Announcing The Canon EOS-1D X Mark II

I primarily use my 1DX for sports and shoot very little video with it. I don't think the extra 2MP and 4K video are enough to get me to upgrade, at least not until it has been out for awhile and the price drops some. Sometimes though it is the little things that make a big difference so, for those that are planning on upgrading and haven't shot with a 7D2 or 5DS/R, you will really appreciate the ability to have more than one My Menu. For me it takes 3 of them to get everything I want access to during a shoot allowing me to never have to hunt for anything I need. I didn't read through all of the specs but I assume they are adding the "White Priority" Auto White Balance feature which is great on the 5DS/R.

The one thing I did notice that the video whiners haven't seemed to latch onto yet is that it only supports 4K Cinema format, not UHD. Sure you can down-sample to it but that's another step in the workflow and how hard would it be for them to have included it, especially if they are down-sampling anyway from the full resolution of the sensor (don't know that yet). I guess that will be a reason for a future firmware upgrade. I will get out my crystal ball and predict that the 5D4 will support UHD, not 4K Cinema, and at 30p and 24p rates, not 60p. If it doesn't support 4K in some format Canon will be perceived as "behind" whether they are or not.
 
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GoldWing said:
I see nothing here about specific increased DR or color rendition.

It doesn't list anything in the specs about an on/off switch either... What's your point? How about we wait for the OFFICIAL announcement and presser on this before we make our 24 first posts on CR one big long string of complaints?! I'm truly sorry that you had a bad experience with your 1DX, but clearly that is a very isolated problem. I've used several and know many others who own them and yours is the first I've heard of it.
 
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PureClassA said:
Video is another animal altogether. Constant imaging and processing. Constant Live View LCD screen engaged. Etc...

I was floored the first time I used the 1DX. I racked up over 8000 frames in 48 hours at 4 dance recitals and sent the spare battery back to LensRentals completely unused. I think (the more I remember it) I may have charged the battery on Saturday night with 1 recital left, but I'm don't think I did. Even still, that was over 6000 frames on a single charge. Blew my mind.

I honestly do not know how you are getting so many shots. I do all day events quite often and am always at around 1,800 on one battery.

I could not live without my second battery, I use it a lot and not just for video.
 
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expatinasia said:
PureClassA said:
Video is another animal altogether. Constant imaging and processing. Constant Live View LCD screen engaged. Etc...

I was floored the first time I used the 1DX. I racked up over 8000 frames in 48 hours at 4 dance recitals and sent the spare battery back to LensRentals completely unused. I think (the more I remember it) I may have charged the battery on Saturday night with 1 recital left, but I'm don't think I did. Even still, that was over 6000 frames on a single charge. Blew my mind.

I honestly do not know how you are getting so many shots. I do all day events quite often and am always at around 1,800 on one battery.

I could not live without my second battery, I use it a lot and not just for video.

All I can surmise is that it must have a lot to do with the proximity of the shots. I'll rack up 3000 shots in about 3.5 hours at a single recital (we're talking 40-50 dance numbers and hundreds of different dancers) and I might burn 25% of the battery. Now if I took that same number over the course of the entire day, leaving the camera on and a power sucking lens like a 70-200 mk 2 on it... I could imagine that burns the battery faster. I never leave the 70-200 on any camera anymore if it's not in use unless the battery is disengaged.

...Either that or the guys at LensRentals are putting magic sauce in the DX batteries.

Thinking of it, I've gotten 400-500 shots out of a LPE6 on a 5D3 routinely, provided I'm just rolling through shots like dance school pictures, one after the next. (No live view and tethered)
 
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PureClassA said:
expatinasia said:
PureClassA said:
Video is another animal altogether. Constant imaging and processing. Constant Live View LCD screen engaged. Etc...

I was floored the first time I used the 1DX. I racked up over 8000 frames in 48 hours at 4 dance recitals and sent the spare battery back to LensRentals completely unused. I think (the more I remember it) I may have charged the battery on Saturday night with 1 recital left, but I'm don't think I did. Even still, that was over 6000 frames on a single charge. Blew my mind.

I honestly do not know how you are getting so many shots. I do all day events quite often and am always at around 1,800 on one battery.

I could not live without my second battery, I use it a lot and not just for video.

All I can surmise is that it must have a lot to do with the proximity of the shots. I'll rack up 3000 shots in about 3.5 hours at a single recital (we're talking 40-50 dance numbers and hundreds of different dancers) and I might burn 25% of the battery. Now if I took that same number over the course of the entire day, leaving the camera on and a power sucking lens like a 70-200 mk 2 on it... I could imagine that burns the battery faster. I never leave the 70-200 on any camera anymore if it's not in use unless the battery is disengaged.

...Either that or the guys at LensRentals are putting magic sauce in the DX batteries.

Those can't be RAW right? Are you sure you did not make a mistake and put it into Jpeg or something? 3000 shots with just 25% battery burn does not make sense.

Not questioning your honesty, but if those sorts of numbers were possible on RAW then Canon would say something. I can understand them being conservative, but not to that extent.
 
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expatinasia said:
Those can't be RAW right? Are you sure you did not make a mistake and put it into Jpeg or something? 3000 shots with just 25% battery burn does not make sense.

Not questioning your honesty, but if those sorts of numbers were possible on RAW then Canon would say something. I can understand them being conservative, but not to that extent.

