Canon EOS 1D Mark III
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Canon product launches are always interesting affairs. At the press launch for the new EOS 1D Mark III there were mixed views. Some were upset that there wasn’t a new high-end 1Ds series camera, others had hoped for the much rumoured EOS 40D. Personally, I’ve learnt not to build up my hopes before a launch. It’s fun to engage in the guessing game of what might be coming, but with the strict control on information coming out of Canon these days, it is purely guess work.
The advantage of this is that you always stand to be surprised. February 22nd 2007 was no exception. When the EOS 5D appeared in early 2006, I remember commenting to someone from Canon Europe that the ideal camera would take the 5D sensor and put it into the 1D Mark IIN body with the same frame rate. Well, it’s nearly there. The difference between 10 and 12 megapixels is almost insignificant despite what some might tell you, and in place of those two megapixels, we’ve gained 1.5 more frames per second – not a bad trade off, though whether 10 fps is necessary is debatable.
Beyond all the hype of the speed and resolution of this camera, there are many more interesting features lurking beneath the surface – the next most popular bandwagon being the bigger screen and live view mode. Certainly it has a multitude of uses and will prove a major step forward for many photographers. More interesting to me was the revelation that combined with the expanded ISO range, from 50 to 6400, the shadow noise levels throughout the ISO range have been reduced by 50% compared to the outgoing 1D Mark IIN - itself a camera known for clean, noise-free images.
The expanded tonal range with 14bit colour processing will also be greeted with excitement by anyone interested in getting the best colours from their images. Perhaps more important than that, the new highlight tone priority mode will now provide almost an extra stop of dynamic range at the highlight end to ensure smoother tonal transitions in bright areas.
The other thing I noticed in handling the camera was the autofocus. The increase in cross-type sensors from 7 on the EOS 1D Mark IIN to 19 on the EOs 1D Mark III really does make a difference. I tried the camera with various lenses, including the recently released EF 85mm f1.2L USM lens. This lens is huge, and despite featuring a USM motor, the sheer weight of glass it needs to move means it’s not the fastest focusing lens in the range. On the new camera though, it seemed positively sprightly, even in low light. In bright light with a lens like the EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM, this camera will be instantaneous in focus, even on off-centre subjects - it may even persuade some photographers to end their reliance on the centre focusing point and thereby improve their composition on moving subjects!
I could go on picking out exciting new features from the camera, but it’ll be meaningless until I get a production sample to use properly and see what difference the changes make to the final images. Personally, I was just as interested in the new EF16-35mm f2.8L USM II lens. The old lens was good, but not great, being noticeably soft at the edges in some situations. The new lens promises to have cured this when mounted to the 1.3x APS-H sensor of the EOS 1D Mark III. How it will fare on a full-frame camera like the EOS 5D or 1Ds Mark II remains to be seen.
There was almost as much hype for the new Wi-Fi unit, the WFT-E2, as there was for the camera. The ability to control the camera wirelessly from the computer is a real step forward. Arguably more important than the remote control functions though, the unit is smaller, lighter and more robust in operation than the previous incarnation, the WFT-E1 - a notoriously difficult unit to setup. Whether it will be useful for anyone other than working professionals is a moot point, but the functionality is impressive and it provides some very interesting possibilities.
The extra weatherproofing on the new 580EX II Speedlite is also overdue. This was the weak link in the 1 series cameras, the only area where they were water could possibly enter. The 580EX II resolves this problem both for the flash itself and the flash-to-camera connection. It will prove a major advance for anyone using their flash outside in damp conditions and was something many professionals had been asking for for a long time.
Overall, I am very exited about the new camera. For everyone except high-end studio photographers, it provides all the resolution you’ll ever need and more frames per second than you can sensibly expect to use – looking through the viewfinder and firing a burst is like watching an old stop motion video! Anymore frames and they'll have to call it a video camera...
For all those who want to see me holding the camera, another journo at the launch snapped a shot of me with it, which seems to have done the rounds on the web already! A friend of mine the USA emailed me to tell me he'd seen it here...
For anyone hoping to see one at the annual UK photo fun-fest, aka FOCUS, you'll be disppointed. The only five or so units in the UK are pre-production and not being let out of Canon's grasp. There will be a man from Canon there walking around with one or two, but don't expect to be able to put a card in and take some shots. More realistically, you're looking at late March/early April when the first shipments arrive. rrp (in case you haven't read it elsewhere) £3049 for the camera, £1349 for the lens. The flash will be around £350 (but that's not yet confirmed) and the Wi-Fi unit somewhere between £350 and £450, though again, unconfirmed.
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