1D Mk III

[Joe Ray]

Too good to be true? Seems incredibly cheap...
http://www.escgate.com/goods.php?id=178
1d Mk III for 1600 Euros.
Thoughts anyone?
Joe

[GYRob]

THATS APROX £1274 just cant see that being right at all the going rate is aprox £2500
Rob.

[Keith Reeder]

Pffft!!

I'll have two, please!

;)

That link doesn't work any more (edit - working again), but Escgate feature in this apparently well researched article (http://heim.ifi.uio.no/%7Egisle/blog/wordpress/) on on web scams.

That said, they don't appear at all on www.resellerratings.com (http://www.resellerratings.com) - but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

A Google for "Escgate + scam" is illuminating...

[Joe Ray]

Thanks Keith. Looks like they're a scam after all. A look through Google and apparently the domain has only been registered for a year, amongst other things which are quite literally too good to be true. A pity, a 1D Mk III at under £1300 would have been nice!
Joe

[Malcolm Stewart]

I bought my 1D MkIII s/h from MPB at Brighton about a month ago, and since then they had another listed for a few days, some £60 or so cheaper than mine. Might be worth getting on their wants list.

[Keith Reeder]

I bought my 1D MkIII s/h
That was brave, mate!

;)

[Malcolm Stewart]

That was brave, mate!

;)

I'd been weighing up the pros and cons of getting a MkIII, a cheap MkII (£1000) or a MkIIn. I'd pored over the reviews etc., agonised, and finally phoned MPB with a series of questions about their "mint" used copy. All questions were answered clearly, and as this body had had its sub-mirror fix done by Canon (UK) this year, and as it appeared that the body hadn't been in professional use, I decided to risk it.

Whilst waiting for the camera to arrive, the new firmware was announced, so I decided to try it as delivered, and whilst the results were OK, I felt that they didn't have the same precision of focus that my 5D would have got in similar easy circumstances. After a few days, I loaded the new firmware and visited Gigrin Farm for the red kite feed. I was very pleased with the high proportion of in-focus shots even though BIF hasn't been my area in the past. (>600 shots in the afternoon session) Other shots against static targets now seem to be correctly focused, so I'm well pleased.

So far, I haven't made use of the AF Micro-adjust feature which was one of my major reasons for choosing the MkIII. Battery life seems to be very good, but as with my other Canon DSLRs I'm not that impressed with the AWB in cloudy/shady conditions, and I've found the Expodisc very useful. Being able to record and name several Custom WBs is an excellent touch.

At last I now feel that poor results are down to my fault or lack of experience, rather than some subtle aspect of the camera's AF tracking or precision between AF sensor and rectangle in viewfinder, etc. Time will tell..., and there's an awful lot of custom functions to understand and apply to the best advantage for different shooting conditions.

[Keith Reeder]

Great stuff, Malcolm.

Eventually I'll have a Mk III myself, and it's gratifying that the second-hand option is a realistic one.

[Keith Reeder]

Forgot to add in my response to AndyAndy's not here, Malcolm - but Keith says thanks for the additional info..!

;)

[Malcolm Stewart]

Andy's not here, Malcolm - but Keith says thanks for the additional info..!

;)

Oh gawd.. Not another senior moment! Sorry!

(Now I understand why I'm having trouble getting my head round the MkIII's Custom Functions.)

[Keith Reeder]

;)

No probs, Malcolm - it made me chuckle.