One more day till the Glasgow Camera Day at BBC Scotland where you will entertained and educated all about Going HD-Going Tapeless.

There are two spots, Wednesday morning and afternoon, both consist of Phil Myers telling us all about Large Sensor Cameras and then onto ENG camcorders all tapeless !

HD Warrior has been invited to produce a web video, you will see the Sony FS100 being used in the field along with various lenses as a run and gun which may give you ideas for future productions you may have in mind. Remember CVP are here to help with any of your production needs big or small.

Details can be found here : http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=events/19/

Sadly I have to admit to being a tad blinkered as a Canon owner when it comes to the AF101. If you own Canon glass your options to use it with the Panasonic AF101 are very limiting, there are two choices the Kipon which failed me after 3 months light use and the Birger which is taking ages to appear and will be an expensive option.

I think Erik Widding CEO of Birger Engineering has bitten off more than he can chew with his electronic Canon mount and has been a technical nightmare made worse by the fact that good old Canon don’t allow anyone to see the EOS lens technical drawings that would make life a lot easier for those making adapters like Birger, or so I am told.

This brings me to my recent decision to off-load my Canon gear in favour of Nikon, again, just before I moved over to Canon I had a Nikon D3 and some expensive “Nano” glass which I now regret selling.

You have two choices with Nikon glass DX and non DX, DX glass is made for APS-C sensors which are smaller than full frame 35mm sensors, you can use DX glass on “FX” full frame cameras but the camera auto crops and only outputs a 5MP picture. This is where a micro Four Thirds camera like the AF101 scores, you can use all the Nikon lenses which gives you a massive choice and some sexy glass.

I decided to plum for the 17-55 F2.8 DX zoom lens as my standard lens on the AF101 which gives a crop equivalent to a 34-110 lens and the new Sony FS100, once again the Sony Super 35mm chip is almost the same size of the APS-C sensor so your choice is so much bigger. The Nikon lenses do not need power to enable the iris allowing adapter manufacturers like MTF a free reign to develop Nikon to mFT (AF101), Nikon to Sony E (FS100, VG10) and the Nikon to Sony F3 mount, all readily available off the shelf.

I am handing back my loan lens the Lumix 7-14mm mFT which I thought I would miss till I bought the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 DX lens which gives you a crop equivalent to a 22-32mm lens and it’s a cracking piece of glass, sharp as a tac, this in my opinion beats the 7-14 Lumix hands down for sharpness and does not have nearly the same distortion at the edges that the Lumix suffers from and the Tokina is f2.8 with a manual iris.

I have been blinkered waiting for the Birger mount, hanging onto my semi redundant Canon glass when there is a whole new world out there if you buy into some Nikon mount glass, you even have a choice of Zeiss FP.2 glass which is the SLR version of their CP2 glass…same glass less money.

I am always being asked if there is a good stock lens to have on the AF101 and I can now add the Nikon 17-55 f2.8 DX lens as a good all rounder.

The Panasonic AF101 has started a massive ball rolling from the day it landed in the UK and beyond, Panasonic were quietly optimistic about world wide sales but were dumb struck by the uptake of the camcorder and has outstripped everyone’s expectations. Having owned one for the last 5 months I have only now had time to reflect on what has been a momentous journey with my 101.

Seen here in the making of my first teaching DVD “Getting the best from your Panasonic AF101″ and using my favourite Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f0.95 lens, the camera has been a fantastic asset and a joy to use…so why am I swapping it for the new Sony FS100 ?

I not only report to you on my blog but I am a technical adviser for H Preston Media and need to keep on top of the new technology, the other deciding factor is 1080 50p. I am about to embark on a massive project about type one diabetes which involves filming all over Scotland and I need on certain occasions to film interviews with two cameras. As I am about to purchase the Sony NX70 partly because of it’s ability to shoot 1080 50p and various other pro features…XLR inputs, manual gain etc. it seemed logical to look at the Sony FS100 as a partner for the NX70.

