After testing Canon's newest professional SLR, professional sports photographer Brad Mangin offers praise for the camera's autofocus system that's as lavish as the scorn he heaped upon the model's predecessor.
Mangin tested the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV at a football game, and his overall assessment published on his blog doubtless was music to the ears of designers at the Japanese camera maker: "This camera performed flawlessly...Canon should be able to keep long-time (and heavily invested) users like me happy with the new Mark IV."
The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
(Credit: Canon USA)Perhaps not so pleasant to hear was his excoriation of the earlier model. "To be brutally honest, I found the Canon EOS-1D Mark III to be a complete disaster. I consider it to be the biggest lemon professional 35mm camera in modern photographic history. I have a considerable investment in Canon cameras and lenses, and was reluctant to jump ship to Nikon," said Mangin, whose customers include Sports Illustrated. "With the Mark IV, it was do or die for Canon."
He shot with Canon's 400mm f2.8 lens, sometimes with a 1.4x teleconverter, in bright sunlight. "Using a Canon Mark III with a 400mm lens and a 1.4x converter in this exact same situation was not an option. The results were embarrassing and upsetting. However, the new Mark IV seemed to like working with the 400mm lens and 1.4x combination and delivered some very nice, tack-sharp images," Mangin said.
His assessment of the 1D Mark III jibes with that of Rob Galbraith, a photographer who extensively chronicled his gripes with the SLR's autofocus system in 2007. Mangin said two others photographing the game using the earlier EOS-1D Mark IIN were relieved that the Mark IV performed well.
Another photographer to get an early model of the 1D Mark IV to test is Jens Dresling, a Danish photojournalist. He also praised the autofocus, judging by a translation of his views that indicates the camera focused well both with wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
The $5,000 EOS-1D Mark IV is Canon's first full-on professional SLR that can shoot video, but it also shoots 10 still frames per second for conventional photography. The 16.1-megapixel sensor can shoot up to ISO 12,800 at a regular setting and up to 102,400 in its extended range setting.
Its sensor is an unusual intermediate "APS-H" size that measures 27.9 by 18.6mm. That's about halfway between the full-frame sensors of most high-end SLRs and the APS-C sensors on Canon's mainstream SLRs. Larger sensors are more expensive but enable better low-light performance and a wider dynamic range.
Given that the timing is right for manufacturers to update various models, it should come as no surprise that the rumors are leaking left and right--especially at sites whose stock-in-trade is tracking these types of rumors.
According to the Canon Rumors blogger, "If this is real, I'll eat a worm."
(Credit: lpazxxsh/Fred Miranda forums)My favorite of the moment is over at Canon Rumors, which repeats info suggested in the forums at Fred Miranda. A favorite not because I think the specs are particularly accurate--a full frame 16-megapixel sensor, or maybe 18 megapixels, HD video, 12fps burst, 65-zone metering, 48 AF points (think the AF will get fewer complaints with all those points?), better viewfinder and built-in Wi-Fi--but because the blogger on Canon Rumors said that if the accompanying photo was real he'd "eat a worm."
Last week, Nikon Rumors posted a couple of (most likely faux) photos and specs for a D400 and D750. Most notably, if they're true, are 16- to 18-megapixel sensors, Vari-angle LCDs and 24fps 1080p video. While the blogger doubts their veracity, he did not volunteer to eat a worm.
Next on the rumor trail is the Sony Alpha DSLR-A500, which comes to us from Photogenius, a Russian site, via Google Translate and the Panasonic and Olympus rumor site, 43rumors.com. It sounds as if the A500 replaces the A350 or possibly the older A700, with a 17.2-megapixel sensor of indeterminate type, 1080p HD video, max ISO 12,800, 4fps burst and a 2.7-inch tilting LCD.
And finally, winning points for utter vagueness, is the rumor about a new dSLR spotted on a Pentax family group shot watermarked ivyjopy.spaces.live.com that RiceHigh's Pentax Blog says is a K7D. Or maybe a K30D (more likely, in my opinion). One of the forum participants speculates that the camera will use a Relay Finder viewfinder--as far as I can tell, it uses lenses in addition to the prism in order to shrink the viewfinder while maintaining magnification and eye point--which Pentax patented back in September.
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