I think I am happy that one was out of focus

Jerry

I'm probably way off base here... but...

Could it be that the extra sensitivity to the dark is creating havoc w/ the extra bright? As if the whole thing was shifted and now dark is fine but bright is overwhelming (as in overexposed) and auto focus simply isn't able to get a lock?

eh, just random musings.

That person seems to be OOF in real life.

Mariner,

Look at it this way. Canon spent some amount of time (2-3 years?) designing the MkIII and obviously the engineers designed some things that aren't working as advertised. Then the testing process failed to detect the problems. The full extent of the problem was initially surfaced by photogs out in the real world (i.e. Canon had to find out from somewhere else that their product has issues, or at least a significant number of the bodies do.)

During this process Canon rolled out at least a couple firmware updates that pretty much fell flat, at least in terms of their ability to fix the AF issues. So the problem would appear to be pretty complicated and, to be honest, if you're a Canon exec you've got to be wondering what's going on with your engineers and testing folks. I would imagine that they're trying to fix two major things: the MkIII and also the various processes that allowed this product out the door with its various problems. I agree that Canon should have done something to communicate a bit more with consumers although given the fact that they probably have been, or are, as confused as everyone else they might simply have made things worse through public statements. I'm confident that they'll get it fixed, if only because it's in their own financial interest. But it may take some time because they clearly had no idea about the extent of the problem. It will be interesting to see what happens with the 40D, which seems to be getting good reviews, and the 1DsMkIII. On the latter, if I were them I'd be pretty nervous about that roll-out.

Since Aug. 29, Ron G. announced that firmware 1.1.1 is being installed and tested at Osaka.

15 days later, the silence is hurting my ears. Could this mean the new firmware helped and they cannot replicate the problem? I do believe that if the problem was still there, someone would be itching to tell. I would think. Maybe they are trying very hard to make it fail and just can't. I don't know.

Any thoughts?

Scott G.

Everyone who was at the Osaka event was killed in a freak accident when an unspecified camera exploded sending shrapnel for 2 miles. I'm sure we'll read about it a few years from now when the gov't is done covering it up...

_peace_

Jimmy...you kill me ! Made my day.

Nikon suicide photographers detonated thermonuclear devices in clear breech of the health n safety guidelines, as Japan is extremely environmentally friendly, except to dolphins and whales, the name Osaka has been removed from all maps and school children have been brainwashed into thinking that the remaining hole, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshû was in fact a dormant volcano that erupted with a Krakatao force explosion, like it did in 1883.

President Bush then ordered a news blackout as the cartel thought it was a prime opportunity to levy more taxes for the resultant fallout and blame it on you SUV drivers but is using the tax money surreptitiously to finance his invasion of IRAN whom he’ll blame for supplying the Nikon Suicide Photographers with enriched weapon grade plutonium, from which they made their devices and caused all the destruction in the first place.

Naturally it is clearly Canon’s fault, we need no evidence of this, all we need to do is talk to God, he’ll tell us that Bush planned the whole thing and Canon, finding themselves in an untenable position actually paid the Nikon suicide photographers to bomb Osaka with weapons of mass destruction which went missing from Blair’s arsenal who then unknowingly, tried to convince President Bush that it was someone called Sadam who stole the plutonium, Bush, never slow to use an opportunity, said believed and hoodwinked Blair into thinking he really did believe when in fact Bush knew exactly who and where ….

And all because Canon wanted a measly firmware to fix their AF ….

Hello gbee, are you in any way related to James Joyce ? just kidding, well written.

I cant believe there has been no update to RG on his data. Come on Canon make it all better.

You know what they say, no news is good news.
In my line of work, when I stop hearing from customers-they are off enjoying their repaired product and done whining.

Don't know if this is the right place to put this, but I wanted to give folks who are still looking for a Mark III a heads up that Amazon has it in stock as of now.

Mods: Please remove this post if it's inappropriate.

