opinions on choosing canon 1ds

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

hello friends

as many of you know i am relatively new to shooting mf lenses, and chose a sigma sd14 for this purpose. while not definitive, i may be concluding that the benefits i do see from the images are not enough to outweigh some of the technical and user deficiencies of the camera for how i want to use it.

for a number of reasons that would bore everyone, i have decided to purchase an olympus ep2 when available, primarily because its compactness will allow me to use it when i wouldnt use a bigger camera. this is an advantage to me mainly in indoor situations (its size, in body IS, and high iso capability) and in sports (again IS and 2x crop factor).

so i still want a quality large camera that will yield real life higher resolution and IQ for up close flower work, for landscape capture and outdoor portraits. because i am using more prime lenses than i have in the past, a major advantage is that a FF would allow me to use my MF lenses as they were intended (vs olympus 2x crop and other cameras 1.5x) and would certainly offer high resolution for my intended uses.

price is certainly a factor. i have discounted the canon 5d because of the mirror shaving issue--its a total non starter for me. so i have theoretically settled on a 1ds. i understand that has some limitations too, most notably lack of high iso ability.

i wonder if members can help me understand the other limitations of this camera; if compared to todays cameras like say a pentax k20d, the 1ds has comparable 'real life' resolution, and what is in fact the highest iso one can shoot outdoors and achieve quality results.

thanks to all for their help!
tony

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Well since price is a factor for you, I was gonna suggest you might want to wait until the 1Ds Mk IV comes out, but according to this one rumor site, it's looking doubful that the next top-of-the-line EOS will be released next year:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/Canon_1DS_MkIV.html

If I were in your position and if my finances would permit it, I'd be leaning more toward a 1Ds Mk II, than the I, mostly because I don't like buying the first generation of anything.

That Oly EP2 looks very interesting, by the way. Very smart, imo, their supporting hifi audio for the a/v mode, and I like the idea of the accessory vf too. I wonder how it will handle mf lenses.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

hey michael

thanks for your thoughts. have you thoughts specifically on the 1ds resolution/IQ/shortcomings? i am like you and dont like 1st gen as well, but mk1 about $800-1000 cheaper than mkII!

btw, forum member abbazz has an ep1 and it seems to work really well w mfs. rolf also posted mf work w gf1, which is essentially very similar but no IS.
t

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

Hi,

I got a 1Ds very cheap, and found the resolution and the image quality be really good, but there were some nuisances that have driven me to get rid of it and get a 20D instead.

In the first place, all my PK lenses and all the Praktica B lenses touched the mirror, and some of the more wide angles as well.

On the other side, the 1Ds uses heavy 12Volt NiMH batteries that are weighty and discharge quite fast (compared to the LiIon ones that sport the new cameras).

Also, the RAW format that give the 1Ds is a strange format that outs as ".TIF" without being a real Tiff image. The problem with this is that some of the more common picture viewing programs (like Picasa that I use to quick review and select the pictures I want to keep) do not understand that format properly...

All these have solutions: using different programs, have more spare batteries, trim the mirror...

To be fair, the 11Mpix picture quality is superb, and if you can stand with the (to me) shortcomings and the heavy weigth, you will have a very good value for the money. But I preferred the easy way...

Kind regards.
Jes.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

hi jes

i really appreciate your advice and thoughts. its funny because my 'fallback' camera is a k20d/gx20, and that seems to be what you fell back to!

i am very curious though about the mirror problem you had. i had understood that problem was only with the 5d, not the 1ds, which is why i had settled on the 1ds. my mf lenses are primarily m42, do you think i will have the same problem, because i dont want to buy a camera with that issue.

thanks
tony

F16SUNSHINE · Expire: 2011-11-18

Hi Tony
I would highly recommend you reconsider the 5D.
The mirror shaving issue is really not an issue.
I did mine in 15m with a bit of black sand paper and patience.
In your current lens list I see no issues of mirror clearance.
The percentage of manual lenses that create mirror problems with the 5D is extremely small in any event.
You could go without shaving and not feel deprived of good glass.
I shaved mine for the Hollywood Distagon and Pancolar 80 alone. My other lenses are fine.

For me the size and weight of the 1Ds cameras is a much bigger burden than modifying the 5D.
The original 5D is a wicked good full frame with excellent high ISO performance.
The 1600 files are quite usable especially when printed.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

adnan, thats very interesting re the mirror issue; i was of the understanding it was much more pervasive, but it was very nice of you to look through my lens list for compatibility thanks!

in light of what you said, i will reconsider. do you know if, as was said here, there are also pervasive mirror issues with the 1ds?

thanks
tony

F16SUNSHINE · Expire: 2011-11-18

My understanding is that there are few with the 1Ds.
There are some lenses such as the CZJ 4.5/40 that cause problems with nearly all cameras.

That lens for example has such a large rear protrusion that I can not use it even on a Pentax Spotmatic.
It does work on the tiny Mirrored/WLV Practica FX.

In this case I think the 1Ds series will also have trouble.

There is some variation in the folks experience with mirror clearance and lenses keep that in mind.
Cool

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thanks jes, thats very helpful. and the k20d seems like a great camera--and a lot more user friendly than my sigma (tho i do like the foveon effect)

i think im going to try either a 1ds or a 5d-- i really think it will depend on the price differential--a couple hundred dollars is ok, more than that when im also committed to olympus ep2 probably will not work right now....

tony

hk300 · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Hong Kong

A local friend of mine has a 1Ds mark1 and i noticed that a lot of adapters which work on 5D will hit on the 1Ds, especially the M42 to EF with the innerflange.

I finally found a version which should be a little thinner, and i believe that this version will clear. I send Jes a few of these adapters about 2 weeks ago (so probably Jes will not have had the opportunity to try them out).

Another issue with the 1Ds is that it seems that the electronic points are slightly off compared to later models.
For instance, one of my adapters with AF confirm chip works on my 40d, 350d, but NOT on the 1Ds. My friend had to go to a local repair shop to have the a adapter custom glued...

I did not test this adapter, but my friend told me that the adapter does not work on his 350d.

Another thing you need to take notice of ... my friend damaged his shutter while trying to mount a MF lens ... the damage was ... repair time 4 weeks (because shutter had to fly in from Japan) and cost of usd600 ! That's more than half the price of an used 5D body.

Also ... his battery is CRAP.

Although it seems that the 1Ds has a lot of negs, the good thing is ... the image quality is really GOOD and the viewfinder is (much) better than the 5D.

Ps ... Jes ... did you get the adapters?

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

I think Jes bought a canon eos 20d not a k20d ...the 20d is very similar to the 30d just with a smaller lcd, pm should be excellent as well Smile

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thank you everyone, i very much appreciate the information, and it definately gives me something to think about. im not so worried about the focus confirm as i think the focusing screen is going to be enough for accuracy. i am a little worried about what seems to be conflicting experiences with m42 lenses hitting the 1ds mirror...that is more troubling.
tony

hk300 · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Hong Kong

i don't see any fast glass in your profile, so i don't think that any of your glass will hit the mirror.

Especially fast lenses with large apertures could become potential problems. For instance the easy to get Tomioka (-design) 55/1.4 will hit and some Carl Zeiss Jena 58/2

machjakub · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Czech republic

I use 1Ds with my lenses without problem. I recommend full frame camera for manual focus lenses. I do not use them on my 20D except macro applications where i gain higher depth of field with my Tokina 90/2.5.
I feel 1Ds is not good performer past ISO 800, usualy won't go over 640.

I have no pentax lenses, only experienced those listed below: http://machjakub.smugmug.com/Cameras-Lenses/Alt-AF-lenses