Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1D X AF in Low Light action

« on: December 13, 2012, 01:33:29 PM »

The 1D X finally met its match Tuesday night.  I filled in for a reporter for the News Journal at a game in Mansfield, in a terribly lit gym.  I used a 135L with a 1D X at 1/500s, f/2, and ISO 3200 to 6400 depending on location on the court.  The majority of my shots were slightly OOF, and I attribute this to the AF system not being able to lock focus in the dim lighting.  Looking at my photos, it didn't apparently lock on anything in the frame.  In a few burst shots, the first one was in focus (while athlete still on the floor) but the camera lost focus as the player went up for the layup, even with face-recognition on.  Needless to say, as I'm going through my RAW files right now, I'm highly disappointed.  I will admit though, that the 135L is not as good at locking on focus as the 70-200 f/2.8L II IS zoom lens, but I couldn't afford the loss of a whole stop of light in this gym.  I know I've been spoiled with a lot of light lately, but I just wanted to point out that as good as the 1D X is, and it is, it is certainly far from perfect.  My suggestion is that in these cases maybe don't use high burst rates, but wait for a moment and try to lock on, then move the camera with the player, sort of like panning, and then fire a shot, maybe even just one shot.  Bursting did NOT work at all here.  Ok, I'm done venting.

Your story is interesting to me because I have been shooting primarily (personally not professionally) high school basketball for the last several weeks in a variety of gym lighting conditions using the 1DX, and I have not experienced the problem you ran into.  I know from past years that some gyms have truly horrible lighting conditions, worse than what I've been shooting in lately, so I imagine that the symptom you describe may be both setting and lens dependent.  I shoot my 1DX with either the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L or the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS.  The latter seems to track focus better and allow faster burst rates, but both have reliably achieved focus quickly. I shoot in AI servo, with the high speed burst rate set to 10 fps (not that it always achieves that). I also have the first and second frame focus priority settings set to focus priority (i.e. "don't fire unless focus is locked"). Sometimes that means the camera takes a fraction of a second before firing, if it hasn't locked on, but it has usually meant that the shots are in focus (unless I screwed up and put the focus point on the crowd).  I also set the camera in aperture priority mode, with an aperture of 4 to 5.6 and a minimum shutter speed of 1/500th and the ISO set to Auto. This has resulted in ISO settings of as high as 20000 in some cases, and I usually need to apply 50-60% luminance noise reduction in Lightroom, but the pictures end up looking great. Don't know if any of that helps, but thought I'd offer my recent experience.

2

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Thoughts on the New EOS-1D X Firmware 1.1.1

« on: October 24, 2012, 02:55:32 PM »

There is more to this blinking than is normal.  My wife's IDX performs perfectly & just blinks once when focus is achieved.
Mine however blinks constantly, less brightly & even when I don't have my finger on the shutter button.

Speed, (or others), any word back from Canon on the erratic/dimmed blinking of the focus points?  You mentioned you sent them an email,  and I am experiencing the same thing.   Also, anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

Yes mine does that, to me whats particular annoying is that it continues to blink even when the AF-ON button is released.

Yep.  Mine too. It's so annoying that I turned it off. But I would prefer to be able to use the feature when it's very dark. 

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Thoughts on the New EOS-1D X Firmware 1.1.1

« on: October 24, 2012, 11:23:54 AM »

There is more to this blinking than is normal.  My wife's IDX performs perfectly & just blinks once when focus is achieved.
Mine however blinks constantly, less brightly & even when I don't have my finger on the shutter button.

Speed, (or others), any word back from Canon on the erratic/dimmed blinking of the focus points?  You mentioned you sent them an email,  and I am experiencing the same thing.   Also, anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Thoughts on the New EOS-1D X Firmware 1.1.1

« on: October 19, 2012, 08:23:33 AM »

The problem occurs with the exact same settings.  I loaded the config from one camera to the other.

