Canon EOS 1D Mk2

cstew

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Craig
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This is my latest purchase, actually only arrived today, so very early days! First impressions, hell fire it's a beast of a thing, I knew it was hefty, but until you get hold of one for the first time you can't really believe it. If anyone ever tries to nick it I reckon I could beat them round the head with it.

Second thing was getting used to the controls, I had read about the two button operation, but didn't actually realize how it worked, a bit odd but once I'd figured it out, doesn't seem like it will be too much of a problem in the future.

Some of the features that drew me to this particular model were it's reputation for excellent low light shooting, fast AF, durability and the dual memory card slots: built in backup, genius.

I currently just have a canon EF 50mm lens for it, need to save up for another lens, flash and some other bits.

Does anyone have any tips & tricks for this model, also recommendations for lenses would be good, I'm watching a EF 28-70mm at the moment. I don't really specialize in any particular style for photography so I'm looking for an all rounder lens, my budget isn't huge, but if I need to spend a little extra to get something special, I might be swayed (just don't tell the wife)
 
Welcome to the forum!

I had a 1Ds MK2 so I appreciate what you mean about the heft of the thing - I have a 1DIII and that is light by comparison!

You'll find the AF excellent and it is very durable. Before I start mentioning lenses, what sort of photography are you interested in?

Phil
 
Welcome to the forum Craig.

I loved my 1D2, great camera, enjoy it. If you need any spare batteries I can recommend 7dayshop compatibles, a fraction of the cost and work really well.

In terms of tips, if ever you find the rear control dial isn't working check the off switch hasn't been knocked in your bag, the first time it happened to me I was quite concerned.

BTW Lancashire and Yorkshire? Choose one man, there have been wars fought between the two ;)
 
Yeah the battery that came with it seems to be goosed, fully charged it and it's flashing after taking about 100 shots, found 2x 2200mah batteries on eBay for £34, the 7dayshop ones seem pretty reasonable as well. As I said I'm not really into any one genre of photography, which is why I'm after an all rounder lens, something like the 28-70mm, so I get wide angle, portrait and a little zoom action.

As for the Yorkshire/Lancashire thing, it's real war of the roses stuff here, I'm literally right on the border, it's a mile from my house, I cross it every day to go to work. The town is kind of a no mans land, it has been in and out of both counties over the years, unfortunately currently residing in Lancashire :'(
 
Well lens-wise ideally I'd want to have a 24-105. As the 1D2 is a 1.3 crop, a 28mm has a FF equivalent field-of-view of 36mm which may / may not be wide enough depending on your preference although 24mm only gives you 31mm equivalent. The other advantage of a 24-105 is that you'll get more of an all-rounder with the extra length.

24-105's go for around £500-£550, so if that's over budget I'd consider the 28-135 IS which is a decent lens with even more length and is more like £220.

Hope this helps

Phil
 
Another vote for the 24-105L. Constant f4, which may not look fast, but the IS means that with good technique you can shoot handheld at quite slow speeds. Of course the IQ (on mine at least) is top notch. Mine is a virtually permanent fixture on my 1D MkIII.
 
It has a very strong AA filter so files out of the camera may look a bit soft and require a bit more sharpening than other cameras, apart from that I used a mk2 for a few years and it was a good camera for most uses.
 
Yeah the battery that came with it seems to be goosed, fully charged it and it's flashing after taking about 100 shots, found 2x 2200mah batteries on eBay for £34, the 7dayshop ones seem pretty reasonable as well.

Hi there

It takes a while to do it (best done overnight) but you may well find if you do a 'refresh' rather than a 'charge' it will put the life back into your battery. Rather than just charging the battery, the refresh option fully discharges the battery and memory before recharging.

You probably know already but thought I'd mention it just in case.

5619210764_6a9331de74_b.jpg
 
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I fully charged then discharged the battery and I've just put it on a refresh cycle, see if that helps. I've also ordered a second one from 7dayshop as recommended.
 
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