colin_fieldgate

While IS on a tripod (for 2nd and 3rd generation IS lenses) works fine generally, I have found it SOMETIMES introduces some motion for long exposures - say > 1 sec. Perhaps my 70-200 f/2.8 IS L lens is faulty, as my 300 f/2.8 IS L (2nd generation IS) does not seem to exhibit this problem (at least in shots taken to date). Or perhaps mirror vibaration caused this - the 300 being heavier would be more damped I guess.

 

I first noticed this when I got my MkII. With Mirror Lock-up on my 1v IS was automatically disabled. Not so on the MkII. No idea why the change.

I love my 1v. It's served me well, and I've no doubt I will keep it as a backup to the 1D Mark II I have ordered (I'm 5th on a waiting list) - finally going Digital! However, I will miss going really wide. That will have to be on film, so I guess I'll need to keep my scanner too!

Acording to the Canon White Paper:

 

AUTOFOCUS

The EOS-1D Mark II has 45-point Area AF. Manual selection of 45, 11 or 9 AF points is possible. 38 of the 45 AF points are vertical-line sensitive up to a maximum aperture of f/5.6. 6 of the 7 AF points at the center are cross-type sensors that are vertical-line sensitive up to a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and horizontal-line sensitive up to a maximum aperture of f/5.6. The central AF point is a cross-type sensor that supports vertical-line sensitivity to a maximum aperture of f/4 and horizontal-line sensitivity to a maximum aperture of f/8.

 

So, no change from 1V, 1D and 1Ds.

 

HTH

I have both an EF 300mm L IS f2.8 and an EF 70-200mm L IS f2.8. I use IS on both all of the time, even on a tripod, and especially on a monopod. Totally Indispensable! Of course, it can't deal with subject motion blur.

 

Panning also works well in Mode 2, although I don't do a lot of that.

 

Check out http://www.usa.canon.com/eflenses/technology/imagestabilizer.html

Don't forget, you would be liable for UK VAT at 17.5% as well as Customs Duty - avoiding paying this is actually illegal, but I guess you know this already!

 

I imported an EF 300mm IS f2.8 last year. I also had to pay a "handling charge" - not large but annoying all the same. I saved some money (~£250) but the main reason was I could not get one in the UK.

Just checked my EOS 1v manual. Apparently some lenses with electronic manual focus can have manual focussing disabled through CF 7.1 - unless the lens is set to MF. I think though this was only on some earlier non IS lenses, so not applicable to the 500mm IS. Perhaps worth trying all the same.

I believe that you can use CF 19.1 to enable AF only when one of the 4 buttons on the lens is pressed in i.e. AF only works with the AF Stop button on the lens pressed in. However, I don't believe there is a way to disable the FTM (Full Time Manual) focus feature. A better solution is to use a window mount tripod. Something like an Ergorest might be OK (Andy Rouse uses one apparently with his 500mm).

 

Having said that, the manual also says about using the manual focus ring with the shutter button half depressed in One Shot AF mode - does this imply that this only works if the shutter button is half depressed? I'll have to try this one out myself!!

I had a similar problem recently and had it repaired in the UK. Return it to a service centre with full details on how it occurs.

As you will want to put them on CD to save hard disk space, you should check out Archive Creator at http://www.pictureflow.com/ArchiveCreator/Pages/AC-Main.html

Yep - Jessops, Park Cameras, Warehouse Express and many others have stock.

I recently imported an expensive lens fron the US to UK - a Canon EF 300mm L f/2.8 IS lens. I saved about £250 - but in any event I could not get one in the UK at the time (Feb 2003). Even after the dollar exchange rate (unfortunately its not so good now), the Credit Card "cut", VAT and the customs charges (these latter two totalled £725) I still saved money. However, its not always the case, so important to check first. This even included an "administration fee" of £17.70 too. Rip off Britain??

Bill,

 

Agreed. In fact the whole package is somewhat over-priced and under-featured. I bought it half-price, but still feel it's not a bargain.

I am sure you realise that the EOS-1v is a film camera and therefore cannot produce digital thumbnails of the pictures taken directly. The thumbnail feature is so you can associate a scanned image (i.e. from film) with the data stored by the camera for a given shot e.g. aperture, shutter speed etc. Therfore, until you associate an image with the "thunbnail" it will appear blank.

Jemini,

 

Stick with the BH-1 rather than the BH-3. You will only want the latter if weight is more of an issue, in which case you won't be wanting to carry a large lens with you!!

 

I use the BH-1 and Wimberley Sidekick with an Canon EF 300mm L IS. The lens weighs about the same as your Sigma. I could have got away with the BH-3, but Kirk recommended that the BH-1 would be better, especially if I go longer.

 

I also have the collar, though this is really for when you are "in transit" to prevent the lens "flopping". It severely restricts the available movement so I don't think its meant to be used while actually trying to track a moving target.

You don't say what size lens you intend to use on the Wimberley, but I assume 500/600mm otherwise you could use the WImberley Sidekick which works well for smaller lenses with a ball head such as Arca or Kirk. Interesting combination though - long lens AND wide angle.

 

I use this setup with a 300mm f/2.8 IS. This allows me to remove the lens, with Sidekick attached, and mount my 70-200mm IS or body mount my EOS 1v with 16-35mm. This way I only need one Kirk BH-1 ball head, the Sidekick and a tripod (and of course, Kirk plates for body and lenses). I am sure that at a pinch the Sidekick will probably work OK with a 500mm f/4 IS.

