Canon 1D Mark IV Review

First let me apologize to my clients and all the non-photographers who read my blog, because this post will likely bore you to death. It’s a technical (and long) one regarding equipment that other photographers might appreciate, but for the rest of you, feel free to skip this one.

I wanted to share my thoughts on the new Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. I recently purchased it, but almost feel it was out of necessity, rather than a purely desired purchase. Let me explain.

I have always been a Canon shooter. But as some of my photographer friends know, this past year I have contemplated moving to Nikon. I’m not one of those who has loved the 5D Mark II because I’ve had some issues with mine, specifically  the focus system. After many frustrations this past year shooting with the Mark II (and the focus system already being replaced once by Canon) I’ve put my faith in them that this new 1D Mark IV, with its brand-spanking-new 45-point focusing system, will respond consistently well and be a suitable replacement for my Mark II.

Let me give you a little background as to the equipment I’ve used and my progression through different bodies so it has some context. When I first started in photography about 10 years ago, purely as a hobby then, I learned with film. I bought a Canon Rebel film body, an entry level lens or two, and basically shot it on automatic until I started to learn a little more about shooting manually. Digital SLR cameras really starting taking off shortly after that, and being one who was never intimated by technology, I made that jump pretty early on. I bought the newest “entry level” digital SLR body at the time (Canon Rebel), a better lens, and my relationship with Canon digital SLR’s began…

That first Rebel camera worked well for me until I started shooting weddings and quickly realized I needed something that responded much faster and was more ergonomically laid out control-wise. I bought the newly released Canon 20D and found it worked great for the next year, and when the Canon 30D came out, I bought that one and sold the old Rebel. I shot with those two cameras for about a year until I could afford to buy the lovely full-frame Canon EOS 5D. And I fell in love instantly. Moving from a cropped sensor, like all the previous models were, into a full frame quite frankly took my photography to another level. The colors popped more, and the images out of the camera were just seemed to have more depth and dimension.  Not to mention my lenses, by this time mostly pro “L” series lenses worked as they should, meaning I had the full focal distance out of them. I knew that since I had gone to a full-frame sensor, I could never go back. I sold the old 20D and used the 30D as my primary backup, but mostly shot with that 5D for the next 2 1/2 years.

But like all things do, that camera aged with time and the technology had by then outpaced the current features. Like many other photographers out there, I was itching for Canon for release its successor since it had been 3 years since they rolled out a replacement full frame. I followed many of the technical blogs out there, checked in with Canon and other technology sites and forums, and waited impatiently for the replacement. Finally they announced it – the 5D Mark II! – and I quickly added my name to the waiting list at Samy’s, B&H and Crutchfield for the thing. It finally arrived right before Christmas 2008, and I felt like I did the year I got the Cabbage Patch Kid doll from Santa. I was so excited to get my new toy and play with the features and functions, see how high I could push the ISO, and use the movie function to record home videos of Jordan on Christmas morning and of her seeing her new baby brother for the first time a month later.  (Ironically — and quite sadly for me — I accidentally reformatted the CF card of Jordan seeing Alex for the first time in the hospital before I pulled off the video. I pulled all the images but forgot to move the video over since those files were newer to me. Big, big bummer.)

So since that time, I’ve been shooting weddings with the Mark II and the original 5D. There are many things that I do like/love about the 5D Mark II, namely the high ISO and the ability to shoot rather cleanly in very dark scenes with no flash, the larger LCD screen, some of the new functions and  generally the feel of it my hands. I also obviously love the HD video capability for personal use and ergonomically, I find it’s a little ‘sturdier’ than the old 5D. And while the huge jump in megapixles was nice (if they are needed, say for shooting the cover of a magazine) I found I usually shot in SRAW 1 so that the files were 10-11 megapixels and not 21. Mainly because a 10 mpx RAW file produces a beautiful image, and working with those massive 21 mpx files requires an inordinate amount of space, both on CF cards and on the computer hard drive and virtual memory.

But what I did not like is that I noticed pretty quickly that this camera’s focusing system was extremely inconsistent. It had a difficult time locking in on a subject in low light conditions, such as receptions or darker ceremony spots, and would often “hunt” for too long, even with very fast prime lenses and all “L” series professional ones. What good is that high ISO for low lighting if the camera can’t focus on anything when you need it to? Many images came out very soft or slightly off focus. My Mark II also had a hard time locking focus in conditions that it should not have – such as high contrast or perfect outdoor light. On several occasions it would hunt between the groom’s tux and the bride’s dress and never focus lock on anything – as if it didn’t know if it should lock on black or white. Many times at weddings this past year, I had to flip my lens to manual focus and just override the whole system so I didn’t miss moments. And for someone who does not have 20/20 vision, that can be a little risky at times. But I usually did better than the AF system did! (Side note: I have used the “back-focus” button approach for a few years now; where you can lock in on your subject with the center focal point and then reposition the camera as needed by switching the functions between your exposure lock button on the back with the shutter button. This always worked brilliantly with the first 5D, but my Mark II would lose its focus on the recomposition half the time. It’s like the thing was on crack and so happy to keep bouncing around every second.  So, I sent it back to Canon and they replaced the entire AF system, saying it did have some malfunction issues. It came back better, but still did not focus as consistently well as my older 5D focuses.)

