1D Mark II mini review and C1 (beta) full size images

[Pekka]

http://photography-on-the.net/1DmarkII

All comments and questions are welcome. If people like to read and view a review like this I'll most likely continue it later as I use Mark II more in various situations.

If you see spelling and grammar errors please PM me :)

[vvizard]

Looks good. Thumbs up :)

[defordphoto]

In Focus, paragraph 4 line 4 the word "withing". I assume you mean with. That's the only thing that caught my eye, but I quick-read the article. I had my first shoot with my MKII yesterday and pretty much agree with everything you said in your review.

The MKII is simply the best camera I have ever touched. (period)

[SnJPhoto]

Very well done.

I would be interested in hearing your observations on what setting may work for you on some sporting events that are a bit more intricate (smaller subjects)/faster paced. We shot at a mountain bike race/event this weekend and loved how the camera performed. I am interested in anyones comments on the AI servo speed settings that people have experimented with so far.

Scott

[defordphoto]

AI Servo is flawless.

[khkohl]

Very good review. I had my first go with the MArk II and would concur with you. I need a few days with this baby until we can become one.

[GenEOS]

I have had the oportunity to mate up to some big glass with the Mark II. I will echo Pekka's comments on the lenses making a difference.
I was shooting an older 500 f4.5 non-IS lens with a 1.4TC. The image is the sharpest and most stunning I have made with the camera to date.
I have it posted on my SportsShooter page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2474

I was amazed at the jpeg. At 10,000% a square pixel was hard to see. This copy is made from the jpeg. I have not post-processed the RAW file yet.

My wife, however, does not see the need for me to buy a 500 f4 IS.
I just can't figure out why?

[CyberDyneSystems]

Great review Pekka..

And I agree totally.

Focus is insanely accurate.. and auto WB is better than my custom WB some times (found that out last night)

One trick I picked up from Kenny G.. With the 10D I always had it set to 3fps Burst..


Well after you spend a week with the MkII pick your 10D and check out the shutter lag... hoo hum.. seems forever..

Anyway.. Kenny recomended not bothering with the high speed burst on the 1D.. He uses single shot,.. and I have to say it works really well.. with the total lack of shutter lag and the amazing response.. you can trigger the shutter faster than 3 fps easily.. and have complete control of when those fps occur..

Another alternative is to leave it in the MkII on 3fps. This nearly eliminates the accidental "double tap" and yet I can trigger individual shots faster than 3 fps just by tapping the shutter faster... and you get that precise control.

Another thing.. the buffer is HUGE.. even in RAW I HAVE NEVER run out of buffer space on this camera once. With the 10D I did it all the time.

I love this thing!

[defordphoto]

CDS: Re: high speed shutter; I could not agree more. Especially when it comes to the vertical shutter button. Man that thing is wicked sensitive and 8.5fps is hella-fast. I'll get used to the standard shutter button, but will leave it on single shot unless I am major sports mode.

I think we were "used to" the 10D shutter-lag and now we're shooting with an Uzi.

[scottbergerphoto]

AI Servo is flawless.
Jim, I had alot of trouble with the AI Servo on Saturday. It was a very overcast day and I was shooting planes against the sky. The AI Servo had a very hard time, even with Center Point only. When the clouds lifted it was dead on as it was the week before. I guess even the Mark II has its limitations.
Regards,
Scott

[SnJPhoto]

ScottB - I have to agree with you on the AI Servo, it does have some limitations. I was hoping one of these guys had a handle on the fine tuning CFs. Doesn't sound like it so far.
I have found on things that are faster and smaller in scale to the frame, that the AI tends to "wander". So I went and shot a softbal game tonight trying different modes. I had very good luck tonight, so maybe its just operator error this wekend. As an FYI, I used 2 seperate MkIIs throughout the weekend and both performed the same, so I am confident it is not the individual body.
I'll have to wait until the next downhill MTB race to get a true sense of the differences in the modes though.
I think the AI Servo works great for shots where the moving objects take up large portions of the frame. That proved very effective this weekend. Over all I am still extremely pleased on the performance of the cameres.

I haven't picked up my 1Ds much since I got hold of the MkII's ......


FYI - here are some of the pics from the races...

http://www.pbase.com/snj/norba_races

[NILOLIGIST]

Pekka,

As always you do a wonderful job. That review is not mini by any means. It is consice, detailed and very informative.

Thank you so much.

NiL,

[defordphoto]

SnJ/ScottRe: AI Servo - Yes, my boats filled up the frame, but previously with the 10D, even with a full frame it would wander from time to time like it got confused. Could also (maybe) be a lens issue too or a small combination of both. And with the 10D I found the smaller the object the tougher it was to focus.

We'll have to experiment more on this one...But, with the boats I found the AI Servo significantly better, faster and more accurate than the 10D.

[timmyquest]

A tad off topic but seriously

http://www.photography-on-the.net/1DmarkII/markIIfiles/HV8O0648_small.jpg

How much of this picture is:

Camera
Lens
Lighting

[defordphoto]

It's a bit of everything. You forgot "photographer" on your short list there. On another forum someone gave a link to some good MKII photos. Someone then mentioned: "Can't a 10D do that too? Show me a shot that only the MKII can shoot." What a weird comment.

The MKII will not produce some magical photo that others cameras cannot shoot. It might get there faster and we might be able to blow it up larger, but it's not going to perform circus acts.

We've reached a point where features will now mean more than megapixels.

[timmyquest]

It's a bit of everything. You forgot "photographer" on your short list there. On another forum someone gave a link to some good MKII photos. Someone then mentioned: "Can't a 10D do that too? Show me a shot that only the MKII can shoot." What a weird comment.

The MKII will not produce some magical photo that others cameras cannot shoot. It might get there faster and we might be able to blow it up larger, but it's not going to perform circus acts.

