Girl and Dawg

This was taken with the Mark II and 70-200 f/2.8 ISO 100.
This lens is amazing, very sharp.

Track Meet Shoot

Here are some images from the track meet I shot today. I have to say I was very happy with the cameras performance today. I think I am finally getting the hang of it. I used the Mark II with the 400mm f/2.8 lens ISO 100 Aperature Priority. Raw image format.

Real world test

Today I had 3 shooting assignments and chose to bite the bullet and use the Canon. It worked very well, the only hang up is I still can't use the equipment as fast as I could the Nikon. But I am confident that the "second nature" feel of the camera will come sooner or later. My biggest comment to Canon would be make the auto focus selection a ONE BUTTON process!!!! The process of having to push a combo of buttons and two different control dials is very cumbersome.
The other thing I have noticed consistantly is that the exposures tend to be on the over exposed side by at least 3/4 to a full stop. Also the latitude of exposure is less than that on the Nikon, it reminds me of shooting with Kodachrome in the old days.....
My biggest advice is to always shoot in the raw format, you can make up for a lot of sins of shooting in post production and Photoshop CS2's camera raw is fantastic! Watch out though, the file size can be daunting.
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More Images

Here are a few more images from yesterday. I think I have really started to figure out the auto focus. I noticed that setting the AF point to "auto" works very well, it is just against everything I stand for in photography, but then I said that when zoom lenses came out...showing my age a bit now....
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A new day

OK everyone tired of hearing me whine? I have come to a conclusion that I will NOT let this camera system beat me, if a majority of pros out there are using Canon then why am I letting it kick my ass? I am a pro so it is time to act like one. If this camera were as easy as a pointshoot camera the pros wouldn't touch it. As a die hard Nikon fan my whole life I have to realize this is NOT a Nikon. I have to change my mind set about shooting without changing my whole approach and style to photography. I have to make this camera adapt to MY style not vice versa. If I can't change and attack something new then get me the blue vest and stick me at a Wal-Mart entrance to start my new career as a greeter.

Back Yard Shoot

Here are some images from a quick shoot in my back yard. I always thought the more you use new equipment, you get use to it, this is still not happening with the Canon. The highlights are really getting blown out. I am getting a bit more comfortable with the focus, I finally found a good source of info from Canon, it is the white paper they published about the camera. It had several good tips.
I would have to say though that I give this camera less than a %50 chance of staying as my
work camera, I frankly would rather shoot with a D70 than this bloated fickle piece of equipment.
I really hope I change my mind but I think that choosing to dump my Nikon and going with Canon is a very big mistake.

Another thought

I guess I should let you all know the equipment I am using:

EOS 1Ds MarkII
EOS 5D
EF 16-35 f/2.8 USM
EF 24-70 f/2.8 USM
EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM
EF 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 400 f/2.8 IS USM
Speedlight 580EX

First Field Test

I shot my first real test with the camera, I chose to use the Mark II with the 400mm f/2.8 lens
I set my ISO to 100 and used the AV setting and shot everything wide open.
My thoughts? Well I am still not convinced that Canon has Nikon beat, focus with this camera is very tricky. I am sure I will get it figured out and it will become second nature like the Nikons were to me but I have a feeling it is going to be a long road.
Exposures were fairly consistant but the highlights seem to blow out easily.
I will say this, that camera/lens combo and a middle school track meet sure gets the attention! And another comment I have is that lugging around that lens/camera all day can sure get to your back, I felt like I needed a caddy just to carry my load of equipment.

Canon equipment

I made the switch from Nikon to Canon, and so far am not impressed. I have a EOS 1Ds mark II and a 5d, the learning curve on the Mark II is very steep! I will post here my experiences with this new system.