First Production Mark IV images

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie,

1) If you read all the threads again I never stated anything negative about 7D IQ. Here is the original article I put together about 7D, please read it and show me where I say IQ is bad so I can gladly correct it.

http://www.stanford.edu/~ahazeghi/Photos/EOS7DAF/

I said in the conclusion that it delivers very good photos up to ISO 800 and here I showed that even at 1600 you can get good results with careful processing. Please show me one example where I said IQ was bad.


2) Regarding AF again I never said that the AF was flat bad and unusable, there are plenty of in-focus flight shots in the article as well. I said that it in my opinion and some conditions the professional camera such as the 1DSMKIII and Nikon D3/D700 delivered a higher percentage of in focus shots when tracking raptors against foliage. Again please have a look at what I actually said in the conclusion.


Since then I have taken 15,000 photos with 7D and my opinion of its AF is pretty much unchanged, overall it is very good but in some conditions I still get OOF images every now and then that are not operator error. I try to overcome these conditions by 1) overriding AF with MF whenever I feel the camera might have trouble picking up the subject. 2) trying to cover the bird with all the AF points so they don't see the BG.

BTW, I remember when the 50D came out you said that 50D AF was much faster than MKIII, do you still believe that is a correct statement? Since 7D is much better than 50D and 50D was better than MKIII then 7D is much better than MKIII and there is no need for anyone here to buy or be interested in a MKIV :)


Best

Thanks for getting back to me. I heard many negative comments on the 7D and am sorry that I assumed after reading Kiran's post that you were the author. Since he has disappeared and not responded to my request for a link to same I shall assume you are correct. Please accept my apologies.

As for photographing birds against backgrounds other than sky, I have never heard of a single photographer who has not complained or struggled with their cameras in such situations. The best I know at it is Jim Neiger who uses a technique call bumping the focus. I do believe that operator skill is a huge element of his success.

Regarding this: "BTW, I remember when the 50D came out you said that 50D AF was much faster than MKIII, do you still believe that is a correct statement?"

I never stated that the 50D AF was much faster than MKIII (AF).

What I said and still believe is that 50D AI Servo AF is more consistently accurate when tracking birds in flight than the MIII. So like you, I have been mis-quoted :)

Happy new year to you and all.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks for getting back to me. I heard many negative comments on the 7D and am sorry that I assumed after reading Kiran's post that you were the author. Since he has disappeared and not responded to my request for a link to same I shall assume you are correct. Please accept my apologies.

As for photographing birds against backgrounds other than sky, I have never heard of a single photographer who has not complained or struggled with their cameras in such situations. The best I know at it is Jim Neiger who uses a technique call bumping the focus. I do believe that operator skill is a huge element of his success.

Regarding this: "BTW, I remember when the 50D came out you said that 50D AF was much faster than MKIII, do you still believe that is a correct statement?"

I never stated that the 50D AF was much faster than MKIII (AF).

What I said and still believe is that 50D AI Servo AF is more consistently accurate when tracking birds in flight than the MIII. So like you, I have been mis-quoted :)

Happy new year to you and all.

Hi Artie,

I also apologize if I misquoted you about 50D AF, and I agree changing BG is really tough for any camera. Hopefully with the techniques I learn on this website from you and others I can increase the percentage of in focus shots. Please keep us posted with impressions and samples from MKIV.

Happy new year to you as well :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Arash. I will post some MIV images as soon as I get the two I ordered through the Explorers of Light Program. I am hoping to have them in hand before I head to San Diego on 11 JAN but am not holding my breath.

[Jan Wegener]

So guys, here's my first review after 1015 images I made today. You can download two RAW files @ ISO 1250. For BIF the weather was just too bad today. Sorry :)
Tomorrow I will continue testing :)

First Small Review

[Axel Hildebrandt]

So guys, here's my first review after 1015 images I made today. You can download two RAW files @ ISO 1250. For BIF the weather was just too bad today. Sorry :)
Tomorrow I will continue testing :)

First Small Review

Thanks for the review and I'm glad to hear that you like it. The noise at ISO 1250 really does not look bad, thanks for sharing the RAW files. Are you saying that when using a 90MB/s card the buffer does not fill up after 30 RAW images?

