1Ds II for motorsport photography?

[ehasler]

Does anyone have any experience of using the Canon 1Ds for motorsports photography, or any thoughts on how suitable the 1Ds II would be?

It looks like it's got the same AF system as the 1D Mk II, so I'd imagine it's going to be very good in this area, and while it obviously won't have such a good frame rate, I reckon 4fps is more than enough.

Any comments will be appreciated!

[KennyG]

There are a couple of issues to think about. The 1Ds, never mind the MK-II version, outresolves a lot of L lenses and it will show up any flaws. The WA zooms look terrible at the corners on a 1Ds MK-II compared to the original 1Ds. You could find yourself replacing lot of glass.

Ignoring frame rate, it is buffer clear down time that is important, and the bigger the files the longer they take to write to the CF card. Fast cards only go some way to speeding this up. I would hate to loose a shot waiting for a CF card write.

I use a 1D and a 1D MK-II, both of which are ideal for motorsport. You do not really need the extra resolution of the 1Ds (inc MK-II) and the idea of having room to crop could be negated by lens limitations.

With higher pixel density sensors any movement of the camera effects more pixels than with low density sensors, making the camera more subject to the effects of shake. The 's' in the 1D series means 'Studio', and that is where this camera is at its best. On a solid tripod, good prime lens and controlled conditions it will equal or better a lot of FF digital back cameras.

In summary, the 1D MK-II is the motorsport camera and the 1Ds MK-II is best in the studio.

[ehasler]

Thanks for that Ken.

I do have some decent glass (mostly Canon L series), so this isn't so much of an issue.

I do a mixture of photography, and motorsport is just one of the subjects that I enjoy snapping, so while the 1D II would be the obvious choice for a pure motorsports photographer, I'd really like the full frame sensor and extra resolution of the 1Ds for the other stuff that I do.

Unfortunately I can't justify one of each, which would be the ideal solution!

Currently I'm shooting with an EOS 30, with some reasonable results, and the only thing I'd really want would be a faster and more accurate auto focus. I don't really care about the frame rate as long as it can match my EOS 30 (which at 4fps I believe it can), as I've never been one to roll off a burst of shots, and have never found this to be a limitation on my current body.

So, my question is more "would a 1Ds II be acceptable for shooting motor sports" (for me acceptable is better than an EOS 30 in autofocus and frame rate performance) rather than "what's the best motorsports body".

[ehasler]

Quick update on this thread...

I eventually went for the 1Ds II, and it's proved to be more than acceptable for shooting motorsport. 4fps is plenty for my shooting style, and I've yet to find any issues with the lenses that I own (although most are "L" series).

AF seems to be very good, and so far I've yet to run out of buffer space, although am using the Sandisk Extreme III cards which are about as fast as you can get at the moment.

I've posted a few example pics in the "Le Mans Race Photos" thread.