Ed's note: This is probably the most unfair test we've ever done. We took one of the most complicated cameras on the planet and placed it in the hands of a slightly startled reader. Just for good measure we made sure the manual was sitting on a desk 60 miles away. Let's see how he coped...
The North wind did blow but with the promises of an interesting box of goodies to review your intrepid bunch of reviews descended on the Think Camera top secret test ground, well a nice little studio tucked away in beautiful if wind swept Sussex countryside, for the Think Camera Studio Shoot out. It would seem that this was going to be a difficult day as Jonathan started by asking a question, not do you want tea or coffee but “in a studio shoot situation what would be the perfect choice of lens?” Well, an 85 mm prime would be nice but which one to fit my Canon? There's an f1.8 and an f1.4 isn't there? At this point as if by magic Jonathan produces the fastest lens Canon has in their current line-up the EF 85 mm f/1.2L USM attached to a EOS 1Ds Mark II, now I knew this was going to be a good day.
Before I begin I should introduce myself, I am a 27 year old rocket scientist who takes photographs in his spare time, well no that's not exactly true. That's my double personality you see, although I have worked with the odd rocket scientist. I am in fact a 42 year old electronics engineer who now does stuff with software. I have had an active interest in photography from when I was about 16, when my electronics lecture added a photography module to the course to make up the time because slide photography was his passion. Back then I had an Olympus OM-2n, later on getting a couple of Minolta Dynax film cameras. This all changed for me in 2004 with the release of the Canon 300D, the first sub £1000 DSLR. In the end I purchased a second hand 10D as I preferred the weight, and I have recently moved up to a Canon EOS 5D.
Now the 1Ds and 85mm f1.2 is a heavy weight entry, in more ways than one. This combination comes in at a hefty 2.5kg and for the cost of these two you could buy a new car and still have change. They have got to be something special.
Let's start with the 1Ds. When I saw this camera in Jonathan's hands I very quickly took it off him, and I did not read the manual (although I am not sure we had one at the studio). It's a Canon, so the user interface should not be a problem. Wrong.
Controls
A cursory look at the back of the 1Ds and it looks very familiar, the top plate is a bit different but you can see the family resemblance. The biggest difference is that there is no mode dial on the left hand side of the top plate; this has been replaced by three buttons.
The centre button is used in combination with either the front or back button to adjust the exposure mode, AF mode, Metering Mode, Flash Compensation, drive mode, ISO and ISO bracketing. The buttons are pressed then the setting selected by using either the small main dial which is at the top front of the hand grip behind the shutter release or the larger quick command thumb wheel on the back.
At first the buttons seemed fiddly but after a while you get used to the changes. When looking at the way you control this camera you have to remember the market that it is targeted at: the professional photographer. The controls are setup so you can not accidentally change something, I have to say I have snagged the mode dial on several cameras and changed the settings more than once, and I bet I am not the only one. That is just some thing that will not happen with the 1Ds. An initially confusing layout is a small price to pay for knowing the camera will be set up as you last left it. Of course you'll need to study the 1DSMkII to get the best out of it.
As we are in a studio setting I set the camera up for manual exposure, at ISO 200, using the mode buttons, then the required aperture can be selected using the command wheel on the camera back while the shutter speed is adjusted using the main dial on the top of the grip.
Handling
Like most of the modern Canon DSLRs these settings are displayed on the LCD panel on the top right side of the camera, together with the other photographic settings on the camera, such as metering mode, focus mode and battery state, this panel also has a backlight button, which was quite helpful in the studio because surprisingly some areas of it where quite dark.
The photographic settings LCD is not the only LCD panel on this camera, there are two others, there is a large bright review screen which can be used to review your work, either a single image, single image with shooting information or as either a 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 image index. There is also the ability to see which folder on the storage card you are using or create new ones, (See later for more on this feature). To display your images just press the display button on the back of the camera. You can cycle through the images by pressing the display button and turning the quick command dial on the back. Changing the review mode is accomplished by pressing the select button and turning the quick command dial, normally switching between full screen and image plus shooting information.
The final LCD panel is small one below the main panel on the back this basically gives information on the digital side of the camera, such as image quality, white balance setting, folder and file number.
Unlike the Canon 5D that I am used to, the 1Ds takes both a Compact Flash card and a Secure Digital card, these are located in a compartment in the hand grip. The door is sprung loaded and is opened by a half twist on a knob which is normally this is folded flat against the back of the camera. Canons don't react well to your opening the door while shooting (they shut down and lose all pictures in the buffer) so it's nice to have a double secure lock. It is possible to select which card is used from the display, something I did accidentally when playing with the camera controls. I got a nasty shock when I gave Jonathan the CF card after my first session shooting and he told me it was blank! All the images were safe on the SD card!
Performance
Enough on describing the camera, I hear you all calling, what's it like to shoot pictures with? Well it's brilliant....
Oh you want more, OK.
I mentioned at the start of this article that this is a heavy weight camera. The magnesium alloy body alone weighs in at just over 1.5kg with the battery fitted. However the body has deep built in hand grips for using the camera in both the landscape or portrait orientation and the camera can easily be used in either orientation. All the main controls you are going to need while the camera is at you eye are replicated in both positions. I would say I have average sized hands and the grip felt firm and solid in my right hand with my left supporting the lens. I would expect someone with larger hands than mine to also find this setup fine; this may not be the case for someone with smaller hands.
Lifting the camera to your eye and looking through the view finder brings a whole new world of light and information to the user. If you're used to using a film SLR and then moved onto a DSLR with its cropped sensor and smaller darker view finder, the 1Ds view finder is a treat. You get a full 35mm frame sensor with 16.7 mega pixels and a great deal more light into the viewfinder. Around the image screen is all the information you could need. Along the bottom you have shutter speed, aperture, ISO, auto exposure lock and focus confirmation indicators. On the right hand side are the exposure and flash compensation readouts as well as an indicator of how full the memory buffer is when shooting in continuous mode.
A half press on the shutter release brings the camera to life, the camera focuses. Slightly more pressure and bang! the image is captured. Now the first thing that came to mind when I squeezed off my first frame on this camera was actually how quiet it seemed. It is also smooth with very little vibration.
After taking my first frame I had to pick up my camera and take a frame with it as a comparison, the 5D is not a cheap camera but in comparison it felt almost agricultural in its internal movements. I did find the amount of pressure to activate the shutter was very slight, and the transition from half pressed to firing the shutter hard to judge at first, but after a few false starts I soon got used to it. However I have to say I had the same problem when I switched from the 10D to the 5D, you just need to learn the feel of a new camera.
Verdict
This camera is built for a job, if I was a photo journalist, working in harsh environments or in the milling paparazzi squeeze outside Madonna's gym, I would want the 1Ds, its built to last, with controls that once set won't get changed inadvertently. Is it a camera I would buy - no, I could not justify the cost. As I said its built for a job and I don't do that job.
If you want to join us on the next ThinkCamera Reader Shoot Out then just drop me an email.
