Since my 1D Mark II died, I have been taking photos with the EOS 350D. It has worked really well, both for airshows and museum photos. Unfortunately, for wildlife photos and birds in flight, it has not worked quite so well.

The rumours about the EOS 1D X were rife for quite some time, and I were waiting for the official announcements. To be honest, I could not have been more disappointed. The full frame sensor, combined with the lack of auto-focus with f/8 lenses had me seriously looking at the Nikon D4. While the Nikon D4 sounds like the best thing for nature photographers since sliced bread (and Nikon lenses are now cheaper than Canon’s ditto), I got an offer for a Canon 1D Mark IV that I just could not refuse.

The 1D Mark IV promises to resolve all the problems I have had with the Mark II:

• 16.1 megapixels. While the Mark II camera has served me well, the 8 megapixel sensor often proved to be a limitation. I found that I had to crop the photos by quite a bit, because the lens does not have enough reach. While I can not get around cropping the photos with the 1D Mark IV, at least there are more pixels to crop.

• Sharpness. I have paid through the nose to get the camera and lenses calibrated and “matched up” time and time again, and always with limited success. With the EOS 1D Mark IV, this will be a thing of the past, since the camera has an AF adjust feature built right into the camera. I seriously can’t wait to test this feature.

• Higher ISO. While I am perfectly able to hand-hold the Bigma stable at 1/100 s shutter speed, the Mark II only is good up to about 400 ISO. I do get blurry photos when taking birds in flight in dim light. The 1D Mark IV promises good noise-free images at up to 6400 ISO – just right for a rainy day, even with an f/8 rated lens.

• Dust and dirt. With the built-in sensor cleaner on the Mark IV, dirt should be a thing of the past.

• Better focus tracking. The number of back-focused photos of animals running towards me should hopefully drop dramatically with my new Mark IV.

• Size and weight. While the size and weight of the cameras are pretty much identical, the Mark IV charger is so much smaller than the “#”%/# shoebox sized Mark II charger. Also, the Mark IV has a USB 2.0 interface, that hopefully makes it possible to transfer pictures straight out of the camera, without having to bring a card reader along.

• Other little things. Things like a bigger image buffer, a bigger LCD display, and way easier menu system will surely be a plus.