candyflip69
Well-known member
I've had mine for just on 1 year now - I bought it orginally for a job I was offered at the 2003 Melbourne Forumla 1 Grand Prix. It worked great last year and I'm looking forward to using it again, sans an extra year's experience, this year. I've used it for monthly magazine work for the last year with no problems.
The camera is solid, feels great, works dependably, produces excellent images when used with good EF lenses (such as the Canon 50mm 1.8, the 85mm 1.8 or even a Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye) at its highest RAW setting to get the full use of the 6.5 million pixels. Performs very well in low light when teamed with a 420 or 550Ex dedicated Canon flash unit, using IR for focus (this is my main use for the camera). Get the BG-ED 3 battery pack accessory for maximum flexibility.
I see no reason to upgrade to the 1D Mark II right now - 6.5 megapixels is more than enough for even the magazine work I'm doing. If you can find one s/hand on eBay after March 2004, they represent outstanding value now as a primary, or secondary backup unit.
Problems:
Low light, without the dedicated flash units, do present a problem for this camera and the lenses will 'hunt' quite badly. A problem that was fixed in the 10D, I believe.
The camera is solid, feels great, works dependably, produces excellent images when used with good EF lenses (such as the Canon 50mm 1.8, the 85mm 1.8 or even a Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye) at its highest RAW setting to get the full use of the 6.5 million pixels. Performs very well in low light when teamed with a 420 or 550Ex dedicated Canon flash unit, using IR for focus (this is my main use for the camera). Get the BG-ED 3 battery pack accessory for maximum flexibility.
I see no reason to upgrade to the 1D Mark II right now - 6.5 megapixels is more than enough for even the magazine work I'm doing. If you can find one s/hand on eBay after March 2004, they represent outstanding value now as a primary, or secondary backup unit.
Problems:
Low light, without the dedicated flash units, do present a problem for this camera and the lenses will 'hunt' quite badly. A problem that was fixed in the 10D, I believe.