Presidential Address--1DMK3

So, I was listening to the last presidential press conference and it was clear that one or two people had a 1dmk3. The fps went up lately in the background.

So, I have a complaint that I could have just as easily made with the mk2.

Why do you need 10fps to capture a slowly moving person. It seems to me like the laziest thing you could possibly do. It makes me sick to think that someone has 1000 shots of a 2 minute address. I feel sure that I could get a very nice shot given 10 frames. Are they even looking through the viewfinder? Are they considering anything at all?

Someone shed some light on this. Does the newspaper they are working for require at least 600 shots per minute?

Whatever it is, it's not photography, it's a video with screen capture.

Sometimes I've used burst mode to make sure I have a range of facial expressions to choose from. With the rate of someone talking, coupled with an average half second response time, you're probably not going to get the facial expression you want. Ten images per second, though, and there's a darn good chance you will. Sounds simple, but it's an issue for sure when shooting someone talking. CF space isn't limited, really, so rip all you want, and there's all the better chance that you get it "right".


"Machine gun mode" it may be, but if it pays...

Yes. You'd want to get him looking as gormless as possible...

Yeah, I suppose it was a careless rant. I understand that in certain situations you absolutely need to get the right shot, and talking is difficult to overcome. Plus, in his case, you have to get that perfect shot that makes him look like an idiot.

I guess if I was in the white house press room and someone handed me a mk3, I can see how I wouldn't risk missing the shot.

It really seems like in this case you are relying purely on the camera. There seems to be very little skill involved. Can you shed more light on that?

ijohnson wrote in post #3543216
It really seems like in this case you are relying purely on the camera. There seems to be very little skill involved. Can you shed more light on that?

There's still plenty of skill that needs to be used. Having a high fps rate it totally separate to knowing what exposure and framing to use. All the high fps does is give you greater leeway in the timing of the shot, nothing to do with the technical aspects of it (which the shooter still needs to know how to judge).

Hmmm - I gotta try one of those 10 fps cameras - see if I can get a shot of the MIL where her lips aren't moving. Good hint. Thanks guys.

Depending on the depth of field you have with your lens, you not only need to nail the expression, but the focus as well. Bursting ups your chances of snagging keepers. I have found myself much happier with going from the XT to the 30D (and in three days the 1Dmk2) as a result of my "hit rate" increasing and not being upset because I missed a great shot by a hair. I have noticed that my 18-50 2.8 macro is dang sharp at f/2.8 and does a fantastic job of turning non-subject to bokeh, but lacks some of the AF precision I would like. Keeping the AF on Servo and shooting 3-4 shots rather than just one or two raises my chances that it WILL calculate the focus near-perfect at least once.

In regard to framing the shot, the camera is not going to do much to help, but it can help with the exposure, to a degree. All 1-series DSLRs have broad AEB shot ranges (2,3,5 or 7 via P.Fn #8; all other carry 3 shots only) and one could conceivably set the spacing to 1/3 or 2/3 EV steps and shoot 5 or 7 shot bursts to compensate for exposure calculation error.

The 1-series cameras are insanely flexable even beyond this example. Canon is targeting a lot of professional shooters with the line, so it has to play "jack-of-all-trades" to be successful...and it can do this more easily by cramming a lot of opportunities into a small window of time with a 10fps drive mode!