1D MarkIII Pro's and Cons

robh71

Hi

Going to buy the Canon 1D Mark III. Anyone want to share pros's and more importantly cons of this camera. Buying in the States also to save and take advantage of current advantageous exchange rate--Know thats somewhat risky with Canon's US v European warranty policy....

Roen

I don't think there's a whole lot of people here with a MKIII. As a matter of fact I can only recall one, so pretty much anything anyone else can tell you will be echoing what they've read on review sites.

magicbastarder

wasn't there a poster at one of the GAA matches who said he got a lukewarm response when he asked the pros there who had it?

robh71

?? ...not sure ....
I#ve heard most of good reports but really wanted to find out any bad experiences people have had...
thanks

Carrigman

I don't have one (not having won the Lotto yet) but there are serious AF issues with the camera which don't seem to have been resolved. Rob Galbraith was almost single handedly responsible for raising the matter and the full story can be read at: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp. It seems that the AI Servo issue only applies in very hot sunny conditions so it should not be a problem for Irish photographers.

Carrigman

Sorry. That was the wrong Rob Galbraith link. It should be: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8742-9063

robh71

mmmm cheers for that...Intersting reading. however at the end Rob does overall grade it very highly...bit more research required I think !!...........still really want it though !!!!

Carrigman wrote:

Sorry. That was the wrong Rob Galbraith link. It should be: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8742-9063

Valentia

I got to use Leinsterman's MkIII for a week in kerry during the summer. It's a fabulous camera but it has af issues. The issues are only important to you if you do serious action photography though. I was using it to capture birds in flight and the af was very inconsistent.

If you are not going to be using it for heavy duty action stuff I'd recommend the 40D. Way better value for money, great quality and 6.5 frames per second. Build quality is excellent too. I have a 5D and a 40D. The 40D for action stuff and the 1.6 crop for telephoto work. The 5D for portraits and landscapes.

You should get the 40D in the states for around €900. Imagine the fabulous lenses you could buy for the difference between that and the Mk III!!!!

leinsterman

Apparently I am the only owner of a 1d Mk III here ... they are difficult to source ... though I got mine in Gunns ...

I was also in the photographers room at several Championship games this year ... most of the pros are using the 1d Mk III ... very few have any complaints ... nobody talked about AF tracking issues ... unfortunately I never got to try this out for myself.... why ? ... well, read on -

It must've been the first bit of kit I ever bought in Ireland and boy was I glad I did .... I had to return the camera for a repair. Oddly enough for an AF problem but not the one discussed in Rob G's article .. PM me for details.

It is now 6 weeks since it went back ... and to describe the catalogue of imcompetence I had to endure from Canon would take a while ... but keep an eye out for the open letter I'll be writing to Philip Brady at Canon in the coming week for more detail ... or PM me for more information ... suffice it to say after much hassle Canon agreed to replace the camera with a new one ... sadly they managed to f**k this up also ... shipping a body without a battery ... so I'm still waiting and "reliably" informed that I'll have it tomorrow ...

Time permitting I'd be happy to let you try it out (under my supervision) ... if I ever get my replacement ... it is a wonderful camera ... for a big body pro camera it feels nice in the hand ... it way ahead of anything else I've used ... though I did like using a borrowed 5D from Valentia for a while ... I also had a quick look at PaulW's 40d too ... the 40d is a remarkable clone of the 1d Mk III ... but obviously the Mk III offers far greater potential ...

My plan is to buy whatever the 5D replacement becomes in a year or two so I have a 1.3 crop for sports, portraits, studio and wildlife and a full framer for travel and general purpose use ...

Personally I think the Rob G stuff is way over blown. I had the opportunity to speak to Canon's top Pro in Europe (Vic?) about this issue. He informs me that there is beta release firmware in test and they except this will put all Rob G's concerns to bed ... it is due at the end of the year ... in the interim any sport pro I spoke to has made little complaint about the AF ...

Valentia did have problems ... but we had the AF tracking sensitivity set wrong ... when shooting fast moving small objects you have to set it to minimum to increase the time taken by the camera to refocus on another item when it momentariliy loses the item it is tracking (e.g. to refocus on the background) ... we had it in the middle (this is right is it not Valentia ?) ...
The only time you need to increase the sensitivity is when shooting fast moving objects that fill the viewfinder (e.g. a train) ... Vic said this to me and I also saw it on CPN -

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/technical/mark_iii_af.do

You are looking for page 2 where they talk about C Fn III-2

As regard the rest ... well it blows everything else out of the water ... though If I had not invested so much in Canon lenses and other crap I'd seriously consider the new Nikon D3X ... at least to benchmark ... very tempting spec ... could well give Canon a kick in the arse ... which is much needed ... since their attitude towards us users is pretty poor ... certainly Canon Ireland are a bunch of useless arrogant morons .... if their attitude and service is anything to go by...

robh71

Thanks all for the input and to leinsterman for the advice....may sleep on it!!!

leinsterman

Here's a more recent article by Canon on the AF system in the Mk III -

CPN AF

Borderfox

I asked in Bermingham's and they said out of the 4 that they received, 3 went back with AF issues. Personally I put off buying one till all the issues are sorted out. my two cents.

leinsterman

Borderfox wrote:

I asked in Bermingham's and they said out of the 4 that they received, 3 went back with AF issues. Personally I put off buying one till all the issues are sorted out. my two cents.

now that is interesting ... I'll be getting a new replacement one today (ahem ... without a battery ... but Gunns will give me one from their stock while the muppets at Canon continue to fumble around in their usual incompetence) ...

We'll have to try some tests! ... Anyone like to assist ? ...