No Photokina = No New Canon Body?

boulderNardo

I need a second body for action sports shooting.
I'm considering a Canon 1Ds II, a Canon 5DII, or a switch to Nikon D3.

I'm HOPING Canon will release new bodies this summer, specifically a 1DIIIN maybe? The 1DIII would be ideal if it was FF and maybe 12-16MP. No need for 25MP. And Nikon is so expensive compared to Canon.

Aaahhhhh frustration!!

_B

ziggy53

boulderNardo wrote:

I need a second body for action sports shooting.
I'm considering a Canon 1Ds II, a Canon 5DII, or a switch to Nikon D3.

I'm HOPING Canon will release new bodies this summer, specifically a 1DIIIN maybe? The 1DIII would be ideal if it was FF and maybe 12-16MP. No need for 25MP. And Nikon is so expensive compared to Canon.

Aaahhhhh frustration!!

_B

The 1D MKII/MKIIN is still a good choice for action sports, and you already have a 1D MKII body. A 1D MKIIN might make a reasonable second body and maybe become primary. It has a deeper shot buffer and more choices for how you use the 2 memory cards. It will otherwise seem very familiar.

The 1Ds MKII has slower fps and no real advantage other than pixels. Recent price reductions have made used 1Ds MKII bodies pretty affordable, and responsiveness (other than fps) is on par with the 1D MKII/MKIIN.

The 1D MKIII is a little faster and a little more responsive, but only a little. It does have a bit better DR, but for many sports it's not required. It also uses different batteries from your 1D MKII.

I have a 5D MKII and I really do believe that it is not a suitable sports camera. The AF is just plain lacking for action sports. It would be one of my last recommendations.

Pindy

boulderNardo wrote:

And Nikon is so expensive compared to Canon.

_B

Depends entirely on your perspective. The only full-frame, pro-featured (AF, weather sealing, speed, ergonomics) camera Canon makes is $8000 list.

New Nikon lenses are expensive (too expensive), but Canon has begun borrowing their pricing technique—viz the new TS-E line.

ziggy53

Pindy wrote:

Depends entirely on your perspective. The only full-frame, pro-featured (AF, weather sealing, speed, ergonomics) camera Canon makes is $8000 list.
...

The difference is that Canon has been making full-frame, pro-featured cameras for some time now and the 1Ds MKII is still considered viable for many things, including some sporting events. The AF speed is excellent and high-ISO not too bad. The shutter lag and mirror blackout are also pro grade. Frames-per-second is not so great by modern standards, but there are many worse cameras.

Best of all, I now regularly see the Canon 1Ds MKII bodies going for $2500USD or so. Not too bad for a pro-grade body with 16 MPix resolution.

This is no slam against Nikon and I do still love the D3 and the D700 is a real steal with a very nice AF mechanism (similar to the AF system of the D3 but owners of both say that the D3 is faster. ByThom describes it as a "slight lag" in acquisition) and a class-leading high-ISO noise level. There is almost no visual difference between the pixel counts of those 2 Nikons and the Canon 1Ds MKII when they are both printed to the same size. If I were a Nikon shooter I would almost certainly have the D700. If I were a Nikon shooter doing sports I would be very interested in the D3 and probably looking for a good used copy.

boulderNardo

Thanks for the super valuable input Ziggy!

I think the 1DsII would make an excellent second body.
In fact, I'm not even looking for a "backup" body, I'm looking for a "quick-swap" body ... Keep my 70-200 mounted on my 1DII, and keep my 17-40 mounted on the 1DsII.

The advantage over the 1DII is not only the extra MP but more importantly the lack of crop factor! My 17-40 would finally be a true 17mm which is WIDE!

Another factor to consider, which swings me over to the 1DsII vs. moving to Nikon... I don't really need the ultra high FPS. In fact, lately I've been shooting sports with flash exclusively, and given a full recycle time of 1.5seconds on my flash, fast drive is unusable. As a positive side-effect, the "frame 1 shot, take 1 shot at a time" approach has helped improve my photography So a camera that does 5fps like the 1DsII would be plenty, as long as the AF is FAST and ACCURATE, and I can always resort to my 1DII for fast 8fps when I don't use flash.

The info about the 5DII's AF is very valuable, thanks! Makes me lean towards the 1DsII even more Even though 22MP, high ISO performance, 1080p and just the best IQ out there do make me drool...

Thanks, getting this stuff out there helps make decisions.
I think the 1DsII is a good choice!
_B

rookieshooter

Canon needs a midrange sports camera like the D300 IMO. The 40D/50D is the equivalent but its 9 point AF is not as good as the 51 point system on the D300.