I am having the exact same issue described by Speed.  Frequent "subdued" flashing of the entire grid plus the AF Point, not just the AF point, and it flashes even when you are not actively auto-focusing in AI Servo.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Thoughts on the New EOS-1D X Firmware 1.1.1

« on: October 18, 2012, 03:59:56 PM »

Has this firmware update (or any of the earlier ones) addressed the reported link between turning on the orientation linked AF points and "activation" of the AFMA bug? Specifically, it was reported right after the release of the 1DX that turning on orientation linked AF points could trigger a problem with AFMA settings not being retained. Consequently, I have not turned on that feature.

I would like to turn on orientation linked AF points, but have been able to live without them. 

Anyone know if this issue was legit and/or if it has been corrected by any of the firmware upgrades? I haven't seen it mentioned directly.

6

1D X Sample Images / Re: Any Thing shot with a 1Dx

« on: August 26, 2012, 07:00:23 PM »

70-200 f/2.8 L IS, shot at ISO 400, focal length of 150mm, 1/2000 at f/6.3

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: AFMA Callibration - How much is too much?

« on: August 08, 2012, 10:51:01 AM »

Like Dr. Deano, I would like to know:

1. the cost involved with having Canon calibrate lenses to a specific body; (is there a per lens price?)
2. the time it usually takes;
3. the process required to ship the equipment to Canon (where do I find the information about where to ship it and how?).

I am not a CPS member, so I have not gone through the process before. Any info would be appreciated.

I may not do this, if microadjustment ends up being satisfactory, but I would like to have the information just in case (and/or to know that it's as good as Canon can make it).

Thanks in advance.

8

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1DX err80

« on: August 08, 2012, 10:39:09 AM »

I just read this whole thread, and while I may have missed it, one possible contributor to the problem seems to have dropped off the evaluation/poll discussion, that being whether people have the orientation linked AF point feature turned on or not.

Has anyone experienced the err80 issue with orientation linked AF points turned OFF?

I personally have not experienced this error (yet), but I also disabled the orientation linked AF point feature as soon as I read it was creating other problems. So far, I have only shot with the 24-70 f/2.8 L, 70-200 f2.8 L IS, and 70-200 f/2.8L IS with 1.4X Extender.

9

EOS Bodies / Re: 1DX - Ethernet, USB 3.0 or 2.0 for transfer?

« on: July 16, 2012, 06:32:01 PM »

I'm actually very interested in this as well. My idea is this: get a small (13-14") laptop with an SSD, hook it up directly over gigabit, and then set up an FTP server to dump the images to. If it ACTUALLY works at gigabit speeds, that's ~110MB/sec. That acts as a tertiary backup for the dual cards, as well as allows you to near-instantly get a bigger view of the pictures even if you're firing away at high speeds (just set up Lightroom to monitor the folder). My 7D over USB2 is dog slow with tethering.

One of the big reasons I sprung for the 1D X instead of the 5D3 is because of this. The 5D3 is crippled by having to use a USB2 interface to link to the WFT, which caps out at 35MB/sec (and is even slower sustained). I'm hoping that since it's built-in, it's running at wire speeds, and isn't attached to the USB bus. If it really isn't, then I may consider getting a 5D3 instead, as the other perks of the 1D-X are mostly able to be worked around (grip can be purchased, wft can be purchased) and it's still cheaper than a 1D X.

Would someone be able to run a test for this? Even using the EOS software, you should be able to monitor the network connection with task manager to see how much it's really transferring. You'll probably need some fast disks, though. SSD would work the best.

When I read the Canon 1DX Wired Lan Setup Instructions, one of the things it said is that, if you have a Windows 7 machine, only those running Windows 7 Ultimate (not Home Premium or other) can be setup as FTP servers. So, one of their other options, like the EOS utility is going to be MY best bet because I don't have Ultimate. I'm mainly interested in just how fast that it, and whether its worth messing with.  If it adds a bunch of steps to the workflow, it may be better to wait on the Sandisk FW 800 reader than to download with one piece of software and then separately import into Lightroom. I'll probably at least give it a try.

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EOS Bodies / Re: 1DX - Ethernet, USB 3.0 or 2.0 for transfer?

« on: July 16, 2012, 01:28:45 PM »

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith? 

