My Mark lll

Comes in tomorrow! Just in time for brostock! Anybody else shoot with this camera with any helpful hints or advice?

I heard that if you cross your fingers and pray real hard that it wont have a focusing issue...

i was crossing my fingers and praying then GOD said "should have bought a nikon"

What's that? A Nikon user inserting themself into a non-Nikon camera thread in order to feel relevant? No way!

Congrats and lets see a few shots from it.

touche... spot on, well played

So much for the helpful hints and advice huh? I guess all the out of focus shots I've been posting here over the last year have given the mk3 a bad rep?

You'll read the mk3 can't track an object against a cluttered background! Yeah right.



Mine AF's better then any other Canon body I've had including a 1D2 (and that was before I micro adjusted it for all my lenses.) If you have a bad one you'll know it right away in static mode (rare) but it's AF function settings really affect it's behavior in aiservo and I see a lot of guys complaining about the AF in this camera that probably haven't taken the time to learn how to use it.

A couple of things I do:

Leave it on and let it go to sleep and only shut it down to let it self clean when you start seeing spots or when you need to recharge the battery. Don't waste your money on a spare battery, you'll get 3000 to 5000 frames depending on the lenses you use.

If you are shooting jpegs learn how to use the picture style settings they really affect the images when the camera is doing the processing.

Here is the best guide to using the AF system, read it and experiment. I really thought I had an AF problem in aiservo (and I have a very early serial#) until I learned how all the settings affecting the AF in the 3rd group work.

http://www.usa.canon.com/uploadedimages/FCK/Image/2007/MARK%20III%20Suggested%20Settings%20121207/EOS1D_1DsMark_IIIoptimizingAFsettings_Final.pdf

some more good stuff:

http://www.wildlifeimagesbyles.net/Technique/1DIII_Guide/1diii_guide.html

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html#af_microadjustment

Oh, come on Rich...lighten up!

And that bird shot of yours isn't at all the same type of "cluttered shot" that people have been using in their tests (that I've seen, anyways). They're shooting cars that are driving towards them or people walking in a crowd to see how the AF tracks/hunts. But in one test the 1D3 did have more sharp frames (car driving towards the camera at a controlled rate of speed) than a D3. And I think someone mentioned on Sports Shooter that Canon returned their "fixed" 1D3 back to them and it's working great for them...or something like that. And speaking of Sports Shooter, there's a bunch of information about the camera buried in all the 1D3 related posts there. So Riley if you get bored at work or whatever then maybe go poke around over there.

Oh, and quick sidenote- your 10-22mm EF-S lens isn't compatible with the 1D3.

Lighten up huh? all I saw above was a post started by a guy interested in tips on a 1D3 and the first 2 comments are basically "geez I hope if AF's" and "get a Nikon". Just the kind of responses I'd be looking for if I just dropped $4K on a body!

But your comments about the AF on the Nikon are interesting. I've seen the same testing, seems the new Nikons aren't any better the the Canons when it comes to AF (even though Ken Rockwell says Nikon has always had superior auto focus).

Not sure what your point is about the 10-22? Does the OP own one? That's a 1.6 crop lens and I've never owned one. I've got a 16-35 which is plenty wide for my needs.

Yeah i am bumbed that i wont get to use the 10-22 with it, so i will keep that on my xti as my spare camera, I also got a 70-200 IS F2.8 L series lens for the mark 3.

Rich thanks for the links, hopefully i can get it all squared away before brostock this weekend.

congrats, awesome combo with the 70-200! enjoy, let see some shots!

Steeze - Congrats on the purchase!

I thought the upgraded firmware fixed the focus issue?

First Canon said firmware...
Then they pulled unsold 1D3's off the store shelves...
Then they started replacing the sub-mirror servo mechanism...
And another recent firmware update seemed to fix things some more...

Anyways, Rob Galbraith has a VERY exhaustive rundown of the issue (with tons of photos), so I'd check out the following link and skim over the 19 page article on his site for more info-

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-8740-9068

Rob still doesn't believe it's really fixed as do many others. In the meantime I've got a never ending warranty. Canon will extend the factory warranty for an additional year from the point they replace the sub-mirror assembly. They have basically said there in no time limit on when affected serial numbers need to be fixed. (I'm sure they would just as soon not fix them if the individual owner doesn't care) Since (AFAIC) mine focuses as good as I could expect and since I don't shoot car license plates coming directly at me in 100 degree weather, I'm certainly not going to send it in until it breaks or I want to sell it. Of course this may end when the 1DmkIIIn is introduced!

Holly crap Rich I dumped my Nikon for a Cannon on your advice J/K I love my 40D. You going to the pond this weekend?

No I've got other family stuff going on. Chris is going for both days I think.

Hey Steeze, you get a chance to text out the AI Servo? How was the camera?

I love how the only negative things being said about the 1DIII AF in the last 3-4 months are all coming from Nikon users. From my understanding (from several friends who actually own the camera) this couldn't be less of an issue.

(Message edited by CAskimmer on June 19, 2008)

and Rob Galbraith is never going to concede that the issue is resolved. He continually stated that the fix is impossible without a camera re-design and to admit it's fixed is to admit he's wrong. (and according to Rob he's never wrong)

Do you know of anyone else that is keeping up to date on this stuff? I found the link to Rob's site from repeated posts on Sports Shooter. He seems to have a good run down of what's going on as far as I've seen. If there's other people reporting back information that are worth listening to I'd be down to check 'em out, too. I'm curious as to what's going on with the camera- that's why I asked if the AI Servo is still wacky on Steeze's copy. I'm assuming he got the most current firmware and build since he just got it so most/all of the kinks would have been worked out by now.

I'm not discounting anything Rob g. says although the "problem" is now pretty limited as far as his tests go and Drew over at Prophoto has mimicked his tests to the exact lens and conditions and not had any problems.

But asking someone who just got the camera if the AI Servo is working properly may not yield a accurate answer. This camera does not behave like the 1D2 in AI Servo and if one doesn't know/learn how the settings affect what you're trying to shoot one might think the camera is faulty. I know, I was convinced early on mine was not working properly.

I believe, based on all the people out there I've conversed with on the various boards, the truly bad ones were only obvious from day one if the static mode AF was off as well.

here is a shoot of Reed in mid day with my Mk. III.
http://www.swamistudios.com/images/reed-hansen.jpg