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1DX is Good, not Perfect,
This is a summary of my experience with the Canon 1DX for the first three months. My previous camera was the 5DII, used mainly for weddings and portraits. What I mostly look for in a camera is low light performance. Here’s my review.
1st Day 7/20/2012: I took several photos of my 13 year old daughter in dark incandescent light at 6400 and 25,600 ISO with an 85/1.2II lens at f/2.0. I ran both photos through LR4 with +10 noise reduction. I always shoot in RAW, so some post processing noise reduction is a must. Here’s what I noticed. At 6400 ISO, I could see the downy blond baby hairs on her forehead and there wasn’t much noise in the dark areas, just a bit of grain. At 25,600 ISO, the dark areas had grainy noise and those little downy hairs disappeared. But, the image was totally usable. My wife really liked it. I noticed that at these high ISO’s any underexposure results in a significant increase in noise. So, overexposing a little minimizes noise at the higher ISO’s. The autofocus is blazing fast in good light, and in dim light slows down. It takes about 1 to 3 seconds to focus in low light, and as long as there is an area of contrast, it will focus. Low light AF is about a third stop improvement over my 5DII, which was a pretty solid low light focuser (because I had sent it in to have AF tweaked). I was expecting more, but I’ll take it because it’s better than the 1DIV. I borrowed a 1DIV for 5 weddings and it hunted badly in low light, about a stop worse than my 5DII. Up to 12,800 ISO, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the images from the 1DX. Images up to 25,600 ISO are usable depending on how much noise and detail are desired. There is one deficiency I noticed. In Manual mode, the exposure indicator does not show up on the top LCD, but only when looking into the viewfinder. It really should. I called Canon and it turns out this is unique to the 1D’s. It is displayed for Av and Tv modes, where it is centered until exposure compensation is used. When posing a group I take a quick exposure reading on the top of 5DII without looking through the viewfinder because once I put the camera up to my face, people expect me to start snapping. Well, since weddings are my mainstay, I can usually guess to within 1/2 stop anyway, so I suppose I can live without this feature.
7/26/2012 Update: I wanted to see how long it took for the buffer to fill up with a UDMA card. It got to around 200 or 300 and error code 30 appeared. It didn’t go away and Canon CPS said it was a locked shutter. I sent it in for a new unit and I’m waiting for it.
7/30/2012 Update: I received the replacement, took it out of the box and snapped photos for a half an hour. When I put the cap on the 85/1.2II I accidentally pressed the shutter button halfway and got an error code 80. It went away after taking the cap back off. Canon said it wasn’t mechanical, likely software or electrical. That was good enough for me.
8/8/2012 Update: I went to the park and photographed my daughter swinging using the 85/1.2II lens. This is probably Canon’s slowest focusing lens because of the way it moves the entire heavy internal glass. It’s meant for portraits, not for sports. With my daughter coming toward me, the AF tracked her in AIServo. To give some perspective, this is something I have never been able to do with the 5DII and 40D. The glass takes over a second to move from one end to the other. Looking at them in LR4, I had a 50% keeper rate, which is excellent given that the 5DII would have had none. This camera pushes AF very hard. I’m liking this. What I’m not liking? The AF point doesn’t light up when I press the shutter halfway down until it locks focus. That means in very dark conditions, I have to guess where the AF point is so I can focus it on the intended spot. This kind of defeats the super low light capability. I could press the AF selection button to light it up, but that’s a delay which defeats the element of speed and it also lights up all the AF points like a Christmas tree. It took several calls to Canon CPS for me to realize that this feature, which was on the 5DII, is now gone. Some of Canon’s CPS techs were convinced it was there and it just needed to be turned on. It’s really gone.
8/13/2012 Update: I shot two weddings. One was very dark and went late into the night. I did some portraits of the couple walking around the gardens in the dark as I experimented with off camera flash. These images are usually my clients’ favorites because of the dramatic light effects. But, it’s usually the end of the day and clients are tired. I have to work fast. The AF not blinking with a half-press of the shutter button was a problem. It took nearly 10 to 20 seconds to lock focus versus 3 to 5 seconds with the 5DII. After a few of these, the couple wanted to head back. With the 5DII, I half press the shutter button and the AF point blinks to let me know where it…
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|Canon 1DX versus Canon’s 1D Mark IV,
Although I didn’t purchase my 1DX through Amazon, I’m posting this review. My local retailer obtained my camera before it became available on Amazon…regrettable!
I was never really a ‘full frame zealot’ and liked the 1.3 crop of the Mark IV. Gave me that extra bit of reach when I needed it, but conversely I was sometimes frustrated that I could not get as wide a shot as I wanted because of it. I purchased a 5D Mark III earlier this year since the 1DX was so delayed. I figured I would sell the 5D once the the 1DX came out. Bought the battery grip for it because I really missed the portrait grip and it had the extra joystick I was SO looking forward to on the 1DX. Then I got use to a full frame camera. The bokah on them is really stunning. Never really missed the extra reach losing 30% bought me with the Mark IV. Loved the new autofocus points too. Gave me more places to put my single focus point since I’m not a big focus and recompose guy. I find that technique for many of the apertures I shoot at caused me to lose DOF and as a result out of focus shots.
