Puma's new old camera....AF probs solved!

[Puma Cat]

The venerable Canon 1D MkII that I use for the pro motorsports gig is getting pretty long in the tooth. It's now NINE years old. I bought it at the end of 2005 from a Canon rep. It was his camera show demo camera; the camera attendees would pick up and click off a few frames at various photography and electronics shows. It served me very well for many years, has literally had the crap beat out of it, and has been rebuilt by Canon Pro Services (CPS) at least twice.

I've been noticing this year that many of my frames were out of focus, particularly those taken with my Canon 70-200/2.8L. At the recent NASCAR race, I think I had ONE frame taken with that lens that was in focus. Not a good way to keep the PR Director happy.

Problem is, I didn't know it it was the lens or the camera body or both. Even static shots I took of folks in the pit and paddock were soft. The lens didn't seem to be AF'ing properly, so I sent it off to CPS. Sure enough, the AF motor was defective, and the lens was not focusing properly. CPS replaced the AF motor and serviced the lens, and I just got the lens back today.

With respect to the camera body, if the focus from the body was also out, my MkII is now so old that CPS doesn't even service them anymore, so I needed to find a new solution. The Canon 1D MkIII was out of the question, because that particular design was notorious for documented AF problems reported by many, many users, most notably the noted photojournalist Rob Galbraith.

The 1Dx was out of the question as it's almost seven grand, and the just discontinued 1D MKIV still commands a hefty median price of $3500. I don't do enough of this motorsports gig anymore to be spending that kind of money on a 1D MKII replacement. What I was looking for was value for money.

Hmmm...maybe a used 1D MKII "N" would be the ticket. Of the Canon 1D series, the 1D MkII "N" still has had a long-held reputation of being the best autofocusing 1D bodies ever; many pros feel even today it surpasses the 1D MKIV (except in low light).

Most importantly, CPS will still service it. Problem is, most "II Ns", because they've become so legendary as such a high-performance camera, are still in service, have been very heavily used, and subsequently have a lot of wear and tear on them.

Well, as luck would have it, I found a 1D MKII N that had just been posted that day in photo forum that was literally LNIB (like new in box), with less than 17,500 actuations. Nice thing was the seller agreed to sell it to me for only $750. This is like 1/5th the price of a MkIV, so I popped for it.

Here's some pics of it:





As I just got the new "old" 1D MKII N and my lens back today, it was time for some focus comparisons between my original MkII, and the "new" MkII N.


Here are two frames of a car license plate taken with my 70-200/2.8 with the camera+lens mounted on a tripod and actuated by the self-timer.
The image for each camera was using identical settings: f/8 at ISO 100.

The 1D MKII series have a pretty heavy anti-aliasing filter, so I've found a sharpening setting of 82, radius 1.2 and Detail setting of 25 is required to get an image to look "naturally sharp". It's important to note: Neither of these pics have been sharpened at all; these are what we refer to as SOOC (straight out of camera).

My original 1D MkII:



And the "new" 1D MkII "N"


Sure enough, my old 1D MKII is also OOF.

Nice to know what the heck was goin' on....I thought I was slippin'!

Anyway, the NHRA Pro Drags are coming up in a few weeks, so the "II N" will get it's christening there.

Guess my desk has new paperweight!

[Puma Cat]

As the Mark II N came out around the same time as the original Canon 5D, it has the same basic sensor design and identical pixel dimensions of 8.2 X 8.2 uM, and produces the same lovely, creamy smooth image quality as the orignal 5D.

A MkII N photo of my Canon Canonet...


The "II N" also, as Sean Reid of Reid Reviews puts it, "draws in black and white" beautifully.

[Mr. Big]

Did you ever consider the 5DMkIII? It has a full frame CMOS sensor, an improved modern AF system and superior low light capabilities to the 1D MKII N.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by Mr. Big

Did you ever consider the 5DMkIII? It has a full frame CMOS sensor, an improved modern AF system and superior low light capabilities to the 1D MKII N.

+1. I have the 5d mark ii and even that body leaves me wanting in the AF department. The mark iii is a major improvement in the AF department.

Even the 7d is a huge improvement in AF for a crop sensor camera.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Big

Did you ever consider the 5DMkIII? It has a full frame CMOS sensor, an improved modern AF system and superior low light capabilities to the 1D MKII N.

Yes, definitely. It's an outstanding camera, I shot with one for an afternoon at the Ferrari Challenge at Sonoma Raceway. But for photojournalism needs, there three issues:

1) Even though it's a brilliant camera with superb image quality, it's NOT a 1D body....just not responsive enough. While it's rated at 5 FPS, it doesn't perform like it in real world use. Unless you've shot extensively with a 1D body, you won't really know what I'm talking about, with all due respect. This is why there is a Canon 1Dx.

2) It's shutter is only rated for 150,000 cycles....not enough. In my experience, most shuttters fail early, also (yes, the shutter on my 1D MKII failed at 230,000 actuations...that's one of the times it was rebuilt).

3) It's still $3500. My MkII N was 1/5th the price. If I was going to spend $3500 on a DSLR for motorsports photojournalism, it would be a nice clean 1D MkIV.

The 7D is a brilliant body with excellent AF performance, but I didn't like the noise performance and overall image quality on its APS-C sensor, and I'm done with APS-C sensors on DSLRs, anyway. APS-H is the smallest crop factor I'll shoot on a DSLR.

If I had to shoot with a dSLR that was not required for pro motorsports photojournalism, it would be a 5D MkIII, no question.

But, I'm moving completely away from DSLRs for "general" (i.e., anything that is not the motorsports work) photography...I prefer the new mirrorless digitals.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

+1. I have the 5d mark ii and even that body leaves me wanting in the AF department. The mark iii is a major improvement in the AF department.

I shot for half a day at ALMS at Laguna in 2009 with a 5D MkII and the AF performance "in the field" was just awful. The lens was constantly racking back and forth trying to find focus. Completely inadequate for my needs. Why Canon decided to use the same AF system in that camera as the original 5D, I'll never know.

[Mr. Big]

How things have changed...
I started off as a photojournalist for a daily paper in the L.A. area. I remember shooting night sports at Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum (when we had a pro football team). I shot with a manual-focus motor driven Nikon F at 3 fps pushing Tri-X film to ASA 1000 (which resulted in grain the size of golf balls). I couldn't stay for the entire game because I had to rush back to the lab to process the film and make prints for the 9:30pm deadline - my record was 12 minutes from the time I arrived to delivering the finished print. Life would've been much easier if I had a DSLR with auto focus that shot 12 fps and sensor sensitivity of ISO 6400.

[Puma Cat]

I know what you mean....the first motorsports events I shot was IMSA in the U.S. and Formula at Brands Hatch with Kodachrome 64, and OM-1 and manual focus lenses!