Canon officially announces the development of the EOS-1D X Mark III

Jack, my camera gets lots of oil spots. Not as bad as R7 D1. I sent my camera off to CPS for the CMS before my big France trip recently and like the second or third day I noticed the spots were appearing. There are so many spots in my trip pictures now that I'm pretty upset. Even f5.6 pictures have them. After I got back I sent it back to CPS and had them clean it again. It seems better now...
You have to crank up camera raw "clarity" to 100 to get an image like R7D1's first image and the "Dehaze" to something similar to get a result like the second. Presumably he is doing that in an honest attempt to illustrate the oil splatter but the pictures would be completely unusable with that much presence added. I suspect they don't look anything like that at normal editing values but obviously if you shoot a lot of blue sky photos those spots would be a pain to deal with. I don't have that issue personally but I empathize if it's causing you some aggravation. I guess it's possible Canon caused it by over lubricating when you had it in for service.
 
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dcm

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Guess I'm fortunate. I do shoot continuously for BIF on occasion. My favorite was a 60 shot 10 fps sequence of a bald eagle fishing in a lake.

Recently, I noticed a couple of spots in the sky of images taken with my 1DXII. I'm pretty careful when I swap lenses and the spots weren't noticeable in prior images. I'm not a pixel peeper, but I usually preview at 1:2 so it was quite noticeable.

So I finally had the sensor cleaned after nearly 3.5 years and around 40K images. Images are clean again.
 
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Raptors

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Guess I'm fortunate. I do shoot continuously for BIF on occasion. My favorite was a 60 shot 10 fps sequence of a bald eagle fishing in a lake.

Recently, I noticed a couple of spots in the sky of images taken with my 1DXII. I'm pretty careful when I swap lenses and the spots weren't noticeable in prior images. I'm not a pixel peeper, but I usually preview at 1:2 so it was quite noticeable.

So I finally had the sensor cleaned after nearly 3.5 years and around 40K images. Images are clean again.
DCM, just curious how many of the 60 shot 10 fps sequence of a bald eagle fishing in a lake were sharp?
 
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You have to crank up camera raw "clarity" to 100 to get an image like R7D1's first image and the "Dehaze" to something similar to get a result like the second. Presumably he is doing that in an honest attempt to illustrate the oil splatter but the pictures would be completely unusable with that much presence added. I suspect they don't look anything like that at normal editing values but obviously if you shoot a lot of blue sky photos those spots would be a pain to deal with. I don't have that issue personally but I empathize if it's causing you some aggravation. I guess it's possible Canon caused it by over lubricating when you had it in for service.


First, those weren't my images. They were images from two different users' cameras over at Fred Miranda. I have images from 40+ different cameras, all exhibiting similar or worse splatter.

Second, yes, you're correct -- the dehaze was meant to highlight the issue, and just how much splatter accumulates. However, with that said, go try that with any other camera, including that 7D Mark II which shoots at 10 fps, and see the difference, even when dehaze is boosted to 100%.

Third, even without excessive dehaze added, the issue still can, and does, present problems for a lot of normal use cases.


There's no point in trying to either defend the indefensible, or make excuses for a glaring problem. It's a problem, and even if it doesn't immediately affect your work or images, just imagine that junk accumulating en mass on your sensor. You'll have to clean it eventually, even if you shoot at f/2.8 all the time. I know that with my particular copy of the 1DX Mark II I can start seeing spots at f/5.6 once there's enough accumulation.

Again...the 1D series are fantastic. But they aren't without their issues. I've chosen to live with it for the sake of the other benefits of owning the camera. That said, I doubt I'll be spending big bucks again without thoroughly vetting the new model and allowing other early adopters to be the lab rats.
 
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Jack Douglas

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Once again it reminds me of Art Moris when he was trying to get Canon to replace his 1DX2 ... and his intention was to sell it with all his Canon gear. He was soliciting everyone's photos and directed just how to make the spots most visible. He was on a mission. I actually sent my sample to him and fretted that I had the dreaded oil spots ... until PBD suggested ... guess what ... if they are not showing in your photos just forget about them. And I've never fretted since, although probably it's time for a cleaning at over 50K shots.

Others have much worse and they have my sympathy but I'm not going to fret it.

Jack
 
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dcm

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DCM, just curious how many of the 60 shot 10 fps sequence of a bald eagle fishing in a lake were sharp?

