John Clark , Nov 27, 2008; 04:52 p.m.
Tonight my wife brought home one of the 1Ds mkIIs from work, and I thought I'd have a play. I wanted to see how
much of a gap there is between the 6 year old 10D and the 3 year old-ish 1Ds mkII. AF performance is something
I'm keen to improve on in my next camera and I wanted to see if the 1Ds mkII was noticeably better than the 10D
for indoors handheld shots of my 2 year old son in lowish light levels. It was a bit better but not the night
and day difference I expected. Also, I found the interface a bit confusing compared to the relatively
straightforward 10D controls. Would I pay the extra for a 1Ds mkII over a 5D? Probably not, all things
considered, but that's just me...
Anyway, one of the things that struck me was how much more usable ISO 800 and above was on the 1Ds mkII than the
10D. What I'd like to know is whether I can expect this performance or more from the forthcoming 5D mkII. IQ on
the 1Ds mkII was very very good, by 10D standards, so I have high hopes of the 5D mkII.
Thanks,
John
Brent Reid , Nov 27, 2008; 05:11 p.m.
John Crowe , Nov 27, 2008; 07:31 p.m.
The 5D II should destroy the 1DsII in all imaging aspects, almost as much as the difference from the 10D to the 1DsII. Heck it should be superior, in image quality, to the 1DsIII.
Michael Liczbanski 
, Nov 27, 2008; 08:07 p.m.
The 5D II should destroy the 1DsII in all imaging aspects, almost as much as the difference from the 10D to the 1DsII. Heck it should be superior, in image quality, to the 1DsIII.
As a 1Ds2 and 1Ds3 user who had a chance to shoot with a production 5D2 all I can say is keep dreaming. It would be nice to be able to get a 1Ds3 class camera for $3K but we are not there yet.
Scott Ferris 
, Nov 27, 2008; 09:05 p.m.
Michael, that is not the opinion of several other pros who have used the 5D MkII.
http://jeffascough.bigfolioblog.com/weblog/post/77255
And of course Vincent Laforet, to name just two.
John, it does appear that the 5D MkII does give better IQ than the 1DS MkIII (even Canon say so) so if you are not interested in build quality and superior AF and frame rates then the 5 looks like the camera for you.
Take care, Scott.
JDM von Weinberg 
, Nov 27, 2008; 09:59 p.m.
Time marches on, and so does technology. I'm guessing that even an XS would be a substantial and worthwhile upgrade from a 10D. I've got a 20D and I definitely feel an upgrade urge coming on.
Thomas Hardy , Nov 27, 2008; 10:16 p.m.
JVW said ... "I've got a 20D and I definitely feel an upgrade urge coming on."
A couple of days ago my wife asked "what do you want for Christmas"?
It sure ain't my two front teeth!
Paul B. , Nov 28, 2008; 02:49 a.m.
"The 5D II should destroy the 1DsII in all imaging aspects"
Nice dream...Maybe the image quality will be superior to 1DsMkII, but the exposure system (witch affect image quality) is no match to a pro body . Canon allready loose some customers vs Nikon due to this policy, and will loose more..., if they don't understand the market demand. We want a true pro body, for that mutch money !
Scott Ferris , Nov 28, 2008; 03:01 a.m.
Paul,
That is not right,
Are you saying the 5D MkII can't take properly exposed pictures or that you can't use the various metering options, exposure options and compensation options to get you a correctly exposed file? Besides if you shoot RAW you have almost B&W film type exposure latitude anyway! Certainly no reports from the various people who have now used one have suggested any kind of exposure problems.
The 5D MkII will not destroy the image quality of the 1DS MkIII but it does, apparently, surpass it. And this should be no surprise, it is basically the same sensor with an extra year of R&D thrown at it.
Take care, Scott.
Paul B. , Nov 28, 2008; 03:12 a.m.
I'm a wedding photographer...And flash exposure is a desaster in all cameras using 35 zone metering system , from EOS300 (film) to 50D. I use flash in aprox 95% of my photos... And I thinking more and more to swich to Nikon...
