Canon 1D MK IV

All posts tagged Canon 1D MK IV

Win A Brand New Canon 1DMKIV – Body Only

Posted by scottbourne on March 16, 2010
Posted in: Site Info. Tagged: , .

It’s the single most expensive camera I’ve ever given away on Twitter. A Canon 1D MK IV, worth $4999.

I am doing it again, with the help of @WHCCPro.

Here are the basics but PLEASE read all the rules.

1. You must be 18 years or older to enter
2. You must be following me
http://www.twitter.com/scottbourne

3. You must send out the following tweet EXACTLY as it appears – failure to do so will disqualify you – do NOT put @ sign in front of scottbourne anywhere in the Tweet
4. The prize will be awarded on June 15, 2010
5. If you live outside the US you are responsible for any taxes, custom duties and shipping in the event you win

Here’s the tweet you should send…

Win a new Canon 1DMKIV or $5000 of photo printing/product from @WHCCPro & Scott Bourne. Pls RT. Info at: http://bit.ly/dlsAhA

We keep a record of each tweet in a database and then a random number generator picks the winner. Due to the volume of requests we receive, we cannot and will not answer ANY questions about the contest on Twitter or via e-mail. The information you need is all right here.

Our sponsor is WHCC:

WHCC is a full service photographic and press printer serving professional photographers around the world. WHCC offers a wide range of products with turnaround times, pricing and levels of quality unparalleled within our industry all with free UPS shipping. We offer photographic prints, high end canvas gallery wraps, incredible album and book products, as well as a steady stream of new and innovative products for any type of photographer. Check out www.whcc.com for all the details and see how WHCC can become a valuable partner in your success as a professional photographer.

Here’s some of the fine print – PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

If you’d like to enter to win, first, go to Twitter and if you don’t already have an account there, set one up. It’s free. Then follow me – Scott Bourne. Go to
http://www.twitter.com/scottbourne
 and click on the Follow button that appears under my profile.

That’s it. Just follow me on Twitter. (
http://www.twitter.com/scottbourne
) Send out the tweet listed above – and you’re done.

But this is important – only do this ONE TIME! It does not in any way improve your odds if you Tweet this message more than once. You will not be penalized if you do it more than once, but it won’t help. If you do send it more than once, you’ll just make your followers mad and you WILL NOT increase your odds. PLEASE don’t ask me to check if you’ve already entered or if your entry qualifies. I get tens of thousands of entries.

If you are already following me on Twitter – you don’t need to un-follow and then re-follow. In fact, if you follow and un-follow me more than twice, you will be blocked. People who follow me just for the contests and who drop in and out will be blocked from my Twitter account.

You must be at least 18 years old to win. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The decision of the judges is final. The winner will be announced on Twitter.com, scottbourne.com and Photofocus.com, June 15, 2010, sometime before Midnight, PST.

This contest is void where prohibited by law. The contest is open to anyone, world wide as long as you live in a country where contests such as this one are legal. If you live in Quebec Canada for instance, you may not participate since contests like this one are illegal there without payment of a bond. It’s your responsibility to ensure that contests like this one are not prohibited by your local law. Actual prize awards will only happen after your execution of an affidavit of eligibility.

You may choose between the new Canon 1DMKIV (body only) still in the box or a free $5000 gift certificate from WHCC. *NOTE: If we have a winner located outside the US, they will pay shipping of either the camera or the goods they purchase using the gift certificate.

We reserve the right to substitute a different camera body in the event that the 1DMKIV is discontinued or we feel a higher quality body is available which is similarly priced, i.e., we may or may not elect to offer a newer version of the 1DMKIV should Canon announce same before the end of the giveaway. Nothing here shall obligate us to give away a newer camera.

In the event of an international winner, neither Bourne Media Group or WHCC will be responsible for delays in prize delivery caused by Customs clearing.

We check the ScottBourne Twitter account for a list of followers. We verify the aforementioned re-tweet. We throw all that information at a random number generator and pick a winner.

You will not be able to enter as long as your tweets are private.

We will not answer questions about the contest other than to point you to these rules.

If any part of this makes you uncomfortable, or if you don’t like the fact that I do these giveaways, please don’t participate.

For the rest of you – I promise to (as in the past) make sure that you get plenty of good content from me here and on Twitter in between the giveaways.

Thanks for your support.

A Response to Rob Galbraith’s Canon Autofocus Article

Posted by scottbourne on February 18, 2010
Posted in: Opinion, Reviews, Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: .

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

I respect and admire Rob Galbraith but I am beginning to think he’s got a tiny burr up his you know what when it comes to Canon.

Rob pretty much single-handedly pulled the covers on Canon’s 1D MK III’s poor autofocus performance. Canon tried to ignore Rob but soon, it became obvious he was right about the Canon’s problems and Canon eventually sort of acknowledged the issue.

Fast forward to the new Canon 1D MK IV. Rob recently posted a long review of the new camera’s autofocus here –
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10048-10484
.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

While Rob admits that the Canon 1D MK IV’s autofocus performance has improved, he also claims the camera is not reliable enough to depend on it in a professional setting.

I disagree.

Now Rob and I aren’t THAT far apart on this issue. He says the Nikon D3s offers better autofocus. I agree. But he also says that the D3s is “trustworthy and dependable enough for us to be confident using it for peak action sports” and that the Canon is not. Here is where I disagree. I shoot fast-moving birds every day. And the action is very comparable to shooting fast action sports.

While I purchased the Canon to shoot video, I have been testing its stills capabilities for reportage here on Photofocus and elsewhere.

In my tests, the Canon 1D MK IV is indeed reliable. Remember that I have shot extensively with the D3 and the D3s. I made the switch to Nikon FROM Canon about two years ago because of the 1D MK III AF. After shooting the D3, I bought five D3 bodies and then replaced them with five D3s bodies. So when I make the comparison, it’s based on actually owning and using the bodies day in and day out, not just testing them over a weekend.

I have two 1D MK IV bodies in hand and two more in the studio back home and one on order. You can bet I wouldn’t commit $25k to bodies that won’t autofocus well. On location in Florida I have made countless sequences of shots using the Canon that were in tack sharp focus.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Look at the three shots I’ve uploaded in this post. All are fast-moving birds and all are sharp. As were all the images in the sequences I shot of these birds. Note the one shot of the bird flying directly at me. This is always the hardest shot to get in focus and the Canon did it just fine.

I believe that there are cases when one particular camera/lens combo won’t perform as well as another. And certainly I know that technique is almost always a factor. Using either the Nikon or the Canon systems, certain lenses will provide better results than others. So I think it’s impossible to judge the camera without factoring in the lens/camera combo. I also believe it’s impossible to judge the quality of the images without knowing the experience of the shooter.

In conclusion, I don’t think Canon has completely caught up to the D3/D3s autofocus, but I do think that it’s close enough that technique and lens choice can make the margin negligible. I also think there’s no reason to assume you can’t trust the Canon 1D MK IV autofocus – based on my own extensive use of the camera in the last three weeks I’m convinced it focuses just fine.

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This post sponsored by the Digital SLR Store