Canon EOS-1D X Hitting Retailers

[Razor2012]

Hobbyist or pro, what difference does it make? 1 series, 5 series and so on are tiered from pro to beginner. It doesn't mean that the top tiers can only be owned by pros. But it does show that the top tiers are also the most expensive. So the only real criteria is money, which is good for any tier. Since beginners and pros both can have alot of money, it really doesn't matter.

 

[Loswr]

The 1DX is bulky and heavy. I figured most hobbyists would want something smaller and more compact for travel.

Meh. Both my bodies have grips anyway.

 

[Wideopen]

neuro, based on the few reviews you've seen, the spec sheet, etc, do you think the 1D X is really worth the extra money over the 5D3? I'm just looking for your straight-up opinions on this, since I know you skipped the 5D3 in favor of the 1D X.

For me, yes. The weather sealing and built-in grip are important to me, as is the frame rate, and I'm hoping for a bit better high-ISO performance. I think the face-tracking in the phase AF will be useful, too. I do tend to treat my cameras as tools not showpieces, and the 1-series build will hold up better to that treatment.

But it comes down to 'value', and there are two parts to that - what are the features worth, and can you afford it? Photography is a hobby for me...in that sense, I don't need a 1D X. But I want one, and I can afford one, so I'm getting one. ;D

+1 (and for pretty much exactly the same reasons)

+1 here too (and for the exact same reasons)

Cheers!

+2 definitely on my wish list.

 

[hhelmbold]

Neuro - did you order an additional battery too? I am still in two minds about this... Do you know if it will perform the same as 2 batteries in a 5D battery grip? I know faster focus and extra processors will most probably be power hungry... but I think I am going to hang in there and order the battery a bit later.

I did not order a second battery, yet. Based on the specs, battery life with the 1D X Will be a couple of hundred shots less than with two batteries in the grip of my current cameras. But, since I almost never come anywhere near exhausting the batteries in a single session or day of shooting, I will try it with just the one battery, and see how it goes.

I think we are thinking the same here I have done several events and weddings without depleting the batteries on my current grip - so I am taking that chance too. Thanks for the response

 

[hhelmbold]

The 1DX is bulky and heavy. I figured most hobbyists would want something smaller and more compact for travel.

Meh. Both my bodies have grips anyway.

My body also have grips but I have now joined a gym to try and get rid of them ;D

 

[DzPhotography]

The 1DX is bulky and heavy. I figured most hobbyists would want something smaller and more compact for travel.

Meh. Both my bodies have grips anyway.

It seemed to me that the 1DX is less bulky than a 5DIII with grip when I was able to test some preprods...

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

The 5D MK III looks like it has improved weather sealing and I'm sure it would hold up just fine in a light rain but the high-ISO samples I have seen aren't anywhere near what the samples from the 1DX look like. High school gyms can be pretty dark, I push my 1D MK IV to ISO 8000 just to get a shutter speed of 1/400 sec at f/2.8. That is as far as I am willing to go for a photo that will be ran in the newspaper but with the 1DX I should be able to get a much better image even at ISO 25,000 and a shutter speed closer to my preferred 1/1000 for sports.

The 5D MK III didn't look all that great at ISO 8000 so I skipped that body. Megapixels don't really matter, the Associated Press actually makes us size the file to max dimensions of 2000 x 2000 pixels and around 1.5mb to keep their system from overloading. Sure, more pixels means that we can crop more but I would rather have cleaner images at super high ISOs.

The 5D3 high iso is already getting so close to theoretical limits that I would temper your 1DX expectations a bit. Maybe it can add 2/3rd of a stop more DR up there and retain deep blacks instead of going purple at very high iso or something but I wouldn't expect more than 1/3 stop better mid-gray SNR.

 

[MarkWebbPhoto]

The 5D MK III looks like it has improved weather sealing and I'm sure it would hold up just fine in a light rain but the high-ISO samples I have seen aren't anywhere near what the samples from the 1DX look like. High school gyms can be pretty dark, I push my 1D MK IV to ISO 8000 just to get a shutter speed of 1/400 sec at f/2.8. That is as far as I am willing to go for a photo that will be ran in the newspaper but with the 1DX I should be able to get a much better image even at ISO 25,000 and a shutter speed closer to my preferred 1/1000 for sports.

