Some questions about 1D MkII

[BDM]

I have decided to upgrade to the 1D MkII. I have and and enjoyed my Dreb which I will keep as a backup body.

I have a couple of questions though. In May I will be shooting two events involving a national PBS personality. The shoot will no doubt involve shots of the talk itself but also a lot of "grip and grin" photos of the personality with members of the audience who are all "major contributors" to the station.

I will obviously need some more CF capacity. I will be shooting raw +jpeg. I am not familiar with the number of shots a card can hold using the Mk II format. I anticipate perhaps as many as 500 plus shots spread over two events on a single day. Can anyonme give me an idea of what capacity CF cards might be appropriate? I will probably not want only one big one as I am a little paranoid and would want more than one card in the event of malfunctions.

Also, I currently have a 550 EX flash and will probably supplement that with another unit or tywo so I can get some backlight and possibly background light capability. Any suggestions as to which units woul dbe good for that? And can the Canon units be used on light stands with some type of adaptor.

These questions are probably very simple but I am an old film camera shooter. I have been using the Dreb in part to ease into digital photography. I would know more about what is available for film camera work but my exp[erience with the digital mode is still limited. Taking a small number of shots in the outdoors is one thing. But making many shots in a limited time and on a "production" basis is something else.

I will appreciate any thoughts on the subject.

Bruce

[dobova]

Hi Bruce,
1D MKII is very good choice. I fill really fine with 1D MKII that I bought selling my old (and fantastic) 1D. I didn't get what kind of events are you going to shoot (sorry I'm not english!), but if they are photjournalism reportage, the 1D MKII is really a winner (for me!). I use it with only one 550ex flash, and only if really needed (I don't like flash light) .
Fill your pocket with minimum 3 CF (or SD) of 1GB capacity (Ultra II, Extreme III or Lexar 80x). Raw images are really suggested if you can afford in term of mem space. I no more shoot in RAW+JPG, becouse I use script in C1PRO to convert rapidly in JPG my RAW images. in 1GB card you can fit about 110 raw images but it depends also by ISO used to shoot.
In any case Canon has full line of remote flash control unit for 550ex & 580ex, that you can see at http://www.canoneos.com. Other people may have more knowledge about thirdy party adapters for stand light and so on.

Ciao

[sGu]

At ISO 100, 1D MK II can hold 185 RAW images ONLY, not RAW+JPEG. At ISO 800, it holds 175 RAW images, based on Sandisk Ultra II 2GB CF cards.

Why do you need to shoot RAW+JPEG? Do you have deadline to meet? Otherwise I'd suggest you to shoot RAW only. Get yourself couple of 2GB cards if you don't want to regularly changing cards and miss out shots.

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