Canon 5D MkII vs 1D MkIII

[phototrek]

If you have a choice and could afford the new 5D2 or the 1D3 which would you buy and tell us your reason for choosing one over the other? Also, did they correct the problem with the auto focus on the 1D3?

 

[tsaraleksi]

Depends on what you're doing with it. Sports / journalism / action would call for the 1D3, portrait / landscape / product / etc seems to call for the 5D2. The 1D series is a bit more versatile-- it can handle the other stuff too, but it's a bit of a waste of the speed and sacrifice in IQ if that's your main shooting outlet.

As you can see I went with the have my cake / eat it too approach.

 

[Iron Flatline]

What do you shoot? They're different tools.

Yes, AF is corrected (except for those few who enjoy complaining online.)

The 1D has a cropped sensor (1.3x I believe) but a very high frame rate, so it's great for sports. It's also great for wildlife... most notably the weather sealing which the 5D lacks.

Dunno where you live... I just moved from California to Germany, and I never thought about weather sealing twice. But it rains here a lot, and now I've come to love it. Had the 5D Mk I, upgraded to the 1Ds Mk III.

If all you're doing is shooting people indoors go with the 5D... it's smaller (this matters!) and has teh full sensor which allows you to take full advantage of wide-angle lenses.

 

[phototrek]

I shoot mostly landscape photos. I live in the northeast but do most of my shooting out west. I some times shoot wildlife but those are few and far between.

 

[Big Mike]

I would think that the 5D II is the better choice for landscapes, over the 1D III.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Agreed. Go with the 5D.

 

[phototrek]

If I buy the 5D2 the photos will take up a lot of disk space on my PC and compact flash. Is there anyway around this? What do you guys think about the 50D compared to the 5D2 and 1D3?

 

[tsaraleksi]

Buy more memory. Seriously, it's not like it's expensive anymore. When I started in digital photography a 1gb Ultra II was $80 (w/ a rebate!) that card today, if you could even find it, is maybe $15.

Chances are the 1D3 will result in you shooting a lot more photos than you would with the 5D so it probably balances out.

 

[Big Mike]

If I buy the 5D2 the photos will take up a lot of disk space on my PC and compact flash.

Yes. And if you edit in Photoshop and save layered PSD files...the files will be gigantic.
Fortunately, memory cards and hard drives are getting cheaper everyday...so don't worry too much about storage space. You may need to be concerned about computing power though...big image files can really drag you down if you don't have a fast processor and lots of RAM.
Also, some EOS cameras (including the 5DII) have settings that allow you to shoot in RAW, but not at the full resolution. So if you know you won't be making a poster size print, you can choose to get a smaller file.

What do you guys think about the 50D compared to the 5D2 and 1D3?

The 50D (and 40D) is a great camera...especially considering the price difference between it and these other two cameras. The 50D is more of a 'little brother' to the 1D3 than to the 5D. The 50D has some features that are better than the 5D, namely AF and shooting speed. This make it a better choice for action/sports shooting.
But if landscapes are gong to be your focus, I still think that the 5DII gets the nod because of it's larger sensor and great image quality.

 

[phototrek]

Too bad the build quality and seals of the 50D is not the same as 1D3 or 5D2.

 

[Big Mike]

I believe that the 50D and the 5DII have the same build quality and weather sealing.
The 1 series cameras are in a different class for both aspects...which is one reason they are so much more expensive.

 

[Village Idiot]

Buy more memory. Seriously, it's not like it's expensive anymore. When I started in digital photography a 1gb Ultra II was $80 (w/ a rebate!) that card today, if you could even find it, is maybe $15.

Chances are the 1D3 will result in you shooting a lot more photos than you would with the 5D so it probably balances out.

The 5D MKII can utilize UDMA cards, which can be expensive. I bought three 8GB San Disk ExIV cards for about $360. I get about 250 shots on a card.

 

[tsaraleksi]

Yeah but it's not like you have to use those.

 

[davebmck]

I've got three of the Sandisk 8gb Extreme III. These work fine with the 5DII and I paid $100 for the last two and got a $40 rebate, so they were only $30 each.

 

[keith204]

I usually use the transcend 8gb 133x orange cards - $17.99 and lots of people have real good luck with their reliability. I have had absolutely no problems with recording the full 12-minutes on the 8 and 16gb Transcend 133x cards. Also, the 12-minute limit is on the clip, not the card - in other words, a 16gb card will hold 48-minutes of 1080p, but you'll have to hit one button every 12 minutes.