I also compared the ISO performance of the 5DIII with my Mark IV. Not a lot better on the 5DIII in what I shoot so I was a bit concerned about how much better the 1DX would be when it was released. Remember that I OFTEN shoot at high ISO for live theatrical performances. The average is around 6400-12800. If the scene has ‘good’ light I’m down around 1600-3200. In that 6400-12800 range the 5DIII was on par with the Mark IV.
The menu layout on the 5DIII is the same as the 1DX so when the 1DX was finally available I was better suited to get into the 1DX right away. What I really appreciated were the new AF menu layouts. Rather than having to go through all of the trial and error of figuring out how to configure AI Servo situations reading through the menu examples really helps me out. I’m not sure how often you use AI Servo, but I use it about for about 20% of my work both in studio and during live performances depending on the subject matter. Dance is one area where I find AI Servo to be very useful. I especially like the expansion point options on the 1DX, Zone expansion that was not available on the Mark IV.
The part that I absolutely HATE about the 1DX focusing versus the Mark IV is the elimination of the constant red illumination of the focus point. Let me explain. On the Mark IV even when you have not depressed the shutter or back focus button the focus points remains illuminated red. On the 1DX (and 5DIII too) unless you have pressed either focus button the focus point remains black. In the heat of the moment (where I am always at!) it’s almost impossible to know where your focus point is at the time before pressing the shutter halfway or the back focus button. I have missed several shots because of this. Apparently Canon is working on a ‘fix’ but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Apparently the exposure will change based upon the red illumination points and vary again depending on where that point is in the viewfinder. In my world I would gladly give up a slight change in exposure which can be fixed in Post versus having an out of focus shot. I hope they resolve this since it’s my biggest bitch with the camera. (both of them)
I have found that with the 1DX ISO 25600 is VERY usable and about on par with the Mark IV’s 12800. 25600 is better than the 5DIII’s 12800, so for double the price you get 1 stop better low light performance. I rarely used 25600 on the Mark IV because it was just too noisy for my needs. My personal comparison is the 1DX’s 25600 is on par with the Mark IV’s 12800. BUT what I like is the ability to move up from 25600 to 51200 in 1/3 stop increments. I have used 32000 with great success when needed. But for me that’s just one part of the overall equation.
I have not been able to print very large format images yet from the 1DX. I just finished an assignment up in Seattle and will report my findings once the billboards are printed. I can say this, with the Mark IV my images have been used on five billboard campaigns without any up-sizing through programs like Genuine Fractals or such with great success.
Handling
Now this area is VERY hard to explain, quantify, etc. When I was using the 5DIII in both a studio and live performance environment it just felt ‘sluggish’ to me compared to my Mark IV. Now don’t assume I’m talking about the FPS difference as I rarely use that mode since I tend to be a single shooter. Most experienced action shooters including myself will tell you that anticipation and timing is the BEST way to get the ‘moment’ and although the high frame rate is great, it will never guarantee (and often miss) that defining moment we all strive to capture. No what I’m talking about is the absolute IMMEDIATE reaction from me thinking about pressing the shutter to actually having it ‘click.’ The 5DIII almost seemed like a point and shoot compared to…
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|10,000th Photo Report,
I’m a recreational photographer, and I love this camera. This is my 7th month with the beast — since I pre-ordered it early from Amazon by MISTAKE. (Long story)
Before buying the 1D Mii, you should know a few things:
1. It’s easy to overlook the spec that the camera’s USB connection is 1.1 not 2.0. This is 40 times slower, and Canon clearly intended the Mark II to be connected via firewire. That said, I occasionally use it with my laptop on the road, which only has a USB connection. It’s convenient that the port is there, but my 1GB CF card takes a good half hour to empty.
2. By the time you’ve attached a solid L series or comparable lens to this camera, it weighs enough that lugging it around on your shoulder, even without a camera bag full of tricks, is quite a burden. Also, I was talking to a professional photographer who wouldn’t buy the model just because cameras this heavy give her wrist trouble. If you’ve NEVER held a camera this size in your hand, I recommend borrowing one first or checking our your local camera store, even if you do ultimately buy from Amazon.
3. The camera conveniently supports both SD and CF cards. Unfortunately there’s no way to copy between the two cards using the camera. It’s not a gigantic deal, but there were times I had to wait to get home from a trip to free up the SD card when I didn’t have a camera cable, but just an external CF reader.
Those are really the only 3 things I wish I’d known before I bought the camera…but would they have affected my purchase? Probably not! As I said, I bought the camera by mistake. Has it been loads of fun? Definitely. I have prints almost as good as medium format – at 100 times the convenience.
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|Canon’s EOS-1D-Mark-II – Best Performer of the Decade…,
Canon’s EOS-1D-Mark-II -Best Performer of the Decade..
Reviewer: Jim Wilson (fau@bellsouth.net) Boca Raton, Florida, USA, June 3rd, 2004/9pm
Canon’s EOS-1D-Mark-II -Best Performer of the Decade…..