We've reached a point where features will now mean more than megapixels.

I left that part off for a reason, it was the same reason i was about to leave "lighting off". You pretty much said what i expect(ed) to hear.

[defordphoto]

It's a bit of everything. You forgot "photographer" on your short list there. On another forum someone gave a link to some good MKII photos. Someone then mentioned: "Can't a 10D do that too? Show me a shot that only the MKII can shoot." What a weird comment.

The MKII will not produce some magical photo that others cameras cannot shoot. It might get there faster and we might be able to blow it up larger, but it's not going to perform circus acts.

We've reached a point where features will now mean more than megapixels.

I left that part off for a reason, it was the same reason i was about to leave "lighting off". You pretty much said what i expect(ed) to hear.

Take a 1Ds or an MKII photo and shrink it down to 800x600 for the web and display them on the monitors we all use and the real quality of the photo is lost. Even with 6.5mp cameras the real quality cannot be displayed on a computer monitor.

Print them out and then everything changes. Then you'll see the difference.

[timmyquest]

Fair enough, but i go back to my original opinon of lens choice...this is an L lens is it not? (pekka)

[BurningArrow]

Amazing, the woman with the instrument, I can even see she's wearing contacts!

[scottbergerphoto]

There has been alot of disapointment expressed on Rob Galbraith's Forum about the Mark II's low light AF capability. Many people have complained that it can't focus in low light. I suspect that this is related to the difficlty I had using AI Servo in low contrast/heavy overcast skies. There are over 95 posts in this thread about problems with low light AF:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=235922&page=1&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
Regards,
Scott

[Pekka]

A tad off topic but seriously

http://www.photography-on-the.net/1DmarkII/markIIfiles/HV8O0648_small.jpg

How much of this picture is:

Camera
Lens
Lighting

I think "Mark II" in this shot is mainly the dynamic range - in those same conditions I simply never was able to keep white scores and foreheads from overexposing, while having a good exposure on the rest. It all required lots of curve fiddling if you wanted to get above "look" and if the shot was ISO 1600 then the quality would not have held together.

Lighting on that photo was fixed concert hall roof lighting and lens was the good 70-200 f/2.8L (which I btw decided not to swap to IS version because my copy is so suberbly sharp over whole range). It was up to me to a) choose a lens and b) find a position where light was good c) shoot.

Of course it is so that all cameras are very much alike (after certain basic requirements) and can take similar pictures (on that size). Why Mark II then, and not 300D? When you pick up Mark II, even if you never touch burst mode or 45 point AF, you will get more good shots simply because of handling (balance, viewfinder), speed (shutter, buffer, preview), accuracy (AF, metering) and low noise / high DR. I find that at the moment of taking a shot I think now less about camera and AF than I did before with D30/60 and 10D. A feeling worth paying for.

[defordphoto]

Of course it is so that all cameras are very much alike (after certain basic requirements) and can take similar pictures (on that size). Why Mark II then, and not 300D? When you pick up Mark II, even if you never touch burst mode or 45 point AF, you will get more good shots simply because of handling (balance, viewfinder), speed (shutter, buffer, preview), accuracy (AF, metering) and low noise / high DR. I find that at the moment of taking a shot I think now less about camera and AF than I did before with D30/60 and 10D. A feeling worth paying for.

I could not agree more. Well said.

[roanjohn]

All I can say is.......

........SLURP..........

That Mark II is delicious!!!

Ro1

[Pekka]

There has been alot of disapointment expressed on Rob Galbraith's Forum about the Mark II's low light AF capability. Many people have complained that it can't focus in low light. I suspect that this is related to the difficlty I had using AI Servo in low contrast/heavy overcast skies. There are over 95 posts in this thread about problems with low light AF:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=235922&page=1&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
Regards,
Scott

A big part of focusing is the focusing screen: I wonder if anyone has made any tests using alternative screens, or even default screen from another batch?

As I said in the review, I've had some problems with low light focus, but they have not been about not getting focus lock - instead they have been problems with locking to closeby more contrasty focus target.

But the oddest thing is that I don't have that problem all the time. For example today at work intervals I did lots of low light tests and I got only couple of nontargeted focus locks out of 80. Perhaps I'm starting to know what Mark II thinks after all.

[scottbergerphoto]

Pekka, from what I've read (all 51 pages at www.robgalbraith.com), it seems to vary with the lens used and the kind of lighting. Surprisingly, Chuck Westphall of Canon, while commenting on a number of issues raised about the 1D Mark II, has thus far remained silent on this issue.
Regards,
Scott

[Flyball Rebel]

http://photography-on-the.net/1DmarkII

All comments and questions are welcome. If people like to read and view a review like this I'll most likely continue it later as I use Mark II more in various situations.

Hi Pekka, Enjoyed your article very much. In fact, so much, I have just put in my order for the MkII. I may have to wait a few weeks, but it's done!! :) and I hope worth the wait, I'm sure, by what everybody says, it will be. Look forward to more of your views on the MkII in the near future. Regards [F.R.] :)

[Andy_T]

Pekka,

it's a great review with great pictures.

Best regards,
Andy

GenEos:

I like the pinkie shot on your website.
Great posture, vivid colours.
However, daring decision to put it on the web so everyone can see it :twisted:

[Canuck]

Do we have an idea about the dynamic range of the Mark II? I was wondering about like vs the 10D. I'm waiting to see a camera that can produce pics where they usually get left in the dust but your eyes can see all as it should be. I'd like to be able to do this without taking a) 2 pics and photoshopping them later, or b) blowing out sky to get ground/underexposing ground to get sky in landscape pics.

In the mean time we've come a hell of a long way in technology since the first digital cameras! I think it just a matter of time now.