I'm glad the swan liked your baguette. :) Looks like Wannsee.

[Jan Wegener]

Indeed, with that 90 MB/s monster it seems like the camera writes faster than it takes images. Even when I heard that longer "cluck" that we all fear the next second you had 10 images again in your buffer. I didn't stop the time, but I'd say that it takes less than 5 seconds from a full buffer to a complete emtpy buffer.
With that ISO of 1250 the camera showed me always 26 possible images in the buffer.

It's almost Wannsee, a bit further north :)

[C Tiller]

I read today on Rob Gailbraiths pages that Canadian and US markIVs are being shipped "as we speak" and will arrive in stores within a few days :)

After having the camera (actually two :) ) for over a week now, I must admit that I am increasingly impressed. It is by far the best camera I have ever tried and I feel secure that birders around the world (those that can afford it) will love this camera. I find myself holding the camera every evening just playing with it: the new LCD is amazing and after changing the C.FnIII;8 to 0 (from previous 3) I have had a perfect functioning autofocus (I really hope that there will be a nice discussion on what settings are ideal for the various bird photography situations on this site in a while :) )

Enclosing an image from yesterday to give an impression of ISO 2000 capabilities: a european Bittern struggling to survive the cold and dark Norwegian winter (it is only daylight for 6 hours and the temperatures have been 0-10F lately).
The image data is the following: ISO 2000. Canon 800mm f5.6@5.6, 1/250s, ev metering +1 1/3.
Processing: RAW file opened in PS4 raw converter (unchanged the default temp 9800K and tint +11). I then made the following adjustments: exposure +0,15, blacks +16, contrast +24, vibrance +25, saturation +7 and finally sharpening +25 before reducing the image size to 1200pix width. No blurring or noise reduction was used.

The image is here:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Z58ug64kZa...29135_1200.jpg

I also have a 400 ISO image of a girl from the neighbourhood (no downloading please). This is unedited and straight from the CF card being a JPG file, Large size, standard picture style: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Z58ug64kZa...0091224040.JPG

[Jim Neiger]

I received a call from the dealer where I have two 1D4s on order. He said he should be able to ship me one of them next week. He also said my second one would have to wait for the 2nd or 3rd batch of 1D4s to be received. Hopefully I will be posting some 1D4 shots next week. :) There are a number of photogs on the US west coast that already have their 1D4s. Many images have been posted on the Fred Miranda site.

[Jan Wegener]

I find myself holding the camera every evening just playing with it: the new LCD is amazing and after changing the C.FnIII;8 to 0 (from previous 3) I have had a perfect functioning autofocus (I really hope that there will be a nice discussion on what settings are ideal for the various bird photography situations on this site in a while :) )

So you changed it when you received the camera? I think 0 is the standard.

[arash_hazeghi]

Here is another comparison between MKIV, 5D MKII, 7D and D700 with lots of full size samples. MKIV high ISO IQ stands well against the rest of the cameras.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hirokik...7623098400650/

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Indeed, with that 90 MB/s monster it seems like the camera writes faster than it takes images. Even when I heard that longer "cluck" that we all fear the next second you had 10 images again in your buffer. I didn't stop the time, but I'd say that it takes less than 5 seconds from a full buffer to a complete emtpy buffer.
With that ISO of 1250 the camera showed me always 26 possible images in the buffer.

It's almost Wannsee, a bit further north :)

Thanks, Jan! When you photograph birds in flight, could you try the AF performance with central sensor vs. central plus surrounding points? I'm wondering if it would be possible to use central AF point plus surrounding points with a varying background.

[Jim Neiger]

Thanks, Jan! When you photograph birds in flight, could you try the AF performance with central sensor vs. central plus surrounding points? I'm wondering if it would be possible to use central AF point plus surrounding points with a varying background.

I'm interested in this too. My experience with the 1D3 and AF expansion was that it worked pretty well, but not as well as center point only when the bgs were varied. I'm hoping that the opposite will be true with the 1D4.

