1D MK III improvement over 40D?

I have a 40D that i use shooting highschool lacrosse and hockey. Would a used 1D Mk III be an improvement over the 40D?

YES a big one

The AF alone is worth the price...

Any 1D makes all your wonders clear, as to why you were missing that action before.
If you can accept the price tag and then not satisfied with your current level of images, go for it but don't forget a lot of most beautiful images you see on posters and magazines are actually taken with one of the XXD bodies rather than the too expensive ones.

only by about 1000%

In general, i am happy with what i am getting with the 40D/70-200 combination. Pics are sharp and for the level of play i am shooting, getting majority of action shots...

DarenM wrote in post #15860320
In general, i am happy with what i am getting with the 40D/70-200 combination. Pics are sharp and for the level of play i am shooting, getting majority of action shots...

Seems like you just answered your own question.

The 40D is a darn fine camera, and if you are pleased with it's output then stick with it.

A few years back, I would specifically use my 1D (yes, the original) for sports photography over my 40D. My keeper rate with the 1D over the 40D was significant.

I had replaced my 40D with a 1DMK2, and I was very pleased with my change.

You'll get stellar AF with the 1D series, along with a bigger and heavier camera...

Jason

Thanks for all the comments... I guess i am trying to convince my self to spend $1300 or so for a 1D MK III

The largest advantages, having shot them side by side, etc are as follows, in the order I would place them personally:
- AF acquisition/speed
- Battery life
- ISO performance is better (perhaps 2/3 stop at most)
- Slightly sharper images
- Micro focus adjustment
- Higher fps
- Dual cards, so you could use Eye-fi wireless transfer cards, for example

They have the same resolution, so you don't gain anything substantial from one to the other in cropping power. Is this all worth the $1000-1100 price difference to you? That is a question nobody else can really answer.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #15861728
The largest advantages, having shot them side by side, etc are as follows, in the order I would place them personally:
- AF acquisition/speed
- Battery life
- ISO performance is better (perhaps 2/3 stop at most)
- Slightly sharper images
- Micro focus adjustment
- Higher fps
- Dual cards, so you could use Eye-fi wireless transfer cards, for example

They have the same resolution, so you don't gain anything substantial from one to the other in cropping power. Is this all worth the $1000-1100 price difference to you? That is a question nobody else can really answer.

Thank you,, you kind of summarized it for me.....sometimes helps to bounce things off others to gather all the necessary information needed to justify the spending of dollars, lol....not to convince the other half.

They are of the same vintage, so it's the general higher specification of the 1D Mark III you'll benefit from. Things that were a result of the time being will be the same. The rear LCD is of the same type, for example, with pretty low resolution.

Did anyone mention the crop 1.6 down to 1.3?
Jamie

True spot metering, average spot metering, autofocus link to spot meter and much, much better metering and autofocus. The 1D Mark III will produce much cleaner files that require a lot less pp.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #15861728
The largest advantages, having shot them side by side, etc are as follows, in the order I would place them personally:
- AF acquisition/speed
- Battery life
- ISO performance is better (perhaps 2/3 stop at most)
- Slightly sharper images
- Micro focus adjustment
- Higher fps
- Dual cards, so you could use Eye-fi wireless transfer cards, for example

They have the same resolution, so you don't gain anything substantial from one to the other in cropping power. Is this all worth the $1000-1100 price difference to you? That is a question nobody else can really answer.

I agree 100% with this...

But the 40D is still a stellar camera and not worlds apart from the 1D3. I love it for its size, I just need to get a compact zoom so I have a travel set-up.

In a word, yes.