OK this post concerns the 1Ds2 vs 5D -- however to inject a little bit of realism into the thread why not have a look at this where it compares (up to a point) a 1D2 (note 1D2 not a 1Ds2) and a 5D.
You certainly can't really compare the 5D and the 1Ds2 in any meaningful way -- would you compare a pickup truck, a lexus and the latest 850,000 USD Bugatti --true they will all drive at 40 Kph on the highway but that's about as close as you can get for any comparison whatsoever.
Different tools for different jobs
I'm not a wedding shooter --but if I were I'd probably grab a 1D2 -- a really nice fast shooting machine which will yield reasonably large prints (far larger than the typical customer usually wants) at a speed and accuracy which would leave the other two for dust. For sports / PJ work the only choice is a 1D2.
Now for a Studio / catalog shoot I'd probably use a 1Ds2, whilst for some type of travel photography a 5D would probably have the edge.
There really isn't currently any "All round camera" but the nearest compromise if you can handle the size (and it's not really that huge) is the 1D2.
Pondria wrote:
I don't know how they can be compared. But IMHO 5D AF should be more than adequate for wedding. With every man and woman in Tux or Dress on high-heels, how fast the AF need to be ?
It is the mother in law's moving mouth that the AF needs to keep up with...
Joe, my post above was talking about using the flash for assist already, there is still a big difference in AF speed. If the camera doesn't need to activate the IR light then it has already focused faster, by the time the camera decides to activate the light and then achieves focus from it, the whole process has slowed down. Oh and the videographer hates it
Kyle, as a wedding shooter, you don't need a 1D mkII period! a wedding is not sports, it's not PJ. The only reason to use a 1Ds mkII is for the larger files and more AF points, a wedding is not a war zone, you hardly ever get exposed to adverse weather, you don't need super fast and super accurate AI servo (how fast does a bride move for heavens sake!) and anyone shooting in machine gun mode that needs more than 3-4fps is a disgrace to wedding photography.
The 5D is a great wedding camera, not huge, small batteries, FF and enough resolution for almost all one's needs. The AF is certainly fast enough (anyone remember when we shot weddings with med format and MF 35mm, we weren't wedding photographers at all in those days according to half the people on this forum!) and the buffer is welcome coming from the 1Ds.
Hi Beni -- as I said I wasn't a wedding shooter and have no experience with that type of environment (except as a guest where of course I kept my cameras at home).
I'm glad the 5D does it for you -- I certainly remember weddimg shooters a while ago (am I getting that old) lugging around oodles of MF gear.
The place where the fast AF of the 1D2 would make a difference might be in a Church or similar place of worship where light might not be too good and flash photography / strobes weren't allowed.
I can't say I've tried a 5D in this type of environment --would be nice to know how it performs.
Happy New year (and for the first time for ages in the UK Marriages are up so should be more work for you in 2006).
The low light, no flash, high ISO, church scenario is exactly one of the times where I need to know how the 5D performs. There are others too like last night's candle lit New Years party. The 1dsmk2 is awesome in these settings, though I wish it had the 5D's better ISO handling.
I've got to find a shooter near me with a 5D I can try.
In answer to that, I have to be honest that I have no idea having not shot in that kind of lighting for a long while. In very low light such as the picture belowthe 1Ds focused like a snail (abt 1-2 sec to lock), I'd knocked the flash off by mistake and the bride was only lit by the videographers light seen on the right, shot at iso 500 1/60 f4 and pushed 3 stops! (it worked though). I'm still of the opinion that the D2X is superior to the canon's for low light AF.
Seriously mate, when you are spending that kind of money, go to the local pro store and try it out for yourself, borrow or beg one, or even better, buy with the option to return, and try the damn thing out. It's your money, it's your decision and whether it is good enough is, at the end of the day, a subjective question that only you can reliably answer.
I have never used a 5D, but everything I have read says it is a wonderful low light camera. Here is a post from a fellow using the 5D and the 85 1.2 to capture shots from the Boston Ballet. It tells me that this body will be more than sufficient for low light church wedding shots.....
Same here, I also have 11-point than the 45. Its just TOO many points sometimes to select through.
I haven't tried a 5D, but having own all 1-Series, and a 20D and a friend with Rebels...the non-1Series AF system is just much slower than the 1 Series.
