It's on the Way

[MDJAK]

Well, I finally decided to pull the proverbial trigger. I've been wanting the 1Ds Mark II since I first read about it. I ordered it today from "The Camera Shop" in Bryn Mar, Pennsylvania. The camera, brand new, USA warranty, is $7600, plus about 20 for shipping. This is $400 less than almost any other reputable store out there, including B&H. As I live in NYC and often shop at B&H, I will also be saving over $600 in sales tax. This amounts to a savings of over a thousand dollars. I believe anyone would consider that to be substantial. It should arrive at my doorstep on Friday. I can't wait.

I currently have the 20D which I will keep for now, as the 1Ds Mark II may be too big for certain occasions.

One of the main reasons I've been unhappy with the 20D is the way the autofocus hunts after it locks on. I've been using the 70-200 F2.8 IS in high school gyms to photograph wrestling, along with varsity swimming meets and basketball.

When the ref raises a wrestler's hand in victory, the 20D will focus on the wrestler, sometimes stay focused, other times just go out of focus for no apparent reason.

I believe the 45 point autofocus will be significantly better in this respect.

I also am looking forward to the increase in resolution, as I own the Epson Stylys Pro 4000 and am printing large photos on a regular basis.

I must also admit to something which may sound silly but matters to me. I do like the increased size of the 1Ds Mark II, and when there are other photographers at the meets, I feel -- I don't want to say embarassed -- but, I guess, I want to have a big camera too. I realize that sounds childish, so please don't flame me for that in particular. It's just a feeling I get that I can't help. Even though lots of times the other photographers are using old Nikons with much resolution than my 20D.

[jaypie77]

I want to have a big camera too.

please don't flame me

Those two lines sure make it hard to restrain the flaming (joke) - at least I hope you won't become a gear snob when somebody with a smaller camera comes near you.

Also - why don't you have a gallery?

[MDJAK]

While I understand your concern, if you knew me you would never think that. While I do like to have the best of everything, I never flaunt it. In fact, recently at a match, I met a firefighter whose son was on one of the other high school teams. I had my 20D, he had his 10D (which I traded in for the 20D). He was using the 28-135 IS lens. He looked admiringly at my 70-200 F2.8 IS. I told him I wanted the 28-70 F2.8 as my next lens. He had it in his bag. I offered him my 70-200 to use for the rest of the evening, and he loaned me the 28-70. He kept coming over to me to show me the pictures he was capturing and loved it. I've been taking high school sports pictures for the past three years now. I've printed approximately 100 photos in 13x19 size on my Canon S9000, along with close to 200 8x10. Now that I've purchased the Epson Stylys Pro 4000, I have retired my Canon. I have since printed about 25 16x20 prints on Premium Luster Paper, 50 or so 11.7x16.5 Premium Luster Paper. Am I bragging? Absolutely not. I have not earned one nickel from any of this. I give the pictures away to all the athletes as a present. The coach frames them. Many of them hang on the wall of the wrestling room gym. It is my pleasure to do this. I have been offered money many times and have always turned it down. Three of four times I've had my pictures printed in the local newspaper along with the articles, which is all the thrill I need.

In fact, I've helped a gentleman who works for Metro North Railroad (his day job) to learn photography, what little I know. He now earns money traveling from tournament to tournament taking and selling photos. I believe his website is photoscomealive.com. He's begged me to come into business with him but I've refused. In fact, recently (and this was after having him over for dinner, teaching him how to use his camera, etc) at a tournament, he was being paid and I was just having fun. He said to me: "Don't be taking away my business by giving away pictures for free." He did have a slight smile on his face and was "half" kidding. I told him I had been doing it quite a bit longer than him and would continue to give away pictures whenever I felt like it. He then laughed and said: Come on, Mark, I'm only Kidding.

As far as a gallery, I'm also the first to admit I'm barely above a beginner when it comes to photo knowledge. I'm also relatively new to forums. The only other one I've participated in is a forum for the Volkswagen Touareg which is the SUV I drive. It's a well-known joke there that I'm not that swift at posting pictures. I have managed to by posting them to photobucket.com and then pasting the url or image tag. In that forum, everybody embeds the pictures and they automatically pop up in the threads. In this forum that's not the case, so I don't feel comfortable enough to do so. I've only been part of this forum for a few short months. Basically, in short, I don't have a gallery. I'm also a novice at Photoshop CS, but I do everything I can to learn. I don't even watch TV anymore, I just surf the web reading everything I can on photography. In fact, I signed up for video lessons on epson which is pretty interesting.

[Tom W]

You'll be VERY happy with the 1Ds II - its argueably the best DSLR on the market today.

[MDJAK]

I'm sure I will. I can't wait to get it. In fact, I just packed one of my photo bags with my Canon 100 mm macro, and my 17-40, along with a Sandisk Ultra 1 gb card. I'm going to take it to work tomorrow and wait for UPS to come on Friday with the camera. I'll be shooting all night long once I get it. Hope the battery comes with at least half a charge in it.