Here's most of the sequence from June 2016: https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-TznRGL/. It was the first time I'd shot anything like this - literally my first BIF. I left a few out that weren't interesting, but all had similar focus/sharpness. The AF tracked well, even when I didn't keep the eagle in the 9pt AF expansion.

For some context, I had purchased the 1DXII and a 100-400L II a few weeks before vacation to try my hand at BIF. The 1DXII and the 100-400 was an improvement over the Tamron 150-600 I had used with the 6D for wildlife, not BIF. Had only shot for a couple of days before this sequence and and only a few short bursts of some Osprey around their nest. Was still learning about the camera and settings and didn't expect to get much.

While shooting the osprey from a turn out along the highway, a guy pulled up and asked if I was interested in shooting bald eagles nesting on his property. He was hoping for a few images for himself. I said sure and dropped by the next day on my way out of town, unfortunately about midday due to his schedule. Figured I'd scope it out and see what I could get in my limited time before several hours of driving.

I was perched on the upper deck of his yacht about 50 ft out in the lake for the shot, so not exactly stable platform. The eagles were known to drop out of a tree to my right to snatch a fish in front of me and circle around my left to reach the nest behind me about 100 ft. After a 30 minute wait I saw the eagle drop from the tree and got the 9pt AF expansion on it just as it reached the water. I held on for dear life as the shutter machine gunned away while I tried to track the eagle. It happened so quick I didn't even think about zooming as the eagle closed the distance. And a funny thing happened - it turned into me and then circled in front of me back to the tree. As I saw later it missed its catch. And there are a few frames where we are eye to eye. All in all a great first experience.

I haven't mastered the 1DXII yet. Can't see me splurging on the III unless it offers some new surprising ability, not really expecting that. But, never say never.
 
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I can only imagine what we will be paying in AUD mate
Bout 10.5k I would imagine. Certainly way out of my price range in the foreseeable future. TBH though, as awesome a camera as it is sure to be it is waaaay more than I would ever want. Bloody difficult bit of gear to travel with and as I mentioned elsewhere, once you get a camera with that pixel pitch then you also have to get the 12k plus lens to use on it for wildlife photography to be effective. I could sell my wife I suppose.
 
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Aussie shooter

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Here's most of the sequence from June 2016: https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-TznRGL/. It was the first time I'd shot anything like this - literally my first BIF. I left a few out that weren't interesting, but all had similar focus/sharpness. The AF tracked well, even when I didn't keep the eagle in the 9pt AF expansion.

For some context, I had purchased the 1DXII and a 100-400L II a few weeks before vacation to try my hand at BIF. The 1DXII and the 100-400 was an improvement over the Tamron 150-600 I had used with the 6D for wildlife, not BIF. Had only shot for a couple of days before this sequence and and only a few short bursts of some Osprey around their nest. Was still learning about the camera and settings and didn't expect to get much.

While shooting the osprey from a turn out along the highway, a guy pulled up and asked if I was interested in shooting bald eagles nesting on his property. He was hoping for a few images for himself. I said sure and dropped by the next day on my way out of town, unfortunately about midday due to his schedule. Figured I'd scope it out and see what I could get in my limited time before several hours of driving.

I was perched on the upper deck of his yacht about 50 ft out in the lake for the shot, so not exactly stable platform. The eagles were known to drop out of a tree to my right to snatch a fish in front of me and circle around my left to reach the nest behind me about 100 ft. After a 30 minute wait I saw the eagle drop from the tree and got the 9pt AF expansion on it just as it reached the water. I held on for dear life as the shutter machine gunned away while I tried to track the eagle. It happened so quick I didn't even think about zooming as the eagle closed the distance. And a funny thing happened - it turned into me and then circled in front of me back to the tree. As I saw later it missed its catch. And there are a few frames where we are eye to eye. All in all a great first experience.
Nice sequence
 
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It can't be a bomb because the camera hasn't been released yet and we don't know all the specs. Also A9II's usage isn't fully overlapping with 1DXIII, the former is mirrorless, the later is mirrorful. Slightly different target customers.

Also most of the people here and most of the people on Sony rumors will never buy or use neither 1DXIII nor A9II. I'll probably never buy one as they're not landscape cameras. So it's fun to watch Canon fanboys vs Sony fanboys battle but not practical at all.
Hmmm a smart@ss :)
I think you got the message, why you get into thinking to respond when there is no need... it's a statement as you can figure out! Can you?
 
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Hmmm a smart@ss :)
I think you got the message, why you get into thinking to respond when there is no need... it's a statement as you can figure out! Can you?

