How would you change Canon's EOS-1D Mark IV DSLR?
By Darren Murph 
posted March 26th 2010 10:31PM
posted March 26th 2010 10:31PM
posted March 26th 2010 10:31PM
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The only change I would make is to put it in my house as it currently is not. Why, oh why is the best tech the most expensive? :'(
@sweet greggo
The rule with professional photography hardware is that you can afford what you deserve.
Eh, the camera is fantastic by the way. Be prepared for a slew of ameteurs ready to complain, since this one of course doesn't AF on your dog in the bathroom with the lights off, nor does it provide the clean iso 250,000 in order to pull it off...
@Failbait "afford what you deserve"???
Art isn't ruled by economic boundaries, man.
Make it have better ISO.
@sweet greggo
And you should know that art isn't dictacted by the quality of your hardware.
@kc427311
And thank you for displaying your sheer communication and psychic skills, and how they become exponentially more useful with anger
@Failbait
It's not because people can't afford it, it's because many people don't know how to properly use it. I don't have enough $ to buy a high end DSLR, but at least I pretty much know how to use one.
You don't know how many people I see walking around with DSLRs that don't even know what aperture or shutter speed are... They don't even hold the camera correctly, nor do they configure it properly, so they still end up get blurry photos in broad daylight!
@Failbait You are correct, it's not, which makes your statement confusing as hell. Let me see if I have this right. In your view, someone with a gifted talent but no money doesn't deserve to use a camera this expensive, however someone who couldn't balance a composition with a legal scale but has the dough totally deserves it? That doesn't make a lot of sense.
@sweet greggo
no, the idea is that if you're actually holding a 'gifted talent', you'd make enough money with that talent to pay for it. Otherwise, you're either untalented and undeserving, or talented but undetermined.
@Failbait You must be either privileged or naive. Either way you have no idea what you are talking about.
@Failbait
Now I understand what you are saying. Basically: If you have a "thing" fo photography, you should work hard enough at it, and you should be able to buy a better camera.
If you aren't into photography enough that you don't care to work for the camera, you probably don't deserve it.
If you are just plain terrible at taking photos, a better camera generally wouldn't really help, so you also don't deserve it.
@sweet greggo
I'm neither. And let me reword that - you, don't know what I'm talking about. That doesn't mean I don't. Cmon, even the guy above me gets it.
@Failbait I understand exactly what you are saying, and what you are saying is wrong. You assume, no, EXPECT an artist with enough talent and desire should always be able to obtain high end equipment or materials to work with. If he doesn't, it's apparently his fault. This statement is ridiculous. The world is full of undiscovered and starving artists. There are probably millions of reasons why they will never be able to live comfortably through their talents alone, but desire isn't one of them.
@sweet greggo
An artist definitely doesn't blame the world around him/her. An artist may starve, but a good artist will walk well, my friend. So youre saying every artist should be simply discovered? There's another law for you; good artists are always surfaced :)
Based on all the reviews I've read on the 1D Mark IV, it's a great camera with a plethora of features you'd expect from the Canon EOS line. I still use a Canon 1Ds Mark II I bought several years ago and have that model because I want a full frame sensor (like the Nikon D3S) not one with 1.2 crop factor (1D models have the APS-H sensor). Needless to say, it's all about speed and low light performance for the 1D Mark IV and it pretty much delivers on all these accounts. So, what would I change? I would probably say, better low light performance like that of Nikon D3S (the low light tests in the review on Digital Photography Review clearly show this disparity) and lastly, Video features that don't feel like they were tacked on as an afterthought. I think if they put as much thought as they did into the 7D when adding Video to the 1D Mark IV, then we'd have the perfect marriage of technology.
@Failbait
You do realize that Van Gough only ever sold one painting whilst alive?
Perhaps he was undeserving...or just too "undetermined" to get off his lazy arse to market himself properly. Probably just sat around just painting instead.
I'd get rid of that stupid EYEPIECE... they keep coming off at some event. If Canon cant make a decent eyepiece that stays on they should do like Nikon and forget it all together!!!!
@choco
do you realize van lived in a different time with a radically different culture - and he didn't whine to need $6000 equipment, either.
I just want another 2 or 3 of these bodies. I've got one and suddenly all my other canon bodies just don't cut it.
(in Australia, it's over US$6500)
First :)
@iamjeffhong
Fail!
Price is the only issues I can see.
Quite honestly, I just want to see it shed about 4 grand....
I wouldnt mind upgrading from my 5D MKI... if only they would lower the price a little..
I have a dream that one day, Canon, Nikon, and other major SLR mfgs will set aside their historical differences and come together to create a universal mount.
That's all I ever really want from any SLR body.
@horchata
And I think that's what SLR producers don't want.
They want to lock you into their system and I hate that. I changed once and paid a lot. Then when I wanted to change back to previous system (for a specific reason) I could not.
