1DX Mark III

[Minerve101]

Congratulations on retirement conropl (Pat?)! Now we just need to get past the “mud and slush” season in Michigan.

And even “wow” seems a pale word for Jonathan’ owl shots.

[conropl]

Congratulations on retirement conropl (Pat?)! Now we just need to get past the “mud and slush” season in Michigan.

Thanks. I haven't regretted it at all. Now I just need to get the camera out again.

The slush is mostly gone, but the mud lingers on. Although, I did see my first Robin of the season... that is always a good sign of spring. For me, that has always been a better predictor than that rodent in Pennsylvania.



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[Always Looking]

Impressive set of photos for sure. I'm especially impressed with the forth photo when the owl was clearly behind the tree (white birch?) and yet stayed in focus. Amazing that you were able to lock onto that moving owl with that back round.

[Jonathan Huyer]

Impressive set of photos for sure. I'm especially impressed with the forth photo when the owl was clearly behind the tree (white birch?) and yet stayed in focus. Amazing that you were able to lock onto that moving owl with that back round.

It's definitely very good! To be fair though, the owl is moving sideways across the frame, so as long as the camera doesn't get distracted by the obstructions, it doesn't have to make a lot of adjustment to stay locked on. It might have been a completely different matter if the owl was flying towards me. Anyhow, this is still a giant leap forwards, which is very nice to see.

[Kayaker72]

So, by coincidence, it seems like Joel's R5 arrived to him 1 day before my 1DX III arrived to me. A big difference, Joel gets to keep his R5 and this 1DX III goes back to early next week.

I have known for awhile now I wanted a camera better suited for wildlife. I am very interested in Joel's impressions of the R5, as I was Jonathan's of the 1DX III. But, I wanted to play with a 1DX body myself, as I had never done that.

A few impressions after the first day of use:

• 1400 pictures happened fast. I wasn't even really trying, just sat on my bird set up for 10-15 minutes 3 times.
• I am pretty sure the sound or maybe the feel of 16 fps causes a direct rush of dopamine because, wow, that is exhilarating.
• So, this is what a 2x extender was built for. I've wondered, because, honestly, the AF is not great on the 5D IV and doesn't even really work on other camera bodies. On the 1DX III, it occasionally hunts, but otherwise is about as fast as a regular lens on the 5DIV.
• Speaking of fast, it feels like the AF is on target before I have completely finished pushing the button.
• 20 MP sensor...this ain't your Grandpa's 20 MP sensor. It really isn't bad, although, I can tell the difference coming from the 5DIV.

But, to sum up my initial impressions:

1DX III, 1000 mm (500 f/4, 2x TC), 1/2000th, f/8, ISO 12,800 (I cleaned it up in post)

I am not trying to say this is an amazing photo. Just more that I've taken thousands of pictures of humming birds with several different cameras over the years. I have taken pictures of them hovering, feeding, or perched. Never have I captured a good picture of a HB transition from hovering and starting to zoom off to a different location....on a lens with a 2x TC attached, which is often slow to AF.

Speaking of perched, this is 1/9th of the frame from this morning: same set up as above, 1/160th sec, f/8, ISO 2000. To get 1/1000th, I was ISO 12800, so I decided to try a couple of second burst to see if one would come out sharp(ish). About 3 did. So, perhaps not a perfect example of what cropped on the 20 MP sensor looks like, as there is still a bit of blur, but an indication.

I am still very much considering the R5, but I have always wondered what those extra volts in the 1D battery could do. Apparently drive AF very fast.

[Joel Eade]

Using a 2X TC is a lot of fun and the 1D bodies are amazing, I still use my version 1 for family outings mostly with the 16-35mm f/2.8 set to shoot small RAW files. I usually employ TV mode 1/800 sec and auto iso which assures sharp pictures with decent exposures no matter who picks up the camera and shoots. The smaller files are easy to process and they will make good prints up to 11x14. I think you could fill a card and it would never hit the buffer limit. The sound on high speed is fun.

A few more features I found on the R5 and 800mm f/11:

Exposure Sim: both on the LCD and in EVF you see what the image will look like based on current settings

A histogram (either brightness or RGB) can be set to display live on the LCD (but not in the EVF)

Crop Mode: 1.6 crop mode with 800mm f/11 gives the field of view similar to a focal length lens of 1280mm and yields 17 mp images (very nice for small birds). No TC needed!!!

Bluetooth: using the Canon camera control app and a smart phone you can remotely control the R5 .... aim it a perch and wait ... when bird is in position just touch the phone and it fires away .... lets you hide better and much less motion involved. Also no cable release needed!!!

