Canon 50D vs 1D Mark IV vs 1Dx
my thoughts:
Let me preface by stating I shoot dog agility. This entails locking onto a small, fast moving, dark object that runs erratically around a poorly lit horse arena. My goal is to find a camera where I will have less noise, improved image quality, decent burst rate, and a much faster shutter speed ... all 4 in one package.
I've shot youth soccer, basketball, volleyball & dance plus horse shows (jumping, trail, dressage, & ring), so I do have some experience with sports and their actions over the years, which prepared me for dog agility (a little bit)
Most of the time, in most indoor horse arenas, my camera settings begin at ISO 12,800, f/2.8, custom WB around 3800K, and lucky to get a shutter speed of 1/200th - 1/400th most of the time. Each arena varies a bit on WB and shutter speed, but my ISO & aperture never change.
With those odds, I began my journey to find a new camera for this sport. I own multiple 70-200 f/2.8's, some with IS, some without IS. IS will not kick in at such a high shutter speed, did I just say high? LMAO, you shoot a black dog running erratically at 30+ mph at 1/250th and see how sharp your picture would be, really, try it, you might not like it! Shooting agility, like any sport, takes technique & experience to know where the shot will be, so you can get it, as you must actually have your brain tell your finger to depress the shutter button a split second before the dog starts it's jump or whatever on the obstacle, or you've missed the action, you can't wait till you see it happen then push the button.
I often tell my new trainee assistants that the dog will be on course, going over or through 15-20 obstacles in the next 30-45 seconds. You have to take 3 shots per obstacle, with 3-5 obstacles shot, so I'm asking for 9-15 keeper shots in succession, the shots are up, over and landing a jump or coming out turning & extending on a turn ... or many other things, weaves, straight at you with those dang poles in the middle of the pic, so lock onto a target at a dead run with poles in the way, it is a challenge, and not as easy as it sounds. Many of my assistants say their wildlife/birding photography greatly improves after shooting indoor agility for a long time.
I have a collection of 50D's, which perform well in JPG mode using in camera noise reduction, and pushing it to ISO 12,800. Minimal (or acceptable) noise is visible at this high ISO, but a quick pass through noise ninja on purchased prints, and everything looks good. Even the unedited proofs are acceptable to show to clients untouched.
I have tried using a 7D as a possible upgrade to the 50D, the noise is a hair better, but not enough to write home about, the downfall with the 7D is that when you push your ISO that high, and you utilize the in camera high ISO noise reduction, the 7D looses it's burst speed, and, well, shooting a fast dog over multiple obstacles, it is nice to be able to shoot off more than a few images at a time.
I do not use the machine gun theory, nor do I allow my assistants to do so, but, when you have let's say, 3 obstacles in succession, you may want to take 3 shots over the 1st, 2 over the 2nd and 3 over the 3rd, with a minute pause between obstacles, realize that dog is running at 30+ mph, so that "minute pause" is so slim, the average person may hear a machine gun, while, in reality we're shooting shot shot shot pause shot shot pause shot shot shot ... on the 7D, we can't do this, we are stopped after the first 3 shots, and may get the final 2, it needs a longer pause in between compared to the 50D ... so, I prefer not to use the 7D unless I'm in dire need for another camera that show. We can do this on the 7D if we turn off or reduce the high ISO noise reduction ... kind of defeats the purpose of being able to push your ISO that high, to get a better shutter speed, if you have to live with the noise, or spend time in post reducing it on 1K++ pictures each day.
Ok, now onto my quest for a better camera, and my wanting to be WOW'd by it.
1D Mark IV: noise at 12800 is better than on the 50D with all the same settings, but you'd expect it at ISO 25,600 I would have better than the 50D at ISO 12800, nope, about the same. So, I get a bit better shutter speed with the higher ISO, but end up as noisy as I'm producing with the 50D. Tracking is a hair faster, images are a hair sharper, but not so much that I said WOW, and for the difference in price between the two, I'd expected to be more impressed if I spent $3K more for this body, than my 50D's ... that said, the improvements weren't enough to warrant the investment in my book.
1D X: noise at ISO 40,000 is minimal, yes, I said MINIMAL!!!, noise at ISO 51,200 is about the same as ISO 25600 on the Mk IV or 12800 on the 50D. Tracking is 2x better on the 1D X than the Mark IV, Image quality is, well, it is WOW compared to the Mark IV or the 50D ... this, in my book, is worth the extra $6K over the 50D, and I hope to bring one home before summer!!!
Now, I only tried these bodies on agility, did not bring them into the studio, or try them anywhere else. I used the same 70-200mm f/2.8L lens on all 3 bodies for comparison. I was going to try some different lenses, but the first rental didn't get along with me, so I slapped the 70-200 f/2.8L on the 1Dx to get thru the weekend, and found, even on the full frame, I didn't feel shortened by going from a 1.6 crop factor on the 50D to the full frame of the 1Dx, so there was no reason to experiment with lenses not in the budget at this time LOL
my thoughts:
Let me preface by stating I shoot dog agility. This entails locking onto a small, fast moving, dark object that runs erratically around a poorly lit horse arena. My goal is to find a camera where I will have less noise, improved image quality, decent burst rate, and a much faster shutter speed ... all 4 in one package.
