Canon 1Ds Mk1

travellingcello

travellingcello

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I've been pondering buying a 5d Mk1 for a while now, but don't have the money to do so! I am yearning for full frame.

I saw a 1Ds Mk1 in a shop for £399 which looked like it was in very good condition.

Is that a good price and is it worth taking a punt with?

I think I know the cons of getting the 1ds Mk1 over the 5D (namely ISO performance and screen + weight)

If anyone could tell me what they think I would be grateful.
 
That's a good price, but the camera is old now and you'd have to put up with a few older "features" such as those already mentioned. The other one to consider is the slow operation. It is, however, the cheapest way into full frame digital photography, so if you can put up with those points, you should be fine :) Just bear in mind that a 5D is only another £150-200.
 
I've got a 1Ds, the results from it are superb, the build quality is excellent, the AF is quick and accurate and the weather sealing is really useful when conditions change.

The downsides are the small display and it takes a little time to process images, when bracketing raw files it takes a while before all shots are available to review.

For that money give it a whirl, just be aware that you'll need good glass (sorry, typing on my blackberry so no offence if you've already got a bag of Ls).
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I will probably give it a go. Is there still a market for these though if I decide to resell? I only found 1 of these on eBay.
 
theres currently a 5D on ebay standing at just over 200 notes - which is in good nick apart from two little abrasions right on the edge of the AA filter (where some muppet screwed up cleaning i guess) - which the seller says dont show wider than F16 and which could be easily cropped off or cloned out. It ends tommorow IIRC

I was going to bid on it, but ive just bought a different camera instead.

Also Mifsuds currently have a 1dsmk1 for 599 (with 93thou activations - on average the shutters in these were good for 150,000 and costs about £220 to replace, a point to watch with your cheapy if activations are vey high or unknown) also make sure you get a charger as canon chargers for the 1D series are very expensive

and in answer to your general questions the 1DS is heavier than the 5D but better built - also it has a faster FPS rating
 
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I'd stay with the later technology..., but isn't the 5D and the Mk1 the same era?
 
check how many frames its shot. a new shutter will cost approx £250 to be replaced. Check Fixation price list.

Its a good way to start full frame but a bit heavy if used all day. I have several versions of the 1d & 1ds but always seem to find myself picking up a 5d for comfort/strength ....... im old :)
 
big soft moose said:
Also Mifsuds currently have a 1dsmk1 for 599 (with 93thou activations - on average the shutters in these were good for 150,000 and costs about £220 to replace, a point to watch with your cheapy if activations are vey high or unknown) also make sure you get a charger as canon chargers for the 1D series are very expensive

and in answer to your general questions the 1DS is heavier than the 5D but better built - also it has a faster FPS rating
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I think that the Mifsuds option is a reasonable price though I doubt they will be offering a warranty of more than 3-6 months and so I'd be inclined to take a look at the one the OP has seen. At £399 even if the shutter were to fail after 6 months the total price for the camera including a brand new shutter would still only come out to £20 over the Mifsud one.

The frame rates/sec of the 5D MkI and 1Ds MkI are almost identical at 3 and 3.3 respectively so you're only going to be seeing 1 additional shot over a 3 second burst. I do agree though that the 1Ds is both heavier and better built. I also find that the integrated grip is a much better fit in the hand than any of the add on ones offered for Canon's prosumer range of cameras, making the additional weight less noticeable. I'd sooner hold a 1D body all day than a 5D with battery grip :)

Assassin said:
I'd stay with the later technology..., but isn't the 5D and the Mk1 the same era?
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The 5D was released a month after the 1DsII, which both use the DigicII processor though in truth there's very little difference between them and the original 1Ds. It's only really at highest ISO settings that it shows in my opinion.

travellingcello said:
Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I will probably give it a go. Is there still a market for these though if I decide to resell? I only found 1 of these on eBay.
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I would certainly take a CF card and if necessary a lens to the seller and ask to take a few test shots with the camera before commiting. When you get back home check the shots using a program called 1Dcount which will enable to you check the number of actuations for yourself.

That shouldn't be used as any sort of guarantee that if it says 100k you can expect to get another 50k before it fails, simply that if it said 240k like Mark's above I would make sure I had the funds put by for a replacement ;)

I think it's fair to say that there's still a market for them. As for why there's so few up for sale? I'd like to think it's a reflection of the fact that most owners like the fact that they have a full frame, pro body with full weather sealing that still performs very well and so represents better value for money than the more expensive 5D.:)
 
Chris L said:
The frame rates/sec of the 5D MkI and 1Ds MkI are almost identical at 3 and 3.3 respectively so you're only going to be seeing 1 additional shot over a 3 second burst.)
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TBF, neither the 1Ds or the 5D are going to be your weapon of choice if frame rate is an important consideration.

FWIW, I think I've hit the buffers about once in five years of 5D ownership.
 
Musicman said:
TBF, neither the 1Ds or the 5D are going to be your weapon of choice if frame rate is an important consideration.

FWIW, I think I've hit the buffers about once in five years of 5D ownership.
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lol - it was me who mentioned frame rate last night - shouldnt post when tired, i was thinking of the 1D with its 8fps rather than the 1DS which as was rightly pointed out only gives you 3.3fps
 
Musicman said:
TBF, neither the 1Ds or the 5D are going to be your weapon of choice if frame rate is an important consideration.

FWIW, I think I've hit the buffers about once in five years of 5D ownership.
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I agree, though to be fair if for some reason someone felt they really had to have full frame and high fps then Canon don't offer anything higher than 5 fps and that'll cost £5k new :)

I don't think I ever filled the buffer on my 5D, I'm not even sure I managed it on the 1Ds :)
 
Well, I did end up buying this last week - although it wasn't as cheap as I initially stated...sadly. I think its a bit of a mis-match with me though despite its great picture quality and 100% VF excitement - I'm quite small and it feels like muscle-building heaving this around! I'm going to put this up in classified.
 
Well actually the thing that scares me about having had this camera for a short time is that...everything else now feels like a toy that you get in a kinder-egg. (Gulp)

It is the best-made camera I have handled!
 
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