1D Mk III, 1D Mk IIN or 7D?

[Wheelman]

Ok first post over here, those of you from the other side may already have seen it there

I am considering the purchase of another Canon body as although I like my 5D the auto focus is a bit too slow for my main use which is motor sport of various flavours.

The dilemma is on which model to go for. Now if funds where unlimited I would go for a 1D Mk IV but they aren’t so the choices seem to be:-

S/H 1D MK III
Should do all I want and prices are just about in my affordable zone, however there is, if various reports on the web are to be believed, still an issue with focusing on panned shots. For my intended main use this could obviously be a problem.

S/H 1D MK IIN
Again should do all I want but will obviously be older and has fewer MP and less bells and whistles although as I have never used all the toys on any of my cameras since the A1 this probably wont be a problem. It does seem that it still out performs the MK III in focusing on panned shots

New 7D
Looks to be very good but perhaps not quite the build quality and feel of a 1. Auto focus is supposed to be very good. Is obviously newer so processing/high ISO performance should be better than the Mk II and probably the Mk III. Only down side I can see at the moment is that it won’t auto focus at F8 (I use my 300 F4 with a 2x on occasion)

I think I would probably have chosen the Mk III if I was not concerned about the AF, but this is probably because I used a 1V quite a lot (and still use it albeit not so much now)

Has anyone first hand experience of a 1D III with panning shots? Or either of the others for that matter.

Confused of (near) Tunbridge Wells

[shaun2k]

hi and welcome,

I wish i could afford any of those...

anyways i'd go mark 3, i cant see it having that much of an issue on panning shots, many pro's use it,, and teamed with a good lens you will not go wrong i'm sure..

dont want to swap your 5d for a k7 do you? ...i can dream

nice to have you here

heres some shots from the mark 3 whilst panning

[Mike Lowe]

Slight divulgence from the question asked, but: Also take note of the sensor sizes in the three cameras you cite, as each is different. 7D is the smaller, 1D is mid-sized and the 5D is the only full-framer. Whether this'll make a difference to your decision I don't know, but it'll convert your current lenses to different equivalents across the two bodies - which you may find an advantage or a hindrance, depending on what you're after.

[danob]

Personally I had the same decision and went for the 1DMK111 check for a blue dot on the box to ensure you have a copy with no AF issues But I am very pleased with it.. Build quality and focus with 10fps is hard to beat

[PKW]

Why not have a look at the 5D MKII?

[thetrashcanman]

+1 for the 1D Mk 3, although unfortunatley I have no experience of the panning shots problem, if your really worried about that, which is a given for the sort of photography you want to do with it, and you can't find a firm answer, I would definatley suggest the 7D, remember with the cropped sensor you'll be getting quite a big extension on your focal length of your lens, so you may not even need the 2x extender. Hence eliminating the f8 problem