Charlie Woodrich
02-04-2010, 11:08 AM
I ran across an interesting review by Lloyd Chambers, and thought it might be worth sharing.
Bottom line
If I were buying a Canon DSLR today (Jan 27, 2010), the 1D Mark IV would be at the top of my list as the camera offering the highest image quality in the Canon line. The 5 megapixel deficit is more than made up for by pixel quality.
The high pixel quality appeals to me so much more than the 5D Mark II and 1Ds Mark III that I’d prefer the 1D Mark IV overall, even for landscape shooting.
At 16 megapixels and a 1.3X crop sensor, landscape shooters might easily look past the 1D Mark IV.
The 5-megapixel gap between the 1D Mark IV and its 21-megapixel siblings is less than one might think, especially when shooting lenses that might not perform so well outside that 1.3X crop area (eg the Canon EF 16-35/2.8L II or 24-105/4L).
Other advantages of the 1.3X crop sensor
Vignetting (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/SubjectiveLensQualities/vignetting.html) diminishes in importance on a 1.3X sensor, as does distortion (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/UnderstandingOptics/understanding-distortion.html) (with some lenses).
Depth of field (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/DepthOfField/TheShorterFocalLengthAdvantage.html) is also slightly enhanced due to the user of shorter focal lengths for the same field of view.
Lens selection
Sports/action shooters need autofocus, and so for those applications, lens choice is often predetermined by AF and autofocus and lighting conditions.
For more deliberative use with top-end quality, a three-lens kit (http://budurl.com/bhwishZeissZE) consisting of the Zeiss ZE 21/2.8, 50/2 Makro-Planar and 100/2 Makro Planar would make an outstanding choice, filling in with other focal lengths as needed. See Guide to Zeiss ZF/ZE Lenses (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../zf/index.html).
Some Canon zoom lenses such as the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II and the 24-105/4L are “corner challenged”. On the 1D Mark IV these problem areas are not seen by the sensor, which is a factor closing the megapixel gap with Canon’s 21 megapixel offerings.
Future derivations
The high pixel quality of the Canon 1D Mark IV images promises good things to come in a future 27-30MP Canon full-frame camera, though there is some risk that a full-frame sensor might not maintain the same per-pixel quality, even at the same pixel density, due to the way such chips are manufactured. But it bodes well for the future.
Bottom line
If I were buying a Canon DSLR today (Jan 27, 2010), the 1D Mark IV would be at the top of my list as the camera offering the highest image quality in the Canon line. The 5 megapixel deficit is more than made up for by pixel quality.
The high pixel quality appeals to me so much more than the 5D Mark II and 1Ds Mark III that I’d prefer the 1D Mark IV overall, even for landscape shooting.
At 16 megapixels and a 1.3X crop sensor, landscape shooters might easily look past the 1D Mark IV.
The 5-megapixel gap between the 1D Mark IV and its 21-megapixel siblings is less than one might think, especially when shooting lenses that might not perform so well outside that 1.3X crop area (eg the Canon EF 16-35/2.8L II or 24-105/4L).
Other advantages of the 1.3X crop sensor
Vignetting (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/SubjectiveLensQualities/vignetting.html) diminishes in importance on a 1.3X sensor, as does distortion (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/UnderstandingOptics/understanding-distortion.html) (with some lenses).
Depth of field (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../articles/DepthOfField/TheShorterFocalLengthAdvantage.html) is also slightly enhanced due to the user of shorter focal lengths for the same field of view.
Lens selection
Sports/action shooters need autofocus, and so for those applications, lens choice is often predetermined by AF and autofocus and lighting conditions.
For more deliberative use with top-end quality, a three-lens kit (http://budurl.com/bhwishZeissZE) consisting of the Zeiss ZE 21/2.8, 50/2 Makro-Planar and 100/2 Makro Planar would make an outstanding choice, filling in with other focal lengths as needed. See Guide to Zeiss ZF/ZE Lenses (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/../../../../zf/index.html).
Some Canon zoom lenses such as the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II and the 24-105/4L are “corner challenged”. On the 1D Mark IV these problem areas are not seen by the sensor, which is a factor closing the megapixel gap with Canon’s 21 megapixel offerings.
Future derivations
The high pixel quality of the Canon 1D Mark IV images promises good things to come in a future 27-30MP Canon full-frame camera, though there is some risk that a full-frame sensor might not maintain the same per-pixel quality, even at the same pixel density, due to the way such chips are manufactured. But it bodes well for the future.