Canon 10D vs Canon 1D for 1 Day

[peter_lamotte]

Here is my problem, and I think I have a grasp of the specs but I am still a little confused.

I am going to rent a camera to shoot an NBA game from the floor. I am comfortable with

the Canon line so I want to rent either a 10D or 1D (the decision between the two is based

upon the fact that the 1Ds is hard to find as a rental, and where you can find it the price to

rent is high.) So, keeping the 1D and the 10D in mind, my concerns are image quality,

shutter lag, and the just the general idea of right camera for the right environment. I have

never shot in a venue like this, and its a once in life time opportunity, so the last thing I

want to do is rent the wrong equipment. Any suggestions to help me pick the right

camera?

 

Thanks ahead of time.

[eric_hagen1]

Suggestion: The lens should be the part you fret over, not the body.

 

I don't care if you get a 1Ds Mk-II, you will be unhappy with the performance if you don't have a top-notch lens setup.

 

I would be looking for a lens that's at least 200mm and at least as fast as f/2.8. You may want to look at the 80-200mm f/2.8 also or if you can afford it (and if you have strong arms to carry it) the 200mm f/1.8 or the 300mm f/2.8. You may also want a wider lens if you're right on the floor. Perhaps in the 35-75 range, but again, make sure it's f/2.8 or faster.

 

The 1D is nice because of the speed, since although it only shoots 4MP (a good quality 4MP) it is 8fps for up to 20+ in a row. The 10D is only 2.5fps for 8 or so shots if I recall before you have to wait for the buffer to empty out. The 10D will be slightly better images quality, sacrificing a bit of drive-speed.

 

Honestly, take whichever is less expensive and save the money for a BIG flash card, THREE extra batteries and a good lens. :-)

 

Just my suggestion.

 

Eric

[david_eppstein]

1D is much better than 10D or 1Ds for sports. You should also worry about what kind of

lens to use (70-200/2.8 or a faster prime, since indoor lighting is unlikely to be good).

But, what are you doing shooting an NBA game from the floor if you aren't a credentialled

pro who already knows all this much better than I do?

[peter_lamotte]

Eric, Thanks for the suggestions. To respond, the lens I was looking at was the 35

-350 3.5/5 L lens. I will have access to strobes around the arena, so I can shoot at 100

ISO but the bad news is that there is a 3 second downtown between bursts. Which takes

the fps out of the equation. I was looking at the 35-350 so I didn't need to switch lenses

or have multiple cameras. I thought it would be a good compromise... do you agree?

[mark u]

I don't think I'd go for the 35-350. For one thing, it's not as sharp due to its 10x zoom. For another, you'd do better with a wider aperture - not because you need the shutter speed nacessarily (if you can trigger stadium strobes - do you have the unit that triggers them? Maybe Pocket Wizard, maybe something else) but because narrower depth of field will give your images more impact. But most of all, it's too long. As a rule of thumb, you need 62.5mm of focal length for each 10 yards of shooting distance on a 10D to capture a normal height sportsman full frame (77mm on a 1D and 100mm on a 1Ds).

[peter_lamotte]

Thanks for the input, so now based on what I have read here and elsewhere, I am going to

pick up the 1D with a 70-200 2.8 L lens and a 24-70 2.8 L lens for the shots under the

net. In reference to David questions, it was through a connection in the local team. I have

lots of sports photography experience (among other types) but it was about 14 years ago

with a whole different level of technology so I wanted to make sure. (So that�s why I am

renting, anyway I am waiting for the Mark II before I jump into DSLRs)

[eric_chiu2]

Peter, I think you got all the good suggestions. I am actually a 1D user and i shoot

sport some time. Just one more things you have to think about is the control of the

camera. I don't know if you are a Canon user all the time. If you already own or used

to a EOS 1n or EOS 1v, you will easy hand the 1D. However, if not, 1D could be pretty

hard to use because it base on 1V's button-base configration. You don't want to

scratch your head when it comes a important moment and you wonder how to control

your camera.

