Hey all, I just made it home with my new 1DX and I've been working on some side by sides with my "old" 5D3.

I have always loved reading other peoples reviews of their new gear on here so I figured that I would give back and start a thread with some shots taken with the two cameras and also answer any questions anyone may have.

Pics coming shortly. Let me know if you have anything you'd like me to try out with them.

Wow, congrats. I would LOVE to see some controlled comparisons between the 1DX and the 5DMKIII as I'm sure many others would as well. For me, high ISO, say ISO6400 and higher in low-light conditions to simulate shooting events in dark ballrooms would be a great start.

Your thoughts relating to the perceptual differences between the 5D MKIII and the 1D X with regard to:

Autofocus, speed and accuracy? Action/sports scenarios vs static scenes?

Metering differences? How each camera handles metering automation in difficult situations? Backlighting, extremes in dynamic range, low light, etc.?

General handling differences and "feel"? How it is to make basic changes on each camera? Locations of controls (opinion)? Which feels better with short and light lenses, vs long and heavy lenses?

The 5D MKIII has a couple extra "niceties", like in-camera HDR and AI-Focus. Do you miss those in the 1D X?

What, do you feel, is the camera best suited for different photographic endeavors? (Whatever you wish to discuss.)

Alright, here are some quick comparison images of different ISOs. It's raining out at the moment so I'm trapped in the house.

All of these were shot with the same lens (EF 24-70 2.8 L) at 5.6. The shutter speeds were matched along with the different ISOs. I tried to keep the focal length the same when I switched the lens between cameras. These are the JPGs out of the camera as I didnt want to mess with the RAWs just yet. If you guys think that would be important let me know.

I wasnt sure how to upload these in full quality for the forums so I'm just going to link them to the ones on my server.

ISO 12800: 12800.jpg

ISO 25600: 25600.jpg

ISO 102400: 102400.jpg

ISO 204800 (1DX only): 204800.jpg

I'd love to see a comparison of ISO 100 image with the shadows pushed up to the max. I'm *HATING* the 5D mk3 shadows, they're uselessly green...




(I do post-production for a living, and edit thousands of RAW images from the 5D mk3, 5D mk2, D700, D800, and many other cameras on a weekly basis...)


=Matt=

Autofocus, speed and accuracy? Action/sports scenarios vs static scenes?

The 1DX is faster. I spent some time in a rather dark environment (ISO 20000, 1/125, 2.8) challenging both cameras with the same EF 70-200 2.8 IS II USM lens. The 1DX just feels a bit more snappy and quick to acquire. I cant say empirically by how much faster though as the two are too close for that. I'm sure there will be plenty of reviews from labs that have far better tools at their disposal than I do to get down to the brass tacks of this issue.

All I can offer is my impression so far. And that is that if I had to pick up one of these cameras to shoot a bicyclist whizzing by in front of me based on AF alone: I would pick up the 1DX but would have no regrets if I got handed the 5D3. They're so close in this area, especially in good lighting situations that it's almost a non issue. To catch a shot of the brides bouquet flying through the air in a dark room however you'd see me grabbing the 1DX more firmly because that extra snap will definitely be what the doctor ordered.

Metering differences? How each camera handles metering automation in difficult situations? Backlighting, extremes in dynamic range, low light, etc.?

I have not had enough time to really form an opinion on this just yet so I'm not going to try and give any impressions. I will try and post more on this soon.

General handling differences and "feel"? How it is to make basic changes on each camera? Locations of controls (opinion)? Which feels better with short and light lenses, vs long and heavy lenses?

First let me say that I have the battery grip with two batteries on my 5D3. That brings the two cameras a lot closer together in terms of size and weight. I should also note that I'm 6' 6" with matching size hands so I use every millimeter of the grips. Both cameras fit about the same for me. Without the grip the 5D3 is much less comfortable and is very unbalanced with larger lenses. Without the battery grip everything I just said goes out the window. To me even the 24-70 L lens feels awkward on it without the grip. But maybe thats just because I'm used to it.

Button placement: When I swing my thumb out across the controls on the 1DX the knuckle of my thumb hits right on the set button, the pad of my thumb on the upper left portion of the wheel, and the tip of my thumb near the Q button. PERFECT! On the 5D3 I pass over all of the upper controls well but the knucle of my thumb misses the set button and almost all of the wheel -- so meh. I prefer the placement of the play, delete, and zoom buttons on the 5D3 better though... But maybe that was the price of moving over the wheel on the 1DX. So thats fine, I'll take it. I LOVE that the mode wheel has been reduced to a button on the 1DX. This makes the right index finger's buttons (WB/EXP/ISO/back-light) become single function and the less used AF/Drive and Metering/FE buttons have been moved to the other side. I am a fan of this. I also enjoy having the second multifunction button on the front face of the camera.

With the above exceptions making basic changes on each camera is basically identical.

For lens sizes... As long as you have the battery grip on the 5D3 there isnt much difference. I like that the normal grip (horizonal) is a little more squared of around the edges on the 1DX -- it lets me hang the camera from my finger tips a bit easier when I have a long lens. But I may be the only one that does that so YMMV.

