Canon EOS-1D Mark II N

Well, I have to say that I am truly impressed with this camera. A friend of mine got his about a month ago, so I have played with it a little bit, but since I got mine on thursday, I have really gotten to explore the many features and performance differences beween this camera and the 20D that I upgraded from. Having used a few original 1D cameras, a 1D mark II, the 20D with battery grip and a 5D, the size and weight of this camera really doesnt bother me (I have heard so many people complain about the size and weight before...) I actually really like the feel of the 1D mark II N. There is only a slight difference between the original 1D Mark II's feel and the N, but if you hold them side by side you notice it. The autofocus is absolutely stunning. Having used a 20D for a year and a half, I had forgotten how nice it is to have those 45 highly sensitive autofocus points! As soon as you pick up this camera and hold that shutter button half way down, you realize why this is the #1 choice of many of the best photojournalists. The body construction is the highest quality I have ever seen in a camera, but of course is very similar, if not identical to the other 1D series cameras. Compared to the 20D and 5D though, this thing just feels solid. Another stunning feature is, of course, the speed at which the 1D Mark II N can capture images... 8.5 frames per second! Just as the 1D and 1D Mark II have done for the past few years, this camera holds its own to all other cameras in its class, with 22 frame raw bursts at 8.5 frames per second. I hardly ever shoot jpeg, but i did test it and found the 48 frame buffer to be quite impressive. Packing two 2 gig Sandisk Ultra II cards (a CF and an SD) I have the capacity for about 450 total shots. The screen, of course, is fantastic, and blows any Nikon camera's menu and image review quality out of the water. The 1.3x crop factor is certainly an improvement over the 20D's 1.6x, and the bigger sensor definitely yields better image quality in low light due to the lower signal-to-noise ratio. Overall, color reproduction, metering, exposure and sharpness are all much better than the 20D. As a newspaper photographer, I end up having to take a LOT of notes for caption information, so the upgrade to the 1D Mark II N was very convenient due to the fact that it allows for voice recording right alongside images. Having only gotten my camera on thursday, I have done about 3 shoots, but the trouble that the voice recording feature has saved me is very very noticable, and I have been able to get 75% more caption information than I ever did with a notebook. The camera performs great in the studio, and images are beautiful, as would be expected. I have yet to make any photographic prints from this camera, but I'm sure they will look stunning.

Body Construction, Speed, Image quality, Battery life, Custom functions, Personal Functions, Auto-focus, Sensor size (1.3x as opposed to 1.6x), Weatherproofing, LCD screen, Price.

USB 1.1 for direct connect to computer, but who would use that anyway when you can use firewire? It really isnt a big deal for me, but I had to put something here.

Canon Eos 1D, 1D Mark II, 5D, 20D, 10D

Canon's customer service has always been outstanding, and I feel confident that IF I ever had a problem with my camera, they would be there for me no matter what.

Having used the original 1D for three years I found the switch to the MKII N simple. The first thing you notice once turning it on is the larger LCD alloes much easier viewing of the cameras menu's. This is a great help, not only for the menu's but for viewing the photos and related screen such as the histogram. The larger LCD also has the capability to zoom in up to 15 times allowing you to check focus, something the original 1D sorely lacked. The LCD alone was worth the upgrade. One of the first things I noticed when taking the first few photos with the camera was the AF appears faster as well. This was proved again this past week when I shot and indoor race and the AF was almost instant. Another change is the "instant" on, as it is ready to shoot as soon as you turn it on or as soon as you touch the shutter button to bring it out of sleep mode. Another plus, and probably the biggest for the old 1D users is the power management that increases battery life. I have gone a week at a time without charging the battery. I even shot three full football games in one day on a single battery, unheard of with the original 1D which was lucky to get a single game from one battery (normally just a half in my case). At the recent indoor race I had the camera on from 9am to 10:30pm before having to change batteries. The addition of color temperature control of red, green, amber and magenta on the white balance makes fine tunning the white balance in tough lighting a much easier task, and has come in handy at some locations I shoot at that have tunstien lighting that normally gives photos a yellow tint. The difference between the buffer of the old 1D is the ability to get 49 frames oat full jpg quality instead of 20, important for sports, especially racing and trying to catch all the action from "the big one". It's a beast, and high power tool for sports photographers and photojournalists that can't be beat by any present pro camera.

Power management Color temperature control and white balance control 8.5 FPS 8.2 mega pixel 48 continous frames Weather/dust sealing CF & SD card slots - can write simultaneously or individualy AF speed Weight - helps with panning

none that I have found.

Canon 1D Canon 20D Canon 5D

Canon service is excellent in most cases. They do need to keep the website up to date though as I was not able to register the camera online or find manuals online when I bought mine 2 weeks after it went on sale.