Asian Diver — October 2017

My Camera of Choice

Tested in the Extremes

Text & images by William Tan

Image 2: Taken on Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens

Settings: Shutter Speed: 1/250, Aperture: f/22, ISO: 100, White Balance: Auto

Image 1: Taken on Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens

Settings: Shutter Speed: 1/320, Aperture: f/8, ISO: 500, White Balance: Auto

It was an honour when Canon placed an EOS-1D X Mark II in

my hands and gave me the opportunity to shoot images to

promote its launch in April 2016. I tested the camera under

extreme conditions at various locations: In Hokkaido’s

freezing waters (around minus 1.8 degrees) during the winter

season; shooting thresher sharks under dim morning light

at Malapascua; balancing contrasts of mantas against bright

sunbursts at Hanifaru Bay; and stacking on macro diopters to

test the autofocus on balloonfish hatchlings in Takeno that

were no longer than 2mm. In every aspect, the EOS-1D X Mark II

outperformed its predecessor. It is now my camera of choice.

Image 1: Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus)

Shot at: Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

In a situation where you have a photographer and three large

sperm whales all swimming at the surface, water movements

can make getting a perfect reflection of your subjects rather

challenging. Fortunately, the EOS-1D X Mark II is capable of

burst shooting at 14 frames per second (with AF/AE tracking)

in high-speed continuous shooting mode. As you can see from

the resulting image, I was able to choose frames showing

perfectly still waters just before the reflections break into

abstract art forms.

Image 2: Shrimp Larva (Aristeidae)

Shot at: Kenting, Taiwan

The super fast autofocus system in the EOS-1D X Mark II is

able to accurately track tiny and mobile planktonic subjects

through a 100mm macro lens. The amount of detail the new

sensor captures allows you to see delicate textures in the

almost transparent exoskeleton of this shrimp larva. The

EOS-1D X Mark II’s optical (pentaprism) viewfinder provides a

bigger and brighter view that is especially useful when filming

these fast 3mm-sized creatures.

• 20.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor


• Dual DIGIC 6+ image processors


• ISO speeds of up to 409,


• 4K 60p/50p with 4K frame grab


• Dual Pixel CMOS AF


• 14 fps shooting and AF sensor with 61
  AF points

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