The 5D MKIII has a couple extra "niceties", like in-camera HDR and AI-Focus. Do you miss those in the 1D X?

I love the process of manually putting together my HDR images on the computer so I have never even looked into the in camera abilities for this on the 5D3. In fact until you mentioned it I didnt even know the 1DX didnt have it. I was already luke warm on AI-Focus from my previous cameras before the 5D3 so I've learned to use AI-Servo for most of my action work. So again, I might not be a good person to answer this one because I dont really use either of these things on any of my cameras.

I do like the voice notes button added to the back face of the 1DX however. I think I may enjoy it. Sometimes at events I will catch a moment and wish I could jot down a quick note about what was said so that I can include extra info in the albums. I look forward to trying this out soon.

What, do you feel, is the camera best suited for different photographic endeavors? (Whatever you wish to discuss.)

The 1DX is so blindingly, face melting, machine gun fast that it has a clear lead in anything sports related. And then you put it in high speed mode at a minimum of 1/1000 shutter speed, JPG only, < ISO 25600, and maximum aperture for 14 fps! You pull the trigger -- hear the mirror lock up -- and then the shutters blast away sounding like bees buzzing inside the camera. It's really impressive. Really. I think I spent half an hour and 600 shutter actuations in the store letting all the techs play with it before we even put a memory card in it.

There is also a noticeable trigger lag difference between the cameras... And thats without setting the 1DX's "Shutter release time lag" option from "standard" to "shortened". So for the times when I want to capture a quick moment without filling up my memory card with 100 images using the high speed drive mode -- this is important to me.



The last thing I want to compare is the wifi attachments for both cameras... I'll tackle that and any other questions next. I hope all of this is helpful. Let me know if I need to clarify anything.

Excellent personal evaluations. Thanks so much.

Originally Posted by Matthew Saville I'd love to see a comparison of ISO 100 image with the shadows pushed up to the max. I'm *HATING* the 5D mk3 shadows, they're uselessly green... (I do post-production for a living, and edit thousands of RAW images from the 5D mk3, 5D mk2, D700, D800, and many other cameras on a weekly basis...) =Matt=

Hey Matt,

I took this shot at ISO 100 in RAW... In lightroom 4 I pushed blacks and shadows all the way up. I hope thats what you were looking for. If not just message me with specifics or I can send you the raw file. I'm interested in your findings.

Shadows.jpg

Originally Posted by Crewd Alright, here are some quick comparison images of different ISOs. It's raining out at the moment so I'm trapped in the house. All of these were shot with the same lens (EF 24-70 2.8 L) at 5.6. The shutter speeds were matched along with the different ISOs. I tried to keep the focal length the same when I switched the lens between cameras. These are the JPGs out of the camera as I didnt want to mess with the RAWs just yet. If you guys think that would be important let me know. I wasnt sure how to upload these in full quality for the forums so I'm just going to link them to the ones on my server. ISO 12800: 12800.jpg ISO 25600: 25600.jpg ISO 102400: 102400.jpg ISO 204800 (1DX only): 204800.jpg

Awesome, thanks. Looks like the 5DMKIII hangs with the 1DX pretty well up to ISO 102400. Holy crap, that's high.

I know right?!? The tech has come so far...


Matt, was that pic what you were looking for?

-Patrick

Originally Posted by Crewd Hey Matt, I took this shot at ISO 100 in RAW... In lightroom 4 I pushed blacks and shadows all the way up. I hope thats what you were looking for. If not just message me with specifics or I can send you the raw file. I'm interested in your findings. Shadows.jpg

Yes, those are some gorgeous shadows! I don't need to see the RAW capture, but I'd love to see how dark the original capture looked, before brightening.

My main issues are in broad daylight, actually. If you care to, I'd love to see a general daylight comparison of dynamic range. Preferably, in a scene so dynamic that the camera can't handle it all. (Someone wearing white standing in full sun, and someone wearing black standing in deep shade.)

Originally Posted by Matthew Saville Yes, those are some gorgeous shadows! I don't need to see the RAW capture, but I'd love to see how dark the original capture looked, before brightening. My main issues are in broad daylight, actually. If you care to, I'd love to see a general daylight comparison of dynamic range. Preferably, in a scene so dynamic that the camera can't handle it all. (Someone wearing white standing in full sun, and someone wearing black standing in deep shade.)

Here is the image rendered straight from the raw with Lightroom with no adjustments.

ShadowsBefore.jpg

As soon as we get some clear skies I will try and put some shots together. Sounds fun!

I love my 1Dx coming from the 5DII My only beef at the moment is, some moron at Canon decided that the only button you can assign "Rating" to is the Voice annotation button. Well, great. What happens if you need to use both voice annotation AND ratings???? You're basically screwed and need to resort to menus.

FYI, I posted a thread a few minutes ago, a new 1.0.6 firmware is out for the X.

Thanks for the heads up Jim. I hadnt even thought to check for updates and one of the fixes directly affects me (the 70-200 lens with the 2x extender).