Canon 1D Mark IV

<p>Anyone using a Canon 1D Mark IV?</p>

<p>Would like to hear any comments on its performance.</p>

<p>Search Fred Miranda.com's forum. There's a huge amount of information there, a big hands on thread, some user satisfaction polls, complaints and praises, etc.</p>

"Would like to hear any comments on its performance"

<p>For what subjects/shooting conditions in particular?

<p>Yes, I really like it. Been using it for 5 months now, and I couldn't be happier with it.</p>

<p>Most important features to me are autofocus speed, autofocus tracking, high ISO performance, and drive speed.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

<p>For sports and wildlife, it is unparalleled. Outstandingly responsive focus and dramatic shutter speed, good grain and excellent detail. At times when shooting stationary birds, I would like a little smaller area for each autofocus target, and it is a little awkward to reach for the set button on the outside barrel of my long glass. To get the most of high ISO images you will want to use a noise reduction program, but it's only necessary if you are shooting at ISO higher than about 3200. For sports the high ISO ceiling allows me to boost ISO a full stop higher than I would dare otherwise.<br>

For me the only curious weakness is it's ability to find focus in very dim light, so for wedding photography it may not be as good as some of the full frame options out there. It's a little heavy if you are mountaineering, but it's all you would expect from a pro level sports body. It uses an APS-H sensor, which slightly crops the field of view, at a 1.3 factor. So, your wide angles will seem to be a little less wide, long lenses will seem to be longer, and you need to open a stop wider if you want to achieve a similar level of 'apparent' bokeh (the latter an artefact of standing a little farther away from the subject with the same lens). A smaller sensor uses more of the lens sweet spot, discarding edges that would otherwise be visible with a full frame camera. So, you end up with less vignetting and less edge distortion than you would otherwise.<br>

For assorted rants from Nikon owners and shills who don't own Canon gear, you can go to DP Preview....</p>

<p>I like mine, but it appears the joystick has a problem, it doesn't act the same [doesn't respond] to the upward motion from the "bottom" part of the joystick motion upwards. When i put pressure upwards on the upper part then it works -- while all the other directions work properly. That's my only complaint about mine, but it's a big deal because i need to use the joystick quickly for the focusing points.<br>

Then there is the battery issue, probably mostly due to the first time it not taking on a full charge, i read you need a few cycles to get up there, because when I used a 1D3, after a solid 2000 pictures on RAW+Large I could not even use up half the battery.<br>

Using Live-View is very nice on 1D4, you can see the exposure without taking test-shots, so you can get the right exposure the first time, but that takes up a LOT more battery power, all that why I only got to about 500 shots before the battery was all out after mostly a day of shooting waterfalls.<br>

I haven't tested the high ISO yet, 3200 would be enough for most cases, but higher would open up new possibilities. I found 1D3 limiting and I think above ISO-400 I didn't like the results from my pictures, but that was on a rented camera, i didn't spend enough time with it.<br>

A really nice feature would be to have a A/B switch where the exposure/ISO/other functions could be preset - for example A) mirror-lockup, Manual f/11 11s ISO-100, and B) no mirror-lockup Manual f/11 1/600s ISO-1600 -- the A/B switch could be used in the place of the 2 ON positions on ON/OFF switch -- just another Custom function for that.</p>

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<p>A really nice feature would be to have a A/B switch where</p>

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<p>Huh? You can save & instantly recall up to 10 sets of camera settings on 1D4...</p>

<p>I can't find it in the manual Michael, what is the keyword to look for? I only found "save to file on memory card" way to save.</p>

<p>You can save up to 10 different sets of camera settings to the card (and restore any of the saved sets on request.) There are no dedicated buttons to do so (do it via tools menu) and thank god for that: the biggest nightmare for the target market for that camera are changes in ergonomics: after being universally praised by the intended audience for changes from the Mk. II to Mk. III 1D/1Ds cameras, Canon wisely left the ergonomics unchanged on the Mk. IV and let's keep it this way: people's livelihood depends on quickly pressing the right button sight unseen.</p>

<p>What's your next wish? Adding a "green square mode" on 1D4..?</p>

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