag makes it a much cheaper option. The AF100's most direct competition comes from the Sony NEX-FS100, which, like the AF100, made its debut at last year's NAB show.

Lens & Imaging System

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The AG-AF100 uses Panasonic's Micro Four Thirds lens and sensor format, which means its sensor is quite a bit smaller than the "Super 35" CMOS chips featured on new models from Sony (NEX-FS100 and NEX-700) and Canon (EOS C300 and C500).
It is the same lens system that you'll find on Panasonic's Lumix interchangeable lens camcorders, and, as a result, the AF100 is compatible with any of those Micro Four Thirds lenses as well.

With adapters, you can use the AF100 with a variety of lenses beyond the Micro Four Thirds collection. But using Micro Four Thirds lenses with the camcorder can be beneficial, as it allows features like autofocus and face detection to function. You can find the AG-AF100 bundled with a Micro Four Thirds lens, but there is no official "kit" lens that comes with the camcorder.

Front

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Back

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Left

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Compression

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If you're familiar with consumer HD camcorders, then the jump up to the AG-AF100 shouldn't be that difficult for you... at least in terms of compression. The camcorder uses an AVCHD-compliant MPEG-4 recording format to compress Full HD video shot with the camcorder.

Shockingly, the AF100 does not offer a 1080/60p record mode, which is something Panasonic does include on its high-end consumer camcorders. Also surprising: the AF100 tops out with a 21Mbps bitrate, which is a bit shy of the 24Mbps maximum bitrate possible for 1080/60i AVCHD recording.

But wait! At NAB this year, Panasonic announced a software upgrade for the AF100 that enables the camcorder to shoot 1080/60p video with a 28Mbps bitrate. This shooting mode, called PS, is the same 1080/60p mode Panasonic offers on its consumer camcorders. The upgrade isn't free—it is set to be available this May for $250.

Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of different compression types.

Frame rates and resolutions that are usable on the AG-AF100 include the following: 1080/59.94i (60i), 1080/29.97p (30p), 1080/23.98p (24p), 720/59.94 (60p), 720/29.97p (30p), and 720/23.98 (24p). The camcorder can also be set to record with the PAL standard frame rates of 50i, 25p, and 720/50p.

One of the coolest features on the AG-AF100 is its variable frame rate control that allows you to undercrank to the specific frame rate of your choice when the camcorder is set to its 1080/24p, 25p or 30p record mode. You can select from frame rates as low as 12fps to as high as 60fps with at least 20 different frame rate options in between. Unfortunately, the camcorder is not equipped with any high-speed frame rates.

Media

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The camcorder comes with dual SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slots that can handle SDXC cards with up to 64GB capacity. According to Panasonic, the camcorder can record up to 12 hours of video at its highest quality setting when using two 64GB memory cards. Both card slots are located on the back of the camcorder, behind a protective cover that locks in place and releases via a small switch.

Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of different media types.

Auto Mode

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The AG-AF100 offers autfocus and face detection technology, but only with select lenses. The functions work with the H-VS014140 Lumix lenses according to Panasonic, and the functions may work with other Micro Four Thirds lenses from Olympus and other manufacturers as well. If you use other lenses, or attach a different type of lens using an adapter system, you'll have no choice but focusing manually.

The wide selection of manual controls on the AF100 simply begs you to play with the camcorder. Yes, there are some auto functions that can be engaged (exposure and white balance, for example), but when you see the large array of buttons and switches the camcorder has to offer you will likely be enticed. And if you're not, then this is probably not the camcorder for you.

Focus

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Manual focus control is a function built into lenses, so it is not part of the AF100 per se. The camcorder does have some focus assist functions, however, that can be used to help you get your manual focus just right. There's a focus bar and colored peaking, both of which can be utilized during or prior to recording.

