More Related Stories EOS-1D Mark III SLR Digital Camera Body Only (10.1 MP, 3888 x 2592, CF SD/SDHC) 5
From: $3499.00
LP-E4 Battery Pack for Canon EOS 1D Mark III
From: $104.98
WFTE2A Wireless File Transmitter for the EOS-1D Mark III
From: $674.95

Product Review: Page (2) of 2 - 10/18/07

email article   print page

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

10.1 megapixel DSLR features dual Digic III image processor chips

Accurate color is the holy grail of the serious photographer. The EOS-1D Mark II has the standard sRGB and Adobe RGB colorspace choices, and gives you the capability to fine tune the color characteristics of your images to suit your tastes. White balance tuning is done using a two axis grid to shift the color along a blue/amber axis and/or a magenta/green axis. If you remember plotting functions in school with the XY axis and a grid then you can picture the grid for this feature. In my opinion this is a critical feature that every photographer should take the time to master. Some other cameras have a similar function but few have the versatility that the Canon EOS-1D Mark III offers.

Another color feature is what Canon calls Picture Styles. It comes with six built-in settings; Standard, Portrait (for nicer skin tones), Landscape (accents blues and greens), Neutral and Faithful, which are similar, but the Faithful setting takes into account color temperatures when shooting under 5200K and makes adjustments, and finally a Monochrome mode for black and white  images. In monochrome mode you can make adjustments to simulate using orange, red, yellow and green filters. Now as with most  photographers, a lot of my workflow is tied up in post-processing of images but with the quality of sensor output from the camera, and the control offered in Picture Styles and fine tuning of color, cut down by a good margin the time spent at my computer. Using Picture Styles I was able to recreate the effect of using a polarizing filter without the hassle of digging one out of a bag. 

All together there are 57 custom functions set through the menu system. Luckily they are easy enough to understand with a little playing around. There's a pocket guide included in the box, handy to carry around with a new camera.

A feature I think is very useful is being able to input four characters, say the first four letters of the name of the wedding party, and those four letters will appear at the beginning of each file name to help you keep track of your images easier. If you're part of a pool of photographers, and want to identify your images, you can identify them with the first four letters of your name. Some other cameras will let you add some information as part of the EXIF data but I like the way the Canon works better. You don't have to open the file to see who shot it, its part of the file name (As long as the transfer software being used isn't set to change the file name during import).

This image was taken into Adobe Lightroom and softened a bit. Click for full  resolution view.

The camera is lightning fast, shooting up to 10 frames per second for up to roughly 110 large JPEG or 30 RAW files. Sensor size is 10.1 megapixels (largest image size is 3888x2592 pixels). One reason the throughput is so high with this camera is Canon's use of a pair of Digic III image processor chips. As the megapixel count keeps going higher and higher in cameras it becomes harder and harder to move all that data fast enough. Using two processor chips splits the load so that the camera can keep up with the demand. The sensor magnification factor is 1.3x, closer to what the eye sees normally than most other DSLR's at 1.5x magnification, but not quite as nice as 1x can be in some shooting situations. In the old film days it was a rare thing to have a camera with a shutter that would last even 100,000 cycles (frames). The EOS-1D Mark III is rated to 300,000 cycles. Its nice to know the camera will take a beating with its solid construction, seals against dust and moisture and a long lived shutter mechanism.

Having the camera set the exposure automatically led to pictures like this. What beautiful color.

A new feature that is just appearing on some cameras is what is called Live View. This offers for the first time on DSLR's something that has long been possible to do with point-&-shoot digital cameras, seeing what the camera sees, live, without having to keep your eye plastered to the eyepiece. Up until now because of the mirror/prism/metering system, Live View has not been feasible. As anyone who has used this feature with those pocket digital cameras knows, its a real handy thing to have at times. What's even nicer is that its also possible to hook up the camera to a computer and see on the monitor what the camera sees, live. You can place the camera high on a tripod, impossible to look through normally and see everything that's going on and control the camera as well. Its possible to change the aspect ratio of the image to replicate film sizes such as 645, or 4x5. The setting is recorded with the image and when using Canon's EOS Utility program, will be displayed in the set aspect ratio. Check the further details on Canon's site.

This shot was tack sharp and the camera records subtle colors very well.

Having power you can depend on to keep your camera going is very important. The Canon EOS-1D MkIII comes with one 2300mAh lithium ion battery pack. This is longer lasting than battery packs included with most other DSLR cameras, but I would still recommend buying at least one extra for backup. Also in the box is a remarkable charger that can hold two battery packs and has indicators that show when the battery reaches 50%, 80% and 100% charge. It charges one battery at a time, then automatically switches to the second battery, if attached. To fully recharge an empty battery takes about two  hours. The charger works in other countries but you'll need to buy plug adapters for the country you're visiting. (100 V AC~240 V AC - 50 or 60 Hz. USA is 120 v 60Hz) The charger also has a calibration feature so that your camera's battery level indicators remain accurate over the years.

This image shows the wild boost in color you can get using the custom function.

To top everything off there's also a feature to tell you the overall performance of your battery. Even lithium ion cells lose some performance over the years so this is a great feature to warn you if its time to buy a replacement. Kudos to Canon for including this intelligent charger. Did I forget to mention there's an optional cigarette lighter adapter for this charger? Great to have on hand for long road trips where there's no other source of power. The frugal part of me loves that the AC adapter is included too.

The only improvement I?d like to see would be a combining and slimming down of  Zoom Browser EX and Digital Photo Professional.  I found myself having to go back and forth between the two programs too often.  Most photographers are probably going to stick with using Aperture, Lightroom or whatever program they find helps them in their workflow.  Still for RAW conversion I?ve found the camera manufacturer?s software usually gives the best output.

The EOS-1D Mark III is the culmination of Canon?s 70 years of building some of the legendary cameras in the history of photography and it shows its heritage in every aspect of its design and operation.

I'll hate to say goodbye to this camera. Even though I've become somewhat jaded with camera gear, I really enjoyed shooting with the EOS-1D Mark III.  It?s a solid, well crafted, tool any photographer would be glad to have in their bag.  List price is $4,499.