This past year, I had to increase the number of shots I take at any given portrait session or wedding just so that *something* came out in tack-sharp focus. I could take 3 shots of the same scene where I have changed absolutely nothing focus-lock wise and 2 would be SO soft and blurry and one tack-sharp. As a wedding photographer paid to capture moments, I cannot afford to miss any moments due to a poor internal focus system that is so inconsistent. After a little googling of “focus issues with the 5D Mark II”, I found LOTS of people were having the same issue I was. Turns out there are several blogs and forums burning up with less-than-kind-words for Canon, and specifically this camera and the focus system they should have updated when they released this camera. I wont share those links here only because my intention with this post is certainly not to bash Canon, and you can easily google the issues. As I said earlier, I have always been a Canon shooter, and my goal is to stick with them, because I think by and large they do make great products.

Which brings me back to hinging my relationship on this new 1D Mark IV. When Canon announced it, and the completely redesigned new 45-point focus system, I took a very hard look. I read as many things as I could about the camera, but I was afraid to spend that kind of money on a relatively untested body since I’d had so many problems the last time. And Canon definitely keeps things under wraps as far as all their selected-photographer-testers go; meaning those testers are not allowed to even look at their images on a computer or post them online; they can only view what’s on the LCD, which as we all know can sometimes look perfect there but when you open it up in the computer, sharpness can be off. (Which begs the question: why so much secrecy Canon? From what I understand, Nikon does not have this same approach with their testers.)

But what sealed the deal for me on deciding to move forward with this camera was this review by England-based photographer Jeff Ascough.  It wasn’t so much the {great} images that he did post from the wedding taken with this camera, it was that like me, his big hesitation was the fact that this was not a full-frame camera and therefore, its hard to imagine the files could be as pretty as the files that come out of the full frame Mark II. But as he put it after looking at them – the Mark IV blew the Mark II out of the water quality wise and he loved the focus system. Okay, done.

I will say, so far I am loving this camera. The focus system is much better, hands down. It doesn’t not have a problem locking in really low light, low contrast light or even nearly dark rooms. The files straight out of the camera are beautiful. It is a new body and system for me, since the 1 series cameras are a little different button wise than the 5D’s, and that is taking a little getting used to, but it has a ton of custom functions that the Mark II does not have. I also love that it has a dual card slot. It takes a CF card and a SD card. Battery life remains to be seen as far as shooting a wedding and if it will last all day. (Addendum: The battery does last all day.)

I did a comparison shoot the other day, where I set the two cameras on the exact same settings and took the same image to compare the output. In all cases, the Mark IV focused faster and quieter. I too thought I would notice the fact that it was a cropped sensor more than I am. When you compare the files with the Mark II, you do certainly see the crop, but when its up to your eye, Im not noticing it too much. Im a fairly “intimate” wedding shooter anyway, meaning I like to get up close to capture emotion, so I think this balanced with the full frame Mark II, will work beautifully for 2010 weddings. I can’t wait to put it to use starting March 6 with my first wedding back.

These images are of nothing special; I just wanted to show the color fidelity and quality of RAW images straight out of the camera for comparison sake. Nothing has been done to these except for converting them to JPEG via Adobe Lightroom. All images were taken with the exact same settings: same lens, aperture, and ISO. The shutter speed did vary a little since the sensors are different size. I’ve noted the settings below.

(I would have taken face & eyes shots of Jordan if I could have convinced to her sit still for more than 5 minutes for this, but alas, my almost 5-year-old had more important things to do, like climb the tree. And my client sessions of late have been little kids so its impossible to do a ‘test shoot” on toddlers – so instead you get kids toys! ;-)

This is the Canon 5D Mark II image (ISO 400, 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, shot at f/2.8, 1/2500 second). Used center focal point on the mouse and recomposed. Partially cloudy day; overcast at time of shot.

And the Canon 1D Mark IV image. (ISO 400, 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, shot at f/2.8, 1/4000 second). Same lighting conditions as above. Same focus approach; appears more in focus to me overall.

Canon 5D Mark II image (ISO 400, 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, shot at f/2.8, 1/6400 second)

Canon 1D Mark IV image. (ISO 400, 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, shot at f/2.8, 1/6400 second). This image would be brighter like above if I had backed up a bit, but I wanted to show the crop factor by staying in same place.

Canon 5D Mark II image (ISO 100, 50mm f/1.2 L lens, shot at f/2.0 @ 1/200 second)

Canon 1D Mark IV image (ISO 100, 50mm f/1.2 L lens, shot at f/2.0 @ 1/250 second). Again, appears to capture more detail.

Finally, here are the cameras side by side. My 5DMKII has the battery grip on it, which is nice at weddings because I never need to change the battery. The battery in the IDMKIV is bigger and different, so the “battery grip” is already part of the camera. I’m interested to know if it will last the entire day. Between the two cameras I’ll never run out of juice (and I always carry backup batteries even if I did), but it will be interesting to see how they perform side by side at the weddings this year.

5DMKII on the left. I will say I do like all the main buttons (menu, trash, review) to the left of the LCD like on the 5D, but I am getting used to the other body. Camera/live view function makes much more sense on the 5D also. Not sure why they named it “fel” on the 1D and put it on the front, right by the shutter button.

If you are one of those photographers who has had issues with your 5DMarkII, I’d love to know — or even if you haven’t and want to share your experience with it, please do! I have read some “rumors” that suggest Canon will issue a replacement for the 5D Mark II at some point in the next year or so – with the new focus system – and ideally I would have like to have waited, but in case it takes another year to come out, I didn’t want to wait that long. I also debated buying another original model 5D since I know a few places are still selling them, but after getting so used to the high ISO and bigger LCD, I didn’t know if I could go back to the other model ;-).

Anyway, hope this post helps if anyone else is on the fence about buying this new camera.