First of all huge apologies to the brides, clients and non-photographers that read this blog. The release of the new Canon EOS 1DMKIV is this year's biggest announcement in terms of equipment, and I am fortunate enough to have been given a pre-production model by Canon to shoot some wedding pictures on. So please stay with me, normal service in terms of wedding pictures etc will be resumed shortly!! Photographers have been bombarding me with emails about this camera, so what follows is a hands on review of the camera, taken by a working wedding photographer.
As far as I am aware these are the first wedding images shot and published with the new camera anywhere in Europe, and possibly the world. Canon only allow a very select group of photographers to use their pre-production cameras, and I belong to that group - which I find very humbling.
To give you all a little insight into my experience with Canon cameras;
I have been a 1 series user for pretty much the past fifteen years. I
started with a 1N, then a 1V then onto 1DMKII, 1DMKIIN, 1DSMKII,
1DsMKIII, 5DMKII, and now 1DMKIV. I am totally familiar with the 1
series, and how it operates.
The camera was used this past weekend in Lancashire. The ceremony was late afternoon, and with the poor weather the North West has been experiencing this past week or so, the wedding may well have been shot at night - such was the lack of any available daylight. I shot the bulk of the wedding on my normal Canon EOS 5DMKII cameras, and when time permitted, I took some others with the 1DMKIV.
I received the camera from Canon 24 hours before my wedding, and as this is a pre-production camera, I spent a good couple of hours checking and rechecking the camera to make sure everything was fine. I didn't have time to micro-adjust my lenses, but as it turns out I didn't need to. A few minutes into exploring the camera, I had everything set to how I like it, and I was away taking pictures. There are some new things 'under the hood' so to speak, and some interesting new custom functions which I haven't looked at yet. However, this camera will feel totally familiar to anyone that has a 1DsMKIII or 1DMKIII camera - it even takes the same batteries. The biggest change externally is the LCD screen. This looks similar (perhaps a little cooler in terms of image colour) to the 5DMKII, and a world away from the MKIII screen. I understand that the 1080HD movie mode is quite amazing, and the screen is part of that function, so I would expect it to be good and it doesn't disappoint. I haven't even looked at the movie part of the camera yet, and to be honest there are far more qualified people than myself using this camera for movies.
One of the things that I was unsure about in terms of the new camera is the 1.3 crop sensor. I have been shooting full frame cameras for the past three years and I was initially a little concerned that I wouldn't like the cropped sensor. As it turned out I didn't notice it shooting alongside the 5DMKII - it simply didn't even cross my mind when taking pictures. What I did like was the viewfinder - the screen looks slightly smaller than a 5DMKII or a 1DsMKIII, but it actually allows me to see all the corners of the frame without having to move my eye around the viewfinder. I guess it kind of felt more comfortable for me.
Autofocus performance is stunning. There is no other word for it. Canon have spent a lot of time and energy on this aspect of the camera and it shows. I was shooting in horrific lighting for AF systems, and it just performed faultlessly. I used the center point and the back button for focusing as this is what I have become use to over the past 12 months with the 5DMKII, and like I said it was faultless. I didn't try AI servo mode (as I always use One shot) or any of the other AF options (some of which have been borrowed from the 7D).
The camera is incredibly responsive - using dual cards (and very slow ones at that) I didn't hit the buffer at all which is a first for me as high iso images being written to two cards can kill the buffer. The whole camera feels slick, and the buffer clears really quickly allowing very quick preview of the images even with a long sequence of images.
Ok and now onto what I consider to be the most important aspect of this camera - image quality. Lets just say I ordered two 1DMKIV's this morning as soon as my first RAW images were dropped into DPP. The quality is unbelievable. Low noise, great skin tone (one of the biggest issues with other manufacturers and high iso) and just a clarity, or three dimensionality about the images even at 12800 iso. Yes 12800 iso. I have to pinch myself when I say that :) I am a huge fan of the 5DMKII and it's high iso ability, but in my opinion and to my eye, the 1DMKIV is better than the 5DMKII. I'm afraid it's no contest. At lower iso it is better, and at high iso it is I guess a good stop, possibly more, better. The standard iso range goes up to 12800 with a further three more stops of expanded iso (which I didn't test). To be honest, I was shooting in near darkness, and 12800 was more than enough.The noise is very 'film like' and not at all digital looking, and the detail retention in the file is impressive.
Now onto the images. These are all processed from RAW files in a beta version of DPP which I'm not at all familiar with. All noise reduction has been turned off and the images have only been sharpened for the web. I used Photoshop to add a slight curves adjustment and to resize the images for the web.
I know that showing these images on the internet isn't the best way of really getting over to the viewer as to how the files look, but it is the best I can do. If you click on an image, a larger version will appear.
Please respect my copyright. Feel free to link to this post, but please do not use these images on other websites.
1DMKIV beta camera. iso 1600. 1/125 f2.8. Tungsten lighting.
Same lighting conditions as above with as small amount of daylight from the left. 1DMKIV Beta camera. 1/250 f1.8. iso 1600.
100% crop. The lack of noise at 1600 iso is incredible.
Dusk. You can see how dark it is by the intensity of the light behind them. The AF performed brilliantly in really tough conditions, as did the AWB. 1DMKIV beta camera 1/200 f2.8. iso 2500
100% crop. The AF has nailed the image even with using one shot and a moving subject.
This is where it starts to get serious. This is night time. It is dark, and prior to this camera I wouldn't have had a chance of getting this image. The AF locked on, and for all the world this could have been taken during the day. 1DMKIV beta camera. 1/250 f2. iso 8000.
Inside a marquee. Night time, with incredibly low lighting. 1DMKIV beta camera. 1/250 f1.4. iso 3200. Again the AF has worked perfectly in really challenging conditions of low contrast (the face) and tungsten light.
Candlelight as the predominant light source. Amazing skin tones taking into account the red coat, the low light and the extraordinary high iso. 1DMKIV beta camera. 1/125 f2.8. iso 12800
Same lighting conditions as previously. 1DMKIV beta camera. 1/100 f2.8. iso 12800
And again. 1DMKIV beta camera. 1/40 f2.8. iso 6400
Stage lighting. The singer is shaking her head about which is a nightmare for the AF system under these lighting conditions. 1/800 f2.5 iso 12800
100% crop showing the AF accuracy and the sheer quality at 12800.
In conclusion; I would say that hand on heart this is the best digital SLR I have ever used. Ergonomically the MKIII was always exceptional, but Canon have added amazing high iso image quality and solid AF to the package making a stunning camera. Ok, I accept that it isn't full frame, but like I said earlier, it wasn't ever an issue in the cut and thrust of shooting - and there are some advantages for using a cropped sensor.
The quality of the files from this camera makes me believe that we are finally at the stage where we can buy a DSLR and know it will produce stunning results for many years to come - the necessity to upgrade won't as great as it has been in previous years.
**All images are copyright Jeff Ascough 2009. Reproduction of these images is prohibited**
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