-=1DS Mark II Admirers, congregate!

Well, I've joined the ranks. managed to pick up a vitually mint low shot count body...after using the 1dII the 1dsII is essentially the same in virtually every way, apart from its nicer, brighter viewfinder, double the res and ff shots on the 1dII always looked good and they look great on the 1dsII thus far...looking forwards to putting it through it's paces.

One quick Q, who uses the in-camera noise reduction? am I right in thinking it should take a dark frame the same time length as the exposure? and at what time length does it kick in?

I use the in camera NR on mine all the time as it saves a step in post afterward. I believe it kicks in on anything longer then half a second exposure. And yes, the black frame takes an equal amount of time as the original shot so if your not in a hurry, its a nice feature and if you are in a rush, turn it off.

Cheers!

as it is on the 1dII then, and for some reason it doesn't seem to be working with me! I do a test 5, 10, 20sec exposure and the image comes up almost straight after its shot (little bit of a pause as it writes to the card I'm guessing) but no equal length darkframe shot - unless its performing some other sort of noise reduction, I know you can take another shot whilst its processing the previous long exposure - a nice feature of the 1d series cameras - but there is no d/f shot going on with mine. was working fine the other week before I took it to canon to give the sensor a good clean...not sure what they did but its not working now.
aside from the on/off switch are there any cfn's I'm unaware of that could affect the in-camera NR? mkight be as simple as switching something to a different mode...

I'm not sure?

Perhaps resetting the function to off and then back on again might cure that hiccup? I believe I had to do that with mine when I first got the camera from the previous owner.

Also, once it has taken a dark frame of the same or similar exposure time, while the power is still on, it re-uses that data for any subsequent shots during that session...at least that's been my experience with it.

Cheers!

Managed to use my 1DsII today for the first time in the field. Did not get as many keepers as expected, perhaps the learning curve is steeper than I thought from a 5D.

Oh yes it is..... Look at my comments in this thread.... enjoy a great camera!!!

Neilyb wrote in post #7431585
Managed to use my 1DsII today for the first time in the field. Did not get as many keepers as expected, perhaps the learning curve is steeper than I thought from a 5D.

For me the learning curve was the speed of the shutter -- it trips much faster than the 5D so I wasn't always locked in focus before the frame was made. Now that my thumb/finger timing is better, I get a lock before the shutter trips.

My second nephew's first birthday. First shot at f/3.2 and the rest at f/2.8 and ISO 800.

TheHoff wrote in post #7431905
For me the learning curve was the speed of the shutter -- it trips much faster than the 5D so I wasn't always locked in focus before the frame was made. Now that my thumb/finger timing is better, I get a lock before the shutter trips.

Could be it. Incidently, when using AI servo is it better to have it set slower or fast for no in flight bird shots? Here are my first real shots with the cam.

ISO 500, sigma 500mm f4.5+1.4TC, tripod

Stunning photos, guys.

Talk about a great range of subjects in the last 2 photo examples guys! And birding is one thing I will be using it for, so thanks for sharing those. And man, those eyes just pop in those shots David.

Man, I'm really getting the itch to get this camera, but there haven't been many in the last few weeks that are priced as low as I would want. 2 weeks ago or so, there were several hovering around the $2000-$2200 mark, and this week, there either haven't been any, or they are priced at Ebay, starting at $2600.... $2000 is the sweet spot for me. I'll wait this one out a bit longer. LOL

JoYork wrote in post #7437265
Stunning photos, guys.

Took the words right out of my mouth!

Cheers!

skulpt wrote in post #7437311
Talk about a great range of subjects in the last 2 photo examples guys! And birding is one thing I will be using it for, so thanks for sharing those. And man, those eyes just pop in those shots David.

Man, I'm really getting the itch to get this camera, but there haven't been many in the last few weeks that are priced as low as I would want. 2 weeks ago or so, there were several hovering around the $2000-$2200 mark, and this week, there either haven't been any, or they are priced at Ebay, starting at $2600.... $2000 is the sweet spot for me. I'll wait this one out a bit longer. LOL

Keep looking -- I got mine for $2k.

Those are indeed some very fine shots, filled with excellent detail. I'll have a few photos to add from my vacation soon, but having just bought a 5D2 a few days before leaving I can say that it does take a mighty fine photo, but the AF didn't perform all that well in low light compared to my 1Ds2. I still prefer using the 1Ds2 for most things but more than likely because I trust it rather than because I think it's better overall. The AF most certainly is, plus I know that the mode dial won't have moved from the last use. I just put one of my first real use shots in the 5D2 thread where they are asking for photos, here's the 100% crop

This is exactly as shot, f8 at 1/500 5D2 and 24-105 at 105 mm.

One other reason that stopped me from getting a 5DII is the images from it look flat to me. They just don't have the same pop feeling when compare to 1DsII images.

My guess is it is related to the difference from 12bit and 14bit image processors. Here is a interested comparison between images from 5D and 40D. The images from 40D definitely have better DR but they do look flat compare to 5D.

http://www.lsfoto.net …al/14-vs-12-bit/index.htm