A statement about what? Around 2003-2006 I had a Sony tape mini DV camcorder. Never had any Sony cameras ever since. Only had Canons. But again neither 1DXIII not A9II are on my wishlist. I'm after a high-mpix version. What Sony fanboys think about 1DXIII is totally irrelevant to my future purchase decisions.
 
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First, those weren't my images. They were images from two different users' cameras over at Fred Miranda. I have images from 40+ different cameras, all exhibiting similar or worse splatter.

Second, yes, you're correct -- the dehaze was meant to highlight the issue, and just how much splatter accumulates. However, with that said, go try that with any other camera, including that 7D Mark II which shoots at 10 fps, and see the difference, even when dehaze is boosted to 100%.

Third, even without excessive dehaze added, the issue still can, and does, present problems for a lot of normal use cases.


There's no point in trying to either defend the indefensible, or make excuses for a glaring problem. It's a problem, and even if it doesn't immediately affect your work or images, just imagine that junk accumulating en mass on your sensor. You'll have to clean it eventually, even if you shoot at f/2.8 all the time. I know that with my particular copy of the 1DX Mark II I can start seeing spots at f/5.6 once there's enough accumulation.

Again...the 1D series are fantastic. But they aren't without their issues. I've chosen to live with it for the sake of the other benefits of owning the camera. That said, I doubt I'll be spending big bucks again without thoroughly vetting the new model and allowing other early adopters to be the lab rats.
Those examples are not demonstrating oil spots on the sensor. Clarity and dehaze work by creating structure based on minute variations in the raw file. If you take an input, like a small oil spot in an otherwise clear blue field, and apply a massive amount of structure to it then of course it will look terrible. My standard setting for clarity is -10.

100% Clarity and 100% Dehaze aren't allowing you to see the problem. They are creating the problem. What you see in those example are pixels created by camera raw and is not an indication of how much oil is on the sensor.

I'm sure there are instances where oil splatter causes problems. But if you are waiting for a perfect camera to come along you might be waiting a while. Complex systems have complex problems.
 
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Raptors

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Here's most of the sequence from June 2016: https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-TznRGL/. It was the first time I'd shot anything like this - literally my first BIF. I left a few out that weren't interesting, but all had similar focus/sharpness. The AF tracked well, even when I didn't keep the eagle in the 9pt AF expansion.

For some context, I had purchased the 1DXII and a 100-400L II a few weeks before vacation to try my hand at BIF. The 1DXII and the 100-400 was an improvement over the Tamron 150-600 I had used with the 6D for wildlife, not BIF. Had only shot for a couple of days before this sequence and and only a few short bursts of some Osprey around their nest. Was still learning about the camera and settings and didn't expect to get much.

While shooting the osprey from a turn out along the highway, a guy pulled up and asked if I was interested in shooting bald eagles nesting on his property. He was hoping for a few images for himself. I said sure and dropped by the next day on my way out of town, unfortunately about midday due to his schedule. Figured I'd scope it out and see what I could get in my limited time before several hours of driving.

I was perched on the upper deck of his yacht about 50 ft out in the lake for the shot, so not exactly stable platform. The eagles were known to drop out of a tree to my right to snatch a fish in front of me and circle around my left to reach the nest behind me about 100 ft. After a 30 minute wait I saw the eagle drop from the tree and got the 9pt AF expansion on it just as it reached the water. I held on for dear life as the shutter machine gunned away while I tried to track the eagle. It happened so quick I didn't even think about zooming as the eagle closed the distance. And a funny thing happened - it turned into me and then circled in front of me back to the tree. As I saw later it missed its catch. And there are a few frames where we are eye to eye. All in all a great first experience.

I haven't mastered the 1DXII yet. Can't see me splurging on the III unless it offers some new surprising ability, not really expecting that. But, never say never.
DCM, really nice sequence. It's really great to see the species make a major comeback. The Bald Eagle had disappeared from Southern Ontario (and many other places) due largely to DDT.
There is a breeding pair on the Grand River, that I have been photographing for the last 5 years. Photographing Bald Eagles, as with all birds, come with unique challenges. Over the years, I have learned about their natural behaviour which makes it easier to predict their actions.
I have the 1DX and the 1DX2, but like you, I will wait to see what the III has to offer.
 
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ethanz

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Photographing Bald Eagles, as with all birds, come with unique challenges. Over the years, I have learned about their natural behaviour which makes it easier to predict their actions.

And photographing them, as with other birds, lets us see the amazing beauty and awesomeness they have as creatures.
 
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