Ariel Bravy
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 p.1 #1 · So the 1D3's a little different | |
I've been playing with a 1D3 for the past week or so, but hadn't really put it through its paces until tonight when I shot another cheer event.
They've made SO many little refinements in the Mark III compared to the Mark II. There's way more to it than just the high ISO capabilities and the new AF system.
I know many of you have this body already and all this is old hat for you, but I'd like to share my experience of playing with this new (to me) body nonetheless. Within the past week I've used the 1D, 1D2, 1D2n, and 1D3 pretty extensively and am getting a feel for the differences.
So, let's get to it. 
One of my two concerns was the AF system. You can't select any arbitrary AF point the way you could with the older 1-series AF system. Navigating the points involves two rings, an inner ring and an outer ring. It does limit you, like if you're on the center point, if you want to select the bottom point, you have to go up and run around the ring, or just use the joystick instead. The thing with the joystick is that it's so far out of the way when shooting vertically that the old method is easier to reach.
The other concern I had was the new AF on button for focus instead of the * point. Shooting horizontally, the AF on button is pretty out of the way, but when shooting vertically, it feels right about where the * used to be on the older bodies which is handy. Something odd I noticed, and maybe this is just an issue with this particular body, is that the rubber sticks out underneath the * button where it curves inside, catching my thumb from time to time.
It's an awesome body in so many ways. They've made so many nice little changes.
The battery is smaller, lighter, gives you a very accurate remaining capacity, shows you the shutter count since the last charge, and shows how well it recharges so you can tell if it's dying. I shot over 7800 shots today and the battery is down to exactly 25% remaining. That's astounding. I'm used to my 1D where I typically get less than a thousand shots and always have a (heavy) spare battery handy. When it starts getting low, there's like this mental game wondering if you're gonna have enough juice to make it through the next band or event without the camera dying mid-performance. It's happened many times... The Mark II is better, but still not nearly as good as the Mark III.
The menus have been greatly expanded. You navigate them differently as well. The custom functions have been all f'ed up. I have no idea where anything is anymore.
For example, you remember Cf 4? The option to change the * button to focus if you're a thumb focuser?
You might think that it's under the "Auto focus/Drive" custom function menu. It'd be logical, but you'd be wrong.
The actual option once you find it is called "Shutter button/AF-ON button." Ah, shutter. Must be tied to exposure then. Go to the "exposure" custom function menu and again you'd be SOL.
Finally, if you dive into the "Operations/Others" set of custom functions, you'll finally find the option you're looking for.
WTF Canon?
Oh well, at least there's another option to swap the * button and the AF-on button.
The camera has a tendency to conflict with itself. For example, you can custom set the set button (very handy!!) inside the main dial, but if you still have live view set to the set button in a whole different menu entirely, it doesn't matter what you do with the set button's custom function because it's overridden. Little stuff like that.
Dealing with dual cards is very handy. The menu has been changed, but again some of the options are in another menu, the jpeg quality stuff. It's so awesome that you can adjust both image size AND image quality in camera, not just with goofy parameters and whatnot.
The flash sync speed is 1/300. I was wondering how you could select it given that the shutter speeds are 1/250 and 1/320, with nothing in between, but it becomes a magically selectable option when you put on a flash without enabling HSS.
The new screen rocks. I can't tell critical sharpness in the normal view, but the size and clarity are great, especially when you zoom in. Being able to see focus at 10x in live view is fantastic as well.
I did have issues with the 17-40 and not being able to tell critical focus zoomed out or in. I was thinking the camera was having focus issues because the images looked so soft, but when I pulled them onto the computer, they looked fine. I didn't notice the same problem with the 200 f2, oddly enough. When it's sharp, you can tell. When it's not, you can tell.
Going back to a 1D2 screen is somewhat of a letdown after using a 1D3 screen. Going back to a 1D screen is even worse.
The menu pops up much more quickly when you first try to access it compared to the 1D. Going back to the 1D, I thought I somehow didn't press the button well enough while waiting for it to pop up. It had never been an issue before. I'm just now noticing it.
The white balance adjustment is now done in a menu instead of in that little screen in the back. It's like digging around.
It's handy being able to do no autorotation, traditional autorotation, or autorotate the image but don't autorotate when displaying on the screen. That way you can shoot verticals and keep it as-is when holding the camera vertically, but it'll rotate the image on the computer when you're looking at it horizontally.
