I was somewhat disturbed by your perception of your problems with your 5D2 and focusing. I’m retired from news photography now, but can afford to play with the new toys as they come out. While some of the cameras in recent years have been less than perfect, some–even inexpensive ones–have been superb. I liked the 40D and the XTi, for instance.

It’s the engineering that makes the difference in how well a camera focuses in low light. Pro cameras have more cross-type focus sensors, which improves their low light capabilities. The 5D2, despite its adoption by a host of professionals (mainly because few wanted to spend the money for a 1Ds), was never intended for the same pro usage as the 1D series cameras. The 7D was the first camera outside the 1D series to include a pro-level focusing system. But even that one has a couple of limiting factors–above f5.6 and you’re back to manual focus, while you can use converters and lens that go up to f8 on the 1D series before you lose AF.

Of course there are drawbacks, The 1D4 is the first of its series to have a “what you see is what you get” LCD. This never hindered me before because I base my exposure on what I see in the viewfinder and only used the LCD to check for basic exposure afterward. If I use a camera and lens that starts to hunt, I fall back on the ingrained habit of focusing manually. I trust my eyes and not the little red boxes in the viewfinder–for one thing, those are actually approximations of the location of a focus sensor. There can be a slight difference between the two and it is enough if you are trying to critically focus by putting the red box on a particular spot and the actual sensor is off by a silly millimeter.

Lastly, having had a few covers of my own, having the absolute biggest batch of megapixels is not really necessary. Having the right pixels is what makes for reproducible images. An original 1D with 4.15 megapixels can produce a sharp 13×19 print and a crystal clear magazine cover of standard size.

A 1Ds Mark III will out-perform your 5D2, even though the full frame sensor is virtually the same. You’d just pay a lot more for it. Another thing. The 1D series have so many buttons that they just added the movie function to an already existing button to avoid having to add one.

But, you’ve made a good choice in the 1D4 and, if you don’t get the itchies when the next great thing comes out, it will serve you for years.

I have both the 5DII and 1DIV, as you do, and have none of the problems with the 5DII that you have so unfortunately been plagued with. I have even shot sporting events indoors with no flash with the 5DII while waiting for the 1DIV to arrive, and it worked quite well. I assume you are not using flash in your wedding shooting, which is nice when possible (nice for the guests and couple). Otherwise the flash’s focus assist would help, eh?

The 1DIV button that you speak of (“fel”) is the flash exposure lock button, which starts movie recording in Live mode.

Jon

Thank you for your reply! I agree with you in everything you said. The lenses do behave differently between the two cameras, which is frustrating. I also agree that the IDmk4 works best on “One Shot” focusing and actually takes sharper photos (at almost 98% consistency) in vertical portrait mode. Most of the focus points will work, but especially when I manually move it to cover the face – one above the center focus point). I also agree that the color is prettier out of the 5Dmark2 and the post processing a little easier. I think it simply because it is a full frame camera and can hold more data in the sensor. No matter how many pixels they jammed together into the Mark IV, the 5D still renders highlights better with less blowing out and has prettier straight out of the camera looks, UNLESS I shoot in JPEG mode, in which case the Mark IV also has beautiful color output. But I cannot safely shoot a wedding in JPEG, especially for inside stuff, b/c I would completely lose the control with the white balance adjustments which as you know with JPEG just is not as nice.

I dont know why your 300 doesnt look as good on the Mark IV. I wonder if you have it calibrated for that particular camera if it would not work as well on the 5D any more. I guess the good thing is you always know what lens to use with what camera. But I agree with you – lenses should work well on any body. My 50 f/1.2 on my Mark IV is unbeatable, sadly not on the 5D. Blurry on the latter 60-70% of the time.

I just had my first experience at a wedding last weekend where the Mark IV could not grab focus at the reception. The room was DARK and I kept searching for white shirts, her dress, etc, seeing if it would lock on. No luck. 25 shots of crap total out of focus blur with me getting very frustrated. I realized a minute later the focus point was not in the center (must have accidentally knocked it off and didnt realize) and that I had it on AL SERVO. When I changed it back to center point ONE SHOT, it worked beautifully again.

Great read, I am kinda in the same boat as you and was considering the Mark IV. Can I assume that your latest work is using it? Any stand outs that you can point me to in your site that represent the highest IQ (Tack Sharp)

Best Wishes,
Michael J Dunham