This is my first post here, but given the lack of 1dx wedding reviews all over the net I felt it needed to be done. I am a FT pro with 6 years experience in weddings.

Lenses used:
35 1.4
85 1.2
70-200 2.8 IS II
24-70 2.8

First for foremost, i used the 35 and 85 on this camera all most 95% of the night. I had NO error 80 or any errors what-so-ever.

5dIII vs 1dx for weddings:
Having shot with both camera bodys now I can say that other than the slight high ISO improvement and some AF changes I noticed very little difference that justifies spending 2x as much. However its a 1D and I want the best so I have it.

Auto focus:
I have to say I am somewhat disappointed! I still had problems locking on focus during the reception. I found myself using the 580 ex II flash just for the AF assist. Its defiantly not bad at all, but its not the final "master of auto focus." I have to say the Black focus points really suck. I didn't think it would be a problem or that I would really care about that. Once the lights went all the way down for the dancing I was constantly lighting up the focus points just to see which one was on. Now, about a few things I liked (and a lot) about the auto focus. Later in the night I started using the Al Servo full automatic AF. I have to say, it was really really good! Like amazing. It literally tracked their faces, and stayed on key. I played with a few different AF modes in the menu, but mostly just used the general one. I was wow'd by this. I also used the AF mode where the camera selected the AF point out of a small group of them. I got 20% more keepers at 1.2/1.4/1.8. A+ for al servo, auto AF. F for the black af points.

ISO:
I used up to ISO 12,800 without worry. I shot a few things higher than that. Including 25,600 shots. A+ in all. up to ISO 1600 shows no issues to me.

Body:
Its heavier than my 1dIII. By enough i really noticed it over the course of the day. The 5D mark III seemed so easy to shoot with all day and my 1dIII never bothers me. This was heavy!

Battery:
Lasted about 3,000 pictures. I'm happy.

Video: I did a few video shots on it. They came out awesome! (I'm not a video guy but i like to play with my gadgets) I have no real technical comments to make on this other than it took me too long to figure out how to turn it on.

That M-fn button:
I hate it. I have never used the button in that spot on any canon body. I hate having to use it to start the video recording and especially hate it to change AF modes. Maybe you can change this in the menu, but i haven't gotten that far yet.

I hope this helps. I'll get around to posting some pics too, but for now I hope this information is helpful. This is of course my opinion on the 1dx.

Thanks guys.

I have found a work around. I have not actually tried it yet but it should work.

How to convert LR3.6 presets to LR4.1
http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2012/04/updating-develop-presets-for-lightroom-4-2.html

3 dslrs -- including 70D with a new sensor!

The 3 new dslrs for 2012:
1) 7d mk II entry level FF, of which we have heard much
2) A pre-announcement of a higher-MP FF in the fall, availability early 2013.
3) The 70D

We haven't heard much about the 70D. There was a report on NL that it would be 22 MP. Most folks seem to think it will be the same-O 18 mp.

Here's my speculative pitch for a new sensor with new technology and a departure in better performance making its debut on the 70D:
1) The current 18MP sensor was introduced with the 7D, then the top of the line aps-c dslr. The 70D will be the new top of the line APS-C dslr, so introduction of a new sensor here has precedent.
2) With the new FF drawing attention, the flagship APS-C dslr could use something more to differentiate it.
3) Introduction of a new sensor with the 70D would provide an upgrade path for the t5i next year. Percolating the new technology up to ff would provide an upgrade technology for a 5D mkIV and 7D mkIII later.
4) A sensor designed from the ground up with PDAF in mind could provide better video af performance.
5) Introduction of new technology with an XXD has precedent; consider gapless microlenses -- introduced with (I think) the 40D, but not on a FF until the 1D-X, if memory serves.
6) Competition with Nikon and Sony. Canon sensor design can not stay stagnant forever. A step forward has to come sooner or later -- the 70D seems like a good place to start.
7) The quietness of 70D rumors -- the very fact that we haven't seen anything solid on the 70D suggests a tight lid on information, which could mean a desire to keep a new sensor with improved technology under wraps...
and ... reason number 8 ...
... wishful thinking on my part. ;D

kennephoto said:

Thank you for the replies! When they guy first contacted me I thought it was a 24-70 and that might have made it easier for me to want to trade but Im not so sure about a 28-70. So how does a lens wear out? Does it lose IQ and sharpness over time?

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Not really, although there could be other problems like fungus growth, or scratches, or other damage that might have occurred. In this case, it's more likely that the 28-70 is not that great of a lens to begin with for IQ, vignetting, color fringing, etc. I haven't researched it at all, but based off of neuroanatomist and Random Orbits replies, I'd guess that's more the case.

Kernuak said:

Everyone has their own style, but I find 17mm too wide on full frame, although I used to use the 17-40 all the time on crop for landscapes. Also, filter use will start to be an issue, even at 24mm, if you use a second adaptor to allow combined use of CPL and ND grads, then a 100mm filter set will be visible in frame. I would therefore lean towards the 24-105 instead of the 17-40.

