Testing/Performance Expectations

Physical Tour

 
 The EOS-1D Mark III is only subtly different from the previous 1D's. The silhouette and contours are heavily rounded, and the surfaces are either matte black or black rubber with a leather texture. All gaskets and port covers, including the lens mount, have a rubber seal, and that should help in keeping out dirt and moisture **Front**For such an ambitious and complex camera, the EOS-1D Mark III has a very plain face. The shutter releases – one for horizontals and one for verticals – sit on slanted planes at the top and bottom of the hand grip on the left side. There's a bulge along the bottom that serves as a vertical grip. The depth of field preview is a small button at roughly the 7 o'clock position on the lens mount. The lens release is at about 3 o'clock, and it's large and easy to actuate. That's it for controls on the front. Both shoulders slope gradually up to the viewfinder hump. There's a hint of a ridge on either side of the hump's peak but no seams or hard edges. The Canon logo is above the lens mount, and EOS-1 is on the right shoulder. There's a "D" below that, and then, below the lens mount, "Mark III." 

 **Back**The 3-inch LCD takes up a big chunk of the EOS-1D Mark III's back. Canon's standard Quick-Control dial is also large and has a large SET button at the center. A small 4-way controller is above the dial. The power switch is a large lever below the dial. The media card door latch is also large and sturdy, with a two-step action. The user must flip it out and turn it to open the door. In a very significant advance, the Mark III continues to write data to the cards when the door is open while the 1D Mark II N stops writing data when the door opens, which results in data loss. The Menu and Info buttons are on the left shoulder, while the autofocus on, autofocus site selection, and exposure lock buttons are on the right. The AF and exposure buttons are meant to be used during shooting, while the index finger is on the shutter release, so they are duplicated in the lower right corner, for the vertical grip. The viewfinder is large and surrounded by an even larger soft rubber eyecup. A diopter control is on the right side. A low, wide monochrome LCD runs below the main display. It shows shooting data and control status. The three buttons below it are: the delete button; the function button, which cycles through white balance, recording media settings and file format/size; and the Picture Styles button, which calls up color and image parameter presets. The Playback button is at the lower left of the large display.  

 **Left**Two rubber covers protect ports for flash sync, remote control, USB connection, and analog video output on the left side. A screw cap covers a multipin port for the wireless connectivity module. The battery latch shows at the bottom of the left side. It's as robust as the media door latch. The strap lug is inset into the shoulder. A small, round disk near the top of the left side looks like a button that's inconvenient to use, but it's not. It's a hole for an indexing pin on the wireless unit. 

 **Right**The media card door makes up much of the Mark III's right side but features of the vertical controls show up here as well. The largest is an on/off switch for the controls. There is also a control dial and a flash exposure lock button. 

 **Top**The three buttons on the left shoulder of the EOS-1D Mark III control exposure mode, autofocus and burst modes, and metering and flash exposure compensation. Pressing the Mode and AF/Burst buttons simultaneously activates the bracketing feature. The hot shoe on top of the viewfinder hump is compatible with Canon's EX dedicated flashes. The new 580 EX II mounts with a water-resistant seal and a durable metal-to-metal connection.  The Mark III has a second monochrome LCD on the right shoulder. This one shows exposure data, a frame counter, metering pattern, burst mode, exposure mode, battery charge, bracketing, flash exposure compensation, autofocus point selection mode, mirror lockup and an exposure level scale. From left to right, the buttons on the top of the Mark III control a backlight for the monochrome LCDs, exposure compensation, and ISO. A fourth small button near the shutter release controls the flash exposure lock. The control dial is set just behind the shutter release. 

 **Bottom**There's not much on the bottom of the Mark III. The tripod bushing is centered on the optical axis, and the camera surface around it is rugged but will still show scratches if users are sloppy about mounting the camera. There is a flush-mounted strap lug on the bottom, for users who like a wrist strap on a 40.1-ounce camera body. 

 

Components

 