I've shot youth soccer, basketball, volleyball & dance plus horse shows (jumping, trail, dressage, & ring), so I do have some experience with sports and their actions over the years, which prepared me for dog agility (a little bit)
Most of the time, in most indoor horse arenas, my camera settings begin at ISO 12,800, f/2.8, custom WB around 3800K, and lucky to get a shutter speed of 1/200th - 1/400th most of the time. Each arena varies a bit on WB and shutter speed, but my ISO & aperture never change.
With those odds, I began my journey to find a new camera for this sport. I own multiple 70-200 f/2.8's, some with IS, some without IS. IS will not kick in at such a high shutter speed, did I just say high? LMAO, you shoot a black dog running erratically at 30+ mph at 1/250th and see how sharp your picture would be, really, try it, you might not like it! Shooting agility, like any sport, takes technique & experience to know where the shot will be, so you can get it, as you must actually have your brain tell your finger to depress the shutter button a split second before the dog starts it's jump or whatever on the obstacle, or you've missed the action, you can't wait till you see it happen then push the button.
I often tell my new trainee assistants that the dog will be on course, going over or through 15-20 obstacles in the next 30-45 seconds. You have to take 3 shots per obstacle, with 3-5 obstacles shot, so I'm asking for 9-15 keeper shots in succession, the shots are up, over and landing a jump or coming out turning & extending on a turn ... or many other things, weaves, straight at you with those dang poles in the middle of the pic, so lock onto a target at a dead run with poles in the way, it is a challenge, and not as easy as it sounds. Many of my assistants say their wildlife/birding photography greatly improves after shooting indoor agility for a long time.
I have a collection of 50D's, which perform well in JPG mode using in camera noise reduction, and pushing it to ISO 12,800. Minimal (or acceptable) noise is visible at this high ISO, but a quick pass through noise ninja on purchased prints, and everything looks good. Even the unedited proofs are acceptable to show to clients untouched.
I have tried using a 7D as a possible upgrade to the 50D, the noise is a hair better, but not enough to write home about, the downfall with the 7D is that when you push your ISO that high, and you utilize the in camera high ISO noise reduction, the 7D looses it's burst speed, and, well, shooting a fast dog over multiple obstacles, it is nice to be able to shoot off more than a few images at a time.
I do not use the machine gun theory, nor do I allow my assistants to do so, but, when you have let's say, 3 obstacles in succession, you may want to take 3 shots over the 1st, 2 over the 2nd and 3 over the 3rd, with a minute pause between obstacles, realize that dog is running at 30+ mph, so that "minute pause" is so slim, the average person may hear a machine gun, while, in reality we're shooting shot shot shot pause shot shot pause shot shot shot ... on the 7D, we can't do this, we are stopped after the first 3 shots, and may get the final 2, it needs a longer pause in between compared to the 50D ... so, I prefer not to use the 7D unless I'm in dire need for another camera that show. We can do this on the 7D if we turn off or reduce the high ISO noise reduction ... kind of defeats the purpose of being able to push your ISO that high, to get a better shutter speed, if you have to live with the noise, or spend time in post reducing it on 1K++ pictures each day.
Ok, now onto my quest for a better camera, and my wanting to be WOW'd by it.
1D Mark IV: noise at 12800 is better than on the 50D with all the same settings, but you'd expect it at ISO 25,600 I would have better than the 50D at ISO 12800, nope, about the same. So, I get a bit better shutter speed with the higher ISO, but end up as noisy as I'm producing with the 50D. Tracking is a hair faster, images are a hair sharper, but not so much that I said WOW, and for the difference in price between the two, I'd expected to be more impressed if I spent $3K more for this body, than my 50D's ... that said, the improvements weren't enough to warrant the investment in my book.
1D X: noise at ISO 40,000 is minimal, yes, I said MINIMAL!!!, noise at ISO 51,200 is about the same as ISO 25600 on the Mk IV or 12800 on the 50D. Tracking is 2x better on the 1D X than the Mark IV, Image quality is, well, it is WOW compared to the Mark IV or the 50D ... this, in my book, is worth the extra $6K over the 50D, and I hope to bring one home before summer!!!
Now, I only tried these bodies on agility, did not bring them into the studio, or try them anywhere else. I used the same 70-200mm f/2.8L lens on all 3 bodies for comparison. I was going to try some different lenses, but the first rental didn't get along with me, so I slapped the 70-200 f/2.8L on the 1Dx to get thru the weekend, and found, even on the full frame, I didn't feel shortened by going from a 1.6 crop factor on the 50D to the full frame of the 1Dx, so there was no reason to experiment with lenses not in the budget at this time LOL
