1D MkII sports photo's?

macvisual

macvisual

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Peter
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It's probably been covered before, sorry.

I use a 5D Mk1, but fancy getting into motorcycle sports photography, I've Knockhill race circuit on my doorstep here in Scotland. I'll be buying s/hand etc...

Question is;

Is the 1D M2 the one to go for? Or what about the standard 1D?

Regards the cropped sensor on the 1D Mk2, I have a 70-200mm f/2.8L (Mk1), what would this equate to shooting with a 1D Mk2 please? Will I require a tele-converter?


Any advice greatly appreciated!
 
The 1D Mark 2 is a 1.3 crop so your 70-200 would 'appear' more like 91-260 compared to the 70-200 on your full frame 5D.

You could lengthen that f.2.8 with either 1.4X or 2.0X TC and being a 1 series you would retain AF (centre point) up to f8
 
I've not had a 1D mk1 but did have a 1Ds mk1, the full frame equivalent, and it was a good bit of kit but very slow to process and buffer images. The mk2s I have (1D and 1Ds) step the game up completely.

For motorsport the 1D MK2 is the bargain of the year IMO, £4-600 will get you a weatherproofed body (although you'd need to upgrade your 70-200 to an IS model for weathersealing) with very very fast and accurate AF and 8FPS.

I use mine for motorsport (Le Mans and rallying) and airshows, all fast moving stuff, and I don't think I've ever missed a shot due to not having AF locked on the subject.

A full frame body and a 1D is a fantastic combination where you've got everything covered.
 
I had a 1D mk2 for shooting motorsport before I got my 5D, it is a great camera for it, the AF is amazing, a very big jump from the AF on the 5D. The burst rate is also there if you need it, I also found the ability to have 2 preset burst rates (slow & fast and both tweakable) to be handy.

On the flip side the user interface can take a while to get used to, but it is worth the efforts, as then you can control all the main shooting functions without taking your eye away from the view finder.

If I was shooting motorsport again it is certainly the camera I'd go for!

I was using it with my 70-200f2.8L and they were a good pairing, however possibly a touch short (I was shootint cars), so depending on what the access is like at Knockhill you may need to consider a TC.
 
I have a 5D mk 1 and a 1dMk2 (I won it on e-bay, a punt I neither thought I'd win or tbh wanted to win). What a wonderful bit of kit the 1Dmk 2 is, I was very glad I won it once I got it, combined with the 5D it is as has been said a great combo. 70/200 (I have the f4L IS), nice lens, I also have the 1.4 converter because I didnt feel the 200 long end was long enough but it depends on access etc. This year I used the 1Dmk2 and the 70/200 in France at a classic motor race wheere we could get really close to the action, so didnt need the teleconverter. That combo never missed a shot. The handling is at first a little awkward (old fashioned) but soon becomes second nature and its very difficult to accidentally re-set anything, which is a Godsend, no twiddly turning easy to move knobs. The rear screen is useless for anything but checking exposure though, but by and large whatever you photgraph will be in focus. A magnificent camera when new and worth the money, now at £500 ish its an absolute bargain. Some of the custom functions need to be set/re-set via firewire, mine has never worked (the previous owner re-set some things, including owner name, so it obviously worked for him), its a common "feature", bust a very small irritation.
Buy one you'll love it. IQ is very close to a 5D (as you'd expect given its a 1.3 crop). PP is almost un-necessary. Just bear in mind you will be very conspicuos with a 1D and a white lens :)

Matt
 
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