The Herald-Republic recently purchased three Canon 1D Mark IV cameras and after a week of road-testing these top-of-the-line Canons we’ve got a few initial impressions.
A Canon 1D Mark IV (with logos covered by gaffer's tape, of course)
First, the functions of this camera are mind-boggling. You can configure the camera to operate in just about any way that suits your shooting style.
But all these custom functions can be a bit bewildering as we found the instruction manual to be less than clearly written for some of the functions (changing the back-button focus and disabling the focusing on the main shutter release was particularly challenging).
I’d recommend going to Canon’s video tutorials for clear, concise explanations of all the camera’s functions and options. These tutorials do what the instruction manual doesn’t.
The autofocus is blazing fast. I got more in-focus frames of an indoor football game than I would have gotten with my Canon 1D Mark II.
Yakima Valley's Rokiem Rowland intercepts a pass late in the first quarter as Yakima Valley leads Ogden 13-0.
Also, the low-light capabilities of the camera are amazing (especially for a person whose first digital camera was a Kodak/Canon DCS520). This football photo was shot at ASA 6400.
The autofocus was the subject of some discussions just after the Mark IV hit the market with some commenters bemoaning that the autofocus on the Mark IV was no better than the autofocus on the Mark III (which had numerous problems).
The autofocus has worked well for me and I suspect some of those folks experiencing focus problems might not have taken the time to properly configure the autofocus. There are numerous autofocus options and each user should take the time to work through them all to ensure the best option is chosen.
Though some of the control buttons are different the layout is essentially the same as the Mark II so once you get the camera set up it’s easy to use if you’ve been shooting with the Mark II or an even earlier model such as the ID.
I’ve not had the chance to shoot any video with the camera but staff photographer Sara Gettys has shot some video and offers this perspective on the combination video and still camera.
–Gordon King
“One of the things I love about our new video capabilities is, simply, the ability to carry less gear. Being able to be flexible and responsive to a situation is one of the things I like about being a still photographer. With my two cameras and a hip bag, I can hike, climb, run, ride, and move around easily in many situations. When I had to carry around another entire set of gear to do video with, I felt it limited me to what I could do. It’s hard to be response or move through a crowd or hike up a hill while carrying two camera bodies, a hip pack, a large tripod, and a video camera bag that’s measures 3 feet by 1 foot by 2 feet. It meant that changing position, to shoot a still or video clip, meant moving a lot of equipment and often not being able to get myself and all my gear into the ideal shooting situation. No hiking up long trails, no climbing on a ladder for a different angle. Now I can move like I do as a still shooter and that freedom has helped me make videos of situations that would have been physically difficult, if not impossible with our other equipment. I imagine the photographers who switched from speed graphics to 35mm cameras!”
–Sara Gettys
Picture This | seattletimes.com blog
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