All RAW mode. It may have been more battery life than that. I really can't recall. But what I can tell you for certain is this:

The first year I rented one I had LR send me a spare battery to keep handy. Never had to switch out to it once. I may have recharged the first batter once after the 3rd recital (of four that weekend) and by then I would have had around 6000 frames shot in RAW. Subsequent years I have never gotten a spare battery and just out of habit recharge it Saturday night after the third recital when it's power is very low. This past year I think I got around 6000-7000+ RAW shots on one charge with the 200-400 F4L monster on it. I know I didn't recharge it more than one time and I had 14k+ frames logged.
 
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Jack Douglas said:
"Canon really threw the current 1DX owner UNDER THE BUS here."

Meaning what? Doesn't your 1DX function properly any more?

I feel like I'm about to lose my sanity.

Jack
This is Canon Rumors..... no sanity allowed! Go outside and start taking squirrel pictures!
 
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PureClassA said:
expatinasia said:
Those can't be RAW right? Are you sure you did not make a mistake and put it into Jpeg or something? 3000 shots with just 25% battery burn does not make sense.

Not questioning your honesty, but if those sorts of numbers were possible on RAW then Canon would say something. I can understand them being conservative, but not to that extent.

All RAW mode. It may have been more battery life than that. I really can't recall. But what I can tell you for certain is this:

The first year I rented one I had LR send me a spare battery to keep handy. Never had to switch out to it once. I may have recharged the first batter once after the 3rd recital (of four that weekend) and by then I would have had around 6000 frames shot in RAW. Subsequent years I have never gotten a spare battery and just out of habit recharge it Saturday night after the third recital when it's power is very low. This past year I think I got around 6000-7000+ RAW shots on one charge with the 200-400 F4L monster on it. I know I didn't recharge it more than one time and I had 14k+ frames logged.

Wow. Good for you.

I get nowhere near that. My figures are much closer to what Canon states they should be.

I definitely need my second battery and have at times contemplated a third - though I never did get one.
 
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PureClassA said:
jdavis37 said:
mclaren777 said:
Light_Pilgrim said:
Just wondering, how does it stand against the D5?
The Nikon will probably focus better in low light (-4 EV sensitivity vs -3 EV for the 1DX2). The D5 can also auto-calibrate its AF using Live View, which is strangely missing on the 1DX2 given that Canon patented this technology long ago. :(

I won't judge until there is a camera to judge. Agree the Nikon AF spec (-4EV) is better but we have no idea how well it actually works at -4EV. The D5 also has an upper ISO spec of 3+ million but I certainly am not going to assume it has a true 3 stop ISO advantage.

I have enjoyed my 5D3 immensely but am wanting a real action camera before I am too old to enjoy. I don't see me selling out and jumping ship nor do I see much reason to consider that. 21 AF sensors that are cross type and F8 sensitive is already making me thrilled. I often shoot with my 500F4 + 2X TC and this would be very helpful.

Will be nice to see the comments when it is released and some sample images when available. I would expect some ISO gain though not tons. The days of revolutionary ISO changes may be gone for a while but if they can improve the ISO6400 and 12800 where I can easily get good feathers I'll be happy. I shot film and appreciate all the freedom digital is giving us. The Mark 2 at $5999 looks to be a good buy for what it is (14 fps and 170 shot buffer.. finally )

Welcome to the chaotic world of CR! If you really want a killer action camera, have you considered going with a known variable that is about to see another major price drop? the current 1DX. If it falls into the $3500 range, I may finally buy one myself if I don't do the DX2

I'll wait and watch mostly patiently. My 5D3 still does everything I *need* just not everything I desire. The F8 AF of the new DX is enough for me to bypass Mki considerations. But lots to wait and see such as how it performs, image quality, etc. And what the 5D4 does actually do. But thinking about occasional bursts at 14 fps with a huge buffer is a nice thought. I do fill my 5D3 buffer too often.
 
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expatinasia said:
Wow. Good for you.

I get nowhere near that. My figures are much closer to what Canon states they should be.

I definitely need my second battery and have at times contemplated a third - though I never did get one.

Like I said, I think it's the proximity of shots. In a 3 minute dance routine, it's not off the mark for me to shutter 200-400 times. I've got 15 dancers all flying around the stage and holding down the release at 12FPS for 1-3 seconds in a burst to catch some acrobatic leap or flip is pretty normal.

If I was using much shorter bursts or stretching out those same number of shots a frame or two at a time, it would almost certainly yield a lesser shot count on the battery life.

Another thing. Everytime we had a 20 min intermission (one per show) and then between each show, the moment one was over, I disengaged the battery. Just turned the little locking screw on the side of it to the open position. Kept the camera and lens from chewing up power in standby.
 
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The issues were not "isolated" - Canon recalled, "service advisory" is more polite for the mirror box issues. Any Canon owner need only look inside their battery compartments. It took me 5 1DX's to get 2 working copies and one still spews debris like a wood chipper after Christmas.

PureClassA said:
GoldWing said:
I see nothing here about specific increased DR or color rendition.

It doesn't list anything in the specs about an on/off switch either... What's your point? How about we wait for the OFFICIAL announcement and presser on this before we make our 24 first posts on CR one big long string of complaints?! I'm truly sorry that you had a bad experience with your 1DX, but clearly that is a very isolated problem. I've used several and know many others who own them and yours is the first I've heard of it.
 
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