1Ds II or 1Ds ?

[Ben Rubinstein]

After a few days with my 1Ds it has become very obvious that unless shooting with a tripod and cable release then I am the limiting factor in the resolution of the camera.
I'm sure to make use of the extra resolution of the mark II anything but the very very best lenses and technique is just wasting your money and time.

[pfigen]

Well I see the added benefit of the MK II in hand held shots as well, and where I really see a noticeable difference is how little noise the MK II has in high ISO situations. I have no qualms about shooting up to 800, which results in files that look like Provia. The camera is faster all around. The only negatives are is that ultra wide angle and tilt/shift performance have diminished from where they were with the MK I.

[pfigen]

"You see CA and other lens flaws more at 100% in Photoshop with the 1Ds-MkII, but upgrading from 11MP to 16.7MP isn't going to make a print look worse"

Depends on the lens. Sure, you see more chromatic abberation, but you also see images that are so soft in the corners as to be unusable. Try shifting a 45 left and right and pasting them together. Works fantastically on a 1Ds - sharp EVERYWHERE. Same lens, 1DsMk2 is totally unusable with fully a third of each frame so sof it might as well come from a Diana. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done it. Threw that shot away. And some lenses can appear softer wide open on the Mk2 than they do on the Mk1. The II really shows up lens defects and amplifies them. But whatever, these are my real world experiences.

[Ben Rubinstein]

I'd forgotten about noise. That said it still is based on me as the limiting factor, if the exposure is spot on then noise shouldn't be a problem, I have a 18X12" print from my 10D shot at iso 1600 1/10 shutter speed that is essentially noise free due to the exposure being totally correct, that print still amazes me and I've sold a lot of it. With my 1Ds, and this backs up what Jonathan told me, if the exposure is 'on' then the noise is fine, including iso 800, but with 400/800, the moment you move the exposure or brightness in ACR, even by .30-.50 the noise leaps out at you.

[Graham Welland]

I'm in the market for a 1Ds/1DsII and I'm interesting in hearing peoples experiences of one vs the other. Obviously the 1DsII has more pixels and is updated but is it worth the extra $3-4k vs. a pre-owned 1Ds?

Right now I'm shooting with a travel outfit of a 20D and a bunch of new L glass. My other system is a Mamiya 645AFD & Kodak DCS 645M 16mp back which I use for landscape work when I'm carrying stuff in the back of the car. It's a great system and the results are superb but after having the 20D for a while now I've been reminded of how convenient it is to shoot with a 35mm format system again. It's also appealing to have one set of glass with a travel camera body (20D) and a heavier landscape body (1Ds or 1Ds II).

The thing is, is it really worth getting the 1Ds II vs. 1Ds? I'm printing up A3/12x19 type of size but I am very sensitive to resolution (which my Kodak has in spades ... ). However, $4k difference is not an insignificant chunk of change plus a 1Ds would be an addition, a 1DsII would have to be a replacement for the Mamiya/DCS 645M.

Any thoughts or personal experiences?

[DiaAzul]

If you are not in a hurry then I would suggest waiting until August/September and see what the market has to offer at that point in time. Gut feeling suggests that Canon may be about to launch a new camera to market test features which, in time, will find their way into the 1-series. Given that Canon have all their bases covered with their existing camera line up then it makes sense for them to launch a new camera with unproven technology. There's no way to say whether this will happen, what it will be, or if it will meet your needs; but if you are in two minds as two which is the right camera and in no hurry to make a decision then waiting a little may be advantageous.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Actually, that's not true. You see CA and other lens flaws more at 100% in Photoshop with the 1Ds-MkII, but upgrading from 11MP to 16.7MP isn't going to make a print look worse. The 1Ds-MkII print will still be better due to the lower noise levels, lower levels of Bayer interpolation artifacts, etc.

[Jonathan Wienke]

If you're making a 20x30 print with a marginal lens, it will NOT look worse if you do it with a 1Ds-MkII instead of the original 1Ds. The 1Ds-MkII will look worse at 100% in Photoshop than those of the 1Ds because there are more pixels to show the aberrations, but when you make the print all of that cancels out. There's no way that putting more pixels behind the glass makes a print look worse, especially considering the improvements in noise levels and DR of the 1Ds-MkII compared to the original.