Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Josh-H on February 14, 2010, 04:09:56 pm
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Rob has published his first in depth look at the auto focus of the new Canon 1DMK IV. Its complete with high rez files for download.
Rob doesnt offer a final conclusion - but initial impressions appear to be somewhat of a mixed bag based on samples to date - depending on the lighting conditions.
Add it all up and the conclusion is inescapable: the EOS-1D Mark IV has an AF system that is capable of greatness but is also so bewilderingly variable that there's no way to trust it, especially for outdoor sports. Indoors, EOS-1D Mark IV autofocus performance has been less variable, but our results from speedskating and basketball are simply not up to par. If this is the best the company could muster, after the autofocus debacle of the EOS-1D Mark III, then it's official: Canon has lost their autofocus mojo.
Rob Galbraith 1D MK IV (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10048-10484)
I dont shoot sports (well no more than once or twice a year) and my 1DS MK3 is manually focused 90% of the time so my interest in this is sort of academic - but I would like to see an improvement in the 1DS MKIV auto focus for tracking wildlife (which is something I do shoot more often.).
It will be interesting to hear more from Rob after more testing.
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Just in case someone is reading this who is maybe a Nikon user or such and isn't familiar here is a slight over simplification of Canon's nomenclature.
1D = ultrafast autofocus and frame-rate for sports/journalism (cropped sensor)
1Ds = higher resolution for commercial applications
5D = the less expensive mostly-pro* body
7D = more or less the 5D with a cropped sensor
XXD or XXXD = the prosumer and consumer SLR cameras
*meaning pro image quality with good-but-not-top-notch build quality, good-but-not-top-notch weather sealing, good-but-not-top-notch shutter-life ratings etc.
Doug Peterson ()
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In your first paragraph you accidentally stated 1Ds IV.
It's pretty easy to do - even Apple did it recently (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41517).
Just in case someone is reading this who is maybe a Nikon user or such and isn't familiar here is a slight over simplification of Canon's nomenclature.
1D = ultrafast autofocus and frame-rate for sports/journalism (cropped sensor)
1Ds = higher resolution for commercial applications
5D = the less expensive mostly-pro* body
7D = more or less the 5D with a cropped sensor
XXD or XXXD = the prosumer and consumer SLR cameras
*meaning pro image quality with good-but-not-top-notch build quality, good-but-not-top-notch weather sealing, good-but-not-top-notch shutter-life ratings etc.
Doug Peterson ()
__________________
Head of Technical Services, Capture Integration
Phase One, Leaf, Cambo, Canon, Apple, Profoto, Eizo & More
National: 877.217.9870 | Cell: 740.707.2183
Newsletter: Read Latest or Sign Up (http://www.captureintegration.com/our-company/newsletters/)
RSS Feed: Subscribe (http://www.captureintegration.com/2008/08/11/rss-feeds/)
Buy Capture One at 10% off (http://www.captureintegration.com/phase-one/buy-capture-one/)
Personal Work (http://www.doug-peterson.com/)
Thanks - corrected the typo.
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Rob has published his first in depth look at the auto focus of the new Canon 1DMK IV. Its complete with high rez files for download.
Rob doesnt offer a final conclusion - but initial impressions appear to be somewhat of a mixed bag based on samples to date - depending on the lighting conditions.
I'm still bummed that it still doesn't do face detection (and the ability to pick out favourite faces like my pocket Sony Ericsson phone and Panasonic Camera).
And before anyone says you don't need this feature on a Pro camera, stop and think about who you want in focus in the picture and who you don't.
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Has Rob done this extensive a test with Nikon or Sony's best AF system? I am just wondering if Canon's tracking AF is actually state of the art.
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Has Rob done this extensive a test with Nikon or Sony's best AF system? I am just wondering if Canon's tracking AF is actually state of the art.
Go and read the article - Rob compares extensively to the Nikon D3.
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Has Rob done this extensive a test with Nikon or Sony's best AF system? I am just wondering if Canon's tracking AF is actually state of the art.
Canon are definitely state of the art here. Why their 1D(s) series AF keeps failing is one of those industrial mysteries - maybe some key people were transferred, moved to management, or retired?
Edmund
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Go and read the article - Rob compares extensively to the Nikon D3.
D3s.
Cheers,
Bernard
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I'm curious if the RG review of the 1D4 could be from a body that exhibits some unfortunate manufacturing variance. My own 1D4 has not missed a shot yet and has performed above my expectations for IQ & focusing in low light. RG said he tried several bodies and mine is one of the very first ones released. (?) I can get the same IQ at 1600 & 3200 I previously got at 800 with my 1D3. My non-flash work has improved and my strobe distance and battery life have both increased. I really like the rotating focus point between vertical and horizontal shooting. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I wish it were FF but I am not troubled by the 1.3 crop.
