5D3 or 1D Mark IV

The 5D3 is a great camera, I love everything about it but need more speed. Shooting Motocross and Downhill these guys are really really fast, and if something happens I want to make sure to get it. Im just wondering how is the 1D Mark IV AF against the 5D3 in sports. I tested the 7D the other day at the local shop and its AF was super fast and the 10fps was great, but I know its a hit in image quality and lowlight shooting. I can afford a small hit but I still need sharp images that are good to print if they need to be. I plan on more MMA shooting this year as well so It does need to do High ISO at around 8000 and be usable.

Are you ever focal length limited?

I would say no, my 70-200 can met me where I need and I can rent 300, 400, 500mm lens if the job calls for it.

RussellJ wrote in post #17252340
The 5D3 is a great camera, I love everything about it but need more speed. Shooting Motocross and Downhill these guys are really really fast, and if something happens I want to make sure to get it. Im just wondering how is the 1D Mark IV AF against the 5D3 in sports. I tested the 7D the other day at the local shop and its AF was super fast and the 10fps was great, but I know its a hit in image quality and lowlight shooting. I can afford a small hit but I still need sharp images that are good to print if they need to be. I plan on more MMA shooting this year as well so It does need to do High ISO at around 8000 and be usable.

5D3 AF beats the 7D (not the 7D2 though perhaps), have you looked through the different AF configurations to see what you can do to speed this up? Also lens choice makes a huge difference too.

Which 70-200 do you have?

I have the older non IS 70-200, but by speed I mean FPS 6 is good but 10 is going places. All I want is a an AF that is as good as the 5D3, which I know the 7D2 is really good but no clue on the 1D Mark IV

Well if it's not the latest AF accuracy will be pretty much the same(unless the 7DII has something even more magical) with latest Canon lenses the 5DIII and I assume the 7DII will have slightly better accuracy. I've found my 1DIV is quicker at locking focus, I'd assume the the 7DII will be about the same as the 5DIII since it uses the same battery. On the 1DIV you can have the active AF point lit up while in servo mode, I'm guessing the 7DII will be like the 5DIII and only have that for AF confirm in one shot.

The 1DIV's battery won't only make it so you don't need to worry about needing to change it during a full day of shooting but it will also not likely even get low enough to slow AF and FPS, 7DII will likely be about the same as the 5DIII but slight better since it has a smaller sensor(unless it has something else to offset the slightly lower power drain of the senor).

RussellJ wrote in post #17252591
I have the older non IS 70-200, but by speed I mean FPS 6 is good but 10 is going places. All I want is a an AF that is as good as the 5D3, which I know the 7D2 is really good but no clue on the 1D Mark IV

All 1D series have great AF systems, they just get better each iteration, and the 1D4 was the last of the APS-H series. There is only one newer 1D body at this point, the 1DX.

Any chance you could try the 1D4 for a day before the trade?? It would suck to trade the 5D3 for something you might not end up liking/wanting.

Ill have the chance to play with it for a bit and my thoughts are that its a 1D how bad is a 1D body. I used to shoot t2i and still was able to get shots that events were happy with. I think Ill go for the 1D and if I dont like it after a while sell it and pick up a 7D mark II

RussellJ wrote in post #17252861
Ill have the chance to play with it for a bit and my thoughts are that its a 1D how bad is a 1D body. I used to shoot t2i and still was able to get shots that events were happy with. I think Ill go for the 1D and if I dont like it after a while sell it and pick up a 7D mark II

Sounds like a good idea

Since I have never shot with a 1D Mark IV I have seen online that most of the stuff is though the Custom Function menu, is that hard to get around. Like on the 5D Mark III I have the really cool menus just for AF and all that plus I can hit a button and scroll though AF settings in the view finder. Can the 1D Mark IV do this or is it a bit slower in changing the settings.

I've been using the 7D for a few years now (street, reporting but mostly motorsport) and I'm about to move to a 5DIII...

I'm really going to miss the machine gun like 8fps...but I'm looking forward to shooting above ISO200 without ridiculous noise.

It's always a trade off when you can only afford one body...

If I had a 7D, I'd just get a 7D2 and miss out the 5D3 and put the saved cash into something else. What you make up in noise control you loose out in speed. I'd rather have noise in my shots than miss it altogether. When I'm shooting at max aperture of f4 at sports, I find the 5D3 AF struggles a wee bit. It's really in need of 2.8 lenses to get that AF system in full flow. With max aperture of 5.6 at 400, it's going to be worse.

I know a guy who uses a 1D MkIIN for sports and spent all his money on a 300 2.8, and his results are great. I blew my cash on body and stuck with an f4 lens, it's no good.

Paulstw wrote in post #17255232
I know a guy who uses a 1D MkIIN for sports and spent all his money on a 300 2.8, and his results are great. I blew my cash on body and stuck with an f4 lens, it's no good.

I think this is - in some respects - the 'right' thing to do. The cross-type focus points on the 1D models (before the 1DX) are all F2.8 limited, except for the centre point. With anything higher than F2.8, they become horizontal only.

I considered this when I had my 1D Mark IIn, but I wanted the flexibility of the zoom, plus longer reach than the 70-200 F4 IS that I was using.