I am now used to filming interviews with a nice shallow depth of field (SDoF) so the FS100 with the same colour matrix would match far better. Both cameras will be filming 1080 50p so I wont get any issues on the Final Cut Pro 10 timeline.

I have also off loaded my Canon gear, the 5D2 and 4 “L” lenses I have to admit I won’t miss the 5D2 it was not a patch on my Nikon D3 or Nikon glass in fact I am now building up a new rage of Nikon glass in anticipation of getting my FS100.

Looking back over the last 5 months I can now reveal my thoughts on the AF101 and the range of glass I had amassed.

The AF101 was not perfect but then tell me a camcorder that is, I did not like the positioning of the start-stop buttons, very alien to a seasoned cameraman used to having those buttons on the camera front and behind the lens grip, small detail,… like all camera manufacturers Panasonic are not alone in leaving out features that may be introduced into a future version like, 4:2:2, 10bit, 50Mbs and 1080 50p with sound.

The viewfinder needs to be beefed up in a future design it’s not fit for purpose and even Panasonic will concede to this by having a Cineroid EVF attached onto their demo AF101 at BVE 2010. Hi Res EVFs like Cineroid and Zacuto have grown out of the lack of decent viewfinders and single position low res LCD DSLRs.

So what about my choice of glass…there is no doubt the Voigtlander, Nokton 25mm f0.95 has been my star buy along side the Canon 50mm f1.2 using the Kipon adapter. The two times crop gives these two lenses an angle of view the same as a 50mm and a 100mm lens.

This has been the hardest one to get my head round…the 2x crop…no matter what lens you attach to the AF101 you always get a 2x crop or do you ? All lenses that fit a 35mm DSLR full frame or APS-C give you a 2x crop in other words you only see the picture produced by the centre of the lens which means you get far sharper pictures with no fall off as you are using the sweet-spot of the lens itself.

What about micro Four Third (mFT) lenses, well they are built to cover the 4/3″ sensor itself so you do get fall off and corner aberrations the same as you would using a 35mm lens on a full frame DSLR, like all lenses some are better than others. So is there a 2x crop using a mFT lens, say the 7-14mm f4 Lumix lens, the short answer is yes. To this day I do not understand how a lens made for the sensor size like mFT lenses still incur a 2x crop but I double checked using 3 lenses…a 14-140mm Lumix mFT set to 50mm, a 50mm Nikon f1.4 G and a 17-55mm Nikon DX lens set to 50mm and they all contained the same image size which on the DX and G lens the 50mm was producing the look of a 100mm lens.

Lenses…I had Canon “L” glass but the Kipon adapter is not the solution, after my Kipon became loose I barred myself from using my precious “L” glass on what became an inferior adapter, so most of my latter lenses were the Nokton 25mm f0.95 mFT and my 50mm Nikon f1.4 using the MTF Nikon to mFT adapter.

It became apparent that for interviews the Nokton 25mm mFT or Nikon 50mm/MTF adapter were the favourites and my tip for anyone entering this marketplace is to buy Nikon glass. I am now swapping over to Nikon, again, and is sharper than Canon and that statement comes from a long term Canon man !!!

At some time in the future we may see the Birger mount, this will power your Canon lenses using a £600+ adapter but in reality I now prefer the Nikon glass on a good old manual MFT adapter at under £300.

I am now kitting myself out with various Nikon lenses to use with the FS100, so far I have bought a Nikon 50mm f1.4 G, Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 DX, Tokina 10-20mm f2.8 (Nikon fit), a Sony “A” 30mm Zeiss macro lens and a Sony “A” to “E” adapter and am looking at buying a Zeiss ZF.2 Nikon fit lens.

I am not leaving my AF101 because I do not like the pictures it produces far from it, I am in the very fortunate position of being able to move from Panasonic back to Sony and I have to say I may live to regret my move, only time will tell.

