Sell 7D and get 1D Mark III

Hi, I've used a 7D for the last several years for all my photography which is ~65% youth sports. I recently picked up a 5Dm2 which I'm using for everything except sports.

It seems to me that it would be a no brainer at this point to sell my 7D and pickup a 1D Mark III. I don't use the video feature on the 7D and will never blow the photos up large enough to miss the extra mega pixels. Am I missing anything else? I shoot a combination of basketball (high iso), baseball and soccer.

I have both (7D & 1D3... plus some others). It's not a significant difference, but overall I prefer the 1D3 over the 7D. But when I got the 1D4, I decided to keep the 7D over the 1D3 (combined with the 5D3 for a FF, 1.3x, 1,6x combination).

If you cover field sports (you mention baseball and soccer), the extra reach of the 1.6x sensor crop on the 7D may be an advantage. It's almost like having a TC without losing a stop of aperture.

Plus the 7D can share batteries and chargers with your 5D2.

Otherwise, the 1D3 has a slight advantage over the 7D in the build, shutter durability, AI servo acquisition and tracking, and the built in grip.

I can't comment on the 7D, but I bought a new in the box 1D Mark III last summer and have no complaints. My main subjects are hockey games and horse shows, so that can mean dim rinks in the winter and everything from cross country jumps in the woods to shooting dressage in the noon day sun during the summer. I've done some Junior High soccer, but no gym sports. I regularly max out the ISO at 6400. With some PP for noise, it's not too bad.

I use a 70-200 f/2.8 (not the new version) most of the time and find the focusing is quick and accurate.

Good question adammazza. If you are shooting high ISO sports, I'd say stick to the 7D. I own the 7D and 1DIII, and the limitations of the the ISO of the 1DIII in dark gyms would take it out of the running for me. If not for that I'd take the 1DIII over the 7D for everything else. But you may have brighter gyms then I have. But I'll often need 8K ISO when not shooting with strobes.

I had nothing but bother and tears with my 1D3's for two grinding years. There was no love lost when I part-ex'd them for 1D4's. You don't hear much good said about the 1D3 i'm afraid.

The story goes that Canon rushed the release of the 1D3's to stay competitive but ultimately launched an unfinished camera with many faults. It was so bad that many people jumped from the Canon ship and its taken the firm a long while to wrestle back that market share.

Thanks all. My gyms tend to be pretty dark. I'm shooting basketball at ISO 3200 1/500 and aperture floats around 1.8 - 2.5.

I shot with a 1D3 from when it was released until a few weeks ago. I sold it to a guy on here that had a 7D. From what I can gather from talking to him, he isn't seeing a huge difference and has been shooting basketball in low light. I shot indoor sports with the 1D3 and loved it. I shot at ISO3200 90% of the time, and would go to ISO6400 on occasion, and always shooting at f/2 with primes. If the 7D can shoot clean at 8K, that would be great and probably open up f/2.8 glass for you. I just shot my first serious stuff with my new 5D3 this weekend at 8K and they look gorgeous to me. That is another possibility for you to consider...going to one 5D3 for both.

Now that I have the 5D3, I am considering adding a 7D to my kit because I'd like to do some birding, and would need the extreme reach. That is a lot cheaper than buying 60% longer glass for sure. I will keep learning the 5D3 and wait to see what the spring brings for the a 7D2, unless I get impatient and find a really good 7D deal.

Back to your question... I really loved the 1D3 and had it for the longest of any of the dozen or so DSLR bodies I've owned.

dafphotographer wrote in post #15376696
I had nothing but bother and tears with my 1D3's for two grinding years. There was no love lost when I part-ex'd them for 1D4's. You don't hear much good said about the 1D3 i'm afraid.

The story goes that Canon rushed the release of the 1D3's to stay competitive but ultimately launched an unfinished camera with many faults. It was so bad that many people jumped from the Canon ship and its taken the firm a long while to wrestle back that market share.

I hear similar sentiments every so often in these threads. Interesting.

I love my 1D3, and if I had a 7D, I'd sell it for a 1D3 asap. In practice, noise is about the same as my T2i in low light at available ISOs (same sensor as 7D). The noise produced by the 1D3 is a lot easier to work with in LR4 too though. Overall IQ is a fair bit nicer than my T2i.