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For events the 50 1.4 will likely be good, but won't let you get too wide. With the 17-40 you give up a lot of aperture (f/4), and for events I wouldn't recommend going wider than 24, with 35-40 being more the usual otherwise you'll get some 'interesting' perspective distortion on some people. Not that it's bad if you're going for that, but you need to be careful with ultra-wide on a FF.

The other challenge for events with the 5d2 is it's AF system. The center point is fairly good, but can still be pretty challenged by low lights without the AF assist beam the 480/580 EX speedlites have. You can always use those, but disable flash firing (use them just for the AF assist beam).

Otherwise, the 85 f/1.8 would be a nice filler in that gap for video. It'd be a medium to wide closeup for you, while the 135 will be a good closeup/extreme closeup and the 50 might be a nice normal with the 17-40 filling in the wider angles.

the photo showen in the link is a sx40 hs???
so is this true at all??

That wonderfull post I loke it....
Elecmarket helps you to enter new trade markets, find new business opportunities, reach new customers.lighting fixtures
lighting bulbs
insulation materials

I almost bought it till I realized they were charging $500 in taxes to ship it within Texas!!!!

Just ordered. thx

Since you have decided to go with the 7D... Sigma makes a cheap 10-20mm wide angle for crop sensor cameras.

It's not as sharp as an L lens by any means, but at f8 it will do a fine job for the type of shooting it sounds like you are interested in.

I had one but sold it only because I wend to FF and it was not compatible.

risc32 said:

I've read that with the d800 you need the best lenses to really reap the rewards of all those megapickles. I guess that's probably true. I've read and seen tests showing it's very good noise performance. Cool. But I've also read that you need to go over the 1x focal length "rule". Something like 2x or i even read 3x somewhere. wow. Is this proving true? It just seems to me that if those new "rules" are correct, i would think that many times i would have to bump up my ISO settings to deal with that. So i could possibly be running a stop or 2 higher than i would using something else. like a 5dmk3 or whatever camera of less resolution. That would really change things. Now that could be wrong and everything is just peachy at 1x focal length. That's fine too. No agenda here. I'm mostly a Canon shooter and I've never thought about swapping. I'm just curious about this stuff.
BTW- I didn't know where to post this. i hope this is a suitable place.

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I can't comment on the D800 specifically, as I don't own it and am unlikely to (although a work colleaugue has one, so we may do a comparison one day). However, my experience with the 7D and its high pixel density shows that it is much less forgiving of "errors". It does emphasise motion blur that may not have been previously visible and also shows up some of the lesser lenses, so I imagine there will be similar problems with the D800, particularly if you're shooting something which requires sharp corners and the lens falls off badly in the corners. That said, the pixel density of the D800 is less than the 7D, so it probably wouldn't be emphasised as much, apart from the full frame sensor using the worst part (corners) of lenses.

Position 1, 2 is for panning and horizontal movement mostly.

well, i'm sure all they really care about is moving product. but yeah.

hawaiisunsetphoto said:

Having just picked up a 1Dx, I'm also considering selling my 5D Mark III and picking up a 1Ds III as my backup... Seems like the bottom has dropped out of the 1Ds III market. Still on the fence about it. The main things holding me back are the 5D III's silent shutter and the smaller form factor....

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I would strongly advise against that. You will be very disappointed overall. The 5D Mark III is a much more powerful tool than the 1Ds 3. I only use my 1Ds 3 from ISO 50 to 200. Outside of that, IQ on the 5D3 is superior. Also, you can shoot in manual mode with auto ISO on the 5D3. Technology has come a long way since 2007 and overall my 5D Mark III's take better pictures, usually. I could see trading a 5D2 for a 1Ds3, but doing so with a 5D3 would not be a smart move. You'll be going backwards.

LetTheRightLensIn said:

There really is no such thing as highlight recovery with a standard digital sensor. It's a hard cut-off and they have linear capture. You simply find the saturation point and then you measure the black point noise.

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I suspect RGB channels will saturate at different levels tho, so that's about the only "recovery" available but then color accuracy is lost.
Some cameras tone curves vary a fair bit as they approach cutoff. Canon seems to take it a bit more gently than Nikon from what little I've checked but I'm careful not to clip any color channel when taking a shot and that can be really tricky with some subjects.

LetTheRightLensIn said:

It is. The Canon sensors themselves have a LOT more dynamic range captured than the result that gets collected after all the reading and converting of the sensor. I forget the details but I think the 5D2 sensor itself grabs well over 13 stops at the screen level, closer to 14 while the RAW file, after all the electronics damage the signal, has like only 11 stops left at the screen level.

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I'd be very interested to know how Canon's sensors would perform if they used the same type of on-sensor processing as SoNi-kon's.

Just cancel my 1Dx from B&H . i pre-ordered in April.
Got confirmation of shipping from Norman camera today.

pixelated sounds like a resolution problem. It should have different video quality settings, make sure it is set to the highest resolution. I had a SD card go bad and get slow, but still worked, and it messed up my video alot. hope its something this simple!