Exposure

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Instead of a sliding neutral density switch, the AG-AF100 has a rotating ND dial near the front of the camcorder. The dial makes it a bit more difficult to see (from the outside) what reduction setting the ND filter is set to, but it is still fairly easy to access. The ND settings offered on the camcorder are 1/4, 1/16, and 1/64 reductions.

Like focus, the AF100 has a number of tools meant to assist with setting the exposure on the camcorder. There are two sets of zebra patterns available, as well as a waveform monitor and vectorscope to give you a better idea if you have the exposure levels correct. These functions each have their own dedicated button on the side of the camcorder, which means you can bring them up (or turn them off) rather quickly while you're setting up your shot.

Aperture

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There's an iris control dial near the front of the camcorder, but it only functions with select lenses (the same lenses that would work with the camcorder's autofocus mechanism). If you have a lens with its own aperture ring, then you'll have to rotate that manually in order to get the aperture setting of your choice.

Shutter Speed

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Shutter is controlled by a small wheel on the back of the AF100, that, at first, we didn't think we'd like. After getting comfortable with the wheel, however, we felt it was adequately designed (although still rather small). But Panasonic got the important thing right here—the wheel is pretty easy to find and it is good for making one or two stop adjustments to shutter speed. The camcorder's shutter speed can be set as slow as 1/2 a second and as fast as 1/2000 of a second.

White Balance

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There's an auto white balance button near the front of the camcorder, two built-in white balance presets (3200K and 5600K), and a little switch on the side of the camcorder that lets you quickly switch between stored white balance settings.

Gain

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Gain settings can be set from -6dB to 18dB on the AG-AF100 (in 3dB steps). If you turn the camcorder into "Film Mode" the settings switch over to corresponding ISO numbers that range from ISO 200 to ISO 3200. This gain range is a bit less extensive than we've seen on similar pro models, but Panasonic does include the standard gain switcher on the side of the camcorder that lets you change the gain settings on the fly (low, medium, and high presets).

Color & Image Controls

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We could write about the AF100's extra image controls for pages—just as we could with most professional camcorders. Instead, we'll just give you a brief overview to give you an idea of the amount of control you get with a camcorder like the AF100. The camcorder has six built-in gamma curve settings, four selectable color matrices, color phase and saturation control, as well as pedestal and detail image control. You can output timecode to synch up camcorders on multi-cam shoots and there's a dynamic range stretch option in all shooting modes. You can customize and save your various image settings into six different scene files, which can then be saved to a memory card and shared with other AF100 camcorders so your recording settings match.

Other Manual Controls

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Panasonic includes an interval recording function on the AG-AF100, which is something the company offers on some of its consumer camcorders as well. The maximum shooting time is 24 hours and the record mode is fixed the highest-quality (PH) setting and a 1080/24p frame rate. Recording intervals that are possible include one frame every second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute, or two minutes.

Ease of Use

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Just like any pro model, we wouldn't call the AG-AF100 "easy to use", but its light design does make it simpler for handheld shooting than much of the competition. Using a fully-functional Micro Four Thirds lens with the camcorder also makes for a much simpler shooting experience if you want it. That's the only way to get full use out of the camcorders autofocus and face detection features.

Handling

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The AG-AF100 was one of the few camcorders at NAB that we actually got to hold in our hands (the Sony NEX-FS700 was another). This doesn't mean we didn't get our hands on any other camcorders, it's just that most models at NAB are mounted to tripods and elaborate shooting rigs. Panasonic wanted to show off the AF100's handheld design, however, so it had a couple of models on display that weren't attached to tripods or equipped with huge, fancy lenses. This doesn't mean you can't deck out the AF100 with large rigs or tripods—just look at the pictures below and you'll see the AF100 works fine in both forms.

The stubby size of the Panasonic's body felt very strange when we first slipped our hand into its right-side grip. The hand strap was similar to what you'd find on a large prosumer or professional camcorder that is meant for handheld shooting, but the bulging grip was a bit bigger than what we're used to for a camcorder of this size. We're guessing this has to do with the AF100's boxy shape, while most built-in lens camcorders are shaped more like a long rectangle.

