Re: Canon's finest imager, pixel per pixel
- From: "Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" <username@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 12:01:48 -0600
RichA wrote:
I overheard one of the clerks in a camera store say that in terms of
pixel per pixel quality,
Canon's 1D MkII N was the best imager Canon made. He said something
about
wildlife shooters liking it because it seemed to work best in that
areas.
I'm wondering if this is true?
It's obvious in terms of resolution, the 1Ds MkII is the top camera,
but if you were to take
a 6 megapixel patch of it's sensor, the same for the 5D and the same
for the 1D MkII N,
which one would produce the best image, from all standpoints such as
resolution, tonality,
dynamic range handling, etc?
The 1D Mark Ii (and N, which has same specs but larger buffer and
a couple of other minor things), is liked by wildlife photographers
because of its speed, not only in terms of frames per second,
but more importantly, autofocus speed. I use a 1D Mark II, and
of all the cameras I have used, it is the only one that when
following an animal, like a bird in flight against a complex
background, can I get back focus on the subject after losing it.
For example, say I'm following a bird toward landing. I use one
autofocus point, preferably on the bird's eye. If I slip off,
focus will switch to the new object in the autofocus sensor:
the background. On other cameras, like the D60, 10D, and 20D,
one rarely can get autofocus back on the bird once you put the
autofocus point back on the eye. But the 1D mark II gets it back
in a fraction of a second. This is important for me, as when I'm
tracking a fast moving subject with a 500 mm lens + 1.4 or 2x TC,
the field of view is small and the animal's path can be erratic,
so it is easy to lose the animal completely and easier to lose
the autofocus point on the eye. So a camera that acts quickly
is vital and results in more successful shots, like this:
http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.bird/web/eagle.c09.11.2004.JZ3F4717.b-700.html
Add that performance to large pixels. The 1D Mark II has 8.2 micron pixels
with a full well of 80,000 electrons, more than most cameras. See:
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedetail/evaluation-1d2
That combined with extremely low read noise provides for the highest
dynamic range in a single frame I have measured on any camera (see above page).
The high number of photoelectrons counted results in very low noise
images that can be enlarged very well. I make 16x24 inch prints
that have no noise yet have had Richardson-Lucy image restoration
applied to increase resolution and sharpness, effectively increasing
the pixel count by 4x.
I'm looking forward to more megapixels, higher bit depth, and equal or higher
speed in a future camera. But until then the 1DII is producing spectacular results.
My backup camera is a 10D. If it failed, I would have to choose between
a 5D, a 1DsII, or a 1D IIN. I'll probably go with a 1DIIN even though it
has fewer megapixels, but it is better in other important respects in my
opinion.
Roger
.
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