What it really needs is a dedicated live view button. Why did they leave this out? If you can't have custom function using "set button as playback" without having LV turning on/off all the time. Grrr Canon!!! Aswell how come no spot focus without having a CF button on telephoto primes?
The jump straight to recording video is great custom function in my opinion
@Foundation I have this CF too, but how can you compose a scene without having tons of little clips? Its a bit annoying when i use the camera. Its like going back in time as for Canon setups. Every Canon HD-SLR has a LV button. Why not a MKIV???
@hfortysixit
But how much do you use live-view on 1D? Do you actually use it (I have used it once or twice).
@wmac I use LV all the time! Have you ever tried to focus with a TS-E 17mm with the view finder? Its impossible.
I'd make it a D3S with Canon quality video.
The 1D MK IV still isn't full frame like the 1Ds. If you merged the two cameras, with the speed of the 1D and the full frame lens capability & resolution of the 1Ds.... you'd have the perfect SLR camera.
@rlay001 I'd rather have lower pixel density - I don't like how Canon's gone on the whole megapixel race while nearly everyone else has been cutting back.
The 5DMk2 vs. the D700 for high-ISO performance is night and day, and the only reason this is the case is because Canon insisted on a whole lot more megapixels that nobody will use.
I love Canon lenses, but if I were going to go for a full-frame right now...
@potato Agreed on the pixel density, but I already have a $5k investment in Canon glass, so I don't see myself switching to Nikon anytime soon. I have some friends with 5D MKII, and just being able to really use wide angle lenses is what appeals to me most about full frame. Plus you get the nice big bright viewfinder. The primary difference this camera has over the 5D MkII is the speed. I'd actually prefer less bulk with a detachable 2nd shutter/extra battery compartment.
@rlay001 The perfect SLR wouldn't weight 2 KG.
the lack of the three custom modes the 5D2 has is an utter disappointment and a real loss, I wonder what Canon were thinking, leaving those away. Also they left away the silent shutter modes in Live View that were quite useful when shooting in quiet environments with the 5D2, another disappointment. That's about it though for me, at least what I can say after two weeks of shooting with it by now. All in all, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a large margin.
I love it, the feel, responsiveness, iso, frame rate but I truly miss the c1-c3 shooting modes of the 5d mk ii every day
I don't know... how about making it smaller than a brick?
@blland
Its battery is huge and lasts forever (you can remove it while the camera is still mounted on a tripod) and it's made out of tank armor.
It can be used to smash other cameras on the market into pieces, successfully.
@nickname76 what does that have to do with size reduction?
@nickname76
Fine, make the battery half the size, than it will last half of forever and be a lighter and easier to carry around.
@nickname76
This workhorse of a camera is designed to last forever. It needs lots of power to push the shutter at high speeds, the on-board processor, and optics. It's body is machined out of one block of metal. The battery lasts for half the day of constant shooting. I use this camera in -40 degrees celcius on occasion. I cannot imagine using anything smaller.
People that complain about its size, are missing the point of what this thing is; a totally reliable, top quality photography machine. You want something more portable for carrying around get a Powershot.
give me 6 grand and i'll let you know
Make it pretty, not even a mother could love that.
A buddy of mine is a famous product photographer, and he says that in his line of work, you really need the lens sharpness, resolution, tilt correction of medium/large format. 35mm equivalent is for photojournalism....even at this level.
@rlay001
There are a lot of professional fashion and product photographers who'd rather depend on the fast efficiency of 35mm equiv slr. My point is, your line of work isn't restricted by the type of camera you use, especially in this day and age.
@rlay001 "A buddy of mine is a famous product photographer, and he says that in his line of work, you really need the lens sharpness, resolution, tilt correction of medium/large format. 35mm equivalent is for photojournalism....even at this level. "
Ah, first off, the 1D MkIV was designed to be primarily used by photojournalist and sports photographers.
Second, I've been in photo retail for over 25 years, as well as a respected professional photographer for over 10 years, and a tech journalist for the past 3 years - IMIO there are quite a few current DSLR's that are more than capable of producing the quality of images needed for even the most demanding product photography. Many accept T&S lenses, as well as SOTA optics capable of outstanding resolution. In fact up until last year I was producing great product shots with my old Nikon D100 (6MP) and a MF T&S lens.
I don't know what your photographer friend's final output was, I'm sure there were times it required using a MF camera, but most pros I know do the vast majority of their shooting with Canons and Nikons saving the MF work for when its requested by the client. (And I used to just go rent one when I needed a MF.)
@greatpix I guess when you have a hammer, all you see is nails. He owns a PhaseOne MF digital back, so that's the majority of what he does. He also has a few Nikon D3 bodies and some great glass that he uses for field stuff. The best part of his setup is the studio where he has his strobes and giant camera mount. I'm sure you've seen his pictures. Let's just say he does a lot of computers and electronics on white backgrounds and lives in the Bay Area! He's even written a book on product photography.
Attach a phone to it.