 

10D is base on the Elan body and interface. Its a lot more user friendly design for

people new to Canon. Camera control base on dial-type configration. It may be

better for you if you didn't use Canon's 1 serise before. Although 10D is not as fast as

1D, for normal shooting, it should be good enough.

 

last suggestions: 1. whatever camera you rent, better get used to it and take some

picture and look at them before you go to NBA. 2. get the fastest lens you can get,

200mm f1.8 is the best, follow with 70-200mm f2.8 min. 35-350mm...um..i don't

think so. 3. get a monopod, you will need it. 4. lots of batteries if you don't have a

charger with you there 5. big memory card.

[charles_brown1]

Peter,

 

I wholeheartedly agree with Eric's comment about learning curve on the 1D body! If, as you say, you've been out of the game for 14 years, then you might want a few days with a 1D PRIOR to your assignment day.

 

I'm in the same boat as you, or at least docking in the same harbor, being used to much older, manual equipment, and being new to digital. And, like you, my baptisim by fire is with a 1D, a 70-200 2.8 L, a 28-70 2.8 L, and a 100-400 4.5-5.6 L. The glass is straight forward for a manual shooter, since the AF can always be overridden with our clutchy paws, without damaging the USM system. I confirmed this with a lens specialist at Canon, since I didnt' want to ruin a lens, or fight with it if I recomposed. (the only trick I needed to learn was to set the IS to Level 2 for panning)

 

But the 1D body, on the other hand, is an animal of complication. For me, at least. It took me 15-20 minutes just to figure out how to manually control the shutter speed and aperture, an essentiality I just took for granted on my mechanical Nikon. (I've never used a Canon before, so that could explain why I didn't at first pickup the back dial vs the finger dial control). Then, it took me two hours to figure out why it was that the book said that AF will enable with the shutter button partially depressed, yet that wasn't happening on the camera, even with the lens switch and all of the other enabling conditions properly set. Turns out, one of the "hidden" Custom Functions programed in the camera was set to disable the half shutter button focus feature. Again, it took me 2 hours to discover this. The NBA game would be over in two hours.

 

I can see why disabling autofocus is advantageous, even if it means losing the principal strength of focus tracking to follow a subject in the air for the money shot. It eats a lot of power twisting those lens barrels around everytime you want to do an exposure check (a habit I can't shake from never having owned an auto exposure SLR camera). Unless there is a way to leave the exposure meter on in the viewfinder that I don't know about yet (might take me another two hours), then one has to depress the shutter half way to get that exposure level information. If AF is enabled, battery life can recede quickly.

 

The other comment made above about having at least 3 batteries is true, true, true. I've run through one battery cycle taking less than 10 shots, all while fiddling around trying to learn the features on this 1D. Fortunately, I do have three batteries. If you don't have AC power on site to run a charger, then you had better have at least three.

 

Anyway, I can't emphasise enough how long it has taken me to understand the button logic of the 1D... even quirky details like when you RELEASE a Menu or Display button, the function activates. Normal logic had me assume that when I PRESSED a button, it would activate. I can see why Canon does it this way, to prevent accidental activation, but it took a while for me to figure it out.

 

It was frustrating at first to see a bevy of menu options light up on the rear color LCD screen, yet not be able to make the highlighted portions move from selection to selection, because I didn't understand about the need to keep HOLDING one button down while SIMULTANEOUSLY rotating the shuttle dial to move the green highlight.

 

I express these details of my fumbling so that you can have a good laugh at my expense, and so that you can see the various small ways that time will be lost just getting up to speed on the 1D, if this type of body is totally unfamiliar to you. On the other hand, when I have rented F5's, I didn't have anywhere near as much trouble, even though they are far more sophisticated than my FT2 frame of reference. Perhaps if you are already a Canon user, things will be easier for you to pick up.