[C Tiller]

So you changed it when you received the camera? I think 0 is the standard.

hi

Yes I changed the following, thinking it would be ideal for BIF:
C.Fn III;2: slow
C.Fn III;3:0 or 3
C.Fn III;4:1
C.Fn III;8:3

[Jan Wegener]

Hey guys,

today I had only one hour for a short test shoot, but tomorrow I'll be out all day. It'll be also the first real test on a hard to get bird.
BloG
@ Jim and Axel......well The surrounding fields didnÄt really impress me today. With very busy BGs one filed is a bit more stable. Against the sky I liked the surrounding fields. However, like I said in my blog, today was too short and too dark for a final judgement.
However, personally I feel the mark IV performed better than a Mark IIn. I posted one image with a quite busy BG. As long as I stayed on the bird with the central sensor, the camera was dead on.
When the gulls make a sharp turn, the camera would jump immediately, but I guess then the error is on my side.

[Jan Wegener]

regarding the higher ISOs. I am a bit picky on that and with bad light my limit will be 1600-2000. The latter only in rare cases....Like always it heavily depends on the BG, too

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Hey guys,

today I had only one hour for a short test shoot, but tomorrow I'll be out all day. It'll be also the first real test on a hard to get bird.
BloG
@ Jim and Axel......well The surrounding fields didnÄt really impress me today. With very busy BGs one filed is a bit more stable. Against the sky I liked the surrounding fields. However, like I said in my blog, today was too short and too dark for a final judgement.
However, personally I feel the mark IV performed better than a Mark IIn. I posted one image with a quite busy BG. As long as I stayed on the bird with the central sensor, the camera was dead on.
When the gulls make a sharp turn, the camera would jump immediately, but I guess then the error is on my side.

Thanks, Jan! Please keep us posted.

[Jan Wegener]

Little Update for you guys :) Including an ISo 400 RAW

The camera performs really great against busy BG.

Just my 600 IS lens is not focussing very well. Shows quite some front focussing. Hope to be able to adjust it soon !

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Little Update for you guys :) Including an ISo 400 RAW

The camera performs really great against busy BG.

Just my 600 IS lens is not focussing very well. Shows quite some front focussing. Hope to be able to adjust it soon !

Thanks much! :) ISO 400 looks pretty good.

[Jan Wegener]

yes, 400 is really nice.
Mark IV ISO 800-1000 is like Mark IIn ISO 400 :)
So a major improvement for me :)

[LouBuonomo]

Thanks Jan...

[Ed Cordes]

Thanks Jan for keeping us informed. Can't wait to use my own instead of drooling over your images. BTW your bird images are super especially the Wood Pidgeon!!!!

[Jan Wegener]

I cannot test it, but what caught my eye is C.Fn III - 3

C.Fn III-3: (AI Servo 1st/2nd image priority) has had the optional [3: Release/Tracking priority]
setting added. Shutter-release priority (rather than focus priority) is given to the first shot.
During continuous shooting (from the second shot onward), stable focus-tracking of the subject
is given priority. This new setting, which was the only option for AI Servo AF release/tracking
priority with the original EOS-1D, EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark II N, was
conspicuously absent on the EOS-1D Mark III. Now, EOS-1D Mark IV users will have the
best of both worlds together with the new improvements to AF hardware and software.

Too bad I will be too busy to go shooting for a week or so.

[Jan Wegener]

busy BG challenge... Cannot complain at all :)

Link

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I cannot test it, but what caught my eye is C.Fn III - 3

C.Fn III-3: (AI Servo 1st/2nd image priority) has had the optional [3: Release/Tracking priority]
setting added. Shutter-release priority (rather than focus priority) is given to the first shot.
During continuous shooting (from the second shot onward), stable focus-tracking of the subject
is given priority. This new setting, which was the only option for AI Servo AF release/tracking
priority with the original EOS-1D, EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark II N, was
conspicuously absent on the EOS-1D Mark III. Now, EOS-1D Mark IV users will have the
best of both worlds together with the new improvements to AF hardware and software.

Too bad I will be too busy to go shooting for a week or so.

Interesting, something to keep in mind!

[Stacy Baird]

I think a great benefit of looking at these (crazily) high ISO results is to realize that when you bring up detail in the shadows of something shot at 400, 800 and even 1600, the noise will be manageable. Other than photographing my sleeping children in near pitch dark, I wouldn't approach these ISOs... but the under-wing of an eagle, that might need some help.