The 5D MK III didn't look all that great at ISO 8000 so I skipped that body. Megapixels don't really matter, the Associated Press actually makes us size the file to max dimensions of 2000 x 2000 pixels and around 1.5mb to keep their system from overloading. Sure, more pixels means that we can crop more but I would rather have cleaner images at super high ISOs.

The 5D3 high iso is already getting so close to theoretical limits that I would temper your 1DX expectations a bit. Maybe it can add 2/3rd of a stop more DR up there and retain deep blacks instead of going purple at very high iso or something but I wouldn't expect more than 1/3 stop better mid-gray SNR.

I feel like the 5D2 and 5D3 sensors were made with a similar process but the 1DX looks like a completely new process because the images look so clean and the dynamic range looks much better. I try to be pretty conservative which is why I said ISO 25K at max (I don't mind a decent amount of noise as long as there is no banding). I have seen a lot of samples so far and I am incredibly impressed even with the photos at ISO 40,000 which were as good as my 1D4 at around ISO 2000. Someone posted some RAW samples a while back and ISO 6400 looked super clean even when I pulled the shadows up to 100 in CR 7.1, probably as good as the 5D3 at ISO 1600 which is a two stop improvement. I might be getting ahead of myself but I really think Canon nailed this camera and it will be better than Nikon's D4 in the high-ISO category.

Everyone has a different idea of what a useable photo looks like but after being in the newspaper and wedding biz for several years I have a pretty good idea of what "too grainy" looks like. 5D2 max is ISO 4000 for me, 1D4 is 8000, 5D3 is around 12,000, and here's to hoping that I can get 25,000 out of the 1DX.

 

[wockawocka]

I tested one last week and got to keep the raw fils. It's 2 stops better than the 5D3.

No argument, no contest, 2 stops better. I had the 5D3 with me to compare and I took shots at ISO1600, 3200, 6400 and 12800 of a guy half standing in the shade.

 

[akiskev]

I tested one last week and got to keep the raw fils. It's 2 stops better than the 5D3.

No argument, no contest, 2 stops better. I had the 5D3 with me to compare and I took shots at ISO1600, 3200, 6400 and 12800 of a guy half standing in the shade.

That's impressive!
Could you upload the files?

 

[Redleecr7]

Just a quick message, I am new to the forum and I posted a message earlier but don't know we're I posted it! Yesterday I recieved an email and a phone call from Calumet Manchester to tell me that my 1DX has been dispatched from there London depot to Manchester. I then Got an email from FedEx with a tracking number, I have been tracking it all morning and I am just waiting for it to arrive at the store, should be there for 2 o'clock today! I will post a picture as soon as I get it today. Hope this cheers everybody up with all the doom and gloom surrounding the delay with people even claiming this week that we would not be getting the camera untill September by the way I am not a professional or a cps member just a normal customer who ordered the camera back in October just goes to show you can't believe everything you read!

 

[JaxPhotoBuff]

Just a quick message, I am new to the forum and I posted a message earlier but don't know we're I posted it! Yesterday I recieved an email and a phone call from Calumet Manchester to tell me that my 1DX has been dispatched from there London depot to Manchester. I then Got an email from FedEx with a tracking number, I have been tracking it all morning and I am just waiting for it to arrive at the store, should be there for 2 o'clock today! I will post a picture as soon as I get it today. Hope this cheers everybody up with all the doom and gloom surrounding the delay with people even claiming this week that we would not be getting the camera untill September by the way I am not a professional or a cps member just a normal customer who ordered the camera back in October just goes to show you can't believe everything you read!

Great news! Saw your post in another thread too, so thanks for sharing the information. It's good to know that the U.K. is starting to have cameras ship. I hope we'll see the same in the U.S. any day. Look forward to an update from you later this weekend on how your pickup went and what you think about the new camera.

 

[bdunbar79]

If the 1D X is so clean at such high ISO's, I wonder if more people will be able to shoot let's say, night football games with the 300 f/4L vs. the 300 f/2.8L. Now I know the latter will focus faster in lower light, but it really makes you wonder now, if the more expensive lenses like in my example wouldn't necessarily be needed. If you are submitting photos to the AP, the subtle differences in IQ would be irrelevent. Just a thought I had, because I was shooting evening track and field with the 300 f/4L with a 1D4 and I was having no trouble focusing very quickly. However, the ISO performance required a bit more cleanup than I like

 

[wockawocka]

I tested one last week and got to keep the raw fils. It's 2 stops better than the 5D3.

