William D. Colburn
Ive had it for about 8 hours so far today. If you already have a 1D X it is surprisingly much of the same. The transition from 1D iii to 1D iv and 1D iv to 1D X were truly monumental upgrades especially in terms of polish, but here I feel like the 1DX had everything right and this is just a minor tweak. But its more than a tweak. I dont own a CFAST card yet, but when I do, Im certain this camera is going to blow my old 1DX out of the water when it comes to rapid fire sports photography. The raw files appear to be about twice as big as the raws from my 1D X. Shooting at the highest iso settings still renders garbage, but its higher iso than the 1D X and so far all the lower iso stuff seems better (but Ive only really investigated the highest iso setting to see what it can do). The battery is new, but the old batteries go into the new body and seem to work just fine. Im really sad it doesnt have two CF slots. I really liked having two CF slots on the 1D X. Eventually Im sure Ill be sad it doesnt have dual CFAST slots... I still miss the SD slot of the 1D iv, not because I admit to owning any of those stupid little cards, but because other people did, and I could pop their card into my 1D iv and take their picture for them. The bottom line, of course, is do you really need a $6k full frame camera? The test is simple: if you have a lens that costs more than the camera, then you need the camera. Deep down, that $6k is buying you mostly speed and durability. Fast autofocus, fast shutter clicks, fast card writing. If I go out and take a thousand pictures of a rugby game Ill come home expecting just about a thousand of those pictures to be perfectly in focus no matter what was happening on the field. Update: Im closing in on having it an entire day now. The menus still have a couple of items that are just baffling to me. The location of settable min/max ISO for instance. Mirror lock up still doesnt have a button, but it is easier to find than when it used to be hidden in a custom function. The polish is looking a little more polished to me. The information you get from pressing the "info" key in particular seems more polished to me. Another Update: Im starting to think that this new camera does have a lot more polish to it than I thought it just. Its just hidden away more. For instance, my 1D X had a level built in. It was accessed via the LCD on back. I went to use the level today, and this new camera has a four access LCD level indicator hidden inside the viewfinder. Its very nice. I like how quiet and crisp the shutter sounds compared to the older model. I have yet to try it on full auto though. So, a few days into owership, Im even happier with it than I was when I first got it.