1D Mark II AF as X-pected… « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

1D Mark II AF as X-pected...

What’ Up

Me early, at the IPT hotel. Discovered lots on my afternoon scouting run at Fort DeSoto. I am headed out for some morning scouting in about 5 minutes which will be 5:50am. I have a micro-adjusting/1.4X III TC tale of woe to share with you soon…


The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 186 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.


black-bellied-plover-breeding-plumage-_a0i2499-fort-desoto-park-pinellas-county-fl

This image was created at Fort DeSoto with the a Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted
Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II w/Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop (should have been +1 1/3 stops): 1/400 sec. at f/10. Daylight WB.

The AF Point two rows up and two rows to the left of the center AF point!/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point fell on the left side of the bird’s neck nicely on the same plane as the bird’s eye. See the DPP 4 screen capture below.Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Black-bellied Plover in near complete breeding plumage

1D Mark II AF as X-pected…

Two days ago I wrote And at f/8, I will have all the AF points active. This will be a huge plus for me as I often use the 2X III TC with my 500 or 600 II lenses, and the same will be true when I use the 1.4X III with the 100-400 II and the 1D X II. Well, the ability to choose any AF point with the 1DX II is even better than I expected; no more rear focus and re-compose (except when you need to focus on something outside of the AF array).

The AF system has a different feel from any that I have worked with previously and will take a bit of getting used to. I plan on working with the 1DX II almost exclusively on the Fort DeSoto IPT.


blbpldpp4scrncapt

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

When I went to convert my first 1DX II image in DPP 4 it came up with the dreaded X on the image indicating that the version of DPP 4 that I was running did not support the new camera. A much-too-difficult online search brought me here and I was able to download and install Digital Photo Professional Version 4.4.30.2.

The illuminated red square indicates the selected AF point. For as long as I can remember, folks using big lens with the 2X TCs have dreamed of having all AF points available. With the 1DX II, that dream has been realized. I for one am very glad. Another plus is that moving the AF point from side to side is seamless as it is with the 5DS R. Fortunately, the AF grid void problem exists only with the 7D Mark II.


dpp-4-guide

You can order your copy of “The Photographers’ Guide to Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0” (aka the DPP 4 Raw Conversion eGuide) by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris by clicking here.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

The RAW file for today’s image was of course converted in DPP 4. Learn how and why I and many other discerning photographers choose and use only DPP 4 to convert their Canon RAW files in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. The latest version supports all of the newer Canon camera bodies and several older models including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. The DPP IV Guide is the ideal companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide, a runaway best seller.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF) Updated for 1D Mark IV and the original 7D

The DPP 4 eGuide was recently updated to include the luminance and chrominance noise reduction values for both the 1D Mark IV and the original 7D. If you purchased your copy from BAA please e-mail Jim and request the DPP 4 1d IV/7D update. Please be sure to cut and paste page 1 into your e-mail as proof of purchase.

There will be a new update of DPP 4 that will include info on the latest version, 4.4.30.2, and will also include Arash’s NR values for the 5DS R and the 1D X II.

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I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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Typos

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6 comments to 1D Mark II AF as X-pected…

  • Typo: The link to the tripod under the first image got messed up, it shows HTML-code.

  • I’m looking forward to reading your impressions of the X-II. Do enjoy Ft. D!

  • avatar Matteo Bianchi

    I had the occasion to test the 1dx mark II coupled with an extender 1.4x III and ef 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L is usm (the first version). I was not expecting such an improvement about the autofocus performances, in terms of speed as well as accuracy and precision: even with the lateral af point, the focus acquisition was pretty fast.

    With the 1d mark IV such combination of lens and extender causes a significant loss of autofocus speed, but apparently the limitation is mainly due to the autofocus system of this camera, comparing the (much better) results obtained with the 1dx mark II.

    I suppose that with the 100-400 II the performances would be much superior.

    • avatar Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

      Agree. The 100-400 II/1.4X III/1DX II AF is superb. See the Sandwich Tern diving blog post coming soon. a