Infrared 1D MK III anyone?

I've been offered a 1D MK IV quite cheap, but don't really need to upgrade from my 1D3 unless it's a "kill 2 birds with one stone" kinda deal, bare with me & I'll explain.

My R72 IR converted 1D MK II has always irked me in the focus department as it's usually a bit of hit-and-miss, I was thinking if I buy the 1D4 and convert the 1D3 to IR, then I'd have a better visable light camera plus an IR camera with focus microadjustment.

Any thoughts either way anyone?

The 1DMkIII has Liveview so you'll be able to use that to focus instead of applying the guesswork needed with the 1DMkII. I don't have an IR MKIII but I have two IR 5DMkII's and they're fine with Liveview focusing so I wouldn't anticipate problems with a 1DMkIII.

Bob

Thanks Bob - you're right of course, I hadn't thought about using liveview for focussing with an IR converted camera, seems like quite a good idea!

joeseph wrote in post #17611056
Thanks Bob - you're right of course, I hadn't thought about using liveview for focussing with an IR converted camera, seems like quite a good idea!

Phase detect won't work unless you have the lens re-calibrated for the IR spectrum. If you stop down far enough you might get the required area to fall within the visible light DoF but it's chancy at the best of times.

Bob

Just sent my 50D to Life Pixel for conversion, I went with using live view for focusing so I can use whatever lens I like, instead of having it calibrated for one lens.

I have an IR 1D III. Works great. I had lifepixel do it and re-calibrate to a 70-200 f/4 non IS. Works great. AF even does well with sports. Which is kinda why I did a 1D. Wanted to try some sports in IR.

Canon Bob wrote in post #17611060
Phase detect won't work unless you have the lens re-calibrated for the IR spectrum. If you stop down far enough you might get the required area to fall within the visible light DoF but it's chancy at the best of times.

Bob

thanks, that's suprising about phase detect as I'd have thought it would just try & get the best focussed image it could. I was more thinking at least with liveview, you can manually focus & have a better gauge of whether the shots in focus (rather than the hit & miss I currently have)

rdalrt wrote in post #17612277
I have an IR 1D III. Works great. I had lifepixel do it and re-calibrate to a 70-200 f/4 non IS. Works great. AF even does well with sports. Which is kinda why I did a 1D. Wanted to try some sports in IR.

thanks - I haven't thought of doing sports in IR but sounds like fun!

I had a 1DIII sitting around and this thread helped me decide to convert it to a 590nm body with LifePixel (just put the order in last night). Wanted to thank you all!

rdalrt wrote in post #17612277
I have an IR 1D III. Works great. I had lifepixel do it and re-calibrate to a 70-200 f/4 non IS. Works great. AF even does well with sports. Which is kinda why I did a 1D. Wanted to try some sports in IR.

Out of curiosity is there anything to watch out for in the camera settings? Have you discovered any tricks in custom settings or ways to focus adjust?

I have not had to use any tricks in custom settings for anything. And even though the calibration was done with a 70-200, the focus works fine on my 100-400 II as well.

Personally, about the only thing I need to be mindful of was exposure settings. Usually need to be 1 or 2 stops over what the meter reads to get a proper exposure with IR.