or, a day with the Canon 1D Mark II.

So, a while back I drooled (in blogspace) over Canon's hot new digital SLR, the Canon 1D Mark II. This weekend, my dear friend Charlotte (who is the editor for MSN Photos, a great photographer, a old friend) was gracious enough to part with her new 1D Mark II so I could play with it. After lusted after this new body for so long, I could hardly believe my luck. I had Michael's birthday party that afternoon for the perfect opportunity to test it out.

Well, I have to say, I didn't love it. There were definitely things to love. The autofocus is much faster than on my 10D. The new E-TTL-II flash metering is simply outstanding. And the speed. Oh, the speed. 8.5 frames per second leaves my 3 fps in the dust. It was just the thing to get the perfect shot of kids running around. (It's actually almost too fast. I had a hard time getting just one photo; I wound up with a lot of multiples.)

Still, I'm not sure it's the camera for me. This it the first professional Canon I've shot, film or digital. There were a bunch of odd things like you need to hold a button down while turning knobs or whatever to change settings. I suppose they do it so you don't accidentily change your settings, but what a pain. Similarly, there are a bunch of settings you can't seem to change in the field; you need to change them using your computer. And it's big and heavy. I kind of like the vertical shooting grip, but the extra size and weight are a bit much for me.

It's a supermodel sexy camera, no doubt, and I loved my brief fling. But, at the end of the day, I think I'll stick with the girl next door. (Now, of course, if I could have both...)