Remember because of my vast knowledge using the AF101 I will still be able to assist you if you have any questions or setup problems…you can email me at hdwarrior@me.com

It was a request from one of my Australian readers who wants a copy of the 60 minute training video but needs it in a hurry so I have produced an iPad version of my AF101 video. It will play on an iPad or within iTunes.

All you need to do is send me an Email and I will send you a PayPal request for £20…once your payment is in I will send you a copy of the file.

Email  hdwarrior@me.com

My new training DVD “Getting the best from your Panasonic AF101″ is flying all over the globe, from Australia, Japan, USA, France, Germany…Most of you own an AF101 but some of you are dipping your toe in the water by looking at the end result on SD DVD before you buy.

I have struck a deal with H Preston Media that if you buy an AF101 from them and you email me to tell me so, H Preston Media will refund the cost of your DVD by giving you a further £25 off the camera.

Panasonic have been delighted with their first large sensor camera the AF100 series, it has caught the imagination of many disgruntled DPs who for many reasons did not play ball with the DSLR. The price has been the major factor for many DPs dipping their toes in the water only to be pleasantly surprised with the results.

The draw back with the AF100 series is the deliberate throttling back of many features that could have taken it to mega stardom but this years NAB 2011 has given us a glimpse into the future with Panasonic’s thinking and the road ahead.

The new Panasonic AG-HPX250 P2 camcorder is not only a vast improvement in style for Panasonic but features to match…10bit, 4:2:2 with P2 AVC-Intra recording, this will set Panasonic well amongst the pigeons and once again give Sony a good run for it’s money.

If Panasonic turn their attention into producing a 10bit, 4:2:2 version of the AF100 series even dare I say it with P2 to give us AVC-Intra recording it would satisfy the broadcasters and even at about £6K price steal the market place from Sony a second time.

All manufacturers need to address the viewfinders in these cameras and either give us payed options or vastly improve on todays “NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE VIEWFINDERS”.

It’s incredible that over the last 2 months we have seen about 5 EVFs appear on the marketplace and what amazed me was Panasonic having a demo AF101 at BVE with a Cineroid EVF a sure sign that even they are not happy with their own EVF.

The next hottest EVF to appear is from Zacuto and by all accounts this will be the de-facto EVF for the AF100 series of camcorders but we don’t see any until the beginning of May. Another enhancement would be a servo zoom and the inclusion of a zoom lens, the same as Sony giving the Panasonic a second string to it’s bow.

Will Panasonic have the balls to update the AF100 series…YES…Sony have put their cards firmly on the table with the F3 and FS100 which was Sony’s attempt at a Panasonic spoiler but if we get a 10bit, 4:2:2, AVC-intra P2 AF200 series camcorder it will take the market by storm.

Many DPs are now changing over to AF100 cameras and are becoming familiar with the camera and it’s menu system, the AF101 (UK) is a good starter but I think Panasonic have caught a glimpse of being top dog with this camcorder and don’t intend to let go with version two of this amazing large sensor camera.

It’s taken a while but the all new updated DVD is now available exclusively from HD Warrior and H Preston Media. After producing my review on the AF101 which lasts 20 minutes I decided from the viewing figures 24,724 that maybe some of you would appreciate a more in-depth DVD about the AF101.

Topics covered are as follows…

How to adjust the camera via the menu system covering…Scene file One and noise reduction, Video to Film mode, Taking out Headphone echo, PAL to NTSC plus using non electronic lenses and how to change the menu to avoid a black picture.

I also cover the ATOMOS NINJA, the CINEROID EVF, the DataVideo iPad prompter, Glidetrack HD Hybrid slider, the BeBob Foxi pull focus system and Barry Greens book.

We look at the AF101 in Low Light, 6, 9 and 18dBs, tutorial on the AVCCAM viewer, FCP-7 Log and Transfer and I go through in detail how to update your firmware in the camera.

As you can see I cover a host of informative details on the AF101 and you now have the chance to buy your very own copy at the price of £25 plus postage (£2.50 UK). All you need to do is send me an email for a PayPal request and I will do the rest.

