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UPDATED: Paint It Black – Sports Sidelines Changing Shades

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This year’s Olympics should well be the turning point where the sidelines of sporting events are – to pay homage to AC/DC – Back in Black. Nikon’s flagship D3 – even with a smaller chip than it’s competition the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (and even it’s predecessor the 1Ds Mark II) has painted the sidelines at the Olympics (and so too, the news event press pens in DC) more and more black. (Click the photo to see it larger). This is substantially due to Nikon’s high ISO – insane at 25,600 ISO, and amazingly useful at 3200 and 6400 ISO without having to even think about it much. To add to this huge lead, consider Canon’s faltering with the autofocus mis-steps as highlighted by Rob Galbraith (repeatedly).
(Continued after the Jump)

In a few days, I’m headed overseas on assignment for two weeks, and I’ll be working in mostly low-light museums and other national treasures in several countries. Even though I own an EOS 1Ds Mark III, and Mark II, instead, I am choosing to take my D3, and a D700 as well. It really was a no-brainer given the multiple times I won’t be allowed to use flash – but still am required by my client to make images during the trip. My Canons will sit in the equipment cabinet back in the office.

UPDATE: While Gizmodo is busy counting $253,000 in gear – Quarter Million Dollars of Digital Photo Gear in a Single Photo (8/15/08), hit their link to see 23 cameras at work, and EIGHT of them are Canon’s.

Feel free to add links in the comments to other images of this nature!
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Originally published on Photo Business News & Forum on August 14, 2008. Comments are closed; this post is part of the archive.

9 thoughts on “UPDATED: Paint It Black – Sports Sidelines Changing Shades”

  1. There’s a couple of uncounted Canon guys in the top right. You can see the Canon neck strap on one and the white lens in front of the guy next to him with the red and white cap on backwards.

    Even if it’s 50/50, point taken. It seemed like 80/20 last time.
  2. It’s common knowledge — read the article by Rob Galbraith you mentioned — that the 1DsMIII noise at high ISO settings is much higher than that of the 1DMIII. I’d leave it at home too, if I were you. In fact, I would never buy it in the first place. As Rob said, “The EOS-1D Mark III produces the best overall file of any digital SLR we’ve ever used.”
  3. Honestly who gives a sh**? This is petty and stupid. Apples to Apples, oranges to oranges. Liken it to a middle school “my Dad’s bigger than your Dad” Get over the Nikon-Vs- Canon Hasselblad-vs-whoever. I think the last people still doing this are photographers and Chevy owners.
    This is stupid and childish.

    It’s HOW you use it that counts.

    Improvements by Nikon (about time) simply benefits all of us and it keeps technology race going.
  4. ProCameras-R-cool. Sure, maybe we shouldn’t care and use the best tools for the job. Correct.

    But to discount the importance of this is silly. This is marketing. This is the perception war for the consumers $.
  6. A couple of notes; One, procameras… in case you haven’t noticed half the world is on vacation and the other half is split watching the Olympics and the Georgia-Russia scuffle. Thanks john for the techie tidbits, I’m sure the Strobist crowd will love it. Second, , speaking of the Strobist crowd,here is a link from one of Rob’s postings with some real samples of the D-3 in action over at the Olympics:
    http://markjrebilas.com/blog/
    Thanks again John.
  7. I own a D3 and I find it really unbelivable. Of course behind a camera there is a photographer.
    We need to know the best tool for every job.
    Shooting in low light for me is a normal situation so Nikon D3 high iso performance is for me a plus
  8. I went to Beijing for the Olympics and sat next to the photographers at a few of the events. I would say for the most part, it was a pretty even split. Some days, it’d be Nikon-heavy, other days Canon-heavy. Regardless of what the actual number is, this post and my observations are remarkable considering just a couple of years ago, it was about 95% Canon.

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