This guy I met in Broome Western Australia shooting birds. I was just about set to move to the Dark side when he convinced me that I should stay with Canon & purchase the 1DmkIII. He obviously finds no issues with body for BIF & apparently runs courses on this subject for users of the 500 & 800 lenses. http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/
I've never shot Nikon, but I don't see many BIF shooters using them. As far as the mkIII for BIF, yes, the camera makes some extraordinary images. Jim Neiger's site is very impressive and I'm happy that he is having good results with his mkIII. I have captured some of my better BIF shots with my mkIII, and one of my galleries is dedicated to just those pictures. My only complaint is that the mkIII does not have the best autofocus for BIF in the Canon line. The king is still the 4-year-old mkIIn. Since the mkIII was touted by Canon to have the best autofocus ever, that was what I was expecting. I was dissapointed to find out it wasn't the best for BIF. My keeper rate on the mkIII is 70% of my mkIIn in side by side shooting. The mkIII is still a killer autofocus system, and it is better than the mkIIn for some types of shooting.
I have some good data to work with after having my mkIII for awhile now. I have shot over 100,000 frames of in-flight stuff this year.
If I was to recommend a BIF camera I would say get an used mkIIn in good condition for around $2400. You'll have a killer setup and will have saved some money too. The best BIF shooter today is Jody Melanson from right here on FM. Here's his site http://jmelanson.smugmug.com/ - he still uses a mkIIn.
Thanks for the link Mark, enjoyable shots. I am replacing gear, that was stolen, thru insurance so it is less complicated for me to purchase the mkIII new than try & find or wait for a used mkIIn from the retailer. I may however purchase one as a second body instead of a 5D/5DII.
This post was started by somebody who obviously does not own a 1D3 and, I'll bet, never even used one, who doesn't seem to understand the differences between a professional body versus a non-pro body. It is really rather silly and not an intelligent argument.
I got my Mark III at last Tuesday. I also concidered switching to Nikon and D3, but I'm glad that I didn't - after testing my new camera for a couple of days and about a thousand shots, I think that I've just found the perfect camera for me!
Slightly off topic to the original post, but in response to Tony B I personally would strongly recommend the 1Ds Mk II as a second body to go with the Mark III. I personally find it easier to correctly time images when double fisting when my bodies have the same shutter lag and find even the 1D versus x0D shutter lag is too different, let alone dropping down to the slower still 5D body lag. The 1d Mk IIn as a second body would also meet the shutter lag difference but it is great having a full frame option in hand and the fact that the pixel density is the same between the Mk III and 1Ds Mk II means that I am not losing the 1.25 crop 'advantage' of a 1D, just gaining more time in post manually cropping images when I find that the 1Ds Mk II image is too loose. It also means that at shoots where I do not care what the frame-rate of the body is I pick and choose my lens/body pairings purely by what fills the frame and having a 1 and a 1.25 crop factor body choice increases the flexibility of my lens collection. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the 1Ds Mk II shares most of the AF traits with the 1D Mk II and Mk IIn, just losing out on the maximum frame rate and the buffer depth.
Here's a DII college women's volleyball gallery with the first 2 games shot with a 135 2 on the Mk III and and 85 1.8 on the 1Ds II. The last two games are the Mk III w/ 300 2.8. A few sub-par shots with a 50D and fisheye thrown in as well as I have not yet had the time to work-out a functional post-processing routine for them.
And while everyone has a right to their own opinion, anyone that would suggest that the Mk III body as a tool has been supplanted by 50D, 5D Mk II technology or was not in many ways an improvement over the 1D and 1Ds Mk II lines does not shoot the same subject matter in the same style as me.
I picked up a secondhand Mark III the other week. Not sure if it has the AF problem or not but I'm wondering whether it's my technique or the servo tracking that's a bit off... I think I am getting a higher keeper rate with the 1Ds II (but still not perfect there, either).
Is there some way to actually test to see whether the problem is present? Camera has had the submirror fix and firmware update.
