Official specs: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II

Check out this unboxing video: https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=mBaP1-G3StE

What a cool workspace and a great side-by-side comparison of the original 1D X and the Mark II.

Cheers,
Bryan

bps wrote in post #17989373
Check out this unboxing video: https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=mBaP1-G3StE

What a cool workspace and a great side-by-side comparison of the original 1D X and the Mark II.

Cheers,
Bryan

My kingdom for a comprehension of the Slovak language right now.

Just picked mine up. I was hoping the free CFAST card and reader would be in the box but it looks like you have to claim them separately.

Quick question for current 1-series users.

Is there an option to move the in camera image rating function off of the 'Protect/Record memo' button on the 1D X, and subsequently the Mark II?

I've gotten really used to working with the RATE button on the 5D3 and it saves so much time when I get home to choose photos. But I'd also like to use the voice memo function on the 1-Series cameras moving forward for certain things. I've looked at both of the manuals for the 1D X and the Mark II and the functionality looks to be identical between them. I've searched through the assignable controls and it doesn't seem to be listed so I may just be in a situation where it truly is one or the other between voice memos and star ratings.

Seems like a quibble but it's a major part of my workflow.

(Edit: The reason I'd like to start using voice memos alongside star ratings is to get people's names and information more easily for my editorial magazine work. It would save a lot of time.)

Anyone have any experience with this?

(Apologies if this is too off topic)

jwcdds wrote in post #17989319
When the wife asks "What the heck is that noise?"

Similar incident did happen to me while shooting my 1Dx(1). A black skimmer was making several passes in front of a couple dozens of photographers. I let loose of a long burst. When I put the camera away from my eyes, the person standing next to me looked at me and asked (in a long southern drawl) "What the H-E-L-L was that?"

ldn323 wrote in post #17989502
Similar incident did happen to me while shooting my 1Dx(1). A black skimmer was making several passes in front of a couple dozens of photographers. I let loose of a long burst. When I put the camera away from my eyes, the person standing next to me looked at me and asked (in a long southern drawl) "What the H-E-L-L was that?"

I hope you responded with, "It is the sound of photographic ecstacy." *and fire of a few more bursts @ 12fps*

jwcdds wrote in post #17989524
I hope you responded with, "It is the sound of photographic ecstacy." *and fire of a few more bursts @ 12fps*

photogasm

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17988426
1Dx has iTR,
http://www.learn.usa.c​anon.com …ation.shtml?cat​egoryId=12

the whole article is good, but the iTR part starts on page two.

iTR and iSA are two of the things that separated the 1Dx AF system from the 5D3.

I think what makes the iTR in the 1Dx2 "new" is the tripling of "pixel metering sensors" and the algorithms behind it.

Interesting stuff and something I didn't know. I can't find it in the 1DX but my 7D2 manual says colour for AI Servo and no mention of face which left that for One Shot I presumed. However Rudy states that if you focus on a face in AI Servo it will recognize and track it. The only way to do that is using initial AF point in 65 point zone (7D2) as the smaller zones do not offer initial AF point.

When not using the initial AF point the system focuses on the closest object. I guess at this point it just looks for a colour only or does it look for a face as well? Rudy says iTR combines with automatic AF to follow a detected face. Does he mean detected on it's own (no initial AF point) detected after focused on by user (initial AF point on) or both? That would to good to know for the two small zones. Detected to me means the system did that without human intevention.

As far as I understand how iTR works for One Shot is it should find a face without an initial AF point otherwise why have it. You can just move your AF point to that spot yourself as are shooting a static target. This one is not important to me as I can't ever see myself using it.

Art Wilkes tried it on birds in AI Servo and calls it face recognition but he said it never really worked on the 1DX but thinks it does on the 7D2. He does says if you select and start with a sensor (AF point).

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com …g-tip-for-easier-framing/

At one point I started to wonder if iTR was intended to track people only but read the stuff again and Rudy does mention wildlife and BIF in the first sentence.

