­

CANON EOS 1Dx MkII – TT ROAD TEST – Part 1

Testing Canon’s latest flagship model, the EOS 1Dx MkII under some of the most arduous conditions possible during the Isle of Man TT races.

This is the first of a few short blogs relating to this test and while Canon are keen to point out the improved low light capabilities I was interested to compare performance with the original 1Dx in the unusually bright, high-contrast conditions we experienced on the Isle of Man.

For those who may be reading this and are not familiar with the Isle of Man TT races, they are held over a two-week period at the beginning of June on public roads with top riders reaching speeds of 200mph and who AVERAGE over 133 mph for the duration of the 37.73 mile circuit. This means that at best, they will pass the camera every 17 minutes, and they will do this for a maximum of six times during a race. For a photographer covering the event and working for a number of clients with high expectations, having the equipment to do the job is imperative.

FOLLOW FOCUS

On picking up the camera it was like being re-united with an old friend – the controls were familiar as were the menus. To start with I input most of the settings I have in the 1Dx’s I have been using for the last two years and which although they are a little battle scarred have served me valiantly, having only returned to Canon’s Elstree Service Centre for routine maintenance.

1P2A0017

The trusty old EOS 1DX has certainly seen some action!

1P2A0015

The trusty old EOS 1DX has certainly seen some action!

Many photographers may be horrified at the amount of wear shown on these bodies but they are the tools of my trade and I don’t have the time to mollycoddle them – they need to be reliable and work for me no matter how they look – both my bodies have shutter counts in excess of 250,000 frames and both still operate perfectly in spite of being used in sub-zero Norwegian winter and 40 degree/90% humidity in the Far East, so I think I can safely say, they have been tested to the extreme!

Back to the EOS 1Dx MkII. The first thing I noticed was the crisp feeling and sound of the shutter at the 14 frame per second firing rate. This raised a question. It is all well and good having a 14 fps burst rate, but could the autofocus keep up? With bikes accelerating hard and at such high speed only time would tell. The answer was found after images were downloaded following the first evening practice session, and was a resounding – yes. If the technique was good, the images were sharp – not every one, but certainly the vast majority.

[vls_gf_album id=”16″ v1_id=”5685″]

From one, 27 frame test, 24 images were sharp enough for use across a double page magazine spread giving the editor a wide variety of angles from which to make his choice. The unsharp ones could be put down to technique. (For the record, I do not normally shoot such long bursts but did so for the sake of this test)

CFast cards are certainly recommended when shooting this way as even with higher speed CF Cards, the buffering is noticeable – particularly when shooting CR2 and large jpegs.

Words:  James Wright 2016
Images: © Double Red
Not for publication

Links:
Canon UK  I  Canon EUROPE  I  IOM TT  I  Steam Packet Ferry  I  John McGuinness

Comments : 0