Just got the 1D mKII

Hello

Just recently received my 1D mkII, excellent camera, a bit on the heavy side and the shutter is noisier than my 10D.

Have you got any tips or things that I should watch out for. I made my first mistake of putting the noise reduction on, forgot to format the CF card, and getting all fingeres and thumbs in the wrong place, but apart from that like it so far.

Just trying to compare the image quality to my 10D, but at the moment I dont think I have taken enough shots to immediately tell the difference.

Any do's and dont's greatly received.

Cheers

Congratulations on your new buy and welcome to the club.

Yes, its heavy, but it feels so solid, doesn't it?

Don't:
1. Drop it
2. Give it away
3. Let it out of your sight

Do:
1. Enjoy it
2. Practise with it. Read the manual
3. Share your successes with the rest of us.

There are too many things to say about the 1DM2 in a single post. If you do a search above on 1DM2 you will have enough reading for a few days. Be sure to condition you battery with 3 charges and conditionings before using the camera much or you will never get full battery capacity. Also read the suggested CFn. settings at http://www.siphoto.com​/?canon1DM2.inc

Congrats on the purchase.

It may be louder than your 10D but it is such a sweet sounding shutter, especially if you put it on high speed and let it rip.

You should see an increase in quality over the 10D on similar subject matters. I have enlarged one of my 1DMKII files to 20X30 and it could still easily go larger.

I thought that getting used to the two handed menu system was going to a difficult transition. It presented its challenges for the first few days but you get used to it real quick.

It is such an amazing camera with so much to offer that you can't cover it all quickly. Read the manual and practice with it. You'll be amazed at what it can do. And above all, have fun.

Enjoy,
One of the things I appreciate is that the camera is a complete photographic solution. There are no compromises. You now possess a very serious photographic tool. Start with the manual. It has everything you need to know about the camera and how it functions. I carry my manual in my bag. Here is a link I am sure you probably know about http://www.photoworksh​op.com/canon/index.htm​l Tons of info here.

If I could give you some advice, stay away from the custom functions for now. The camera works very well in "default" settings. I have had my 1D Mark II for over a year now and have gone full circle with the custom functions. Tweaked eveything I could and now I tweak nothing. I now just use the default settings and shoot mostly in Manual mode/RAW. When I use the 580EX flash I shoot in P Mode. The camera is very smart. Smarter than me. I started to enjoy the camera when I let it do the hard work.

One piece of non camera advice. Get Photoshop CS2 if you do not have it. The "Shadow & Highlight Adjustment" and "Smart Sharpening Filter" are worth the price of the software alone. I have reprocessed some of my favorite shots and they look better.

One other thing you will enjoy, is when Canon comes out with their latest offerings you will not feel one pang of upgrade envy. If you do, you are a "gear head" and not a photographer. The 1D Mark II is a photographer's tool.......use it, and enjoy it.
Rob

Hi

Congratulations

I also upgraded from a 10D and and I couldn't be more pleased. I really liked my 10d, especially the quality of the images but the mark2 in a different league altogether. The first thing you will notice compared to your 10d is that the blown highlites that were such a common thing on that camera are almost non-existent on the mark2. The camera is really a no compromise solution can't say enough about it.

CF 4-1
I'd advise that you enable CF 4-1 now.. and get used to it asap for the best results with this camera.

Exposure Compensation
Be aware that many copies of this camera tend to er more on the side of underexposure than your 10D did.. so for best results in many situations you will need more "+" exposure compensation than you did with the 10D. (this was the biggest trouble I had making the adjustment)

AF points
Also.. there is a Custom function that limits the number of user selectable AF points to 11 (11?) or 9.. if you are like me and like to use off center AF points often.. I would advise you enable this feature. Scrolling through 11 AF points is far easier than 45!!!!! I have yet to ever need any of the other 34 AF points as my chosen AF point.... And no.. enabling this feature does not in any way limit the cameras ability to use all 45 AF points for predictive AF tracking.


AF EXpansion
Depending on your shooting style and subjects you may want to tweek this now or not.
When using Center AF point only ,. the 1D has the ability to automatically expand the AF area to include the AF points immediately surrounding the center AF point.

I think the default for this is "on" ( you can actually change how many AF points it will expand to as well)

Many who are trying to acheive pinpoint AF on a small area find this function cumbersome and turn it off. It's very handy though for trying to grab fast moving objects where keeping just the center AF point on the subject is difficult.

At the very least.. just be aware of this should find yourself having a hard time focusing on some tiny detail.

Have fun......I just returned mine. Don't worry , it was just me. Words of wisdom........don't expect sharp shots, or any better shots just because it's a 4 thousand dollar camera........at least right out of the camera. If you have more PS knowledge than me you will be fine. And another piece of advice, just set every shapening tool you have to the max setting.

Shoot RAW. If you have PC, get Rawshooter Essentials. Shoot RAW.

haha that made me laugh, congratulations... Now lets see some pics!

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Have fun......I just returned mine. Don't worry , it was just me. Words of wisdom........don't expect sharp shots, or any better shots just because it's a 4 thousand dollar camera........at least right out of the camera. If you have more PS knowledge than me you will be fine. And another piece of advice, just set every shapening tool you have to the max setting.
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Has anybody else experienced not so sharp pictures?, have tested mine with a few shots and seems ok, using it for the first time on Friday, so I hope/trust it will be ok.

Take a look at this.
http://photoworkshop.c​om/canon/EOS_Digital.p​df

Pages 25 & 26.

I get very sharp pictures from Mark II. It's all about using best lenses and using RAW, there is no softness on the camera. By best lenses I do not mean only L, but "good copies" of lenses.

No tips here since I don't have one (yet). But congratulations !!!!

Use your left thumb to handle the ISO change by pressing the two buttons at once.

Softness is the result of the default JPEG sharpness level set in the camera. At 0, the minimum sharpness is applied and most people find that too soft. I shoot RAW exclusively and still yet to encounter softness.