Specific needs: 1D3 or 7D?

I'm looking at a CLP 7D or, if I can find one, a very well used beat to hell, but optically sound 1D mark iii. Not sure which I should be gunning for.

What I'm missing with my T2i:
-AF performance with my 70-200 f2.8L (it's great, but not outstanding)
-continuous RAW at a higher rate (I get 5 shots at a time, at ~3/second)

What I'm worried I'll lose with a 1D3:
-30" canvas prints after heavier cropping
-Reach (1.3 to 1.6) -- I don't want to have to compensate with glass on top of buying a more expensive body
-Ability to switch quickly between two quite different user interfaces

These two shots are my favorite shots. The swimming shot was tough to time because the focus system takes a bit longer to get rolling -- and the frame rate/buffer size challenges. In swimming, as the swimmer approaches, I use up the buffer, and some of the closer opportunities might be met with an empty shutter press.

The soccer shot was missed focus. I love the timing, but the focus hurts.

So, which body?

FWIW, I have three bodies. 1DIV, 1DIII and a 7D. The 7D is really just a backup or for remote shots, as I'll always use the 1D's as my two main setups. The 7D is a great camera, but at the end of the day, I'd rather shoot with the 1DIII rather then the 7D. Maybe it's the larger sensor, but the images just seem to pop a bit more and have nicer color...or maybe it's because I've not learned the proper way to adjust the 7D's images in post.

In fact I'll be selling my 7D with grip to fund the purchase of a 5DIII.

dwarrenr wrote in post #14633560
FWIW, I have three bodies. 1DIV, 1DIII and a 7D. The 7D is really just a backup or for remote shots, as I'll always use the 1D's as my two main setups. The 7D is a great camera, but at the end of the day, I'd rather shoot with the 1DIII rather then the 7D. Maybe it's the larger sensor, but the images just seem to pop a bit more and have nicer color...or maybe it's because I've not learned the proper way to adjust the 7D's images in post.

In fact I'll be selling my 7D with grip to fund the purchase of a 5DIII.

I sold my 7D+grip for a 5D3 and will never look back.

The 7D is a camera that I just had a love/hate relationship with.

I really hate the tiny, tiny buffer in the 1D3. I like newer AF in the 7D, but it wasn't always accurate. I prefer the feel to the 7D.

There is a lot of give and take with either body. Or wait to save up for a 1D4 or 5D3. I love both those bodies.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #14633693
I sold my 7D+grip for a 5D3 and will never look back.

The 7D is a camera that I just had a love/hate relationship with.

I really hate the tiny, tiny buffer in the 1D3. I like newer AF in the 7D, but it wasn't always accurate. I prefer the feel to the 7D.

There is a lot of give and take with either body. Or wait to save up for a 1D4 or 5D3. I love both those bodies.

So it looks like the 7D buffer supports 15 continuous RAW shots, and the 1D3 supports 30 continuous RAW. My T2i does 5 or 6 (not sure I've seen 6). So, that's about 2s of shooting on my T2i, 2s of shooting on the 7D, and about 3s of shooting on the 1D3.

Were you not seeing that level of continuous performance on your 1D3? This is very important to me if I'm going to be moving up in a body.

5D3 sounds awesome, but I'd need to use one a bit to see about the crop/reach tradeoffs once I get into LR4. Oh, that and my wife would kill me. Budget will look different after we buy her next car though -- right now it's save save save (we pay cash for our cars, so the ramp up is aggressive).

I just went through the same decision. I needed a faster frame rate than either my 5DII (4fps) or 50D (6fps) could provide and I wanted a better AF system. In the end it came down to knowing that I prefer to frame a bit looser and crop in post; I bought the 7D. I can't tell you how I feel about the decision as I've not shot an event yet. I will say that going from the two previously mentioned bodies, I had to spend some quality time learning how to operate the 7D. Tech-wise, it is a hell of a camera.

Bob

waterrockets wrote in post #14633769
So it looks like the 7D buffer supports 15 continuous RAW shots, and the 1D3 supports 30 continuous RAW.

