kj1

I have found that I can recreate the lockup by setting the powersave feature to less than 8 minutes and then letting the timeout expire.

I then halfway depress the shutter to 'reactivate' the camera. Then I take the shot. 100% of the time, the shutter will lock, the viewfinder goes black, and I have to turn off the power and turn it back on again to get back to normal. THis is a real PITA, causing me to lose that special shot. Another friend with a EOS D60 has the same problem.

Hiya Lex,

The others are just whimps.. I'm 6'1" 240lbs, and I've been carrying the following kit all over Europe. Once in awhile I have to switch shoulders.. I use a Lowe-Pro Off-Trail 2 with #4 lens cases attached.

EOS1-Ds w/ 70-200 2.8 IS, 28-70 2.8, 15-30 Sigma, 24 TS, 2x convertor, 30GB PicturePad, and a Gitzo CF 1349 w/ Arca-Swiss B1 head with a tripod strap. Excellent combo, rather solid ;-)

THere is a cost to everything.. I'm not willing to compromise on quality, so I carry the weight.

Quick answer, using a tripod on a moving boat or a train is a bad idea.

 

Regarding the Sigma 15-30mm.. I have it, I use it, when stopped down slightly, it produces very good results. The build quality is good but does not compare to the 'L' lenses. With these Ultra-wides, just be careful to keep the body perpendicular to the horizon, any tilt and the picture goes wierd. I also have the 24mmTSL, the 28-70L, and the 70-200ISL lenses to compare with. I'm keeping the Ultra-wide.

You will save more photos using a lens with IS.

 

You should also consider that you will probably keep the lens longer than the body. When full-frame digital becomes affordable, you will wish that you bought the highest quality glass.

 

I saved for 2 years to buy 'L' lenses and I am drop dead amazed at the results with the 1Ds. Yes, they are bloody heavy and big. There is a price to everything.

I verified that FW 1.02 was installed on my 1Ds. I haven't done any shooting since getting back from the Italy trip. Now that the weather is hot and humid, I will run some more tests with the power on.

Thank you everyone for the feedback!

Turning off the camera discharges the sensor, reducing if not eliminating the dust sucking electrical field around it. It's just my experience with using the camera.

 

I called Canon tech support, their response was to conduct more tests between the manual and auto canon lenses i.e. 24mmTS and the 70-200 IS. They suggest powering off the camera between lens changes and feel that the feature-freeze represents a loss of communication between the body and the lens. Normally the camera body would display an ERROR if it looses communication to the lens, but since I replace it with another lens, it sees the new lens.. I tried a dozen tests last night with the camera on, no failures at all.. with any combo.

I suspect that it was a combination of heat, partial contacts as I tried to line up the lens, auto and manual and 3rd party lens.

 

At any rate, I logged a call, if I have any more problems, I'll send it in for a checkup.

Thanks for the replys. I own the Sigma 15-30mm, the EF-L 24mm TS, and the EF-L 70-200mm f/2.8 which I used on my Italy trip. On a few occasions that I have found the camera features 'non-responsive' it was after changing lenses with the camera powered on. The symptoms are not being able to change the White Balance, not able to bring up the ISO option, not able to change exposure compensation. The camera will still shoot, although the images are often incorrectly exposed. That was my first clue something was wrong.. again, removing and replacing the battery fixes it. Also turning the camera off between lens changes helps prevent dust and this 'dead' feature issue. The Sigma seems to talk fine with the 1Ds.. I imagine that unmounting the lens, shorting out contacts and switching signals is causing the camera to 'freeze' the current state. I'd like to hear what other 1D and 1Ds users have experienced..

 

KJ

After 2 months of shooting with the 1Ds, I have found that if I forget

to switch off the camera BEFORE changing lenses, the features can lock

up. THis prevents me from changing exposure compensation, ISO, TV/AV

combos, WB, etc.. The only way I have found to un-lock this is to

physically remove and reinsert the main battery.

Anybody else experience this? or am I the only one that gets caught up

and doesn't turn off the power before switching lenses? I also found

that not switching off the power first causes a lot of dust to collect

on the sensor. If I power off first, I have no problems with dust or

camera features.

Buy it. I bought mine for $8K and LOVE it!! Yes I have encountered the dust problem. Yes it can be bad, but easily fixed with PS. I have found that changing lenses BEFORE switching off the camera causes dust to collect on the charged sensor. I have also found that the cleaning procedure is simple, safely accomplished with a baby 'snot-sucker' because it will focus a blast of air pretty well. As far as results, the resolution blows away any shot I have ever taken with my Nikon F3 and prime lenses. I currently use a LowePro Off-trail2 with #4 lens cases attached. It is a secure and efficient method to carry the EOS-1Ds with lens, 2 extra lenses and 2x convertor. Beware, you will also have to buy a couple of 1GB microdrives, an extra battery and a Delkin eFilm 30GB Picture Pad to get a workable config. I just returned from 2 weeks travel in Italy. I shot Florence, Amalfi, Capri, and Rome. The downside to digital is all of the post-processing. The upside is that now with all that resolution we are planning to buy an Epson 7600 24" photo printer! This camera can produce some incredible images!!

 

KJ Sullivan

I have been shooting with a Nikon CoolPix 990 for 2 years and dreamed of getting a Canon EOS-1D. I attended Photokina 2002 and demo'd the Canon EOS-1Ds. WOW! so I saved some more.. When I bought it, I had to spend another $1.5k just for extra batteries, 1GB Micro drives, a Delkin eFilm Picture Pad 30GB (this is a must!), extra batteries for it, and a Firewire adapter for PicturePad. Then I had to upgrade my PC Firewire card to get everything to talk to each other. Okay.. Now.. I've spent close to $10K (not counting lenses) and I'm ready to start taking photos! I went to Piz Gloria on top of the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps for some breathtaking vistas.. I used a tripod, shot both 1GB drives full and drove home. Now the real work begins.. processing, archiving, sorting and printing. THat takes a lot longer than shooting. The images are 'UFB' absolutely sharp from the skiers 20 feet away to the lift details a mile away in the valley. All the skiers were looking the same direction.. I was able to pick out the red paraglider 2.5 miles away!! I have never gotten images that crisp and full of detail in 24 years of shooting with my Nikon gear F2 & F3s. The prints were A4 size and only 8-bit TIFFs. I could easily go to A2 without seeing any grain or drop in resolution. The RAW 11 mega-pixels blows the doors off any 35mm photo I've seen. It's a big investment, but based on it's performance, I don't see that I'll be selling this camera for a LOOOONG while :-) Save your Money and get the 1Ds !! You can still shoot at 3fps!