The grip became a bit more comfortable when we realized how exactly we were meant to apply pressure to keep the AF100 steady. There are a few finger guides above the hand strap that keep your fingers in place and help you get a tighter grip on the body of the camcorder. We found the camcorder's grip to be very large, so it should accommodate those with large hands or people who like to wear gloves when shooting.

We never felt fully comfortable resting our left hand on the base of the lens while holding the AF-AG100. The lens didn't line up with the body of the camcorder perfectly, so it felt like we were stretching to reach the zoom and focus ring on the lens itself. Obviously, this issue is more related to what kind of lens you have attached to the camcorder than anything else, but the problem may stem from the camcorder's unusual body design.

Portability

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The AG-AF100 weighs just under three pounds (1300g) without its handle, grip, battery pack, or a lens. Of those accessories, the lens will probably add the most weight, especially if you attach a large one to the front of the camcorder. The size specs listed below are also without a lens, handle, or grip. We must say the AF100 didn't feel too heavy in our hand, but for a long day of shooting you'll definitely want some sort of brace (or a tripod).

LCD & Viewfinder

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A 3.45-inch LCD swings out from the left side of the AF100. It has a 920,000-pixel resolution, which isn't that impressive (it's actually lower-res than the LCD on Panasonic's flagship consumer camcorder, the HC-X900M). When closed, the LCD conceals many controls, including most of the camcorder's audio adjustment buttons and dials. We've seen this on many pro camcorders, and we don't really like the idea of an LCD covering important controls, but we can understand Panasonic's decision to save space this way.

Viewfinder wide 0.45 type LCD color monitor (Approx. 1,226,000 dots equivalent)

The electronic viewfinder has a 0.45-inch display with a 1.226 megapixel resolution. These specs are on par with other pro models in this price range, and we were satisfied with the crisp images produced when we looked through the EVF. The viewfinder did seem to slip downward now and then when we used the AF100 and it had trouble staying put at a straight 45-degree angle.

Audio Features

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The AF100 has a built-in stereo microphone in addition to its dual XLR inputs and headphone jack. Instead of being up front by the lens, Panasonic placed the XLR inputs near the back of the camcorder's right side (by the EVF). It's a somewhat unusual position, but the camcorder's short length means the XLR ports are still not to far from the accessory shoe where you can mount an external microphone (the tip of the handlebar). Audio controls are mostly located behind the LCD panel (when it is closed), but line/mic switches are located right next to the XLR ports themselves.

Connectivity

Conclusion

Compared to some of the new professional camcorders announced at NAB, the Panasonic AG-AF100 already seems dated even though it's only a year old. Panasonic's move to create an interchangeable lens camera was smart and sensible, but many will balk at the camcorder's Micro Four Thirds lens system and 4/3-inch image sensor. We also have doubts about the camcorder's lack of a native 1080/60p record mode and its limited max bitrate of 21Mbps AVCHD recording—although Panasonic claims a $250 firmware update will add 1080/60p recording capability to the AF100 later this year.

That being said, the AG-AF100 does offer some impressive specs for a camcorder that lists for less than $5000 dollars. It has a light and portable frame that is conducive for handheld videography, it has an HD-SDI port for uncompressed video output, and it has all the controls and settings you need to make a professional-grade video.

Let's be clear, the AG-AF100 pales in comparison to the new Sony NEX-FS700 ($10k) and Canon C300 ($15k) and C500 ($30k), but the AF100 will cost you a whole lot less. If you have no need for recording 4K video, and working with a Micro Four Thirds lens mount doesn't bother you, then the AG-AF100 is a camcorder to consider. Its $4995 list price and sub-$4000 street price (body only) makes it one of the most reasonably-priced interchangeable lens camcorders for professionals.

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Specs

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Meet the tester

Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas

Managing Editor, Video

@nematode9

Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.

See all of Jeremy Stamas's reviews

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