You saved me a head of $$$ Rob. I will wait for the L Bracket for the DX3. I was going to go ahead and buy based on the dimensions not changing much. Glad I waited.
Have you had a chance to use the Sony A9 before? I have a preorder in on the 1DX3 and have recently acquired an A9 and a 200-600. I found the tracking of birds in flight (5-6 sessions photographing mostly gulls) to be a lot better on the A9 and 200-600 than my experiences with the 1DX2 and the 600iii. Obviously the prime lens and the weight of the 600iii make flight shooting a bit more difficult than with the A9 and the zoom, but I found my hit rate to be well over 90% with the A9 and 200-600, and I noticed that the tracking on the A9 rendered significantly more eyes in focus than wingtips in focus as compared to my 1DX2/600iii.
I'm going to get the 1DX3 either way (I've been on a waiting list since November), just wondering your experiences!
RobAmy wrote:
Geoff this AF is awesome. In electrical or mechanical it appears to me as a complete live feed. I am able to keep every shot in the middle of the frame which is almost impossible with the R. The R you have to lead the camera more so to keep up with the frame rate if that makes sense. I only used live view today with the Loupe which works awesome actually. The playback looks like a movie. The 20 FPS is so nice. Once locked on it stayed locked. I missed a few but more due to me. The light was not great today and it still locked on and the 1dx II would've had trouble. Once The AF missed and it took forever for it to pull back into focus, but I think this was more due to the lighting. I really think this is the best AF I have ever used. I used the OVF briefly and it worked well also for the lighting, but I would like to use that more before giving a full opinion. Right now I think this is a worth while upgrade over the 1dx II.
RobAmy wrote:
Geoff this AF is awesome. In electrical or mechanical it appears to me as a complete live feed. I am able to keep every shot in the middle of the frame which is almost impossible with the R. The R you have to lead the camera more so to keep up with the frame rate if that makes sense. I only used live view today with the Loupe which works awesome actually. The playback looks like a movie. The 20 FPS is so nice. Once locked on it stayed locked. I missed a few but more due to me. The light was not great today and it still locked on and the 1dx II would've had trouble. Once The AF missed and it took forever for it to pull back into focus, but I think this was more due to the lighting. I really think this is the best AF I have ever used. I used the OVF briefly and it worked well also for the lighting, but I would like to use that more before giving a full opinion. Right now I think this is a worth while upgrade over the 1dx II.
arbitrage wrote:
There is no public release to look at the RAWs. Jason has a pre-release of DPP to open them but otherwise not sure how you would look at them??
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Kameratrollet wrote:
Perhaps RawTherapee or ART work.
Canon has given me a copy of DP v.4.12.0.5, but I am under strict orders not to give it to anyone, sorry.
Maybe try Iridient Developer? I heard they might have been able to crack the RAW file, but I'm not sure.
I have to be critical Rob, while looking fine like always, the images you shared so far do not differ from the ones you shared previously from the 1dxII. To be honest, these are not quite challenging other than that you say the AF is more consistent. I'm interested to see if the 'AI' and/or increased AF speed due to a dedicated AF chip is able to keep a birds head in focus (better) when flying towards you instead of constantly looking for most contrast near the selected AF point what the 1dxII did.
I'd like to see some challenging testing (convincing proof) like e.g. the image below. sequence by Marcus Antonius Braun, on Flickr
p.s. The image above was from a sequence of 20 images, where 3 were tack sharp on the head, and the others varied between completely OOF (probably due to IS startup) and sharp tailfeathers or breast depending on what had more contrast.
It would be nice to know if the new improved AF locks on certain contrast/color combinations so it 'understands' to keep focus on a certain area, e.g. the beak in combination with the dark eyes.
Rob is doing us a favor by posting his images and impressions. Let's not hold him accountable for the conditions nor the camera. Perhaps get your own and post your impressions.
rbeasley wrote:
Perhaps get your own and post your impressions.
Don't worry, i will
And about doing us a favor and conditions. Simple birds like gulls and such should be easy to find aywhere. As he said before, he would not shy away from such subjects.
In ten days anyone who wants to try one should be able to with ease. Either buy it or talk with CPS for a loaner.
It certainly can be difficult to really figure out how AF is without a lot of time spent shooting. Also doesn't help when subjects are restricted at certain times of year. I know in my case if I had the camera I wouldn't have my most challenging subjects available till swallows return in Spring and more so when the babies are out flying in Summer. I'd be able to test some ducks in flight which would tell me something but not everything. Seagulls are always available where I am but would tell me very little as they aren't too challenging and 1DXII could handle them easily anyways.
