Canon EOS 1DX mark II announced

[Mike Farley]

I am certain that if I made my living as a sports photographer or was faced with situations where the camera could be exposed to knocks or other misuse then I would have a 1DX II or D5. Nothing else comes close. Similarly, if I needed to take pictures in the dark and flash was not an option (MI5 anyone?) then it would be the D5. As you say, there are not many who have those types of demands and the price no doubt partly reflects the relatively low production runs involved.

Incidentally, if you are referring to my comment about transfer speeds, I was thinking intra rather than extra camera. I can see the value of 14 fps, but not for 170 frames. At least the latter is there if anyone needs it and is unlikely to add any significant cost to an already expensive camera. Download speed is something else, though, even with the low number of shots I typically take. When it comes to pro use, then I can see the value in getting the images as quickly as possible.

As for the evolution/revolution question, what constitutes revolution? We had revolution a few years back when digital took over from film but even then it did not change the basics of photography or cameras for that matter, just the means by which light is recorded.

[GrahamL]

In response to David's question; 'what size cards are people shooting with?'

I'm still happy with the 64Gb CF card I use on my Nikon D810, backed up with a similar size SD card. For my Fuji half-frame a 32Gb SD card has been more than enough. But I'm only shooting as an amateur and rarely take video. With HD video it must be a totally different game, let alone 4k video (shiver).

Totally agree with David's image downloading point, sadly for me the transfer time is greatly exceeded by the time I take to review and process images when they've got to my hard drive. At least in transferring you can go away and have a coffee.

But I guess in a number of live situations professionals would be shooting in both raw and jpg, and it would be only be the smaller sized jpg that they would be in a hurry to move quickly. I understand that in a live performance the raw might be saved on the first slot card and jpg on the second slot card, replacing that card several times during the performance so their assistant can take it away and make the images available on the web.

Mind you I'm sure even then you don't want to be slower than the opposition. To that extent the Nikon's D5's option of having either dual CF or dual XQD card slots makes more sense than the Canon's 1DX-Mk II's approach of just one model with a one standard CF slot and one fast 2.0 CF slot. Must also have advantages in shooting demanding 4k video.

Cheers,

Graham