Check out http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/70-200is.shtml

 

"The decision between the non-IS and the IS version of this lens is a no-brainer. The extra $750 gets you a lens with far greater versatility. It will get you shots that you otherwise will miss. If that's not worth the extra money, I don't know what is."

Hmmmmm.... according to the .pdf manual that came with my ES-E1 software:

 

"If the battery is removed, a back-up system will maintain

the camera's date and time for about 24 hours. If more

than 24 hours pass without a replacement battery, the

date setting mode will be displayed as shown on the

right. You must then set the date and time again."

 

It shows a picture of the LCD (in the time / date setting mode) with blank entries for date and time. So, it looks like perhaps my EOS-1v body has now developed another fault!!

 

It also provides instructions to set the date / time manually on the camera, providing you have used the ES-E1 software once before to set it.

 

"Once you use EOS Link Software ES-E1 to set the date and time in

the EOS-1V, you can later set the date and time with the camera

itself. See the page 91 for details."

I replaced the battery on my EOS-1v after shooting 3 rolls. After

shooting a further roll and downloading all of the shooting

information using the ES-E1 software I found that the date / time of

this last roll was reset back to 1/1/2000 and the camera

had "forgotten" the correct date and time (the 3 previous rolls I

shot that day were all OK). The date and time for each shot on the

last roll were also blank. Is this normal? Or was it just that I let

my battery get really low before I changed it? Is there a trick to

prevent this happening - you can't set the date / time in the field

without the software, lead and a laptop!!

What version are you using? The latest is v1.3. I use W2K Pro and its fine. I don't think that the default settings (set at install) include dates / times, so check that these are selected (under the "Shooting Data Items to be Recorded" tab in the EOS-1v Remote application).

 

To advise futher, can you explain "cannot be downloaded" - are there any error messages?

Jorge, not an answer but a question. Can you use an EX flash as an AF light and supress the flash? Or is that not what you were doing (weddings pic did not have obvious flash - but this may have been intentional technique I guess). Or is the only way to do this with an ST-E2?

Have you looked at http://camera.canon.com.my/photography/art/art14/index.htm and http://camera.canon.com.my/photography/film/99issue/04topic/index.htm and http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html for information on how Canon metering (both flash and camera) works?

 

The assumption made by Canon when using flash is that the camera metering is used for setting the background exposure while flash is used for the subject. To spot meter off the subject is what FEL is used for.

 

P.S. It is possible to disable automatic reduction of fill-in flash on the 550EX using custom function 14 on the EOS 1v (this is normally only required in highly backlit conditions).

This came up a while ago. I had the same problem with my 70-200 f/2.8 IS and also a battery power issue with my Eos 1v. I sent them back to Canon UK and first time they could not find any problems. I did further investigation to try to repeat the fault and sent them back again with a letter explaining (I can send this to you if you like). This time they fixed both problems and I have as yet had no recurrence (but I have been using my new 300 f/2.8 IS alot recently).

 

Send it back to Canon.

Hi, I have been using it since Xmas. Its quite basic in some ways - not a lot of use for cataloguing your images, but for the management of Custom and Personal Functions (it's the only way to access PFs) it is very useful.

 

A record of what settings used on each shot / film is beneficial - especially to confirm whether I pushed the film or not!! But I would not say essential. In a difficult metering situation where compensation or bracketing is used it is helpful to be able to check the settings for each frame.

 

I actually bought it 2nd hand for half price. In the UK it retails for about £180 - that's a lot for what it is. One point that annoyed me - I had shot 70 rolls before I bought it and the information collected was dated from 2000 (you can't set the date / time on the camera until you connect it to the software) and the default settings for what is stored are not what I have subsequently chosen. That said, I now rely on it and no longer take notes - not much use in action / wildlife photography anyway as there is not enough time to write it all down!!

 

Conclusion - buy it if you can afford it and think you will use it, but it's not the best value camera accessory I could think of.

As you already know - there are no cheap options that really do the job. But my vote goes to the Canon 70-200 f/4 + 1.4 TC (try to make the TC a Canon though).

 

I have had the f/2.8 IS version for a year now - a bit heavy but great images - and bought the 1.4 II TC to bridge the gap until I could afford some bigger glass. In the end I have finally stumped up the money for a 300mm f/2.8 IS! Its really way too big and heavy for a little guy like me so it down the gym to pump some iron I guess. The images? Well, I have yet to get back the first few rolls - but it had better be worth it!

 

Just a thought - I have just caught some info on the Olympus 4/3rds digital system from PMA. They are launching it with a 300mm f/2.8 (equiv to a 600mm) amongst others. Wow, that's certainly gonna put a new dimension on going long.

I have just got myself a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L USM IS lens - wow!

However, it doesn't fit in my Lowepro Mini Trekker - even on its own

when empty! Its just not deep enough to take a lens with a diameter a

little more than 6" with the hood reversed and the "lens cap" on.

 

So, I tried a Nature Trekker - it still didn't really fit and allow

the dividers to be used. Also none of the larger bags seem any wider

which would allow it to sit neatly down the centre attached to my EOS

1v - even though some are supposed to be able to take a 600mm f/4.

 

My questions is then - how does a guy carry one of these lenses

around - surely not in the hard case it comes in (but that's what I'm

doing at the moment!)?

 

I thought I might try the Street and Field system - does anyone know

if it fits in the Lens Case 5 and is OK to carry on the Deluxe Waist

Belt?

 

Looking for help from those who actually have solved this problem.