Hands on with Canon 1D Mark 4
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:48 pmI was lucky enough to get my hands on a Canon 1D Mk4 a few days ago and to say it was awesome would be an understatement. For action sports this $7300 camera is the schizzle. I have a few examples taken at the drag strip on Friday.
The biggest problem I have with cars like this is trying to get enough of the front of the subject to focus sharply. The sloping front of a lot of fibreglass replicas go in and out of focus with the 10,30,40 and 50Ds I’ve had in the past. Not with the 1D4 – as you can see its sharp enough to cut yourself. This was taken at 1/500th @f5 at 100ISO with a 300mm 2.8IS lens and the colour reproduction is amazing.
This shot was taken at 50 ISO. Man I’ve missed having the option to go under 100 ISO with ditigal. To be truthful I’d hate to be hamstrung by the fact that I could never take a photo under 200 ISO with the likes of a Nikon. I shot thousands of rolls of Fuji Velvia and when you want a narrow depth of field such a setting is your friend. This was taken at 1/640th @f4 with a 300mm 2.8IS lens.
I always love to pan with cars and bikes to give that impression of speed. When I saw that I had two bikes in the one shot and that bright yellow background it really made the front of the captured bike very sharp – this was taken at 1/160th @ f8 at 100mm on 50 ISO being the short end of a 100-400mm f4.5/5.6 zoom lens
This little black Ford T bucket is one stunning machine thanks to a twin turboed big block Chev engine that just pours power down to the ground. I don’t really like this angle as there are usually parked cars in the background but thanks to the car’s instant fog bank that is all erased. Taken with the 100-400mm F4.5/5.6 zoom lens – 1/500th @f5.6 at 160 ISO
The perils of motor racing are that you can be the target of an angry out of control race car and in this case this out of shape Camaro ended up scrapping the wall near my right shoulder (with foot of concrete in between) showing thouest in paint and fibreglass chips. This was taken at 1/800th @f4 at 400 ISO with a 300mm 2.8IS lens
Also heading for a date with the barrier is American driver, Mike Janis who is caught here hiking the front wheel on the way. Having a magazine background I tend to do all my documentary style photos first and then flirt with slower shutter speeds. As this was the only lap that Janis did it was a good call as I report for a large American racing site. This was shot at 200 ISO at 1/800th @f4 with a 300mm 2.8IS lens.
I was hoping to use the camera at its almost mythical 102,400 ISO but rain put paid to that. Still I took this at 2000 ISO with an exposure of 1/640 @f4 with no noticeable grain.
In summing up the Canon 1D Mk4 is the Swiss army knife of photography. There was really too much to learn in a couple of days and as such I am looking forward to getting my hands on my own very soon. I didn’t really have any problems and to be truthful it is nothing short of a stunning tool that can turn one’s photos into something extra special. I actually held off buying a 1D Mk3 due to its on going focusing problems – with an entirely new focusing system it looks like they have gotten around said problems with the Mk4. I dare you to pick one up because I reckon it will be hard to get it back out of one’s hands.
The biggest problem I have with cars like this is trying to get enough of the front of the subject to focus sharply. The sloping front of a lot of fibreglass replicas go in and out of focus with the 10,30,40 and 50Ds I’ve had in the past. Not with the 1D4 – as you can see its sharp enough to cut yourself. This was taken at 1/500th @f5 at 100ISO with a 300mm 2.8IS lens and the colour reproduction is amazing.
This shot was taken at 50 ISO. Man I’ve missed having the option to go under 100 ISO with ditigal. To be truthful I’d hate to be hamstrung by the fact that I could never take a photo under 200 ISO with the likes of a Nikon. I shot thousands of rolls of Fuji Velvia and when you want a narrow depth of field such a setting is your friend. This was taken at 1/640th @f4 with a 300mm 2.8IS lens.
I always love to pan with cars and bikes to give that impression of speed. When I saw that I had two bikes in the one shot and that bright yellow background it really made the front of the captured bike very sharp – this was taken at 1/160th @ f8 at 100mm on 50 ISO being the short end of a 100-400mm f4.5/5.6 zoom lens
This little black Ford T bucket is one stunning machine thanks to a twin turboed big block Chev engine that just pours power down to the ground. I don’t really like this angle as there are usually parked cars in the background but thanks to the car’s instant fog bank that is all erased. Taken with the 100-400mm F4.5/5.6 zoom lens – 1/500th @f5.6 at 160 ISO
The perils of motor racing are that you can be the target of an angry out of control race car and in this case this out of shape Camaro ended up scrapping the wall near my right shoulder (with foot of concrete in between) showing thouest in paint and fibreglass chips. This was taken at 1/800th @f4 at 400 ISO with a 300mm 2.8IS lens
Also heading for a date with the barrier is American driver, Mike Janis who is caught here hiking the front wheel on the way. Having a magazine background I tend to do all my documentary style photos first and then flirt with slower shutter speeds. As this was the only lap that Janis did it was a good call as I report for a large American racing site. This was shot at 200 ISO at 1/800th @f4 with a 300mm 2.8IS lens.
I was hoping to use the camera at its almost mythical 102,400 ISO but rain put paid to that. Still I took this at 2000 ISO with an exposure of 1/640 @f4 with no noticeable grain.
In summing up the Canon 1D Mk4 is the Swiss army knife of photography. There was really too much to learn in a couple of days and as such I am looking forward to getting my hands on my own very soon. I didn’t really have any problems and to be truthful it is nothing short of a stunning tool that can turn one’s photos into something extra special. I actually held off buying a 1D Mk3 due to its on going focusing problems – with an entirely new focusing system it looks like they have gotten around said problems with the Mk4. I dare you to pick one up because I reckon it will be hard to get it back out of one’s hands.
