The early Canon pro bodies came in pairs. The original EOS-1D had a 4MP APS-H sensor and could shoot at 8 frames a second until the buffer filled, while the EOS-1Ds had an 11MP sensor the same size as a 35mm negative, but could only manage about 3fps and filled the buffer much faster with its enormous image files.
So the larger sensor cameras were marketed for studio and landscape work while the higher frame rate APS-H bodies were aimed at photojournalists as well as wildlife and sports photogs. The 1D Mark IV, for instance, started shipping a couple months before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the timing was not a coincidence.
While the 1D Mark IV was the apex predator of the Canon lineup when it was new, sporting a $5000 price tag to match, used ones these days are obviously much cheaper, available for as little as $400 from KEH. The samples to look for, though, are the extremely good condition ones with low shutter counts.
A friend calls those "Doctor Cameras", referring to the well-heeled enthusiast photographers who buy the top-of-the-line pro gear, designed and engineered to give years of hard use and hundreds of thousands of shutter actuations, and then use it very little before flitting off to the next Ultimate Camera. Those buyers are a boon to us Poors who like to play with high end gear, as they inevitably clean out their camera closets every few years and sell the stuff to resellers like Roberts, MPB, or the aforementioned KEH.
It's kind of ironic to use a high-speed sports camera to take pictures of motorcycles from my usual perch at 54th & College in SoBro. It's not really a spot for action photography, being a flat four-way intersection in the middle of a city...but sometimes I get lucky!
These were all shot with the 1D Mark IV and Canon's EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens.
2 comments:
Dude on the Vincent has more money wrapped up in his boots than the home brew has in his whole bike.
The best thing about the dude on the Egli-Vincent is that not only does he have a selection of fabulous bikes on which to cruise the neighborhood, but he has matching togs for each one.
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