The 1D MK4 builds upon the success of the legendary 1D series with expanded ISO performance, HD video recording and 10 frames per second continuous shooting. As we found out, famed skateboard photographer Steve Gourlay wants one.
Words and photos by Steve Gourlay.
As we all know, tech talk can be boring as bat shit so please hang in there if you like cameras and what they can do.
This camera body, the Canon EOS1dMK4, is the beast that produces all the best current skate, snow and surf images you would see in print, not to mention in the hands of photojournalists, wild life photogs and other sports dudes worldwide. They all use this DSLR to create beautiful images.
A little background. Back in 2001 Canon introduced the 1D series cameras that were the forefathers of this model which were on the forefront of digital technology at the time. These were met with some stiff competition (and still are) but always remain the driving force in Pro DLSR’s. If I can make a sweepingly brief spiel for those who are interested but are not sure of the stats, the Mk4 is basically twice as good in product features/stats as the MK 2 and MK3 which were the best DSLR’s made at the time. The reason why I refer to the MK2 is I’ve been shooting with one for years now and it’s been fucking incredible to say the least. Sorry for swearing Mum but my hearts in this one.
Reviewing a camera is not like reviewing a CD or a new car, you can’t just talk about wishy washy shit like what cool hat the lead singer wears or whether the car conforms with the latest ANCAP safety ratings. One has to dig kinda deep and talk about some nerdy technical shit that briefly explains why this body is what it is.
Firstly it’s a 16 megapixel aps CMOS dual digic four processor sensor… WTF you may ask? This means this mini computer will process massive files extremely quickly, how quickly? Well lets start with saying its motor drive will shoot 10 frames in 1 second, and can do this for up to a 120 frame burst. Great for action sequences – TICK! Flash sync at 1/300th of a second – TICK!
Light sensitivity is now from standard ISO100 (for bright sunny conditions) to ISO12, 800 which is great for really seedy dark stripper joint type photos. Now if this strip joint is really fucking seedy it gives you an option to boost the ISO to ISO102, 400. The actual quality of the images from ISO100 – 1600 are outstanding, anything above this has minimal digital noise with great colour and contrast.
The build, function and design of this camera hasn’t really changed all that much in 10 years, this is testament to the design of the interface in the original camera, it worked well. This thing’s basically weather proof, it will handle full on dust storms and torrential rain but I wouldn’t try and put it in the bath, that will bugger it up. I have dropped my old one from 7ft up a ladder and it still works fine, but again I wouldn’t try to drive over it to see how tough it is, remember it’s a camera.
It will also film proper HD (high definition) video at 1080p and play back straight to your TV or MAC (and PC), shoot live view, and shoot stills while recording HD all thru a anti reflection 3 inch screen.
It probably sounds like Canon are paying me to write this. I wish they were. So I have one question for you Canon, how can you make a Pro camera this good and not have a full frame sensor? This is THE only thing going against this camera… Other than that, it’s incredible!
[This article originally appeared in Issue 15 of Pop Magazine].
