Today I went to Vejlerne nature reserve, to check out my new 1D Mark IV. It arrived a week ago, and I have played around with it ever since, just waiting for the weekend. So, while waiting, I was confined to reading the user manual, and trying to figure out all the new options. In particular, I was very interested in the high-ISO quality, the focus tracking and the AF micro-adjust.

The high-ISO is great, but not for the reason I first thought. I still prefer a flash for serious indoors photography. That being said, the camera performs well up to about 1600 ISO before the photos start to get grainy. The Mark II was only OK up to 400 ISO. Combined with the f/6.3 Bigma, the couple of extra stops that the Mark IV provides, makes all the difference on a cloudy day. The camera also performs well with the subjects illuminated only by street-light.

For those of you who read my blog, I have felt for a long time, that my Bigma had a serious back-focusing problem. The Mark IV’s AF micro-adjust confirmed that. I had to set it at -15 (out of a scale from -20 to +20) to obtain tack-sharp images. I have taken various pictures with the Bigma of the top of a tall chimney – a distance of about 250 m (300 yards), and the photos were great. I also took some photos of the neighbours TV aerial, and I could see every screw and wing-nut clearly. Wow! What a difference the micro-adjust makes. I will NEVER buy a camera without the AF micro-adjust feature again. On a side note, the Bigma is performing so well now, that I am no longer quite sure whether I want to get rid of it or not.

What I found really, really, really useful, though,  for taking birds-in-flight photos is the automatic ISO feature. I didn’t even know that this feature existed until I received the Mark IV. This feature makes life so much easier. I just fix the shutter speed at 1/1000 of a second, and the camera does the rest. It’s great.

So, the conclusion is: I should have bought the EOS 1D Mark IV long ago. With the AF micro-adjust, my Bigma is now tack sharp, even on a cloudy day, and with the auto ISO, taking bird-in-flight photos have never been easier.

So what’s next? I was thinking of selling the Bigma and buying a Canon EF 100-400mm IS L, but since the Bigma is now performing flawlessly, it would only be for the focusing speed and the fact that the Canon can work with a 1.4x extender (which the Bigma can’t). But now I am in doubt – combined with the Mark IV camera, the Bigma is a seriously great piece of glass!

I think the best bet will be to exchange my EOS 350D with a 2nd hand Canon 50D and use that with the Bigma. It will work well as a second camera. The 50D has AF micro-adjust, 14 Mpixel and a built in 1.6x crop factor. It would give an effective 800 mm of reach. I will then use the 100-400mm IS L with a 1.4x tele-converter on the Mark IV, giving bird-in-flight capabilities with a reach of 728 mm.