Bulletins and Notes Archive

I will be doing several programs this weekend for the Space Coast Birding Festival.  There are tons of great field trips and programs and I am excited!  If you are  anywhere near Titusville, FL, come on down!  For details, click on:

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON THE EOS 1v

 

While I have not been able to purchase my own EOS 1v software, a client on one of the Cape May IPTs was kind enough to load several of the personal functions that I was interested in.   I can now bracket continuously and choose to alternate exposures while bracketing (i.e., making two exposures rather than having to make three).  You  can toggle between 2-frame and 3-frame AEB.  In addition, I have the camera set up so that it will not fire with the camera back closed unless there is film in the camera. 

 

In Cape May, I was once again lured into using Automatic Focusing Point Selection (AFPS).  I swore, after my Pribilofs trip, that I would NEVER again use AFPS for flight, and would rely instead on the central focusing sensor. The lure of AFPS is that it locks on quickly and holds focus easily with flying birds against sky backgrounds.  The problem, however, and this is one very big HOWEVER, is that with birds flying towards you, autofocus tracking accuracy is poor.  I did make some very sharp flight shots of accipiters using AFPS, but the degree of sharpness and the consistency of tracking an incoming raptor and attaining accurate focus was not nearly as good as it was with either the old A2 series bodies or with the EOS 1n bodies.  It is my firm belief that the EOS 1v's  AF tracking accuracy in AFPS does not perform any where nearly as well as it should (and I believe that the same is true of the EOS 3).   

 

The question now remains, "Is AF tracking accuracy using the EOS 1v's central sensor satisfactory?"  At present, I am unsure but plan to resolve the issue in my mind at last on my upcoming visit to Bosque Del Apache NWR in New Mexico.  I will shoot flight with the 600 IS (with and without the 1.4X TC) and the 400 f/5.6 using an EOS 1v, an A2, a 1n, and, if I can get my hands on one, the new Elan VII.  I will mark each roll as to the camera body (and TC) used and then compare the results.  My gut feeling is that both the A2 and the EOS 1n will outperform the EOS 1vs. 

 

If this is true, I will continue to use the EOS 1v for my  everyday bird photography as it does offer many great features that I use and love, but will choose another body for flight shooting.  Note, also, that AFPS performs superbly in some situations.  It is great for making vertical images of tall birds (especially those that are walking parallel to the film plane), and for making vertical and horizontal head, head and neck, or head, neck, and shoulders portraits.  In all of these situations, AFPS  allows you to place the subject just about anywhere in the frame that you would like while focusing accurately.

 

If you have any friends who dismiss my positive comments about some Canon products as coming from a "paid Canon shill," please forward this Bulletin to them.  Thanks.