Canon EOS 1Ds for me?

Good morning,

I came cross a great deal for an EOS 1Ds and would like to confirm with you guys that it's the right body for me. A little bit on what I shoot:

- Cars (still)
- People (random, still, walking around)
- Street photography
- Landscape
- Random still objects/subjects

And most importantly I love to shoot all of the above at night as well. I also like to shoot indoors, but that's not a big part. I realize that the FPS is only rated at 3, but that should be fine since I shoot mostly still shots, but will the low ISO rating hold up to my night time shots?

I don't have a great deal of lenses at the moment but that will be built up in good time.

Thanks in advance.


edit: I also love bokeh shots and wide angle shots.

I looked up the 1ds and its highest iso seems to be 1250? That wont cut it for night photography unless you utilize flash also or long exposures. Do you have another camera body that does iso1250 for you to compare?

The 1Ds does not excel at high ISOs, despite being a full frame camera so I would suggest a 5D rather than the 1Ds if that is important to you (which it is)

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=497270
Here is the thread for this great camera and only you can decide if this camera is for you, Opinions are nice but you are the one who will have to lay out the money. But good luck on what ever you decide.

shmoogy wrote in post #11020782
The 1Ds does not excel at high ISOs, despite being a full frame camera so I would suggest a 5D rather than the 1Ds if that is important to you (which it is)

When it was new 1600 was like 12800 iso..it did the job well. I loved my 1ds, I'd buy another in a heart beat.

I love mine and will keep it until it dies I think.

Pros:

Awesome, awesome image quality at base ISO. More detailed than shots from my 7D and a beautiful, neutral colour rendition that I prefer over newer Canon cameras. The very weak AA filter means that the camera takes ridiculously sharp photos - I rarely need to sharpen in post - just a wee bit when I resize for web. It's also bullet proof with class AF.

Cons:

Shart batteries - big, heavy and not great life.
Noisy at 800-1250 (but images look great converted to b&w...)
Slow - image review and write to card takes several seconds, small buffer that can take an age to clear.

If you are mainly going to use it at low ISO in situations where you're being considered with your shooting and not blazing frames away, then it might be a good choice. If you have a more modern camera as support, it might be a good choice. It's a fantastic studio and landscape camera for sure

I love mine as well, and with LR 3 the noise isn't really that much of a concern. but, for night shots I will use my 5dII... It's high iso is a lot better.

I couldn't have put it better than spacemunkie. It's awesome. If you nail exposure, you couldn't wish for a better image.

If you underexpose then it can be a bit of a problem. I don't see any reason why the 1ds is a niche tool - I use mine for everything and it's brilliant. Fast lenses and you minimise the need for flash.

Huge thanks to everyone for chipping in advice and comments.

How's this for a story: Somehow I think this body was meant for me - first thing when I woke up on Saturday morning was get on Craigslist and start looking for a body, I spot the 1Ds and immediately email the seller asking to come over and see it. 5min later our electricity went out and I couldn't get back online to check my email! I started to panic, but wait, I call up my buddy and tell him to look up the same ad and give me the guy's phone # which was also posted in the ad. I call up the guy and I rush over to his house @ warp 11 and spent the next 3.5hrs having a ball over there.

This was my first experience with a 1D body and when I went to go pick it up I felt like I was picking up a stack of workout weights. I couldn't believe how solid and heavy the thing was, and that was without any lens attached! Fortunately the seller had a wide selection of lenses to try on and I spot a 70-200IS II, instant saliva form around the corner of my mouth. I felt like a cyborg limping around with such a massive and overweight piece of metal gear, hand shooting everything in sight.

Long story short we also took some sample shots with a 50 1.4 and I did some test shots in the garage and inside the house, where there is low light. I had the seller close his garage door and turn on a spot lamp that was pointed the opposite direction while I took some more pictures. I needed to make sure that the low light performance is up to my standards. Everything looked great and I realize that there's much needed practice with a gem like this, but the pictures on the computer were very satisfying already, can't imagine how much better it would be.

The condition of the body is amazing, I'd say 8.5/10. All the LCD screens were without a scratch and the body was still very grippy. Came with original box, neck strap, 2 batteries, dual battery charger and the rest of the usual papers, manual, etc. But it was missing the hand strap and one of the cable/cord.

edit: Oh and the shutter sound that everyone talks about, it's 1000% true, absolutely glorious.

Right on, and....told ya so. Have fun playing with the color matrices

Have fun with it and be sure to post some pics from it and also that was a good price you got.

Pics will be posted in the 1Ds thread shortly.

I'm deciding on my next lens: 85 1.8, 17-40L or 70-200 f4. I've sold some things here and there and only using a 50 1.8 right now.


edit:I'm also thinking about replacing my 50 1.8 for a 50 1.4.

Good on ya!

Pics are dope...I'm jealous.