It seems the more I read the more I think it will look for both a colour and a face and picks what it can work with. Rudy says facial details and shapes which I guess can include wildlife or does that mean human only? I guess the same thing happens when initial AF point is off? Phase detect focuses in the closest object and then looks for both? I'm not completely clear what the system does when you are not using initial AF point. I always thought it was just colour.

I'm curious as some people had success and others didn't. It will do wildlife but maybe it works better on human targets?

The 1DX II has a few sub menus and more information. I wish the 7D2 manual had this info. I thought maybe the 7D2 was not as advanced but someone mentioned it said the same thing in the 1DX manual.

It looks for both in both drive modes. Rudy said that for it to track a face you have to focus on it but that was the for the 1DX. Still must apply as it would be the best method to insure face tracking. I guess when you set it to no initial AF point and AF is achieved it looks for both and picks what it can as the AF points will not always be in the on face. Always a reference to people and no mention of wildlife but it must apply at least by looking for a colour.

Thanks for the link Jake and info everyone. I would not explored this any further and it was an eye opener.

Somehow I lucked up and got one this afternoon! The only one in Bay Area that wasn't preordered and accounted for!

https://instagram.com/​p/BEzpqTbDgHM/

I just got an order update from Amazon that mine will arrive Wed May 4th. I ordered on April 3, FYI.

CincyTriGuy wrote in post #17990091
I just got an order update from Amazon that mine will arrive Wed May 4th. I ordered on April 3, FYI.

Still waiting for my store up here in Canuckia to get their shipment. May 2 they say. I ordered Feb. 4. Hope I get one in the first batch they get.

Have fun with yours.

digital paradise wrote in post #17989713
the more I think it will look for both a colour and a face

a few caveats before i post:

i am very tired
i just opened my third beer, and i don't drink "light" beers if you know what i mean
everything i've read about the color tracking thingy has been on POTN
flying by the seat of my pants is often the way i live, and it seems to work

so anyway, this focus aid seems to be a mini sensor. Sure, it is not a true RGB sensor but the ability to sample what seems to be many thousands of sites across the frame and analyze them is very similar to a mirrorless camera being able to look at the direct data from the sensor. The question becomes, which method is better?

with a mirrorless, all the data comes from one place and is parsed. I have to think that the information is taken from a low res image, maybe the same that goes to the EVF, maybe something not quite that low res? either way you have an image sensor that is specialized for one task and then ask it to do another. Kinda.

with the Canon system, given that the iTR is a specialized system, it is built to perform its task and no others, this alone should lend some advantages with processing overhead if nothing else. Face detection in pretty much every form is just looking for patterns. If the software built to detect faces is just looking for a pattern, it can be told to prioritize certain patterns over others, and if it can prioritize known facial patterns, why not temporarily prioritize any pattern?

for instance if the focus point isn't over a face when focus is acquired, a face can still be picked up by the camera and potentially tracked. But if some other random pattern, say a bird's beak or bear's butt IS under the focus point, why not just temporarily remember that pattern? I guess what i'm saying is that it is much more than just tracking the color that might be under the focus point, it is intelligently knowing where that color and pattern exist and how they change shape as they cross the frame.

I first read about color detection aiding focus assist after picking up my 6D and I have become convinced that it plays a huge role in allowing the camera's 11 points to do a much better job tracking objects. I also think that Canon expanding their DSLR product line in the last 10 years has been a great way to run consumer product testing on a grand scale and that this camera the culmination of those tests. Probably pretty obvious.

conclusion? just more speculation. But after hearing a little about the enhanced extra sensors that support AF, I tend to think that this has been part of Canon's anti-mirrorless strategy all along. We still get an optical viewfinder but we also get tech to enhance an already stellar AF system. The extra sensors are built for a specific task which makes allows it to do its job better yet doesn't drag down battery life since it is not always active. Pretty sure I have more seat of the pants ideas about Canon's marketing strategy, but not only did i just finish my 4th beer, i realized i didn't eat a proper dinner.