There is a rumor that a firmware upgrade is on the way for the 7D that will allow 26 frames in RAW burst.

Bob

waterrockets wrote in post #14633769
Thanks for the feedback so far.

So it looks like the 7D buffer supports 15 continuous RAW shots, and the 1D3 supports 30 continuous RAW. My T2i does 5 or 6 (not sure I've seen 6). So, that's about 2s of shooting on my T2i, 2s of shooting on the 7D, and about 3s of shooting on the 1D3.

Were you not seeing that level of continuous performance on your 1D3? This is very important to me if I'm going to be moving up in a body.

5D3 sounds awesome, but I'd need to use one a bit to see about the crop/reach tradeoffs once I get into LR4. Oh, that and my wife would kill me. Budget will look different after we buy her next car though -- right now it's save save save (we pay cash for our cars, so the ramp up is aggressive).

I've never gotten 30 continuous RAW on my 1D3. The big problem with the 1D3 buffer is that it doesn't support UDMA and can only transmit files at about 11MB/s. It is brutal to try to clear the buffer. The 7D clears really quickly.

Hot Bob, thanks for those tidbits

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #14633924
I've never gotten 30 continuous RAW on my 1D3. The big problem with the 1D3 buffer is that it doesn't support UDMA and can only transmit files at about 11MB/s. It is brutal to try to clear the buffer. The 7D clears really quickly.

Ahhh. Yeah, that would frustrate the hell out of me. My T2i takes forever to clear the buffer too. Probably 4 seconds before I can take another shot, and 10-12 seconds before I can take 5 shots continuous. I sit on the sidelines missing shots, and calming myself with reminders at how great of a value that little T2i is -- and that I shouldn't be putting pro demands on it. I pretty much go in 2-round bursts to conserve some buffer as the plays develop on the field. It's gotten me better at timing though.

Things are starting to look towards the 7D.

I just watched a Scott Kelby video the other day on shooting sports and he says he always shoots action sports in JPEG specifically because he will not just sit there and miss the action due to insufficent buffer capacity/clearing speed. I'm all about shooting RAW files but, if I have a choice between getting the shot or not getting it, JPEG will be fine. I've not crossed that bridge yet but, we'll see what happens now that I can shoot 8fps.

Bob

Good tip. I need to work a bit on in-camera settings to see how close I can get to my own developing. I'm not having any big exposure misses that I need to correct -- mostly just black clipping point and color temp. Gray card doesn't seem to get WB where I want it. I guess JPG color corrections aren't the end of the world.

waterrockets wrote in post #14634149
Things are starting to look towards the 7D.

probably the best for the money, but I wouldn't mind having a 1D3

I use a set of 7Ds and love them. It takes a little while to tune the AF settings to your type of shooting. One thing I really like is you can set a different af point group for each way the camera is orientated. In landscape I have the AF set to one point expansion a little off center right and in portrait I have it set to one AF point at the top. Filling the buffer of the 7D in Jpeg would take awhile. I've never done it while working but in a test I got around 96 full size jpeg images with a UDMA card.

If the 1DIIN had better iso I'd use it more often. The 7D seems so unpredictable to me. Mine has been to Canon so many time for focus issues when the IIN worked fine. Now the 1DIV and 5DIII blow all these cameras away but the price does also.

If it was only $500 or so extra to get the 1DIII get it. You will not be disappointed unless you plan on doing video.

I would try to demo each camera first. A 1D body feels like a solid tank compared to the 7D.

You will get more keepers with the 1DIII.

Really, the 1d3 buffer is tiny....???? I get 25 raw shots before it needs to be clear. It takes about 1 second to clear 2 more raw shots. And about 20 sec to clear the entire buffer. If you literally machine gun it, you will run out of buffer space quick. If you shoot in burst, you should effectively get at least 35 shots or more before the buffer runs out of space.

Get the 1d3. Anyone who shots sports rarely complain about the 1d3. I can't say the same thing with the 7d though.