 
Viewfinder

The EOS-1D Mark III's viewfinder is bright and contrasty. Canon promises that it shows 100 percent of the final image, a claim we couldn't test for this First Impressions review. We found the display comfortable and easy to see, even with glasses. One of the advantages of the Mark III's speed is that its viewfinder blackout time is very short, even in single-shot mode. The display shows an ellipse around its 45 autofocus points, a circle showing the central metering spot, and, when the camera acquires focus, or when a single AF point is selected, the active site. Outside the image, there are displays for shutter speed, aperture, exposure lock, exposure compensation for ambient light and flash, metering mode, AF point selection mode, white balance correction, shots remaining in memory, shots remaining in a burst, RAW or JPEG format, Highlight mode, flash ready, flash exposure lock, improper flash exposure lock, battery capacity, and a "busy" indicator, that lights up while the Mark III clears its buffer. In use, this welter of data was not particularly distracting, though we'll need to spend more time with the camera to say more. **LCD Screen The EOS-1D Mark III's 3-inch, 230,000 pixel LCD looked very good in the low light of the Canon booth at the trade show. Color looked good, and the screen has a wide viewing angle. A 3-inch screen looks really big, even on a big-as-they-come DSLR. We found it very useful for checking focus, and the text for menus are bold and readable. The display does not have a higher-resolution than many 2.5-inch LCDs. At 230,000 pixels, it has the same resolution as the unit on the 1D Mark II N, but it's enlarged a bit. The Mark III's live preview mode shows that the big screen has an advantage over its 2.5-inch competitors. We guess that the live preview on the LCD will be used with the camera on a tripod, probably for studio shooting. When a team collaborates on a shot, the large size and wide viewing angle will be easier for a group to look at the images together.    Flash **The EOS-1D Mark III has no built-in flash, but it accepts dedicated Canon EX flashes. The 580 EX II has a new metal shoe, for durable metal-to-metal contact, and a rubber boot that seals when the flash is attached, making the junction weather resistant. The Mark III also has a PC sync terminal. Standard maximum flash sync is 1/250 of a second, but with the new flash, the Mark III syncs up to 1/300. The Canon EX flash system features excellent backward-compatibility. Recent flashes offer wireless TTL control in a range of configurations. One unit must be attached to the Mark III to act as a commander, controlling the others. The 580 EX II's controls can be operated from the camera interface or the flash's. The 580 EX II also offers non-TTL automation.
 

Design/Layout

 

 
Model Design / AppearanceThe EOS-1D Mark III is an impressive, hulking piece of equipment, with big, hearty latches for the battery and memory compartment, a big lever of a power switch, a thick, chunky grip, and a wide, thick base. Susceptible users will feel competent and intimidating, holding such a brawny, industry-leading, state-of-the-art, big, fast camera.

If King Arthur had been a photographer, and pulled a camera out of the stone, rather than a sword, he would have pulled out a EOS-1D Mark III, with its really wide-aperture, image-stabilized lens.

The Mark III's designers slightly updated the styling of the 1D, departing subtly from the all-rounded, no-corner paradigm of the Mark II cameras. The three units we examined at the PMA display showed excellent fit and finish. **Size / Portability**The EOS-1D Mark III is 6.1 x 6.2 x 3.1 inches. With its battery, it weighs 47.1 ounces, over 2 ounces less than its predecessor. That's all thanks to the battery. The Mark III's lithium-ion unit is almost 8 ounces lighter than the Mark II's NiMH power source. While a little lighter, the largest kangaroo that ever treaded the Earth wouldn't find the EOS-1D Mark III pocket-able. Paul Bunyan wouldn't either. Canon shooters moving up from 20D's, 30D's and 5D's will notice a difference when packing their bags or when holding the Mark III for hours of shooting. **Handling Ability**Though weight will clearly be an issue for many shooters, the EOS-1D Mark III feels good in the hands. Both the horizontal and vertical grips are comfortable, and the rubber covering isn't slippery under hand at all – and there's enough of it to help with the vertical grip, too. The viewfinder is easy to use, shooting data is easily visible, and in general, the interface is very straightforward. 

 **Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size The Canon DSLRs with D in their names – the 1D's, the 5D, the 20D and 30D – all have solid buttons and switches that feel durable. The EOS-1D Mark III continues the tradition. (The Rebel series doesn't. They feel flimsy.) The Mark III's shutter feels great. It has a very short travel, but there's a definite indication of how much pressure is needed to activate the meter and autofocus, and how much more will trip the shutter. The Quick Control dial is an excellent version of a fast, versatile interface. We have qualms about using the SET button in the center of it to activate the live preview. We did that accidentally a few times, and it disrupts shooting. A custom function can change the SET button's behavior though. The Mark III's ISO button is near the shutter release, a position that takes into account that many shooters change ISO often while shooting. The Function button cycles through white balance, image size, and media card settings. Of these, white balance seems to be the one control most users will want to access often. It would be better if white balance had its own button, and image size and card control were grouped with Picture Style, which doesn't need its own control. There are custom settings to revise button functions. The Mark III doesn't require that function buttons be held down while the user turns control dials to make adjustments – the function stays active for several seconds after a button is pressed. **The EOS-1D Mark III is a very flexible camera, with significant new features. It's impressive that the features are so easy to access. Canon took a risky strategy with the interface by limiting the number of buttons. Many controls do double-duty, calling up more than one function. Canon got some things wrong, but many cameras that are simpler than this one are more complex to use.** ****Menu**Canon had a job when it came to the EOS-1D Mark III's menus. They're longer than the director's cut of Titanic, longer than Route 66, longer than the world's largest ball of string, longer than any awkward silence. So Canon did the wise thing and split them up into 9 tabs and nested the 50+ custom functions in four sub-directories. Time with the EOS-1D Mark III was in short supply at Canon's PMA booth, so our evaluation of the menus is not exhaustive. Here, though, is a big list of user options, though not an explanation of many that may take more study.

