Joining the 1d club

[planetc]

Finally bit the bullet and ordered a 1d3 at a third of the price of a 7d2 and I won't need to be shelling out for a grip either. I shot a competition last weekend and really stretched my skills to the limit trying to keep the iso down on the 50d and I've concluded that I've reached a point where it's the kit that is the weak point again rather than me. I've really gone over this one again and again and decided that it makes sense to keep the costs down given that I still have lenses that I need to add/update. It'll give me an extra stop or two to play with and a useful increase in image quality in better light and hopefully lead to an increase in sales through the darker months that I can put towards improving the kit further. Had a little play with the 1ds2 that my boss lent me, it feels really nice in the hand and the only thing I don't like about it is the two hands menu system. The 1d3 menu is much more similar to the 50d that I am used to. Worth watching mpb, they seem to have a price drop every so often on these. I've chosen to go with the £55 cheaper good condition rather than paying the extra for cosmetics since you have no idea on shutter count either way and cosmetics don't mean much in a body that is being used as a workhorse. I can at least be confident of six months use with the warranty, but which point it should comfortably have more than paid for itself.

[digiman]

Re: Joining the 1d club

I have to say that I really like my 1dsii, although I haven't had the chance to use it in anger as yet. The 1diii was my other option, and, MPB would definitely have been my choice, as they were a good £100 cheaper than anyone else at the time. The 2 hand menu thingy is something to get used to, but, at the price I paid, wasn't too bothered! Your rational seems very logical, giving you time to save up for more gear that you want to buy.

Best of luck with your new purchase, looking forward to seeing some of your images soon!

Garry

[the black fox]

Re: Joining the 1d club

as long as your close enough to the target to ensure minimum cropping then your going to fall in love with these old workhorses ,and lets not forget it was only a couple of years ago that nikon were stating that 12mp was the limit needed ,so your in the right area .there are still a lot of options available and a lot more than the 50d .
you still will get noise in your shots but the larger sensor size makes this noise thats easily dealt with ,i've had very few unuseable noisy shots ,as long as there in focus they can be worked .
the one thing in fact you will notice is when you download to the computer the shots just seem cleaner and more manageable .
final word DO NOT under any circumstances erase shots because they look crap on the screen ,the screen is crap .in fact if they look good on screen then there extremely good

[planetc]

Re: Joining the 1d club

I've done lots of homework and I'm confident that I'll gain, I just can't justify the cost of the 7d2 until I have a better array of glass. I don't crop these days, I have enough knowledge of my subject to get in close and keep my target in the frame 90% of the time now, the only place I may lose out a little is reach from the end of the lane in the outdoor comps which I always have the option of using the 50d for anyway, a 300 or 400 would quite possibly be useful for this in the future or possibly even one of these 150-600s.

[the black fox]

Re: Joining the 1d club

What you lose in crop factor is hardly noticeable due to the extra quality of the files ,and I can now vouch that the kenko 1.4 tc works superbly with this camera so there's your way cheaply into extra reach

[planetc]

Re: Joining the 1d club

That's quite useful to know too. I've been tempted to pick up the matching tc for my sigma for a while, but always had a nagging desire to swap out the lens for the canon variant anyway. I've actually had a chance to do a direct comparison with the canon now and there is a difference although it is very subtle, it certainly doesn't justify the price difference, apart from the additional weather sealing of course. A 1.4 might make a nice stepping stone to where I want to be.

[TonyT]

Re: Joining the 1d club

Enjoy it :)
I went from my 50D up to a 1DX and found it similar if not initially mind blowing with the menu options, you will find batteries expensive if you get a second (well mine was) and I nearly fainted at the cost of a replacement charger from Canon, if I ever needed one, I think it was £400 plus. But it just feels right in your hand and you won't be disappointed, also you won't really notice it being full frame, I don't. You will notice the better noise handling at higher ISO levels, it was the 50D's Achilles heal in my opinion.

[the black fox]

Re: Joining the 1d club

The 1d3 is a 1.3 crop factor tony so while only accepting e.f lenses there's really not that great difference to the 1.6 crop bodies ,except in file quality ,and Paul the t.c I,m referring to is the new kenko 1.4 dgx.HD .its a stunner on the 1d3 as I have found out

[tigerburnie]

Re: Joining the 1d club

You won't regret joining, I am finally finding out what all the buttons and knobs do on my iv, best thing I've bought since my Hardy #5 weight trout rod.

[TonyT]

Re: Joining the 1d club

The 1d3 is a 1.3 crop factor tony so while only accepting e.f lenses there's really not that great difference to the 1.6 crop bodies ,except in file quality ,and Paul the t.c I,m referring to is the new kenko 1.4 dgx.HD .its a stunner on the 1d3 as I have found out

Well I'm blowed I thought they were full frame like mine, you learn something everyday.

[planetc]

Re: Joining the 1d club

Already been looking at the options for batteries as I'll definitely need more than one, possibly more than two depending on the charge time and longevity of them. An average days shoot I fire around 1400 shots with the 50d and I've a feeling that will be a little higher with the 1d3 but I don't want to be anywhere without a spare ready to go.

[the black fox]

Re: Joining the 1d club

No i don't think you will as long as the battery has been looked after ,I get in excess of 3000 shots before the meter even drops a bar .your now going from toy cameras to real ones,the charger also has a inbuilt refresh button to bring it back to good.charge time is also extremely quick

[planetc]

Re: Joining the 1d club

Ah cool, I had a feeling it would be better but I didn't expect that much better. One spare it is then :-)
Thanks for all the help and advice you have given Jeff, you've been a major influence on the purchase.

[TonyT]

Re: Joining the 1d club

Mine does as well, I have a spare, I risked it and bought a genuine second hand one of ebay and it was is fine, it holds the same as the new one, I think the 1DX is slightly different in that it can tell you how many exposures it has left in it, but to be honest I have one on charge and use the other for days, and only take both if I am going away for a few days. As said the charger has the facility to deep cycle the battery if it is not registering a full charge when installed on the camera to refresh it, it also tells you it wants doing. :)
Some of the third party ones will not work with the frame count etc BTW

[planetc]

Re: Joining the 1d club

Its arrived and looks to be in much better shape than anticipated. I've ordered a second battery too.