Robertk2012 wrote in post #17990047
Somehow I lucked up and got one this afternoon! The only one in Bay Area that wasn't preordered and accounted for!

https://instagram.com/​p/BEzpqTbDgHM/

CincyTriGuy wrote in post #17990091
I just got an order update from Amazon that mine will arrive Wed May 4th. I ordered on April 3, FYI.

Wow, this is great news!! Congrats to both of you! Man, I hope B&H gets a large enough shipment. I'm worried that they won't, especially in light of the link I'm about to post below. I also wonder if I should place a backup order with Amazon? I don't pay sales tax with Amazon and maybe this would be a good backup plan if B&H doesn't come through for me.

Now, for the worrisome news. It looks like even though Canon's facilities are fine, 3rd party suppliers of parts are not. Some of Canon's production lines just came to a complete stop and certain models will be delayed. We all need to cross our fingers that the Canon 1D X Mark II is not one of them.

http://www.canonrumors​.com …ted-by-japan-earthquakes/

Bryan

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17990142
so anyway, this focus aid seems to be a mini sensor. Sure, it is not a true RGB sensor but the ability to sample what seems to be many thousands of sites across the frame and analyze them is very similar to a mirrorless camera being able to look at the direct data from the sensor. The question becomes, which method is better?

I think it is actually an 360,000 pixel RGB+IR CMOS sensor, since the same sensor is used for metering as well. There is probably a modified Bayer matrix (RGBIr rather than RGGB) in front of a smaller CMOS sensor located in the pentaprism/viewfinder assembly. The pixel dimensions of this sensor will probably be around 750x500.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17990142
with a mirrorless, all the data comes from one place and is parsed. I have to think that the information is taken from a low res image, maybe the same that goes to the EVF, maybe something not quite that low res? either way you have an image sensor that is specialized for one task and then ask it to do another. Kinda.

Not quite true, since a lot of mirrorless cameras nowadays can do (at least) 1080p60 using a variety of methods, it can just use that data stream for metering and autofocus provided the electronics can handle the data rate. That said, turning on the main sensor all the time to capture this data for EVFs and autofocus is one reason why mirrorless cameras have bad battery life.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17990142
But if some other random pattern, say a bird's beak or bear's butt IS under the focus point, why not just temporarily remember that pattern? I guess what i'm saying is that it is much more than just tracking the color that might be under the focus point, it is intelligently knowing where that color and pattern exist and how they change shape as they cross the frame.

Depending on how it is implemented, it might be hard for users to do this. For instance, if the facial recognition subsystem in EOS iTR uses any sort of statistical machine learning like most modern facial detection systems, then Canon trained the system with with many thousands of examples to recognize faces in a variety of lighting, facial expressions, positions, skin tones and backgrounds. It would be very hard for any one user, without access to a large labelled image data set, to retrain this system to detect patterns other than faces.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17990142
conclusion? just more speculation. But after hearing a little about the enhanced extra sensors that support AF, I tend to think that this has been part of Canon's anti-mirrorless strategy all along. We still get an optical viewfinder but we also get tech to enhance an already stellar AF system. The extra sensors are built for a specific task which makes allows it to do its job better yet doesn't drag down battery life since it is not always active. Pretty sure I have more seat of the pants ideas about Canon's marketing strategy, but not only did i just finish my 4th beer, i realized i didn't eat a proper dinner.

I do wonder if we will see a mirrorless (or pellicle mirrored for OVF -- remember those?) 1DX Mark IV in 2024 as battery technology and more importantly, dual pixel AF continues to mature. It seems like DPAF can already track objects moving pretty well for 4K movies in the 1DX2 and C300 Mark II, and I suspect eventually we'll see them used for stills AI Servo AF as well. I am actually slightly surprised at continuous AF is not enabled in stills Live View shooting using DPAF technology in the 1DX2, but maybe that is not mature enough yet.