The Canon 1D is a pretty amazing piece of machinery. Consider the shot below (and yes, I know I promised no more polo; sorry):
The polo pony is heading towards your intrepid photographer at considerable speed. I point the camera at it and half press the shutter. The camera immediately locks focus, and it also starts a process in one of its many onboard computers to calculate where the horse will be if and when I want to take a photo. It’s called predictive focusing and it is needed because:
If I press the shutter to take a shot, there is a very small delay while the lens is stopped down, the mirror is lifted and the shutter is opened. During that delay time, the horse will have moved closer to me and if the focus is based upon the position of the horse when I pressed the shutter, then the shot will be slightly out of focus. So instead the camera works out how fast the horse is coming towards me, the direction of travel, whether or not is accelerating or decelerating, and, after allowing for the delay that will occur before the shot is taken; predicts where the horse will be at the time the image is captured.
I find that rather mind-boggling; but it gets even more technically impressive if I keep my finger on the button.
To take the first shot, it had to take a meter reading for the exposure, lift the mirror to an upright position, shut down the aperture of the lens to the F stop required, move the glass in the lens to the predicted focus position, and then open the shutter for the appropriate length of time to capture the image. Then close the shutter, open up the lens aperture and drop the mirror. Job done; but if I still have my finger on the shutter it will immediately do all that again (including recalculating the focus and aperture), and it will do that for up to ten shots every second. Quite extraordinary. And quite necessary; the shot above was one of seven in a sequence, the rest are boring. Without ten frames a second, I may have missed this moment.
Of course, to make all this work you also need a lens with a good wide aperture and a focusing mechanism which will work in speedy unison with the messages coming out from the camera body; a 300mm F2.8 perhaps.
Then all the photographer has to do is point the camera in the right direction, anticipate,and be ready to pump the shutter when the time comes; and out will pop photos like the above. Oh, and you need about $10,000 to buy the camera and lens combination.
A little on the pricey side, is there not a cheaper solution, a Panasonic GX1 perhaps? Let’s find out.
First thing to note is that DSLRs like the 1D use something called Phase Detection to obtain focus and cameras such as the GX1 use something called Contrast Detection. Traditionally, Contrast Detection has been considered inferior because, unlike Phase Detection, when it is out of focus it doesn’t know whether it is front or back focused. So it moves the lens one way and checks. Oops, wrong way, and it goes in the other direction in a series of iterative staggers until focus is obtained. This made it much slower than the DSLR solution. But progress, particularly by Panasonic and Olympus, means that the likes of the GX1 can focus on a static object as quickly as, and often quicker than, a DSLR. Once obtained, Contrast Detection focus tends to be more accurate and is not plagued by the calibration issues that many DSLR/lens combinations suffer from (been there, been frustrated by that).
In practice I can’t differentiate between the 1D and the GX1 in terms of focus acquisition time on a static subject, they are both almost instantaneous.
But what if your subject is moving?
Prowling Walking Street at night, I had already established that focus tracking on the GX1, even in the near dark, works really well:
Next step was to try something a little faster; motorbikes on Pratumnak Hill:
Not in the same league as the “got focus in a nanosecond and will never let go, not ever, not even if you paid me” 1D, the GX1 nevertheless found focus reasonably quickly, locked onto the subject for several seconds (although it sometimes lost interest and wandered off), and then delivered a sharp shot when required. Certainly acceptable and much better than my previous failed attempts with the GF1.
And so to the big one, polo. To be fair to the GX1, I could only sneak shots when the pack was doing something unexciting at the far end of the field, and I had to take every shot with approximately ten kilos of Canon swinging from my neck. But I did manage to grab a few, e.g.:
* Panasonic GX1 with 100-300mm lens at 300mm (effective 600mm)*
Grabbing focus was a bit of a chore, especially if trying to pan a sideways shot, and maintaining focus while waiting to take a shot was hit and miss. When I did take a shot I could usually only get one before the focus gave up; although it occasionally staggered through the three per second it was meant to be taking.
What to conclude from all this? The GX1 is a stunningly fast camera when taking static subjects and does a good job of tracking slow to medium speed objects. If you wanted some shots of a high-speed event, and were not weighed down, literally and contractually, to having to concentrate on gathering shots with another camera; then I am sure it could give you enough keepers to serve as a record of your attendance, whilst simultaneously annoying the crap out of you when you missed certain shots.
If you really need/want to nail endless perfect images at sporting events, then you are going to have to pony (sic) up for a monster DSLR and associated fast lens. If you are just an occasional sports shooter, then I reckon the GX1 will give you enough pleasing images to satisfy you without having to drain your energy reserves and your bank balance.
Comments 🔗
2012-04-13| JL saysHi there,
i ordered my GX1 with a leica 25mm last week and since then ive been unable to do anything else but to read reviews and sample images.
…then i found this blog! Im amused by it! By looking at your well done pictures, sharp images, creamy bokehs and such a good image quality im more than happy to made the decision to buy it.
I have a 5d mkii and im getting tired of its bulkiness! (commercial photographer living in Guatemala) In going to use it now only for work. But for personal photography i have a feeling the GX1 is gonna be my favorite personal photography camera!In two of weeks im going 3 months to Barcelona and i think im gonna take only the future-to-be-beloved Gx1 25mm combo! Its gonna be well tested in street photography! Lets see what happens in a couple of days when its delivered! (i think i would end up buying the 45mm also!)
Im also amused by your sarcasm (especially the “she who must be obeyed” and the very impressive Toyota chassis…
2012-04-14| Spike saysI’m sure you’ll find the GX1/25mm a load of fun to shoot with. Report back on how you find it. Toyota chassis?
2012-04-14| JL saysYep, ill report back!
The lovely Toyota chassis from your Bang Saen Speed Festival post!
2012-04-14| Spike saysAh yes, a most excellent chassis.