(rant) I SUCK with my 1D!

KevC wrote in post #2348146
First I must apologize for my ranting. But let me blow of some steam, please. I wont be an ignorant fool and claim it's all the cameras fault, because it's most likely mine (fastest (class) camera in the world and an L w/USM lens? No way).

OK...first things first... if you were a chick and you said you sucked with a 1D.. I would ask if you were available

(ok, that was low.. )

Now on to the real advice.. whenever you transition to a new camera and system it does take some practice. Also be aware that some days are just bad days. Some days even IS doesn't help me because I am so tired and shaky. You might really want to just go there and take it easy because the 1D can be a trying beast to carry especially with full getup.

I really don't like the 1D's LCD, I don't even chimp.. that bad, for someone who does so often and necessarily on the 5D.

CF card problem: Carry a spare card and be prepared to change out and format immediately. Just the way you carry a spare battery. Countless times I have showed up on location and discovered the card is still in the card reader.. countless times the 1GB or 2GB spare (or even the microdrive!!) in my bag has at least enabled me to start shooting and stop looking like King Moron (unfortunately a hat I wear fairly often too)

The other reason is that the 420EX AF Assist does not cover all 1D points. I believe the big 5x0 series flashes do, but not the 4-series. Read manual again to just be sure.

1D AF has been acknowledged by the guru himself (Chuck Westfall) to be slightly inferior in lower light UNLESS there is AF assist light. He specifically recommended adding a flash or ST-E2 to do the job.

There is a delay while the AF system tries, misses, orders the Speedlite to fire the red AF Assist beam, then tries again. It may be 2X the normal AF time, I am not sure. This delay has always been noticeable on every one of my Canon DSLRs. I think Chuck mentioned something about AF speed being affected by this too.

It is safe to use all AF points even at f/4, however, because of the limited flash coverage, I would go for the backup - set center-point ONLY and go for that. I use center only when I need maximum reliability, and no, FLR does not seem to trip me up even though I use it lots at events.

IMO, AFPS and Area AF shine in BRIGHT light, which is the domain of my 1D. I know it's your primary camera so you'll have to find a way to make it work and with a little bit of help it can be done.

Image stabilization on short zooms is REALLY useful when you want to drag the shutter like this. 24-105 FTW!!

Clubs with low light, moving people, and everything - are extremely challenging places to shoot. I feel for you as well..I'd buy you one if I was nearby. I think it' s just a bad day. Put the camera away, or take it out just to demo it, where there's no pressure. And order a few more drinks! You sound like you need them

It's a guess that when you used to shoot with the 300D, you were focusing and metering at the same time by half-pressing the shutter button and then pushing it all the way to release the shutter. If that's the case then the 'new' method of doing it with your 1D is going to require time for you to adjust.

Tried doing that myself in my study room during some quiet time and I never got hold of the trick. So I stuck to doing things the old way and it worked magnificently well for my vacation. I'm an old dog and can't learn new tricks, so that's the way I did it. I just feel that the 'new' method is a little hard to control.

If this wasn't the issue either, don't worry about it. There's bad phases to everything...ups and downs. In the end you'll get over it. I had a friend like yourself who had a similar experience. He loves using these manual focus cameras. He uses a rangefinder habitually and can always get sharp shots out of it. He then tried a manual focus SLR with a 50mm prime and can nail focus too. When he tried a 28mm f/2.8 lens on that same SLR he bungled the focus on every shot that night...couldn't tell why either.

At any rate, s**t happens. BUT, you'll get over it. Just need to get the relationship with your camera going.

Hawg Hanner wrote in post #2349002
And nor should you...because the burst of the front curtain flash is short enough that your camera freezes the image and 1/10s is just long enough that if you're holding your camera relatively still you still wouldn't see much blur in your photos. However, if you were to use your camera at 1/10s and without a flash, if my brief experience is correct, you would then be much more likely to experience the blurring of your photographs.

The original poster, however, did not seem to use his flash.

Oops, sorry misread the original post, thought someone said he was using a flash.

1/30th, F2.2, ETTL and iso 400 would have made that place look great with the 28 1.8

Experimentation is the best thing you can do. Reading crap that we post sometimes doesn;t sink in or you miss it. Just experiment when you won't be disappointed.

I shot at 1/160 @ f 1.8 with the flash bumped down to -1 1/3 I think... ISO 400.... Turned out great with my 1D... Let me get more detail on this when I get home...

Is there anything in focus?

Does 420 AF assist only with the center point or all of the points?

MDJAK wrote in post #2348661
Join the "I Suck Club With My Camera" no matter what model it is.

After getting my camera, I went outside with my daughter who was playing i puddles after a huge rainstorm. All the pictures sucked. Was it camera error? Nope; user error all the way.

Don't feel that bad. It's an honor to be in the club, at least for a while. As long as you learn, you'll graduate to the I suck once in a while club.

me

Where do I sign up?

I don't know if 1D is similar to 20D, but I had the same dilemma with memory being full and only 20 shots I needed to keep, so I've protected those 20 and "erased all" freeing the space on a card without formatting it...
17-40 is excellent lens FOR OUTDOORS ONLY, F4.0 is too small for an artificial light without flash and tripod support...
Even if you try to follow rule of tomb "shutter speed = focus lenght" it's not going to work for mobile objects - the rule works only to prevent blur from your handshake not the subjets you're photographing from movement...
Taking any lens with at least F2.8 below 100mm and any on camera flash would've prevented your fiasco... well, what is valuable is you'll never make the same equpment choice again!

TXLEBER wrote in post #2348725
I'm a card carrying member!

And I'm El Presidente of said club!

As for the formatted card and losing your shots you can run a recovery program on it and get them back as long as they haven't been written over. A format does not clear the card of all data just makes the space available for future use.