Mt Spokane Photography said:

I bought a D800, and its a excellent camera. However, high quality Nikon lenses that are equivalent to some of my favorite Canon lenses just don't exist.
100-400mmL (Rumored to finally be coming out with a better 80-400mm lens), 135mm L, 24-105mm L etc.
I did buy a 24-70mmG, and found the CA to be horrible. Then I started to look at it on the reviews of other top lenses, and all of them had high levels of CA. Even the Lightroom Lens correction could not deal with removing it from my 24-70mmG.
If it hadn't been for the lenses, I'd still have the D800.

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It's unfortunate a person has a nice 36mp camera but the lenses aren't on par. You have to at least have the best glass possible that Nikon has to offer.

Thanks for posting that link!

awinphoto said:

Toronto said:

RLPhoto said:

coreyhkh said:

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

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I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

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It is a free country, disagreement is your right

After owning several Pentax dslrs I will admit their owners do become loyalists and the af is not that far behind ( actually kicks the 5d mkii in the teeth with af ). Now after using a 7D and owning the 5d mkii I can say in comparisons the Pentax k7 and k5 the ergonomics are more user friendly which probably helps their user satisfaction ratings and the system is rather tough with good enough affordable lenses for prosumer use. But the system is closed with no upgrade path beyond aps-c unless you jump to medium format, this is why I also own a 5D mkii and pray everyday for canon to buy out Pentax and learn something about designing camera control systems.

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I know using a 7d and 5d3, when the 7d came out 3 years ago, that was it's trump card was it's superior ergonomics, especially compared to the 5d2. Now i've never shot with a pentax in the last decade, so i'm not as well versed, but do explain why and how the pentax has a better user interface... what quirks do you like? what dont you like? How are you "fighting" with the camera? do explain rather than make blanket statements for those who haven't used that camera.

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Not a blanket statement, just an observation but I do not fight with my Canons. As far as user interface, Pentax has their control layout for most functions available at your finger tips and can be accessed with out moving your eye from the finder, switching af modes etc it is right by either your thumb or either forefinger. The control lay out is very nikon like but simplistic and less cluttered. Most Pentaxes are quite usable by anyone out of the box, even first DSLR users and not overly limiting to more advanced users and that is their appeal. After the ergonomics that is where they just fall behind, it is a closed ended system with no real pro level upgrade path and while the K-7's af is faster than the 5D mKII the SDM lenses are not up to par with the 70-200L F2.8 IS II (which I do own ) and only the Pentax limited lens series can match the L lenses for build quality. The system is limiting so I switched but that doesn't mean I can't miss using them and I still have my K20D which I do use regularly.

You have to think of it like this, Those Pentaxes are just plain enjoyable to use, but I needed to switch to the MKII to get better image results.

Marine03 said:

Neat idea, and well filmed but sorta lame. I understand the concept and all but both sides seemed to be using canon from what I could see, the Germans should have used some Nikons or Haselbad?

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Ya, Pepsi slams Coke all the time, lol. But you have to give Canon credit, they weren't out to bash anyone (usually the ones on top don't do the bashing) just make a good short.

JasonATL said:

I don't begrudge anyone that doesn't pay or chooses to pay the least amount. I just wanted to put in a word for the ML folks to encourage people to donate and to consider donating more than the minimum.

The more support they get, the more features and support we as a community of Canon users get.

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+1
ML folks did a great job for us. I donated to ML not only because but also I want to show I am thankful.

@neuroanatomist

Thank you.

Not that it matters much, but I also doubt that Sigma pays a fee to Canon. That would suggest that Canon provides access to the intimate details of their AF system. And if Sigma had these details, there wouldn't be any compatabilty problems. I've also had the impression that Sigma reverse engineered the AF system and there was no commercial arrangement between Sigma and Canon. Could be wrong.

Anyway...good concept. It would be sensible for Sigma to make it EF compatible if they are already using EF signals. Obviously they'd release a few new lenses of their own, too.

Sigma seems to be very ambitious right now. Who knows, maybe this is possible. I agree that Sigma isn't the sort of brand capable of charging a premium on their products, but I (along with thousands / millions of others) have bought Sigma products in the past. If they had a great camera at a realistic price, I'm sure many would consider it.

Eddie said:

gmrza said:

The problem I see with a proposition like that is that Canon's logistics, marketing and supply chain is geared around volumes. I would suspect that Canon would have difficulty trying on Leica's business model - the organisational change would be too much. I don't think Canon would be able to make a profit on small production runs, even if it is for an ultra-premium product. The issues probably run through their entire business, not least of which is their brand, which does not have the same cachet as Leica.

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Aren't the 5d and 1d and the "L" lenses ultra-premium?

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They are at the higher end of the market, but in many cases - look at lenses, come nowhere near Leica pricing. Regardless if the nominal price points, the 5D and 1D series cameras and L series lenses are mass produced relative to the M9.