Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

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sinners
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p.1 #1 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

Hello,

Serious confusion here, i do a lot of birding & i need some help. Used a 1d mk III, used a 7d and biggest mistake was of selling the 1d mk III & getting myself a 7d. Sold the 7d after a lot of hit & miss shots from it with some soft images coming too. Need a jump & need one carefully as i dont wana keep changing bodies again.

With pure birding in mind for now, i need an upgrade, confused between "1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d Mk iv" As 1d Mkiv used is becoming hard to get, it comes down to 1dx or 5d mk III. Does 5d mkIII live up to catching birds in flight or stationery, gaining focus in low lighting conditions, is 6fps good enough to catch birds in action & how does it fare in AF performance along with using a 1.4x tele on a 500f4 ? I am aware of the price diff between the 2, but is it worth shelling out that much more !!

Thank you n awaiting your views,

regards,

Aug 20, 2012 at 06:02 AM

Daboyle
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p.1 #2 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

I would say 1d4 because of the better weather sealing, larger body to counter balance the long lenses, FRAME RATE and an amazing AF system ( though the 5d3 is prob just as good ). 1DX is a phenomenal camera, but you can pick up two used 1d4's for the cost of one 1dx, and the AF improvement and IQ will be minimal....the real benefit is in the Dual CF cards, 12 FPS vs 10, High Iso capabilities ( shouldn't matter too much to you ) and full frame camera. Big downside is F8 w/ extenders you cant use.

love the 5d3's, but the 1d series feels oh so perfect in my hands and just more responsive.

Aug 20, 2012 at 06:37 AM

UnknownSouljer
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p.1 #3 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

1DX is the king no doubt, but it obviously comes with the highest price out of all three of the cameras listed. The 1D4 is probably the most economic choice for birding out of the three listed. And the 5D3 is an excellent all-rounder. I would suggest the 5D3 if you shoot more than just birds (although, obviously, and technically all 3 of them will be great cameras in general.)

Aug 20, 2012 at 08:03 AM

Gib Robinson
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p.1 #4 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

I own a 1DIV and have not upgraded to the next gen bodies even though I shoot more landscape than birds. The 1D IV is a very good camera body especially for birders because it is a pro body with more reach than FF's. However, I don't know what lenses you own or what kind of reach you need. In some cases, frame rate or higher ISO are more important characteristics in which case the 1DX would be my choice. Also, I would not assume that the IQ of the 1DIV is "close" to the 1DX. Those very big pixels probably produce superb results. I would look for a way to make the comparison. How many of us need more than 18MP?

--Gib

Aug 20, 2012 at 11:09 AM

uz2work
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p.1 #5 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

While I'm sure that both the 5D Mark III and 1DX are outstanding cameras, I know many serious bird/wildlife photographers who have come to the conclusion that the strengths of neither of those cameras are best suited for their type of shooting.

If you are likely to be shooting in focal length-limited situations and if you have to crop a 1DX image down to the same field of view as that from a 1D Mark IV taken with the same lens from the same distance, you will be down to about 10 1/2 MP on the cropped 1DX image compared to the 16 MP from the 1D Mark IV image. If you have to crop a 5D Mark III image down to the same field of view as a 1D Mark IV image, you will be down to about 13 MP. Every one of the controlled tests/comparisons that I've seen give a clear edge to the 1D Mark IV image over the cropped 1DX or 5D Mark III images with regard to ability to resolve detail in those situations. If you want to put the same number of pixels on your subject with a 5D Mark III or a 1DX as you can with a 1D Mark IV, in essence, it means that you need to trade off a 500/4 for a 6004 or trade off a 600/4 for an 800/5.6, and that means, not only spending more money, but it also means having to deal with a bigger, heavier, and less mobile rig. Further, even if the newer cameras have AF improvements, the AF of the 1D Mark IV is still outstanding.

I know that the OP has rejected the use of a 7D in these situations, but, as a serious wildlife shooter, I consider it to be, by far, the best body for use in focal length limited situations, and I also believe that most who bash the 7D do so either because they are judging noise in an invalid manner or because they refuse to accept the reality that, with a high pixel density 1.6 crop sensor, it is necessary to keep shutter speeds at a significantly higher level than with other cameras to achieve consistently good results. For more information on these matters, I'd suggest reading my posts in this thread.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1139318

With the 7D in focal length-limited situations, I come home every day with consistent high quality images. Note that the sample images that I posted in that thread were not ones that I cherry picked from the best shots I've taken in 3 years of using the camera. Instead, they were shots that I happen to have taken on the same day when I posted them.

Les

Aug 20, 2012 at 12:15 PM

PetKal
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p.1 #6 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

sinners wrote:

With pure birding in mind for now, i need an upgrade, confused between "1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d Mk iv" As 1d Mkiv used is becoming hard to get, it comes down to 1dx or 5d mk III. Does 5d mkIII live up to catching birds in flight or stationery, gaining focus in low lighting conditions, is 6fps good enough to catch birds in action & how does it fare in AF performance along with using a 1.4x tele on a 500f4 ? I am aware of the price diff between the 2, but is it worth shelling out that much more !!

(1) 1DMkIV may be a good camera for your needs, however, there are currently two issues with it: even well used, it is still expensive, and it has the old generation AF system.

(2) Between 5DMkIII and 1DX, I 'd suggest going for 5DMkIII........you get the Canon's state-of-the art AF system as well as IQ processing at one half of the 1DX price.

(3) Generally speaking, I consider 6 FPS to be adequate for wildlidfe photography.
I am still shooting rather fast BIF at 3 FPS (1DsMkII), and also at 4 FPS (1DX). There is a major benefit in observing the target carefully during shooting/tracking as opposed to prattling away at 8 or 10 FPS. Naturally, like anything else, you might encounter situations where even 14 FPS may not be quite enough, and similarly, even the 1200 f/5.6 lens will on occassion be of insufficient focal length.

(4) I can not speak of 500 f/4 + 1.4xTC on 5DMkIII specifically because I do not own 5DMkIII, however, I do not not expect it to be much different than the combo performance on 1DX, i.e., it should be very good, meaning the AF response is good, the AF accuracy is perfect and the resulting IQ is also very good.

Aug 20, 2012 at 12:48 PM

Gary Irwin
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p.1 #7 · Canon 1dx or 5d mk III or used 1d mk iv

Coming from a Nikon D300 (1.5 crop) and 500VR which had the 1.4 or 1.7 teleconverters on it most of the time, I chose the 1D4 because I think it provides the best mix of features. The 1Dx doesn't put enough pixels on the bird at a given focal length and doesn't support f8, so it doesn't matter how good its AF and ISO performance is. Seems to me the 5DIII is an excellent camera, but still doesn't put as many pixels on the bird as my 1D4 at a given focal length, has a slower frame rate and, from what I've read, the IQ isn't significantly better than the 1D4, though the AF is certainly superior.

I decided both the Nikon D4 and D800 had the similar "limitations" to the 1Dx and 5DIiI respectively, which is why I didn't go with either of them.

*BUT* I matched the 1D4 with the 800L to compensate for the loss of reach, and even with the extra focal length I often have the 1.4x tacked onto the 800L.

I have no experience with the 7D and can't comment on its specifics, but my experience with high density crop sensors in general is that you really have to "up" your long lens game (use a tripod, keep the SS up etc.) but if you do, the results can be stellar.

That being said, the best IQ will always come from using a pro body, provided you can either get close to the subject or have access to longer glass. That's what I did and I have no regrets.

Aug 20, 2012 at 01:12 PM

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