I am very sorry to read of the issues some new 1D Mark 3 owners are experiencing. I am feeling very fortunate as I have had a full week with mine and no problems except a little user error. If only I could purchase an upgrade to my camera skills. However, the week has shown me the versatility of this camera.
I experimented alittle more with 70-200L IS again today on my 1D MK III and found that if I manually select AF points in the center area the images are out of focus. Outside AF areas seem to be a non-issue. I tried the AF microadjustment with no improvements. I'm going to call Canon NJ service tomorrow morning.
Ian
Jeff wrote:
I could swear we read something about an issue with the 70-200/2.8L and using center-point focus with the MkIII. It's either in this thread, or in the 'Master' thread.
jvvjvv wrote:
Is there a way of quickly going from One Shot to AI-Servo with one button without taking your eye out of the viewfinder? I know you can use a button on some super telephotos, but I don't believe that's available on the 70-200L 2.8 IS. Am I missing something? Any ideas?
C.Fn III-6 (4)
If you hold the AF button in, it will switch from One-shot to Al Servo or from Al Servo to one-shot. Page 168.
Unfortunately, this is not true. This does not refer to the AF button, but rather the AF Stop Button. I would like to see Canon make this applicable to the AF button though....Show more →
Sorry....I was up to 3 in the morning playing with the new toy and going through the manual. Seemed perfectly logical to have it work that way. I did "assume" that the AF and AF stop button where one and the same.
Tinker AFB had an airshow the last 2 days, was the first decent workout for my MKIII. It was overcast yesterday, shots certainly challenged the dynamic range, dark blue of Blue Angels planes against a white hazy sky. Today I used a circular polarizer to cut some of the haze as it was overcast again and it even rained out the show. Managed to get a few good ones before the fun ended. Here is a shot of the Oracle custom built acrobatic plane. Converted in ACR with zero sharpening, jaggies caused by resizing. EXIF intact.
http://www.johnferguson.net/images/oracle.jpg
Thought I got as good results with my MKIIn but when I look closely at the detail in the cockpit, 100% crop of the above, it changed my mind. Again, zero sharpening.
It is great to begin to see some good shots with the camera. A look at Pbase and many of the samples posted elsewhere would leave you to believe that it is quite overrated. You have chant it's not the camera, it's the photographer, to keep yourself from running out and buying a Nikon.
I still have to wait another week for my camera, so I try to shorten the time by reading this thread over and over again.
Have anyone of you tried the live view function for extreme macro focusing?
If so, could you please post an example?
ISO1600 wrote:
why do some people feel the need to XX out the end of a serial number?
it's not a driver's liscense or social securtity number. It's the SN to a camera.
Camera identity theft is a HUGE problem. Just the other day I saw a point and shoot walk into Nordstrums and purchase a designer camera strap using a Mark III's identity.
I tried to tell the clerk, but he wouldn't listen. Now some poor Mark III won't know about it till his credit is ruined.
Jeff wrote:
It could be interesting to know the shipping dates and serial numbers of problem and non-problem cameras, just for the record...
May be also interesting to know the Canon Part/ID Numbers to see the origin of the cameras (Regional Area), I have recollected these ones (they are in the sticky labels on the boxes - code bars):
1888B004 / 1888B011AA -->> (UK, Germany)
1888B010AA -->> Spain
1888B002 --->> USA
1888B007AA -->> Australia
John Ferguson wrote:
Tinker AFB had an airshow the last 2 days, was the first decent workout for my MKIII. It was overcast yesterday, shots certainly challenged the dynamic range, dark blue of Blue Angels planes against a white hazy sky. Today I used a circular polarizer to cut some of the haze as it was overcast again and it even rained out the show. Managed to get a few good ones before the fun ended. Here is a shot of the Oracle custom built acrobatic plane. Converted in ACR with zero sharpening, jaggies caused by resizing. EXIF intact.
Thought I got as good results with my MKIIn but when I look closely at the detail in the cockpit, 100% crop of the above, it changed my mind. Again, zero sharpening.
Don't claim to be an airshow guru....Show more → John Ferguson wrote:
Forgot to mention, taken with 70-200 2.8 IS with 1.4 extender. Have had zero errors using this body.
Great shot John, good to see a M3 pic. I've nearly given up using a 1.4 tc on my 70-200 I get to much CA and am not sure if we would get better results just cropping more of the original image?
Cheers
Nick (proud M3 owner)
Edited by NickRno77 on Jun 11, 2007 at 08:50 PM GMT
I'm sure those of us that shoot a lot can tell pretty quickly the difference between our old model and the MkIII. For me it's reliable instant focus, at least another ISO stop and a little less IQ when enlarged past 100% (I have yet to make a test at comparable and low ISO's since the excitement, for me is 80% keepers instead of 20% with low light dance and my old 5D).
Years ago I read the, consumer, photo magazines and couldn't understand how such good equipment made such dull photos. Well the equipment was fine the photo writers/editors were dull and, since a lot of them shot too, you didn't see a lot of good photos. It's over 30 years later and not much has changed.
Anyone shooting smaller moving objects, like birds in flight, ect with this camera ? From what I am seeing from some nature photog forums with experienced and accomplished bird in flight photographers, focus aquisition and tracking for bird's in flight sucks with this camera. It is always trying to obtain focus on the background not the subject whether using centerpoint sensor or a small ring of them. This to me sounds like a problem with the new AF algorithm...what's more troubling is that for sports, photo journalism, af tracking has not been a problem due to the usually much larger subjects that are in motion. My fear is that this type of photography (birds) is a small segment in the minds of the Canon development team and is unlikely to be addressed. Could the MarkIIN end up being the definitive nature action camera ?
I am seriously thinking of getting another Mark2N body (new) for backup. I can't see how a firmware update could address this short of re-writing the AF program algorithm...very troubling news Canon....
"With an EF 300mm f2.8L IS and an EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, the camera was so fast that I personally made frames I'm convinced wouldn't otherwise have been sharp. The EOS-1D Mark II N and the 300mm are a pretty fast combination already, less so with the 70-200. And yet, both lenses on the EOS-1D Mark III felt absolutely turbocharged. Without question, when the AF system is first engaged, this new camera can accurately figure out the subject distance faster than any camera we've ever used.
After that, our preproduction EOS-1D Mark III is a mess. It can't hold focus on static subjects very well and it can't track moving subjects very well. While Canon didn't provide any details about the autofocus limitations we would encounter in the preproduction body, we hope this is what they were referring to and this is what engineers have been solving since. The autofocus does show signs of brilliance. But we can't check off too many items from our autofocus wish list until a non-beta EOS-1D Mark III is in the house. Which for now, make us as sad as the player in the photo below. "
I took the camera out yesterday to shoot Ospreys (and posted this at Naturescapes). I had a very difficult time keeping the birds in focus while tracking - much more so than a MKII. I will go back out this week and use some different settings but so far, I am a bit frustrated with it - it aquires focus very nicely but loses it very quickly as well. I did not have one entire sharp series.