This mini-review will give some initial impressions with the first week of use and testing. I was one of the early users of the DCS-560 Canon/Kodak cameras, which was great camera for its time however at $25m a copy. Looking at this new Mark-II with its feature set, pixel count, image quality, speed, in camera processing parameters, 8+ fps…. the list goes on and on… what a performer. This digital camera has almost everything for a broad range of uses. With 8.2MP sensor and using LizardTech’s PrintPro to up-size the image 250% produces huge images which would challenge the best medium format digital backs. The images are pure, clean, crisp, and accurate. If you’re a RAW shooter the included software will give all the post imaging adjusting one can imagine. Many of my assignments have good or controlled lighting therefore I’m quite happy with in-camera processing. I go with +1 or +2 ticks on the sharpening, and +1 on the color so the skin tones are more towards tan. This heavy duty camera, literally heavy, is such a wonderful piece to work with, its worth the extra size and weight. When one combines this camera with Canon’s line of “L” series lenses, this gives the user an incredible feeling of confidence when on assignment, whether taking pictures of products, food, science, fashion, engineering, construction, or action sports for NCAA events. This camera also re-defines quality low-light imaging. An ISO of 1600 produces images with very good results, and images at 3200 are surprisingly sharp, which until today was unheard of. ISOs of 50 through 1250 produce clean noise-free, or near-noise-free beautiful images.
As to image sizes, when shooting in JPEG mode, the user may change the JPEG compression settings from numeric values from 1-10, as with Photoshop when saving images. I set the JPEG value to 10 which produces file size of about 6 million bytes +/- 1 million bytes, depending on image detail and light level; low light, high ISO will result in higher image sizes. Therefor with a 2GB data card expect 330 image capacity. Using the FireWire interface, downloads average 5.5MB images at the rate of about 10 per minute.
As an opinion, in the future several items Canon could work on to improve this already beautiful masterpiece:
1. Use a full 24mmx36mm imager
2. Increase pixel dimensions to 3600×5400 pixels
3. Increase near-noiseless ISO’s to 6400
4. Decrease camera weight and size
5. Change battery system to Lithium-Ion.
6. Provide an extra-bright 3″ diagonal LDC display.
7. Oh why not, …lets ask for 12 fps.
James L Wilson, Prof., Principles.of.Digital.Photography and.Post.Image.Processing Florida.Atlantic.University Boca.Raton.Campus Operating.Entity.BocaDigital.LLC. Quality.Digital.Imaging Post.Office.Box.520 Boca.Raton.Florida.USA.33429 Internet.E.Mail.Address For.Faculty.and.Students.mail.use: FAU@bellsouth.net For.Other.Business.mail.please.use: BocaDigital@bellsouth.net Desk.561.416.1110 SecureFax.561.892.2681
Comments: It is important to read the included documentation so that one can utilize (some of) the large feature-set. Its worth the effort since the features provided solve most of the photographer’s needs.
Professor Jim Wilson, “Principles of Digital Photography”
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|Incredible!,
I cannot say enough about this camera! From the moment you pick up the box, you know you have quality. The construction and materials used is top notched. Contents of the box can be found elsewhere, so I won’t bother with the details.
Charging of the battery to full takes 2hrs. If you have memory on the battery from repeated charges without complete depletion, you can recondition the battery with the included charger. It just takes 8hrs. While many lament the fact that no Li-ion battery was included, Canon seems to have anticipated the needs of professionals in the field.
One also has the option of being plugged into the AC outlet and not dependent on batteries.
Reading the manual takes a bit of time. The camera has endless customizable functions which can be overwhelming at times. Not that it should deter you, but one will rarely need all those functions anyway.
Using the camera did not seem too difficult. Many functions need the use of two buttons, which may take some getting used to. Navigating through the menu was confusing initally, but improved as time goes on.
Autofocus speed is responsive and sharp. Shooting at high ISO’s (>1000) had minimal noise. Looking at some of my pictures taken with 1 fluorescent light in the room and an ISO of 1600, appeared as if a flash was used. Photos of my black lab was incredible considering the ambient light and high ISO.
The camera is always ready to go. If you are in the manipulating within the depths of the menu heirarchy, and want to suddenly take a shot, just press on the shutter button, compose, focus, and shoot. Its quick and responsive. Incredible…!
Some may be wondering the sizes of the pictures. JPEG’s have 4 sizes and range from 1 – 2.8 MB; RAW files are 8.4MB.
One can take an average of 800 – 1200 shots on a full battery charge–assuming one has the capacity to hold it.
Prints on my i9900 are outstanding.
Cost is a pretty penny and then some. Also consider that Amazon is an authorized Canon reseller. Many of the rebates require that you purchase from an authorized reseller to be eligible for the rebates. Also, some of the internet deals for the camera are not from authorized resellers.
Overall, a very impressive camera. The cost for many may be prohibitive for many. The EOS 20D may be a more cost effective alternative, but I do NOT regret my decision one bit.
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