Consolidating with Nikon?

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Name
Roy
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Hello Folks,

I posted this on another forum, and didn't get a single reply .... after 3 months! Hoping to get more feedback here.

I am a Canon digital user (1D Mark III and 5D Classic) plus a film user (still)! On the digital side, I mostly use the 1D for sports: my sons rugby, cricket and hockey matches. A long reach (lens-wise) is important - especially with rugby - and I recently bought a 100-400L lens, as I was disappointed when using my 70-200 F4L IS with a 1.4 extender. The new (old) lens has been an improvement in one regard (reach) but it does suffer in low light. I guess this is because the 1D series rewards users of F2.8 lenses (in terms of focus accuracy) as the majority of points revert to 'non-cross type' at F4 or above. This - I believe - is an advantage of the D3 and later Nikons, where F5.6 lenses still 'enjoy' cross-type focus accuracy.

As a film user too, I tried to stay with Canon, and went through a number of FD cameras (AE1, AE Program, A1 and F1N) before realising that I didn't really like the bodies for one reason or another. Additionally, I tried to use the FD lenses (with an adapter) on my Canon digital cameras, and found the results to be a little haphazard. As such, I tried other models (Olympus and Minolta) and eventually settled on Nikon. I really like using these cameras for fun on holiday, and they proved to be reliable last year when I used slide film for the first time.

My obvious course of action is to sell-off my Canon gear, and buy a Nikon D3 with a 70-200 F2.8 and the 1.7 extender. Instead of the 130-520 F4.5-5.6 range that I currently have, this setup would allow for a 119-510 F4.8 (approx.) range, with the longer end utilising the DX crop function. For everything else, I could either use my older cameras, or the older manual focus lenses on the D3. This seems pretty appealing to me, but would involve selling all of my Canon gear in order to fund the switch. Obviously this is a risky business, and I don't want to 'back the wrong horse.'

Has anyone any experience in using both the D3 and Canon 1D Mark III, and can comment on:
  • frame rate - I have read that the D3 runs at 9-11 fps, but has a buffer that is small, meaning only 2 or 3 seconds capture is possible. If this is true, then the Canon is better with a 110 jpeg burst at 10fps providing approximately 11 seconds of 'action.' Is this correct?
  • I also read that the frame rate is highly dependant on the camera settings - i.e. higher ISO values slow things down, as does using the Auto ISO function (which I like very much!). Can anyone comment on this?

Finally, I'd be interested to hear from anyone using their D3 with legacy Ai and Ai-S lenses. This is another driving factor for me, as I want to have one system for - digital and film - without the need to use stop-down metering etc. I know that the EOS mount is (arguably) better for mounting legacy lenses, but from what I read this always involved stop down metering, which I prefer not to do. I know that the 5D Mark III and 7D Mark II improve the 'AF focus situation' but they would not help with regards to the use of legacy equipment. Of course, the 1DX would be the other alternative, but it is still expensive (used) and I would suffer a little in 'reach.'

For reference, my current gear list:

Canon:
  • 1D Mark III
  • 5D Classic
  • 1V X 2
  • 17-40 F4L
  • 70-200 F4L IS
  • 100-400 F4.5-5.6L
  • 1.4 Extender (Version II)
Nikon:
  • F4
  • F3
  • FE
  • 28, 35, 50 and 105mm mm Ai lenses
Apologies for the long post, but I have been procrastinating about this for a year or two now. Indeed, I've considered the third way of sticking with Canon for digital and Nikon for film, but the thought of buying similar lenses in two different formats is not appealing.

Best regards,
RoyM
 
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"My obvious course of action is to sell-off my Canon gear, and buy a Nikon D3 with a 70-200 F2.8 and the 1.7 extender. Instead of the 130-520 F4.5-5.6 range that I currently have, this setup would allow for a 119-510 F4.8 (approx.) range, with the longer end utilising the DX crop function".

If you are talking about the D3 isn't it a 12mp sensor? The 36mp d800 is only 16mp in 1.5 dx crop mode and the 24mp d750 is about 10mp so the d3 would be quite a low mp in crop mode. Having never used a d3 I don't even know if it has a crop mode.
 
Keep what you have got 1DIII to D3 not a big jump if any, I think making that jump you will regret it unless you are going to gear which is far better, the Nikon 70-200mm with 1.7x converter isn't that brilliant aswell.
 
Keep what you have got 1DIII to D3 not a big jump if any, I think making that jump you will regret it unless you are going to gear which is far better, the Nikon 70-200mm with 1.7x converter isn't that brilliant aswell.

That's my fear in a nutshell!
 
For your film fix could you nit get a Canon EOS 1-v that way you have only one set of lenses ...
 
I've got two! For a holiday though, the two Nikons - with lenses - are a smaller package.
Sorry, missed those in your list ... the Nikon film bodies are nice, I'm sometimes tempted to get one as I shoot with Nikon gear but I have a perfectly usable film SLR and lens and am happy to use different systems, maybe you just have to keep things as they are and upgrade your mainline Canon gear as needed.
 
I did consider Canon for digital and Nikon for film. That's makes some sense. But what to do with the Leicas! :exit:
 
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