Need your thoughts: 1D mk3; Keep or move on?

Hi all,
I was just wondering if you guys could give me your thoughts on this.
I have a Canon 1D MKIII that I have had since release day. It was a present from my then Fiancee (now my wife) so it's quite special to me. This is also my first and only 1D series.
I have treated this like a baby - actuation is only around 60k as I tend to use my 20D more and only used this on special occasions.

Anyway, I feel technology has definitely moved on.. especially in the ISO dept.
I've started thinking about a 7D MKII as I like the fast shutter speed and also video capability (which is something I'd like to try). I unfortunately cannot afford a 1Dx but it's also hard to 'downgrade' from a 1 series to a non 1d camera as I enjoyed the presence of the 1D when I use it.

I could keep it and get the 7D... but would this render my 1D obsolete? I kinda feel like it will... so I need thoughts.
Thanks

Yep, that 1D3 is absolutely useless anymore. You should sell it to me for $100.

edit: I didn't notice that you have a 20D..... I totally agree with the posts below, turn the 20D into a 7D2 and keep the 1D3. I have two bodies and really like the convenience. I can totally see the usefulness of having both a 7D2 and 1D3.

my lad HAD a 7d2 ,we tested it against my 70d and my 1d3 .apart from a few bells and whistles and a bit bit of smoke and fog theres nothing a 7d2 can do thats that much of an improvement over the 1d3 fancier a/f maybe ,more m/p if you do a lot of cropping ,but for general use the 1d3 gives superior i/q
in fact i did a run back over shots i had taken over the years all using a 400mm f5.6 lens for continuity. shots taken with a 40d/50d/60d/70d/7d/1d3 over a six year period and to be quite honest theres virtually no difference in any of them the only real improvements being in my P/P skills and the only winners being the photo shops that sold me the cameras .

stick with what you have and put your money into good glass and the latest version of photoshop etc

p.s my lad has sold his 7d2 due to inconsistent results and changed to nikon ,i have gained a couple of decent lenses from the deal

OMG! I've just checked and i've only done 17k shots on my 1D III!!!
17,235 to be exact!

It's not even broken in...

It's also probably of more value to you than what you're likely to get out of it.

I used my friends a week or so back & it's a great body, personally I wouldn't change it for a 7d II.

Keep it because it was a gift from your wife!!!! I have to admit it, 10mp was barely enough for me when I was shooting cycling races with it. After cropping, I could barely get an useable resolution for prints.

I'd say keep the 1D3 and maybe update your 20D?

I would be very surprised if the 7DII gives better image quality at low ISOs.

Definitely keep it and swap the 20D for a 7DII.


I still regret selling my 1DII. I babied that and took very few exposures also.

I also agree with Nellyle........keep the 1d3 and sell the 20d. A 1d3 with that low actuation count has not even warmed up, Use it more and invest in some quality glass.

muscleflex wrote in post #17430401
OMG! I've just checked and i've only done 17k shots on my 1D III!!!
17,235 to be exact!

Hi,

How did you check the shutter actuation on your 1DIII?

Thanks,

If you can afford it keep the 1D3 and get a 6d or 5dmk II.

I have both a 1D3 and a 7D2.

My recommendation would be to keep both if you can afford it. Camera-wise, the 7D2 is probably better, you get video, live view, a great LV AF, and you can go pretty high up on the ISO and get useable results. I don't think I even enabled the H setting on my 1D3 but found it to be useable up to 2000 or so, I have gotten fairly good results at 10,000 on the 7D2.

Noise wise, I think they're on par up to 800 or so, although the 1D3 might have a slight advantage, there's also the advantage that the 1D3 can have ISO50 enabled.

Ergonomics wise, the 1D3 wins by a long margin. I pulled it out today because we had a windchill somewhere near -10F and when wearing gloves I can't adjust the settings on the 7D bodies without accidentally hitting other buttons, whereas the 1D3 has just enough spacing on the buttons surrounding the ISO button near the top LCD that this isn't a big problem.

As far as rendering the camera obsolete, it depends on what you like to shoot. I actually bought mine used in 2013, after having a 7D for ~2.5 years and kept both, with the 7D being a backup, and only a primary camera if space was a concern, or I needed AF in live view, so while I technically bought a downgrade, the "better" camera became a secondary.

Right now I have been using my 7D2 a lot more, but as soon as the airshow season starts, the 1D3 will be my primary body for shooting static displays, keeping the 7D2 for action shots just because of the extra reach.

An important thing here is that this was a gift from your wife from back when the camera was new, so if you've only shot some 20k shots, the camera is barely broken in (the official shutter life expectancy is 300k), so you probably haven't gotten your (her) money's worth out of it. Another vote for "keep it".

I agree with halitime. Keep the 1d3 and buy a 6D. That way you have speed and full frame IQ.

muscleflex wrote in post #17429821
It was a present from my then Fiancee (now my wife) so it's quite special to me.

This fact alone makes it a no-brainer: keep the 1D3 as long as you live, whether it is practical or not, whether it is "still relevant" to your shooting or not. Unless, of course, she wants you to sell it so she can use the proceeds to help get you another gift camera.

Hi all - thank you for the advice. Very much appreciated.
I think I'll keep the 1D3...

I don't have the 20D anymore. I gave it to my brother... hence I've been using the 1D a lot more.. probably adding 2k actuations to it since last Summer..

I managed to borrow a friend's 70D over the weekend and compared them side to side (1D and 70D), I had totally forgotten how small the 1.6 crop sensor is compared to my 1D's 1.3 sensor..

In answer to the question of how I check my shutter actuation, I have set it to continuous right from day one... The only problem is my naming convention prevents it from going above 9,999 because i set my naming to MK3_xxxx so I got confused on my first post because I knew my numbers reset a year ago but just didn't know when it reset until I checked the camera. I keep almost all the photos I take with it so I know and I can check when it reset after 9,999