Stu
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-snip-
1Ds = higher resolution for commercial applications
5D = the less expensive mostly-pro* body
-snip-
*meaning pro image quality with good-but-not-top-notch build quality, good-but-not-top-notch weather sealing, good-but-not-top-notch shutter-life ratings etc.
Since the beginning I've been told by Canon that the S in 1dS stood for Studio.
Kind of like the RZ 67 of the Canon Digital world, not that you can't take it outside because of the weather sealing.
As far as the 5d series, build quality is not bad but at the price especially for video it's almost a throwaway and if you've ever used any prosumer video camera the 5d2 is almost an Arriflex in comparison.
http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/02/shooting-...mark-ii-part-2/ (http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/02/shooting-driving-plates-for-24-with-the-canon-eos-5d-mark-ii-part-2/)
BC
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I've been having consistent front focus issues with a new 1D MK IV when using anything but the center focusing point. Calibrating it really didn't solve the problem. All shots are "one shot" and on static subjects.
One thing I have noticed with my 70-200 2.8 L IS is that at the 200mm setting it doesn't exhibit the problem as much as it does around 150mm and wider. Seems like if I move in closer at that the wider settings, I don't have the problem quite so much. I get the same problem with an 85mm 1.2 L. Extremely frustrating, as I'm not big on central focus and then recomposing. I have heard from another photographer experiencing the exact same thing with two cameras, so doesn't appear I'm alone. Camera is going to Canon to see what they can figure out. I just hope they can find the problem and correct it; I don't have it in me to be doing back-and-forths with a new camera!
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I have no such issues.
Focusing is awesome, and i am new to this series. Also a 5D owner.
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I have two new 1D Mark 4 bodies which arrived last week. I am upgrading from the 1D Mark II; my current cameras are five years old.
Not having had the new cameras very long, I've noticed a few things:
Focusing with my fast primes is significantly improved over the 1D2 bodies. I shoot a lot wide open with the 24/35/50, and this camera nails the focus in a much higher percentage of frames. (Note that I generally use the center point and recompose. That's a habit forged over twenty five years of shooting, and one that I am not likely to change.) I'm not a sports specialist, but in general photo-J use I am getting more in-focus than I did with the 1D2 bodies.
High ISO is good, maybe a 2 stop improvement. With the 1D2, ISO 800 looked good, and ISO 1600 was just usable. With the 1D4, ISO 3200 looks good, and ISO 6400 is usable. (Yes, I've seen samples from the D3/D700, and the Canon files aren't as noise free, but the level of detail is very good.)
The files can take a LOT more punishment in the raw converter and still look great. Which is good, because I still haven't figured out the histogram and the LCD screen -- photos that are perfectly exposed when I check the camera are a stop or more underexposed when I open them in the raw converter. (With the 1D2 there was a perfect correlation between the histogram, LCD, and raw files.) Gotta work on that one...
Overall I feel pretty good about these cameras.
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Since the beginning I've been told by Canon that the S in 1dS stood for Studio.
Kind of like the RZ 67 of the Canon Digital world, not that you can't take it outside because of the weather sealing.
As far as the 5d series, build quality is not bad but at the price especially for video it's almost a throwaway and if you've ever used any prosumer video camera the 5d2 is almost an Arriflex in comparison.
http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/02/shooting-...mark-ii-part-2/ (http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/02/shooting-driving-plates-for-24-with-the-canon-eos-5d-mark-ii-part-2/)
BC
AFAIK in one of their white papers is stated that the s designation means just 'super'.
Andy
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I am a pro sports photographer at least part time. Rob has had his issues remember him banning people from his forums when they would knock his advertisers? Guess who he gets advertising from now, it is nikon. ON sportsshooter.com the people that knocked the id mk111 the most like Brad Magnin love the mk 1v. I was happy with the mk111 after my first one was sent to canon long before the fixes. After the fixes it just kept getting better. My second mk 111 never I had a problem with. My card company has never had a problem with the mk 111's . I shoot pro football. There have been threads about Rob over at sportsshooter and some still back him many no longer trust him. Myself I met him at a workshop years ago and he was one of those guys that if you were a big shot he kissed your butt, if you were just an antendee at the workshop you got minimal attention. I do not trust him. I have a mk1v and love it.