I'm sure Rob has his own copy coming on the 13th or so. Hoping Pius and some of you other 1 series diehards will get one and test also.
Everyone is excited to see its full potential. And the big question is, is it that much better than it's predecessor. Shooting gulls or ducks tells you little? Not so sure about that.
Please tell me, what is the value of testing a camera in a season where you can't actually test AF improvements other than have it in your hands and fiddle with it. I could have tried one out this week, but exactly because of this matter (season) i decided to postpone my loaner.
No offense, it might tickle some to see 'ordinary' images, but to me they tell little.
therealthings wrote:
Everyone is excited to see its full potential. And the big question is, is it that much better than it's predecessor. Shooting gulls or ducks tells you little? Not so sure about that.
Please tell me, what is the value of testing a camera in a season where you can't actually test AF improvements other than have it in your hands and fiddle with it. I could have tried one out this week, but exactly because of this matter (season) i decided to postpone my loaner.
It might tickle some to see 'ordinary' images, but to me they tell little.
If someone shoots with a 1DXII for few years, I bet he can see/feel the difference in AF acquisition speed even on the first try, especially in low light condition.
What I believe is that you are asking to see a series of shots showing that AF (tracking) stays on the subject. I don’t think that Rob’s intention was to show it here. Mainly because he doesn’t have access to a challenging subject.
If he has enough experience with shooting gulls with a 1DXII I bet he is qualified to give his opinion on the AF capabilities of 1DXIII.
therealthings wrote:
Everyone is excited to see its full potential. And the big question is, is it that much better than it's predecessor. Shooting gulls or ducks tells you little? Not so sure about that.
Please tell me, what is the value of testing a camera in a season where you can't actually test AF improvements other than have it in your hands and fiddle with it. I could have tried one out this week, but exactly because of this matter (season) i decided to postpone my loaner.
No offense, it might tickle some to see 'ordinary' images, but to me they tell little....Show more →
Why are you in this thread?
For me it is a new camera and an upgrade to my 1DX. I am excited to hear reports and see images in anticipation of mine being delivered on 2/14/20. I appreciate the reports from Rob . It sounds like you don't. Good luck with that.
therealthings wrote:
And the big question is, is it that much better than it's predecessor. .
Canon said it was better than the 1DXII and with all fairness to Canon, every model they have released has been better than the previous. Tracking, buffer, silent shutter, weight, battery life and video have all improved.
It will be incremental but in all reality the shooters skill and a willing subject are more important.
For me it is a new camera and an upgrade to my 1DX. I am excited to hear reports and see images in anticipation of mine being delivered on 2/14/20. I appreciate the reports from Rob . It sounds like you don't. Good luck with that.
Ofcourse i am interested to hear about Rob's findings, otherwise i would not read this thread about the camera to answer your blunt question why i am here. And yet the images posted did not show (at least yet) a significant difference from what the predecessor could have done. So it's nice to see that they are 1dxIII photographs but they tell little to me. And i would like to see more reports that confirm the improved AF.
Nothing wrong there IMHO.
By the way, if you are upgrading from the 1dx, I certainly believe it would be a fine upgrade.
therealthings wrote:
Everyone is excited to see its full potential. And the big question is, is it that much better than it's predecessor. Shooting gulls or ducks tells you little? Not so sure about that.
Please tell me, what is the value of testing a camera in a season where you can't actually test AF improvements other than have it in your hands and fiddle with it. I could have tried one out this week, but exactly because of this matter (season) i decided to postpone my loaner.
No offense, it might tickle some to see 'ordinary' images, but to me they tell little....Show more →
As I said, ducks would tell me something but not as much as my swallows would. Gulls would tell me little because I never really struggled with getting long sequences sharp with 1DXII. I would probably get some idea of how the Zone and All-point modes look to be working (ie how the points stay or don't stay on the subject as the camera tracks) shooting gulls but once back at the computer, getting a string of sharp shots wouldn't say much if I already could get those with 1DXII.
If I was able to test a 1DXIII today, I would also have a little bit of a hard time doing a good evaluation against 1DXII because I haven't had the 1DXII for over a year and I lived in a different city then and haven't shot the 1DXII at locations I would now test the 1DXIII. I would be able to give a better comparison to my D500/850 and A9. But of course I did spend 3 years shooting 1DXII so I surely could give some general impressions.