Sorry, haven't tried.  I use a SanDisk FW800 reader, and transferring 200 images from my 1D X (which I literally just did) took 2 minutes - plenty fast enough for me.

Thanks, Neuro and ColtsFreak, I have the same reader as Neuro right now.  Guess I won't worry about it too much, but if anyone else does find that the Ethernet options are good or problematic, I'd love to hear from you.

11

EOS Bodies / 1DX - Ethernet, USB 3.0 or 2.0 for transfer?

« on: July 16, 2012, 09:21:04 AM »

My 1DX has shipped and I'll have it by mid-week, along with a Lexar 1000X 32GB UDMA 7 CF card. I have not yet ordered the Lexar USB 3.0 card reader because: a) I'm expecting to be able to use the Ethernet port to move photos to my Windows 7 Home Premium equipped PC; b) using a USB 3.0 reader would require me to add a USB 3.0 card to my computer (yes, it's a few years old, and not a big deal but an extra step); and c) I still have a perfectly good USB 2.0 Firewire equipped card reader that I've been using with my SanDisk 32 GB (90 MB/sec) card.

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith?  Seems to require the use of the Canon Eos Utility software, rather than direct import into Lightroom, as I've done in the past. Haven't used the Eos Utility, so I'm wondering how that affects the workflow.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences and recommendations!

12

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS 1DX training videos from Canon

« on: July 14, 2012, 10:01:19 AM »

Update - I was able to watch the videos by switching browsers to Firefox version 3.6.3. So, if you have trouble in Microsoft Internet Explorer, try it with Firefox.

13

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS 1DX training videos from Canon

« on: July 14, 2012, 09:47:24 AM »

I click on the Play button to watch the videos, but nothing happens. Can't get any of them to play.

I'm running Windows 7, 64 bit, and Internet Explorer 9.

If you have been able to watch the videos, can you post what OS and browser you are using?

14

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS-1D X Availability in North America

« on: July 13, 2012, 05:46:01 PM »

I just got notice that my 1DX has shipped from Crutchfield this afternoon and will be in my hands by early next week! The amazing part is that I just got on Crutchfield's pre-order list on 7/11, and it shipped out today! (Big Thanks to Sephknite for posting about his similar experience with them!).

I am posting this in a couple of threads to both give kudos to Crutchfield for an awesome turn around time and to let the rest of you know that if you are "far back" in a queue at one of the other vendors and really want the camera as fast as possible, you should at least consider getting on the Crutchfield list, as they, like others, don't charge your card until the camera ships. They seem to have a very "short" queue right now (last I read was 8 in line, and now I'm out of the line and so is the guy in front of me).

I had been one of the first to order on Amazon, within two hours of when the camera became available for pre-order on 3/16. Since then, I have not been able to get a bit of information out of Amazon about either where I was in the queue or when they expected to receive a shipment. After receiving my shipping confirmation from Crutchfield, I canceled my Amazon order.  Now looking forward to getting the camera in my hands next week.

15

EOS Bodies / Re: Amazon shipping 1DX yet? (status?)

« on: July 13, 2012, 05:44:34 PM »

I just canceled my Amazon order for the 1DX because Crutchfield shipped it first!

I just got notice that my 1DX has shipped from Crutchfield this afternoon and will be in my hands by early next week! The amazing part is that I just got on Crutchfield's pre-order list on 7/11, and it shipped out today! (Big Thanks to Sephknite for posting about his similar experience with them!).

I am posting this in a couple of threads to both give kudos to Crutchfield for an awesome turn around time and to let the rest of you know that if you are "far back" in a queue at one of the other vendors and really want the camera as fast as possible, you should at least consider getting on the Crutchfield list, as they, like others, don't charge your card until the camera ships. They seem to have a very "short" queue right now (last I read was 8 in line, and now I'm out of the line and so is the guy in front of me).

I had been one of the first to order on Amazon, within two hours of when the camera became available for pre-order on 3/16. Since then, I have not been able to get a bit of information out of Amazon about either where I was in the queue or when they expected to receive a shipment. After receiving my shipping confirmation from Crutchfield, I canceled my Amazon order.  Now looking forward to getting the camera in my hands next week.