EvilZardoz wrote:
I picked up a secondhand Mark III the other week. Not sure if it has the AF problem or not but I'm wondering whether it's my technique or the servo tracking that's a bit off... I think I am getting a higher keeper rate with the 1Ds II (but still not perfect there, either).
Is there some way to actually test to see whether the problem is present? Camera has had the submirror fix and firmware update.
Thanks!
Here is what i did . i reinstalled my firmware ,up the sharping to 6 up the contrast to1,
shoot in standard. and microadjusted my lens , and i shoot in one-shot. if you can connect the camera to your computer and test test test. or in my case shoot everything and everyone in site
That has worked for me. but I'm still trying to get the camera to trust me
what lens are you using?
quadrap wrote:
Here is what i did . i reinstalled my firmware ,up the sharping to 6 up the contrast to1,
shoot in standard. and microadjusted my lens , and i shoot in one-shot. if you can connect the camera to your computer and test test test. or in my case shoot everything and everyone in site
That has worked for me. but I'm still trying to get the camera to trust me
what lens are you using?
This is not likely to replicate the concerns most are expressing with the AF system. The concerns arise in AI servo, not in one shot. As described the camera quickly and accurately achieves focus, but is inconsistent in its ability to maintain focus on a moving subject. This inconsistency has lead some pros to abandon the line, feeling they can entirely "trust" their equipment.
Personally, I have decided to go with the 1DmkIIn for now. I remain interested in mkIII users' opinions, as per the OP, as to whether they'd buy a mkIII now, specifically wrt AI servo AF accuracy for an erratically moving target.
kenzzie wrote:
I remain interested in mkIII users' opinions, as per the OP, as to whether they'd buy a mkIII now, specifically wrt AI servo AF accuracy for an erratically moving target.
If I had stayed in the Canon camp instead of going over to Nikon, I would have bought a second 1D Mark III. I opted to go to Nikon because I really wanted a "3D"-type camera, which the D700 is - so I bought two. But I absolutely loved my 1D Mark III, even for AI Servo work. I had a 1D Mark II before it, and the Mark III is better in every way. But, I primarily shoot indoor sports which is where it seems to excel.
Sorry Kenzzie but we are actually discussing a different problem, one that is related to one-shot and MA.
kenzzie wrote:
This is not likely to replicate the concerns most are expressing with the AF system. The concerns arise in AI servo, not in one shot. As described the camera quickly and accurately achieves focus, but is inconsistent in its ability to maintain focus on a moving subject. This inconsistency has lead some pros to abandon the line, feeling they can entirely "trust" their equipment.
Personally, I have decided to go with the 1DmkIIn for now. I remain interested in mkIII users' opinions, as per the OP, as to whether they'd buy a mkIII now, specifically wrt AI servo AF accuracy for an erratically moving target.
Tony B wrote:
This guy I met in Broome Western Australia shooting birds. I was just about set to move to the Dark side when he convinced me that I should stay with Canon & purchase the 1DmkIII. He obviously finds no issues with body for BIF & apparently runs courses on this subject for users of the 500 & 800 lenses. http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/
Hi Tony,
I'm the guy you met in Broome. I can't speak for all 1D3 cameras, but I have two of them that both outperform my 1D2N camera. I bought my first 1D3 in July of 2007 and have never had AF issues with it. I got my 2nd 1D3 used recently for my trip to Australia. It is much easier to use a 2nd 1D3 as bkup than to use my 1D2N which requires seperate batteries and charger. I still have a 1D2N, but I haven't used it since I got my 1D3 and plan to sell it. I'm off to Bosque Del Apache in a few days and I'll be using my 1D3 as usual. The 1D2N will not see any action. I reccommend the 1D3 highly for any type of action photography, particularly BIF shots.
Hi once again Jim
Thanks to your advice I now have & am enjoying learning the functions of the mkIII. Hope you enjoyed your stay & safe trip back to the US.
Another practical plug for the mkIII & the
excellent work of Jim Neiger. http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/]
