Sorry, I usually spend too much time on the gear forum and rarely have anything worthy of posting here. I do linger here often however and sincerely admire the work. I did just pick up a used 1D3 and decided to see if it would focus. These are Black and Brahminy Kites shot in Singapore. Critiques most welcome.

Brahminy

Excellent shots. Focus is perfect. Nice job
Harsha

The last three with the lush green dark backgrounds are stunning.
looks like you have a winner with the mark III.
well done

Anthony Whitmo

Excellent work on the last three shots. The background really makes the bird pop.
Bill

Beautiful,

my favorites are # 1, 4 & 5

Nicely done...

Lil

umm did you come to any conclusion on whether or not it can focus?

Great shots, sharp with perfect backgrounds. Nicely done.

Tim

These are brilliant. Great lighting on the birds with a dark background.

wow I love these

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. Tim, with respect to the 1D3 focus, I would say so far so good. I must be fairly lucky as this is my 3rd copy and I've not really noticed focus issues with any of them. I would say the 1D3 is a little more sensitive than the 1D2N's which I had previously. I don't know about others but I get a fair amount of OOF shots with these subjects regardless of the camera used. I don't think the keeper rate is any worse with the 1D3. I'll also add that these shots are at 35C in sunlight, so I'm quite pleased. This particular camera has been in for the sub-mirror adjustment.

Lil Judd wrote:
Beautiful,

my favorites are # 1, 4 & 5

Nicely done...

Lil

Thanks Lil. Just to show you how subjective photography can be - I like 2, 3 & 6. 2 because of the light showing thru the wings, 3 because it shows the bird spoiling lift to start a dive and 6 because the bird was moving toward me. I actually got a series from this angle and the cam kept up nicely.

Very nice work, awesome bird, deserves to be seen