No argument, no contest, 2 stops better. I had the 5D3 with me to compare and I took shots at ISO1600, 3200, 6400 and 12800 of a guy half standing in the shade.

That's impressive!
Could you upload the files?

I'm not allowed to show images from a pre production camera. You'll have to take my word for it.

 

[MarkWebbPhoto]

If the 1D X is so clean at such high ISO's, I wonder if more people will be able to shoot let's say, night football games with the 300 f/4L vs. the 300 f/2.8L. Now I know the latter will focus faster in lower light, but it really makes you wonder now, if the more expensive lenses like in my example wouldn't necessarily be needed. If you are submitting photos to the AP, the subtle differences in IQ would be irrelevent. Just a thought I had, because I was shooting evening track and field with the 300 f/4L with a 1D4 and I was having no trouble focusing very quickly. However, the ISO performance required a bit more cleanup than I like

I shoot a lot of high school and college football at night, your still going to need that f/2.8 in most instances especially when they get close to the goal line. It is not only the speed of AF that you need to worry about, it is also going to come down to accuracy in low-light conditions. f/2.8 lenses get dual cross type AF sensors so you'll get a better hit ratio. You'll need all the light you can get with teams that have black jerseys, eek.

In my area, the best lit high school football stadiums are actually pretty close to the college stadium (Marshall University in WV) and that leaves me at around 1/640-1/1000 sec at ISO 5000-6400 depending on how close they are to the sideline. At some of the darker stadiums or as the players get down near the goal line the offensive players are often back lit and I've gotta go ISO 8000 just to get 1/400-1/500 sec at time. I prefer a little grain over motion blur most of the time.

This is just another reason why I skipped the 5D3 in favor of the 1DX, I need speed and the cleanest high-ISO images I can get. The 5D3 definitely wasn't two stops better and I would probably still be stuck between ISO 8000-12000 at most. I'd like to get my shutter to at least 1/1000 sec whenever possible.

 

[Sharkproof_shooter]

The EOS-1D X is showing up in small numbers in Singapore. I have also heard it will appear in more stores in Asia this week. I have yet to hear anything about USA, Europe or Canada stock allocation.</p>

I had a long conversation with my guy at Adorama yesterday, and he said that they had already received a small lot that have already been shipped. He said that he got to see and play with the camera a little bit, but that was it. He said that they expected more hopefully to come in in the next few days for the pre orders that they have, (me being one of those) and said that he thought there could be a good chance I'd get it before the begining of July, but that was just a guess. None the less, he did say that they did get some in and as I ordered mine back in Feb that I was pretty early in the list but that what they did get and ship was very limited. Anyway, Canon has sent them some and they are hitting some peoples hands... Wish it was mine. I need it before July 1! Note: every other time I called.. the answer was always the same... we don't know when they are coming... So... this is a good change. ; )

 

[robin]

The EOS-1D X is showing up in small numbers in Singapore. I have also heard it will appear in more stores in Asia this week. I have yet to hear anything about USA, Europe or Canada stock allocation.</p>

I had a long conversation with my guy at Adorama yesterday, and he said that they had already received a small lot that have already been shipped. He said that he got to see and play with the camera a little bit, but that was it. He said that they expected more hopefully to come in in the next few days for the pre orders that they have, (me being one of those) and said that he thought there could be a good chance I'd get it before the begining of July, but that was just a guess. None the less, he did say that they did get some in and as I ordered mine back in Feb that I was pretty early in the list but that what they did get and ship was very limited. Anyway, Canon has sent them some and they are hitting some peoples hands... Wish it was mine. I need it before July 1! Note: every other time I called.. the answer was always the same... we don't know when they are coming... So... this is a good change. ; )

Please keep us posted!!!!!

 

[ramon123]

Exciting times...

 

[pup73]

I talked one of the shops with which I Pre-ordered. They said they expect to receive their first shipments the first week of July, and there's a CHANCE I can receive mine after the 4th. they of course can't make any promises. But this is what they've been told by Canon. I tend to believe them. They were among the first to receive the 5diii's. I got mine from them way back in march. So we'll see. All I can surmise from all the info out there, is its likely some those who Pre-ordered may be getting theirs in the next couple of weeks

-c