The SD DVD runs for 60 minutes and is a must for anyone who wants to know more about your AF101 or is thinking of buying one.

Email hdwarrior@me.com

EXCLUSIVE OFFER : From today till the 31st of May 2011…If you buy the AF101 DVD and you then decide to buy an AF101 from H Preston Media you will get a further £25 off your camera giving you the DVD for FREE.

Who is going to be the king of the low light footage, I have one more day with both cameras then the F3 needs to go back down south. So far my conclusions are that the F3 glass helps keep flaring to a minimum but you would expect this as the lens is made specially for the camera.

This is where I take issue with Sony they have dedicated their prime lenses to fit on this camera only, so you can’t use them on any other camera, this may be for technical reasons but as we know Sony don’t make lenses, a third party has made these lenses but to Sony’s specifications.

I think it’s a poor decision by Sony not to make this a universal “PL” mount taking the edge off a rather nice set of prime lenses. The mount on the camera is identical to the EX mount but for one pin…why the exclusivity…only Sony can answer that.

The camera performed very well in Edinburgh city centre and as my good pal and fellow DP, John commented “it’s very filmic” “the pictures are unreal”. We watched the footage from both Edinburgh and Glasgow and John who is not easily impressed was stunned by the quality of the 12dB footage.

Although I have taken footage side by side with both cameras I have deliberately not seen the footage yet as I want to savour the moment that I put Sony’s Goliath against Panasonic’s David.

The one thing I can divulge is the difference between using £2.6K glass against £830 glass. The Sony 35mm was the closest in angle of view to my Voigtlander NOKTON 25mm lens, although the NOKTON has a very fast aperture of f0.95 I decided to keep it fair and stop down to f2 the same as the Sony lens. It was clear to me that the Sony had flare but not as noticeable as the NOKTON lens, as the Sony is three times dearer I would expect the optics to be superior to the Voigtlander lens, so no surprise there then.

I am about to hit a busy spell so you will have to wait for my final conclusions i’m afraid.

I got an email from a Podiatrist in Hull last week teeing up times and dates to do a spot of filming and reminding me that she would prefer to use a prompter. Although I had such a beast from ProPrompter their iPad HD it is totally unsuitable for use with the Panasonic AF101, what a pain.

Fortunately my recent visit to BVE in London I had been looking at suitable prompters for the AF101, Holdan had the datavideo iPad Prompter and after studying it for a while I could see the full potential of using it with the 101.

Updated design feature : Delivered this morning from Holdan’s I started to assemble it to discover you get one standard 1/4″ screw which in my books is far to flimsy and does not fasten the camera nor in my case a quick release plate firmly enough to the prompter frame so after some measurements and an older Manfrotto QR plate I drilled a larger hole in the frame to allow a 3/8″ tripod screw and hey presto you have a belt and braces QR plate held on with two screws.

The great feature about the AF101 is it’s size, it is so well balanced on the Miller Tripod because it’s not a shoulder mount bruit. I tried the Nokton 25mm lens and the Canon 50mm f1.2 lens both work a treat.

Software : You can download various prompter APPs from the APPLE APP STORE but two that work best is i-Prompt Pro (FREE) and Teleprompt +. iPrompt Pro allows you to use the wired remote that comes with the datavideo prompter kit, you can download the APP called dv Prompter that datavideo recomend but I find the remote does not function nearly as well as iPrompt Pro which looks to be a clone of the datavideo version.

Teleprompt + for iPad is £5.99 and allows you to use your iPhone as a remote control for speed, pause and tabbing, I must admit the wired remote used with iPrompt is by far the most reliable for prompting.

UPDATE : Just spoke to the software developers at iPrompt and they inform me that an updated version of both iPrompt and datavideo which is the same software which gets rid of a bug that causes a jitter in the scrollong speed mode. The update should be with us via the Apple web site in about 5 days.