Paul,
I think you are pretty much right on target. What puzzels me so much is that anyone actually buys the Mark III. It must have to do with a certain gambling mentality, a mentality that I fortunately lack. Sure, before the issues were identified many people were drawn in by the Canon cache, but now that problems have been reported by nearly 1/2 the buyers, including some very well known and respected professionals, I would not think anyone would want to take the chance. There is nothing like Zero (0) new sales to spur a company like Canon to act in a more timely manner. Just my two cents of course.
Regards-John

Gambling mentality? You are talking like the 1D Mark 3 is a piece of junk and a purchase is Russian roulette. Far from it. I do indeed suffer from the AF AI-Servo problems but only under very specific conditions, primarily people sports. For people sports I reach for the 1D2N, for everything else I am very very very happy with the 1D Mark 3. I have run a Mark 3 since June 1st this year so I guess I have learnt how to work around the problem so I don't miss the shots I need. Don't get me wrong, it is frustrating not to be able to trust the 1D3 but then again I have the safety net of not having sold my previous bodies to finance the purchase the Mark 3 in the first place, something which no business minded photographer would do anyway.

Anyway, another rugby match this weekend. My Mark 3 has been defaulted and setup from scratch at the advice of CPS UK. I have been incredibly busy during the last 2 months so tomorrow will be a bit of fun. I will travel light (light for me) and I won't be taking my 1D2N, if I get the shots with the Mark 3 wonderful, if I don't, I don't, either way, it will just be me, a 1D3, 500/4 IS, a stack of CF cards and 90 minutes of fine English rugby! Fantastic, can't wait!

Well Allistair, whatever grabs you. I'm also in the envious position of actually not having to sell anything to buy a new Series One or anything else for that matter. Nevertheless, I still like my "stuff" to work properly. A bit compulsive, perhaps, but it is precisely that sort of compulsive attitude that allows me to purchase whatever I want and the new Series 1 Mark III is just to flawed and unreliabale for me. Glad you are able to make do.
Regards-John

I must warn you, if you own a Mk III, you may not like what you see. This bug is giant. It pops up when you least expect it, and yes, it causes focus issues. This bug was discovered on FM'er Bryen Ford's Mark III, you can see sample photos below.
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Get Ready.... This is scary....
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The bug was first discovered tonight on Bryen Ford's Mark III. Very Scary, after months of excellent operation, the bug just pops up out of nowhere.


As you can see, this bug causes major focus issues, as Bryen is no longer paying attention to the game.


Bryen inspecting the bug.


The Mark III Bug, take action before it's too late. Contact your Canon dealer and tell them you will accept nothing less than a fix for the Mk III bug. You might get some free Off! out of it.



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Edited by Jeff on Sep 14, 2007 at 09:03 PM GMT

hilarious

Mine must have the bug too.....I should send it back to Canon. Actually your camere has MAJOR focus problem. The first shot is way front focus. The second is only sharp at the left side (or right depends on where you are standing). The third shot is unmistakenly back focus. This is scary.

Thank you for the information and discovery .

I had to call my doctor and I don't even have a doctor!!! Thanks so much for the warning. My only question is why is the Bush stuff still on top billing at CNN? I protest!

Man, I needed this string really bad, thanks for the fun. What a refreshing breeze. I owe you one, Matt. Great stuff

One scary bug indeed!

Today is going to be a long day of 1D Mark 3 usage, I am hope this bug chooses not to pay me a visit but you can never tell!

beat that bugs butt bryan whhoooaaa whoooaa whoooaa

I just covered (as a medical provider) the UW-OSU game. I did a quick and dirty survey of the sideline photography pro photography crew. My rough estimate indicates that at least 70% of those shooting were using 1dMkIII's as there primary cameras (with a variety of backups...by the way, I saw 1 Nikon shooter in a sea of Canon shooters). Their Mark III's were typically mounted on long telephoto lenses, with some using their back ups for wider lenses. This is in contrast to reports from other venues, but we are in cool, but sunny Washington. By the way, the few pros that I talked with all loved their Mark III's...I talked with about 5....No one was complaining. Like I said, just an FYI. I didn't get around to ask what firmware that they were using.....sorry

Thanks for that information, Ashwin, I'm not surprised but it's great to hear from someone who was actually out in the field to check things like this out.

Do those guys get special treatment for good Mk3? Otherwise, how can they make a living and keep their job with less than 20-30% acceptable images, assuming there is really problem with the Mk3? They are not out there horsing around and testing, and they probably can have any camera they like to use. As mentioned, they did have the Mk2 as the back up/2nd body. I bet you that they probably shot over thousands of shots per game, day-in and day-out. Well, talking about inconsistency

Thank you for telling us that there are actually real people out there using the Mk3 for sports for a living.

I was taking my 100-400 in for service at the Irvine Canon Service Center. There was a pro guy there that was bringing his Mk III because of too many OOF shots. He lost major $$ when photos he took of a car crash were OOF.