Ease of Use

The EOS-1D Mark III's controls are straightforward. The defaults are all the obvious ideal choices. The menus offer a very deep level of control and customization. Canon has an advertising campaign which claims that the company has been making cameras just the way their customers think they should be made. Many of the changes between the Mark II n and the Mark III are evidence of that. Making the function buttons "sticky," so that the user can simply tap the button and then turn a dial, rather than holding down the button while operating the dial, is a good example.

The Mark III isn't simple to use, but it's designed for photographers who will use it day in and day out. It doesn't need to be simple, but it has to be quick, and it can't be annoying. Our first impression is that Canon has improved its interface with the Mark III design.

Modes

**Auto Mode
**The EOS-1D Mark III offers a Program mode that sets both aperture and shutter speed. In Program mode, it has a shift function to change the aperture/shutter speed combination without altering the exposure value. It also has a custom function to adjust ISO automatically when a proper exposure isn't possible at the manually-set value. The Mark III automates focus and white balance as well. Unlike many entry-level and prosumer models, it does not have a simple mode.

Movie Mode

The EOS-1D Mark III does not have a movie mode, but its live preview feature indicates that it could. The live preview refreshes 30 times per second, about the frame rate of standard video. The live preview can be fed over a network link for computer control, so it's likely that someone will kludge a system to record the live feed. It wouldn't have sound, and would be manual focus, but some people have a lot of time on their hands.

**Drive / Burst Mode
**It sure seemed as though the EOS-1D Mark III hit its designated 10 frames per second and took more than 100 JPEGs. The Mark III can be set for slower burst rates, single-frame shooting and a "silent" mode, which significantly lowers the camera's volume. In silent mode, the mirror stays up until the user lets go of the shutter release. When the mirror flops back down, it moves more slowly, and that's the change that cuts down the noise. The Mark III also has an adjustable self-timer.

**Playback Mode
**The EOS-1D Mark III displays images singly, or in 4-up or 9-up thumbnail mode. It magnifies images up to 10x, which is enough to judge sharpness for most uses. The Mark III has 4 information display screens in playback, showing shooting data and RGB and luminance histograms. The image skip function jumps 1, 10 or 100 images at a time, and can also be set to jump between shooting dates and folders. It can also show highlight warnings and record memos to associate with images.

The Mark III will also copy and back up images in playback mode. Single images, groups and whole cards can be deleted, and there is an image protect feature. 

Control Options

Manual Control Options

The EOS-1D Mark III is a fully manual camera, with a range of options to take full control of exposure and image parameters, or to modify the values set by its automated modes.

**Focus
***Auto Focus*

The EOS-1D Mark III has 45 autofocus sites, and 18 of them are cross-type with f/2.8 or faster lenses. The center site is cross-type down to f/4.0, and all of the sites work with lenses as slow as f/5.6. The sites are arrayed in an oval that covers about the central 2/3 of the frame. Canon notes that the cross sensors reach further to the edges of the frame than the ones on the Mark II cameras, which have only 7 cross sensors. Without having the cameras side-by-side, we can't be sure if Canon has caught up to Nikon in dispersing sensors widely across the frame.

The Mark III's system was fast and accurate in low light, with a fast lens mounted. Our full review will be more specific regarding focus performance. The Mark III can be set to either one-shot autofocus or Predictive AI Servo AF, the continuous mode used for tracking subjects in motion.

Manual Focus

Manual focus in the optical viewfinder is aided by a bright, contrasty screen. The EOS-1D Mark III's most surprising feature, its live preview, requires manual focus. Because it allows the user to magnify any portion of the frame either 5x or 10x, it allows critical focus on any portion of the frame. It works well and probably offers more accurate manual focus than the optical viewfinder, when the camera is on a tripod. The live preview refreshes 30 times a second, which is plenty for a full-frame display, but at 10x, some smearing is apparent when the camera is in wobbly hands. We tried it with a 50mm lens.

