"The culprit that continues to cramp the EOS-1D Mark III's autofocus style is bright sunlight."
That puts a real crimp in your day if you own a 1d3.
Doesn't the 1ds3 have the same focus system?
Here we go again! Canon will consider this a closed subject and move on. There will be no more fixes as that would clearly show Canon made yet another mistake. They will ignore this issue leaving thousands of broken cameras in the hands of disgruntled owners.
I see a big price drop on 1d3's
A tribute to Canon..........
http://www.michaelkdickson.com/webjunk/canon.jpg
Edited by madmax200 on Dec 10, 2007 at 01:15 PM GMT
From a speed read of the latest 1D3 review I am sure my new 1D3 is going to be perfect for at least 75% of the year!
"Looking at all of what we've shot with the two camera models in recent weeks, however, the EOS-1D Mark II N is the one that has delivered the most in-focus frames. The culprit that continues to cramp the EOS-1D Mark III's autofocus style is bright sunlight."
Given that for 75% of the year, we never have bright sunlight!
I guess we need more feedback in the next few months from other people with 1D3 to judge the level of improvements. In the meantime, I want to see comparisons between the 1D3 and Nikon's D3 autofocus performance.
That being said, that is what a report should be informative. First off thanks RG for the insight. Second to all the ones asking why we hang on bated breath (which I wasn't) this was a nice bit of information. Will I go "test" mine nope, just keep shooting looking for improvements. I do have one BD and one that needs fixing. The BD does perform like he said and well the other, read the article for a good description (less the 1.1.3 upgrade) of focus woes.
I know canon will continue to work on this if he says there is room for improvement. For me it is working as well as my 1DM2 but I also think it has room for growth as I do.
Edited by Wickedfn4u on Dec 10, 2007 at 07:22 PM GMT
Edited by Wickedfn4u on Dec 10, 2007 at 08:31 PM GMT
Well I'm happier now. To me, it seems that if it's better in low-light but not in bright sunlight, there is a probable additional algorithm tweaking that can be done via firmware updates.
R Longenbach wrote:
Well I'm happier now. To me, it seems that if it's better in low-light but not in bright sunlight, there is a probable additional algorithm tweaking that can be done via firmware updates.
How anyone can look at this and say they are happier is beyond me. How can people keep giving Canon the benefit of the doubt. You have a $4500 camera body made for sports and wild life that in essence 6 months after it's release has been graded as worse than it predecessor and found to be inconsistent in sunny conditions. And that is after a hardware and firmware update!!!
I too hope it can be tweaked but this is freaking ridiculous, nothing less, if I get mine back and find it to be the case
Sorry I am not as optimistic after all of this. Just differing opinions
R Longenbach wrote:
Well I'm happier now. To me, it seems that if it's better in low-light but not in bright sunlight, there is a probable additional algorithm tweaking that can be done via firmware updates.
My take exactly. The camera, from the start, is phenomenal in low light focusing, of particular interest to me as we have channel fog here 9 months out of the year - go 1/2 mile inland, and it's bright and hot......low light focusing for birds is very good with this camera, but the in flight autofocus was DISMAL, worse than the 5D....
I hope they continue to tweak AF via firmware, but the camera will do 99% of what I use it for very competently once fixed, it sounds like. I loaded 1.3, it came out the day after I returned from Bosque , but I have not had a chance to fire the camera once since then.....
hm. gut feeling says: not impressed. as always, my expectations were too high- especially for a $4500 camera.
realistically, i am not up the creek without a paddle. i don't make (much) money from photography and my livelihood is not on the line. so if i get 5/ 10 photos OOF in a sequence, it's probably GOOD ENOUGH.
with that said, i am probably better off with a 40d, or a good, used 1d MK IIn, for less $$$. what a waste of cash... (on the 1d3)
Edited by simonella_viru on Dec 10, 2007 at 02:33 PM GMT
Maybe the sellers of the 1D Mark II N in the Buy and Sell Forum should raise the prices of their born again cameras a couple of $100.00. RG writes "Looking at all of what we've shot with the two camera models in recent weeks, however, the EOS-1D Mark II N is the one that has delivered the most in-focus frames."
I always want to buy the best and latest but for some reason I went with the Mark II N this spring, there were times my right hand would twich thinking of holding the III. But when my friend started to complain of losing eagle shots, I feel that for now, I did make the right choice. Especially since this is a hobby and not a money maker for me.
EB-1 wrote:
I wish RG would compare the 1D MK III's AF to that of the D3.
EB
Why? most of the people including myself have never owned a Nikon. This is an upgrade from the 1DM2 and 2n not to the D2x. I would say the % is not even small it is near zero for a professional that has 10's of thousands invested in glass to switch every time another company one up's.
Hopefully there will be more improvements from Canon. I am not, however, expecting any public comments from them regarding regarding RG's 8500 word update. It would be out of character for them to do so. They obviously did not choose to respond to RG's 48 delay for them to respond. From a marketing standpoint, the future sales of 1Ds and 1D models will probably be impacted and we'll begin to see more black lenses on the sidelines of sporting events.
Jeff
This is a somewhat tongue in cheek comment but I can now see more 1D3s being returned to dealers, even ones with blue dots and 1.1.3. All because RG says it still isn't perfect!
Tough luck, certainly for us Europeans where Canon has memo'd all dealers saying that no more refunds will be offered since the repair process has been announced and Canon believe this to be the fix.
While RG has very much led the 1D3 AF AI-Servo cause with Canon and with all credit to him, RG's testing (in my opinion) is very limited. Would I as a motorsport photographer with the new fixed 1.1.3 experience the same issues? Who knows right now, but I will find out next season. People who don't shoot athletics in Phoenix might be very happy with the 1D3.
I am so happy now. Maybe they'll just lose my camera. Good thing Canon insured it for 4000.00(oh yah, I paid 4500:wonder how much money they saved by underinsuring it).
This is definitely bad news for Canon's sports shooters. Little wonder why Canon announced the 200/2 IS and the 800/5.6 during this fiasco.
That said, I think this is over blown by some. RG's gallery demonstrates that the D3 is still an excellent sports camera. The fact that the AI tracking is not as improvement -- rather a degradation -- over the 1D2N is obviously disappointing. However, the D3 is still a significant improvement over the 1DN2, even with respect to auto-focus and sports shooting according to RG's recent update.
I forget who said, but I think it is true: "Photography is just another word for compromise." It appears that sports shooters will have to compromise between superior AI servo and IQ.
glad I live in the NW too. 
, but I have not had a chance to fire the camera once since then.....