Shutter noise: the mechanical shutter is very soft and the electronic shutter dead quiet....so that satisfying machine gun sound is not available. The mechanical shutter is not near as fast as the 1Dx3 anyway.

Flash: does not function with electronic shutter

Control wheels: there are 3 .... the front one and big rear one as usual but another one around the mode button (set to adjust iso by default) They are all programmable.

The 800mm f/11 does not come with a lens hood ... bummer.

The LCD is articulating .... it can be folded inward against the body so no way to scratch it during transportation.

The LCD is a touch screen and almost everything can be adjusted by this method. Also it responds to gestures like an i-phone.

The large files from a full frame shot are slower to process of course .... my 2018 MacBook Pro will often turn on the fans during processing.

No issue overheating at all but I have not shot video

No issue with battery life .... I shot for 2-3 hours yesterday and still had 1/2 battery power left. I did set the LCD and EVF to turn off in 1 minute.

That's the latest news from my perspective.

[Kayaker72]

I remember back when I upgraded from the 7D (my first DSLR) to the 5DIII. There were a couple of others made the similar upgrade at about the same time and I remember all of us being similarly impressed, the better AF changed the way we took photos. With the 7D, with BIF, I was taking many pictures just hoping to get one in focus. With the 5DIII, I just needed a couple, but having nice focus, really started being more common. So, we were not longer taking the extra images.

The 5DIV is a bit better than the 5DIII was.

The 1DX III....it is just ridiculous. I mean, just nuts. I am scrolling through sets of 30-50 images (you know, 3 second burst ) and they are all to almost all in focus. I've never experienced this. The 1DX III is a phenomenal machine. The through the OVF PDAF is simply the best I have experienced. Even with the 5DIV, I'll toss out half my photos of the birds on my bird perch for being out of focus. I still have not looked at all the pictures I took, but say I've looked at ~1,500 images so far, I've probably thrown out 10-15 for being out of focus (this is not including moving HBs where I was struggling, but more perched birds). The second caveat is any of you end up scrutinizing my images is that I did not AFMA my lens to the 1DX III I borrowed. My guess is that it needed a very slight adjustment. But, getting back to the good stuff, it AF through leaves/branches (deep learning?) that would have otherwise distracted my other cameras.

So, my take aways:

• AF is very fast and very accurate. I am not saying perfect, as now and again it would not spring into action, but generally, I pushed that rear AF On button and before it was all the way depressed, I was in focus.
• It can power the 2x TC much better than the 5DIV.
• I would need more practice with the sensor on the back of the AF On button, but that is a nice feature.
• I was at 3,900 images with 11% batter remaining.
• It was a bit big for my hand, but I adjusted. I did not care much for the vertical orientation feel. For those that shoot that way a lot, I get it, but it was a bit off to my feel.
• The entire set up felt heavier. I tend to hand hold everything, and it was noticeably heavier.

Overall, amazing camera and I am very much considering buying one when I get to the point where I could make better use of it, but there is one big catch that very much caught my attention. The reviewers were generally correct. As much as I would call this the best PDAF system I have ever used, when I switched to DPAF via liveview, it was "better" in that it was as fast if not maybe a bit faster, but had the distinct advantage in that if I locked an AF point on a HB (for example) at the feeder, it would stick on that HB as it moved throughout the frame allowing me to just take photos. This is an amazing feature for moving subjects and it impressed me quite a bit. Of course, the next generation of this is already out with DPAF II and animal eye AF on the R5/6. I will test one of those out before making my next purchase.

Ok, enough superlatives....I have many pictures that you'll likely see over time (working through Yellowstone and 1DX III set simultaneously)....but, I picked these as I have cardinal pics with the 5DIV and M6 II from this exact same set up. So, my bird set up, all taken from my office window. But, you can see, I am picking up better action with the faster AF and fps than before.....

10.4 MP
AC8I2711-Edit by kayaker72, on Flickr

13.2 MP
AC8I4375 by kayaker72, on Flickr

14.1 MP
AC8I4376 by kayaker72, on Flickr

5.5 MP
AC8I4633 by kayaker72, on Flickr

5.5 MP (500 mm, no tc)
AC8I5484 by kayaker72, on Flickr

[Jonathan Huyer]

The 1DX III....it is just ridiculous. I mean, just nuts.

Ha ha yes that pretty much sums it up! So much fun. I do agree with you, that as good as the OVF focus system is, the new system on the R5/R6 is almost certainly even better. But it's probably like going from 99% hit rate to 99.5% hit rate.

In other happy news I just found out that I'm able to join a bear viewing trip next month in central BC, so my 1DX3 will finally get the workout it desperately needs. Stay tuned!