We used live preview with the default settings and look forward to tweaking it for better effect in our full review. For general use, live preview isn't going to be used often enough to devote the SET button to activating it – especially when accidentally bumping the button blacks out the viewfinder. It's also unfortunate that hitting the menu button defeats live preview. If a user checks a menu setting while live preview is active, when they switch back from menu to shooting, live preview is turned off. We didn't have time to dig through the menus to see if that quirk could be switched off, but it's annoying.

Exposure

The EOS-1D Mark III can set exposure compensation 3 stops above or below the metered reading in either 1/3 or 1/2-EV increments. Compensation works in program, aperture priority, or shutter priority modes. The Mark III can also be set manually, with a scale showing how closely the manual setting fits the meter reading.

The Mark III can be set to bracket exposures over the same range that exposure compensation can be set and can be set to vary aperture or shutter speed or to use the program mode to choose the parameter to vary.

Metering

A 63-zone metering array gathers data for evaluative metering on the EOS-1D Mark III. The Mark III also offers spot, center-weighted and Canon's unusual "limited area" metering, which is essentially a very large spot, at about 13 percent of the frame. The spot meter can be set to overlap the active autofocus site. It meters about 3 percent of the frame. We look forward to testing the Mark III's exposure performance. We could not form a judgment based on our first look at PMA.

When the Mark III is in live preview, it uses data from the CMOS imaging chip to meter exposure and offers live RGB histograms. Our full review will examine how live meter readings compare with the dedicated metering array.

White Balance

Canon has long offered flexible and easy-to-use white balance control. The EOS-1D Mark III has an automatic setting, direct Kelvin entry with a scale from 2500K to 10,000K, manual white balance, with room to save 5 measurements, and presets for sun, shade, overcast, tungsten, fluorescent and flash. White balance can be altered on blue-amber and green-magenta axes and can be bracketed.

The auto setting did not perform well in the truly odd lighting at PMA. Overall lighting was mercury vapor, augmented with tungsten, and a constantly varying mixture of red, green and blue LEDs, so it was far from a fair test. Our full review will provide much more reliable results.

White balance is accessed by hitting the Function button a few times. It would be better if white balance had a dedicated button, instead of Picture Styles.

ISO

Not counting its extended settings, the EOS-1D Mark III has an ISO range of 100 to 3200. The extended range indicates Low, which is ISO 50, and High, which is 6400. The Mark III we examined was set for 1/3-EV increments but that's customizable. The ISO button is near the shutter release, and the setting shows up in the viewfinder, so users can set it without taking the camera down from shooting position. In marginal conditions, with firmware that's "not final," images shot at 3200 and H looked good enough to be interesting.

The Mark III's "Safety Shift" feature can adjust ISO, so that exposures remain within customizable bounds.

Shutter Speed

The EOS-1D Mark III can time exposures from 1/8000 to 30 seconds, in increments of 1/3 EV. It also has a Bulb setting for time exposures. In Bulb, the top LCD displays elapsed time. With dedicated flashes, the shutter can sync at up to 1/300 of a second. With others, it tops out at 1/250. The shutter speed range is typical of DSLRs and indicates a practical limit on timing for image quality.

Aperture

The EOS-1D Mark III controls the aperture of EF-mount lenses electronically, allowing adjustment in increments as small as 1/3-EV. Canon's line of lenses is the most extensive among DSLR manufacturers. Canon's better lenses are the L series. Arguments about whether anyone else's optics are better than L lenses amount to splitting hairs - they're capable of excellent performance.

Image Parameters

Picture Quality / Size Options

The EOS-1D Mark III offers 4 file resolutions: 3888x2592, 3456x2304, 2816x1880 and 1936x1288. It records JPEGs in any of the resolutions. Standard RAW files are full resolution, and sRAW files are 1936x1288. Canon press materials say there is a demand among wedding photographers for small RAW files, apparently for reception candids.

Picture Effects Mode

Canon's Picture Styles are consistent across the DSLR line, and they extend into their fixed-lens cameras, too. The styles adjust contrast, saturation, sharpening and color tone. The presets indicate their intended use, but the fact that they are consistent across the line is their most significant feature – results from model to model match closely, making it easier to match images from multiple cameras taken on a single shoot. The preset styles are Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful and Monochrome. Users can edit those and save 3 of their own.

Connectivity/Extras

Connectivity
Software

The EOS-1D Mark III will ship with The EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk, and it bundles an image browser, editing software, a panorama

maker, a RAW file converter and software for remote camera control, which will include remote live view. The software wasn't available at PMA, but our full review will discuss it in detail.

