Rob Galbraith 1D Mark III Autofocus Update
If you’re a Canon EOS 1D Mark III shooter (or the 1Ds Mark III), then hopefully you’re aware that there’s been a firmware update to version 1.25 earlier this year. There’s also been a fix made for the factory’s AF calibration procedure. The open question is: “How well does it work now?”
Rob Galbraith has come out of 1D Mark III testing retirement and issued an update to the tome that has become their testing on the subject. From what Rob says, it seems that some shooters are seeing big improvements after service and the new firmware. The new calibration procedures seem to be doing a lot of good for those that had out-of-whack systems. That’s great news.
What isn’t good news is that AF tracking performance seems to be about the same as always. As designed, it seems that the 1D Mark III just doesn’t track as well as the AF system in the 1D Mark II. Rob saw this same tracking problems as before regardless of AF point configuration or burst-shooting mode. Read the rest of Rob’s 1D Mark III AF update for more information.
I’m really curious to see what Canon releases as the successor to this camera and what changes they make to the AF system. Hopefully, it’ll go better next time than it did this time. Not that I’m in any rush to jump back. I’m pretty happy with my D700s.
4 Comments
I expect Nikon is pretty happy with the continued focus problem with the 1D Mark III too. It's probably sold a few D3s and D700s.
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Derek, indeed Nikon benefited quite a bit. Just looking at the sidelines of the Olympics tells part of the story. Lots of black long lenses there. Sure, some of those were Nikon guys that had been shooting Canon and that were happy to "go back home". But there's little doubt in my mind that the AF issues accelerated that.
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Your link to "Rob’s 1D Mark III AF update" is broken.
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David, ah, the second link was busted. Fixed now. Thanks!
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