Those 3 infamous 1-series buttons on the top have been redone. ISO now has its own custom button by the horizontal shutter which is a plus. Instead of having to hold down two buttons and twist dials to change those parameters, you can just tap the buttons and let go, and the menu will stay open so you can change settings. No more of that goofy claw stuff to change settings!
You can choose ISO 2000 and ISO 2500 as well. It's nice being able to go slightly past 1600 without having to jump all the way to 3200 in low light, similar to how you can choose ISO 1000 or 1250 to save yourself a little noise compared with 1600.
I love that if you accidentally open the card door while it's still writing, it'll show you a warning on the LCD, but keep going. It doesn't commit seppuku and error out like it did with the older bodies.
Deleting images while chimping mid-shoot is strange.
On the 1D, it's press trash, hold trash, spin left to 'delete' and let go.
On the 1D2, it's press trash, hold trash, spin left for delete picture or right for delete all.
On the 1D3, it's press (or hold if you're feeling old school) trash, spin RIGHT, click the 'set' button.
With the older bodies, you could keep the delete option enabled as you quickly spin through images, very handy for deleting shots right after an event, before handing off your card. WIth the 1D3, you have to enable the delete option for each shot individually. It's not bad, just... different. When you get in the swing of things, it can mess with you when things aren't done the way you expect.
The viewfinder on the 1D3 is big and beautiful. I love it.
ISO is always displayed in the viewfinder in its own dedicated location. Thank goodness.
Holding the body, the 1D feels more streamlined and "perfect" while the 1D3 feels more ergonomic and comfortable, but I'm not sure why. I prefer the 1D3's feel.
I love that the 1D3 uses USB instead of firewire so you don't have to deal with all the different sized firewire cables and all that jazz.
The WB menu shows not only the label of the WB option, but also the color temp. That is a BIG help. For example, I was shooting 3200K today and it was nice finding out that tungsten light (the light bulb) is approx 3200K. That way I can quickly set it on this body, as well as any other bodies I'm using.
In the little box at the bottom, it shows you how many shots are remaining on that card. I wish I could change that to how many shots I've taken on this card. I prefer keeping track of how many shots per group I'm doing, but I haven't found an option to change it in any of the menus. That's not to say it's not in there, however.
A lot of the stuff that you used to have to use firewire and a computer to change with personal functions you can change right in camera, such as which modes are available such as P, Av, M, etc.
The diopter dial is now fully under the viewfinder eyepiece so you no longer accidentally knock it out of position and think you're going crosseyed or your AF is busted when shooting.
There's true mirror lockup now. Hooray! You can either have the mirror flip down after the shot or STAY up and you keep tripping only the shutter between successive shots. So awesome. Thank you so much Canon!!
The lock/voice memo button can be flipped around. Instead of tapping the button to lock the image, you can start voice recording. Press and hold to lock. Kinda nifty, eh?
Silent shutter is selectable right from the shutter options like single shot, 10fps mode, etc, rather than in a personal function.
The automatic sensor cleaning thingy upon startup and shutdown is a nice addon. It's silent and doesn't really get in the way, other than the odd blinky lights when you expect the camera to turn off.
I love that the battery doesn't have that little button that you need to hit. Just the knob the same way the NP-E2's do. Those buttons seemed a bit unnecessary on the Canon batteries, and tended to jam in the third party batteries.
The 10fps mode does take a little getting used to. It's faster than 8fps and so at first I was accidentally firing off double shots when testing it. Getting the right touch comes naturally though.
Speaking of the touch, each body tends to have a personality with shutter button sensitivity, both horizontal and vertical. No two bodies are identical. Have you guys noticed that too?
All in all, I'm really impressed with this body. It's not just a 1D2 with better specs, it's a totally revamped body. They've made so many wonderful changes to it that it's truly becoming a joy to get to know and use. A finely built piece of machinery it is, focus issues aside.
There's obviously much more to it, things like AF microadjustment, an even more customizable AF system, a new info button, a 'func' button for when you wanna get funky, and much much more, but the above are the main things I noticed when putting the body through its paces.
Maybe all that'll be useful. Maybe not. Either way, oh well!
Edited on Nov 24, 2008 at 05:52 PM · View previous versions
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