Jacks, Ports, Plugs

The EOS-1D Mark III features USB 2.0 connectivity, analog video output, wired remote control, a port for network connectivity (wired or wireless), dedicated flash connection, and straight flash sync.

Direct Print Options

The EOS-1D Mark III is DPOF and PictBridge compatible. The Mark III drops support for Canon's proprietary Bubblejet Direct and CP Direct protocols. It offers PictBridge printing of its own RAW and sRAW files, as well as page layout options and printing effects.

Battery

With the EOS-1D Mark III, Canon jumped to lithium-ion cells for its pro camera. Lithium batteries are lighter, smaller, and more powerful than comparable NiMH batteries, the chemistry Canon had been using. Canon has made the battery smart. It displays a more accurate charge status than previous batteries, records the number of shots that have been taken with it, records the number of times it has been charged, and indicates when it should be "conditioned" for optimal capacity.

Memory

The EOS-1D Mark III accepts the latest standards for both Compact Flash and SD memory media, so it accepts the highest-capacity cards available. CF and SD are the most common memory formats available. They are proven, relatively inexpensive, and the typical Mark III buyer already has a pile of them.

The Mark III can be configured to write to media in a number of ways. If both CF and SD (or SDHC) cards are in the camera, it can write images to both, creating a backup. It can write RAW files to one and JPEG to the other. Or, it can write to one until it's full, then switch to the other.

Other Features
*Dust Reduction - *The EOS-1D Mark III uses two piezo motors to shake dust from its infrared cutoff filter. The IR filter is separate from the low pass filters, which makes the component that's shaken lighter. The dust removal routine takes about 4 seconds. While the filter shakes, the shutter cycles 3 times, to shake off any dust that it might carry. Tapping the shutter release ends the routine if the user can't wait to take a shot.

More efficient chip layout – The EOS-1D Mark III's CMOS chip devotes more of its surface to light-sensitive photo-receptors. The design packs more receptors in the same area, but because it wastes less space, the receptors are still as large as the ones on the 1Ds.

Excellent Environmental Seals -- Canon put gaskets between the components of the EOS-1D Mark III's surface and sealed its jacks and ports well, too. A rubber cowling around the new flash's shoe completes the barrier.

Optional WFT-E2 Wireless Adaptor - The optional wireless module WFT-E2 will allow live downloads of images as they are shot, and remote control of the camera with live view. We're excited to see this feature, and to see how the live view looks on a computer screen. How much bandwidth the live view uses will be a key issue, because it will compete with file transfers for throughput.

Highlight preservation – We haven't tested it, so we really don't know if it works, but the EOS-1D Mark III has a mode to retain highlight detail as part of image processing.

Overall Impressions

Value

It's challenging to critique the value of a product when the price hasn't been announced. All we can say is that it is worth more than its predecessor. The Mark III is both faster and higher-resolution than the 1D Mark II N. Though the older camera is fast enough and has enough resolution for many users, a 20 percent improvement in both is valuable. Its live view feature will strike some users as merely cute and irrelevant to their work, but others will find a real appeal there, especially in the remote live view. Canon makes a good case that the Mark III should have better image quality in the form of lower noise and smoother tonality – 14-bit conversion should make a real difference.

Who’s this Camera For?
Point and Shooters – This group will have no interest in the Mark III and won't be able to use it. It will be too expensive, too complicated, and too big for them.

Budget Consumers – Budget consumers won't be able to afford it.

Gadget Freaks – This group will lust for the EOS-1D Mark III. The live view, the incredible speed, the delightfully intimidating heft, and duel processors. They'll love it

Manual Control Freaks – Manual control freaks may wait for the 1Ds Mark III. They'll love the live view and remote capabilities, but the part of this population that isn't sensitive to price will want it with a full-frame sensor.

Pros/Serious Hobbyists – This is the target market for the EOS-1D Mark III. Photojournalists and sports photographers need the speed and reliability. The combination of 10 megapixels and a live view will justify it for generalists who want a fast camera that also has advantages in the studio. Serious Hobbyists? Anyone spending multiple thousands on a camera body is probably making money with it.

Conclusion

Conclusion

Canon has bundled a surprising and impressive collection of advances into the EOS-1D Mark III. 10MP at 10 fps is an easy headline, and the live preview is cool, if not unique. It may turn out that the big jump in the Mark III is parallel processing, though. If it lowers noise and improves dynamic range while still being the fastest thing on the block, it will point the way forward. We shouldn't discount Canon's important interface improvements as well. All told, the world should be very curious about the Mark III's image quality because everything else about it is truly impressive.

Specs

**Spec Sheet
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