Philip Bloom compares AF100 vs F3 vs FS100 Part 1 in the Real World

by Philip Bloom

I should have realised how tricky this would be to do right but I am glad I did. This has been an immense amount of work. I wanted to do a "real world" comparison test of the above cameras with a Canon 5DmkII along for the ride to see how it compares.

It's not a Shootout like the Zacuto one coming in June but a comparison on how they are to operate, the features they offer and of course a look at their images.

Part 2 goes in depth looking at the various features, but this is the pretty one with all the shots! Enjoy!

Please read more on my blog here about why we did it and what to take from it... philipbloom.net/​2011/​05/​04/​bloomshootout/​

Disclaimer:




This comparison has be done by myself and with the help of Suresh Kara from Documovie.co.uk for fun. We have tried be as accurate as possible but there will always be anomalies due to the shoot being conducted in the “real world” not in a studio. Do not treat anything in here as gospel. We don’t therefore neither should you!

Neither Canon, Sony or Panasonic have paid us any money for this. Sony did supply me with the FS100 to check out but no money exchanged hands, they simply wanted my opinion on it.

This was done in our own free time to give people more information about these new camcorders. Both myself and Suresh are AF101 owners and have been very curious how the new FS100 compares. I am also a recent Sony F3 owner. This is not a Zacuto shootout or anything similar. It is primarily about camera operation and features with a few shots thrown in to compare. I am coming at this from a cameraman’s point of view as to what it is like to shoot with this.

Of course the temptation to obsess over the difference in each image is strong, resist it. Sure, do that with the Zacuto shoot out but not this. There are far too many anomalies for that. Even my first low light test I screwed the AF settings up and had to reshoot it. This was done for fun and to give more information to people out there like myself and Suresh. Never buy a camera based upon one person’s opinion. Always try it out first, especially if you are spending thousands!