Thanks for the input... I hadn't considered the F3 for various reasons... firstly because it says "Sony" on it... and I've ALWAYS thought that Sony cameras were a bit "harsh". Back in the day, I had Ikegami HL55s... and it seems that today, Panasonic has kind of taken the place of the warmer more filmy look that Ikegami used to have (incidentally... did Ikegami just fall off a cliff?)
That being said... I realize that with all the modern Color Grading tools we all have available... we can make any decent format look just about any way we'd like.
The thing is... I already have 2 Panasonic HPX 370s... so another Panasonic camera will immediately have more or less the same controls, and the scene setups will be almost the same as well. So, with this option I would have much less issues matching the footage as best as possible when having sources from multiple cameras.
Also... I see this as a Stop-Gap measure anyhow. I'm hoping that Panasonic will get their 4k crap together pretty soon and then I could move in that direction when they're ready. I know several people who jumped into Red and other 4K cameras as soon as they were available, and most of them simply are NOT using the 4K output at all... some wishing that they had just waited.
Today... I can get a brand new af100a body for about $2500. So, camera, 2 lenses, and the recorder all for about $6K... Even if I only get $3k back I would have spent $3k for a year or more of a decent shallow depth of field alternative... so, if I go that way, and I only get 1/2 my money back... who cares, it simply wouldn't cost much AND.... I could even just keep it as a spare system, and get rid of an old HVX200 I have sitting around collecting dust.
NAB opens tomorrow... which is why I've held off this long. I want to see if Panasonic has any word on what they might be doing with their so called 4k Varicam.
Frank Smith
Franklin Video, Inc.
Frank@FranklinVideo.com
http://www.FranklinVideo.com