Thursday, July 14, 2005

My ship's come in. Got the 1D MKII in today--time to rock and/or roll. First thing that came to my mind when I opened this baby up is that it's built like a tank...a big Japanese tank. Here's some photos of some brick brack in the backyard.







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In addition..

I've had the 1D MKII for approximately 8 hours, of which I've only had the chance to mess with it for about 3 hours. Some conclusions that are pretty much similar to all the other ones on the net about this camera, but rehashed for you, because you want it:

Pros:

1.) Built better than the 10D, and the 10D was no slouch. Seriously feels like it was molded from one solid piece of 'unobtanium' (see, Magnesium Alloy).

2.) Weight is no problem. The 10D w/Grip "feels" the same, which is close to 'heavy as shit' anyways. What's a few kg's here or there.

3.) FAST. FAST. FAST. Startup is instant, AF is amazing and card write times is boggling my mid sized mind right now. I was able to AF with a f/4 lens in about 0-1 EV without any problems. The camera can shoot 8.3 frames a second up to a 40 frame buffer. That's right, it can capture 8.3 8-Megapixel images in the amount of time you say "one". If that doesn't do it for you, you obviously have a life.

4.) Weather Resistant Sealing. This camera has gaskets and seals to make it durable in harsh weather. If you needed to, this is the camera you take to Iraq, if you were going to Iraq to take pictures. Will I ever use this feature? You gotta be kidding me. I'd scream like a girl if a drop of water hit it.

5.) Customize it to death. There's a mind boggling array of custom functions and image parameters that'd make Stephen Hawking's robo-chair look like a Speak and Spell.

6.) The 1D MKII apparently has 10 stops of dynamic range..and I believe it. I took a sunset picture from the backyard that shows plenty of detail from the sky down to the shadows.

7.) Excellent ISO performance, better than the 10D. Also, the ISO adjustments can be made in 1/3 stop increments.

8.) Wide Angles are Wide Angles again (sort of). My 17-40mm is now a 22-52mm. On the 10D, it was a 27-64mm. In addition, Interpol sang Stella was a Diver, and she's always down.

9.) Fast. Fast. Fast. It's fast.

Cons:

1.) Double button pressing to change functions takes some time to get used to. Canon designed this to ensure that no functions were inadvertently changed.

2.) Vertical Shutter Release is nipple sensitive. You think about touching it and it goes off.
posted by HZA | 7:38 PM | email | archive