Canon 5D3 or 1D4 ?

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gary43

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Firstly, apologies if this has been posted elsewhere but this dilemma has been distracting me for the past few hours and I would really appreciate the thoughts of owners here.

Anyway, my dilemma.

I currently have 60D, 7D and 5D3 bodies plus some walkabout P&S cameras and this is a real overkill for a simple enthusiast like myself. I have been toying with the idea of passing on the 7D and 5D3 to get a 1D4 and leaving the 60D as a small, go-anywhere body and one I sometimes lend out to family members. I shoot mainly wildlife and find myself sometimes focal length limited even with a 500f4 plus x1.4TC on the 7D. I am also not that keen on the high iso performance of 7D. Every other aspect is great but I am reluctant to go over iso 640 on the 7D due to the IQ hit you take. I also really like the 5D3 but even when the firware upgrade comes to enable me to use the 500 with a x2TC this will give 1000f8 and I imagine the use of the x2TC will kill the AF speed. I obviously do not know this for sure.

The 1D4 will, I think, give me everything I need, albeit I will lose FL compared with the 7D. So is the 500f4 useable with a x2TC on a 1D4 ?, I just do not know. I do fancy the faster FPS on the 1D4 and looking at the DPR comparometer tool the 5D3 and 1D4 do not look that far apart in high iso performance. Trouble is, are there now obsolecscence issues with the 1D series ?

So, I was wondering whether anyone here uses these two bodies and can steer me one way or the other ? I'm not so bothered about specifications and so on but would rather find out from end-users whether jumping from 5D3 to 1D4 was a good idea ?

As mentioned, I really would appreciate any thoughts.

Regards

Gary
 
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Why not wait until April when they release the firmware update for the 5D MKIII and see what that produces before deciding to sell bodies.

As for differences between 1D mkIV and 5D MKIII, the 1D probably edges it on action photography but the 5D is a very strong contender in most other aspects apart from the 1.3x crop of the 1D.

Personally I would probably wait, but you could also consider the 1DX as another alternative if you're worried about obsolescence, just a thought
 
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I thought you were eyeing up my 1D4 so I kept a firm grip on it:D
Seriously though, for me it's much a question of ergonomics as anything else.
As you know I don't have a 5D3 so I'm only part qualified to answer but I did use the 500 on my 7D and found that the balance felt much better with the 1D4.

I think you'd find that there wasn't a huge amount in it as far as IQ given the quality of the 500, but the 1.3x on the 1D4 could swing it for you given the FL factor you mention.
If we lived closer then I'd be more than happy for you to try out the 1D4 for a week or so.

This is my 2nd 1D body and frankly you'd have to pry it from my etc etc..........
 
will wait for the update but if I can get 1000 mm with the 5d then just think how great it would be to get1300 mm with the 1d !
Hi Footman, have to say I wish I had tested your 1d4 when I had the chance ! My lost opportunity. I do though much prefer the 1d ergonomics. Have had 1d3, 1ds2 and 1ds3 and all were great bodies to work with.



1d3
 
Sorry the above is a bit garbled, I am on the phone and it is doing weird things !

Thanks to both for your input.

Gary
 
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