Here's the comparison thread that led me to my purchase: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1200639

I switched from a 7D to a 1D3, absolutely no regrets. Although if you've been using the 7D for a while now & have had no issues, why the need for a 1D3?

bboowwyy wrote in post #15378346
I switched from a 7D to a 1D3, absolutely no regrets. Although if you've been using the 7D for a while now & have had no issues, why the need for a 1D3?

No real complaints with the 7D, but if 1Dm3 has better AF which would result in more keepers, maybe I'd make the swap.

I can't speak for the 7D but its not a stretch to say the 1D3's AF is notoriously bad. Canon's infamous mass recall and fixes aside, Servo cannot be trusted, the lack of reliable points a serious problem, and nowhere near the ability to focus in low light like more recent cameras.

If there's one outstanding thing wrong with the 1D3, it is AF.

Hmmm...I think it would be a stretch to say that. I'm sure there are some 1D3's out there that still have an issue...but I use a 1D3 along side a 1D4, and a 7D, and I see very little AF issues with the 1D3, and have seen very little complaints about it's AF in the past two years. Granted the early models had a lot of units with AF failure. But it appears they have been fixed. Given a 7D and 1DIII, if there is enough light I'll shoot with the 1DIII over the 7D.

And by the way...Welcome to POTN DAF.

dafphotographer wrote in post #15384628
I can't speak for the 7D but its not a stretch to say the 1D3's AF is notoriously bad. Canon's infamous mass recall and fixes aside, Servo cannot be trusted, the lack of reliable points a serious problem, and nowhere near the ability to focus in low light like more recent cameras.

If there's one outstanding thing wrong with the 1D3, it is AF.

I would say you are completely wrong. I owned a 1D3 from release until a few weeks ago, and lived through all the hype about its autofocus problem years ago. I had two 1D2N bodies at the same time and did extensive side by side testing on my own, and exchanged images and testing data with other 1D3 owners on POTN during that time. My 1D3 bettered the 1D2Ns in every way tested. My body had no AF problems whatsoever and I can give you thousands of sports examples to back it up. Others had 1D3 bodies that definitely had a problem. Canon found the problem, issued a recall, and fixed it. I confirmed with fellow POTN members that had the problem, that it was fixed. So not sure what you are basing your comment on, but based on my extensive experience with the 1D3 and that of fellow POTNers that I talked with at the time, you are wrong. I will agree that it was utterly painful for those with affected cameras during that timeframe... to pay $4600 for a body that had an AF problem, but that is history.

The 1D3 AF is great for me.

In this shot, last time I had focus was on her head, but back behind where her feet are now (fly stroke). In the 1/100th of a second it took her to start to come up for a breathing stroke, the 1D3 nailed focus. I shot 70 kids and got this shot whenever I wanted it. I had it set up according to the swimming recommendation here, and it worked great. 2300 photos and maybe 30 shots missed focus that day.

convergent wrote in post #15384821
I would say you are completely wrong. I owned a 1D3 from release until a few weeks ago, and lived through all the hype about its autofocus problem years ago. I had two 1D2N bodies at the same time and did extensive side by side testing on my own, and exchanged images and testing data with other 1D3 owners on POTN during that time. My 1D3 bettered the 1D2Ns in every way tested. My body had no AF problems whatsoever and I can give you thousands of sports examples to back it up. Others had 1D3 bodies that definitely had a problem. Canon found the problem, issued a recall, and fixed it. I confirmed with fellow POTN members that had the problem, that it was fixed. So not sure what you are basing your comment on, but based on my extensive experience with the 1D3 and that of fellow POTNers that I talked with at the time, you are wrong. I will agree that it was utterly painful for those with affected cameras during that timeframe... to pay $4600 for a body that had an AF problem, but that is history.

Each to their own - and you sound very fortunate indeed. I've had three 1D3 bodies in and out for repairs/tweaks with Canon even after their recall, and still never got on with the AF system. I rarely heard anything good said about them in wire rooms here in the UK either - in fact I know of several people who opted to switch back to 1D2N's in the face of similar problems as mine.

Moving to 1D4's this year, although expensive, has improved my business output 100%. But that's just me and my experience. Its good to hear other people have been more fortunate.