First Canon EOS 1D Mark II Photo

[Photo-John]

I went out with my buddy Forrest, yesterday. This photo is of him riding, and it was taken with his new Mark II and the 17-40 f/4 L lens. Light is from my 550EX flash and a set of PocketWizard radio slaves. The camera feels pretty much exactly like my 1D, except it's lowest default ISO setting is 100, and you can zoom in on the images to check focus and sharpness. The zoom capability is key. And of course, there's the resolution. But that's not a factor when you're actually shooting. There's only one problem with the camera and that's a max flash sync of 1/250th sec. If you don't shoot sports that probably doesn't matter. But for me it's a big deal. Makes me wonder whether I should even be considering replacing my 1D, since it has a max flash sync of 1/500th second.

[paul]

nice photo, john, and killer air, re (nm)

[another view]

John, that's interesting about the 1/250 flash sync. I'm thinking more about bright days and fill flash without having depth of field that goes on forever and decent usable flash distance (like you wouldn't get at f16 with an on-camera flash, etc). Sure, add an ND, but one more thing to keep track of.

This is one of the hangups for me about the D2H - not that I'm in the market at the moment. But if I'm going to shell out that kind of cash, I'd like 1/500 sync - like the D1X and D1H have/had. Like a lot of "brand N" shooters out there, this is the one that got me thinking.

Edit: Great shot, BTW - like what you're doing with flash.

[Photo-John]

I'm pretty sure the D2H has 1/500th second flash sync. I thought that's why the D70 got it - trickle down.

[kafin8ed]

Damn! Forrest has got all the bling bling toys now whassupwidat?! a new V10, the new FOX DH fork, and now a markII... how the hell did he find a woman that let him get away with that sort of behavior? ...does she have a sister??

[Photo-John]

C'mon magazine guy, that's a White Brothers fork. I haven't even seen the new Fox yet. And if Forrest's wife had a sister, I wouldn't tell you

Come ride! Going to Mammoth this weekend!

[ThoughtfulPirate]

Wow, that is a sweet sweet shot. I love the flash, and going between two big trees is always cool. I also really like the shadow on the tree.

[FREELANCE2004]

I went out with my buddy Forrest, yesterday. This photo is of him riding, and it was taken with his new Mark II and the 17-40 f/4 L lens. Light is from my 550EX flash and a set of PocketWizard radio slaves. The camera feels pretty much exactly like my 1D, except it's lowest default ISO setting is 100, and you can zoom in on the images to check focus and sharpness. The zoom capability is key. And of course, there's the resolution. But that's not a factor when you're actually shooting. There's only one problem with the camera and that's a max flash sync of 1/250th sec. If you don't shoot sports that probably doesn't matter. But for me it's a big deal. Makes me wonder whether I should even be considering replacing my 1D, since it has a max flash sync of 1/500th second.

KILLER JOB,I USUALLY DONT CRITUQE,BUT THIS CAUGHT MY EYE.
FREELANCE1031@AOL.COM

[Irakly Shanidze]

John, yesterday I shot with Speedlite 430EX at 1/2000. This camera has hi-speed sync with e-ttl flashes.

[Irakly Shanidze]

Joh, sorry, I did not say anything about the picture, which is awesome. Also I know what the problem is. You cannot sync at speeds higher than 1/250 via pocket vizard.

[Photo-John]

Irakly-
It's not a PocketWizard or high-speed sync problem. The 1D has a normal flash sync of 1/500th second. For sports I use that all the time. With the Mark II I won't be able to get the same reach at 1/500th second as I can with the 1D. As far as the PocketWizards go, I've found you can actually shoot at faster than the rated sync speed with them.

For most people the slower sync speed on the 1D Mark II won't matter. But for a lot of pro sports photographers who have to use flash, and shoot at a distance, it's a real big deal. I just hope that in the next incartnation, CMOS technology has imporved enough that we can have that 1/500th second sync back.

Have you posted a review for your Mark II yet? I'd like to see what you think. You use enough different equipment that your review really counts.

[Irakly Shanidze]

Mark II is a great camera. This winter I went on a France tour with a Russian Clown theatre Licedei and shot about 4500 frames in 10 days with Canon 10D. I was amazed with all the freedom of shooting at ISO800 that it gave me, but Mark II goes even further. It actually delivers more than usable images at ISO3200. They are noisy, but the structure of the noise is beautiful and looks like high-speed film grain. A couple of days ago I was blowing people's minds off by shooting without a flash outside at 11pm with my 1.2/85 and 1.4/35. I already published an article on Mark II in a Russian magazine PRO Photo. I am going to translate it tomorrow on my way home, I will have plenty of free time in the air Also I wrote an article on Canon 10d (some time ago) and recently on Leica Digilux 2. After the latter was published, a Leica rep did not let me near their stand on Moscow PhotoForum exhibition
Would you like me to send you this stuff? It actually goes far beyond regular reviews posted here in the equipment section.
Irakly

Irakly-
It's not a PocketWizard or high-speed sync problem. The 1D has a normal flash sync of 1/500th second. For sports I use that all the time. With the Mark II I won't be able to get the same reach at 1/500th second as I can with the 1D. As far as the PocketWizards go, I've found you can actually shoot at faster than the rated sync speed with them.

For most people the slower sync speed on the 1D Mark II won't matter. But for a lot of pro sports photographers who have to use flash, and shoot at a distance, it's a real big deal. I just hope that in the next incartnation, CMOS technology has imporved enough that we can have that 1/500th second sync back.

Have you posted a review for your Mark II yet? I'd like to see what you think. You use enough different equipment that your review really counts.