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martinimages
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Canon EOS 1DMK3
Well seems some one on here is about to buy a MK3, so here's my mini review based on having owned one since it first appeared two years ago.
First lets get one thing out of the way, focus issue  . Its a pity Canon released
this Pro camera without testing this area more, seems they where in a rush to beat Nikon to the winning wire knowing [industrial spying] the D3 and other models where near completion and ready for mass production, anyway they went ahead and put it on the market even though pre-production models that where reviewed by prominent people in the photographic world telling Canon the AF was awful and did not work as described in there marketing hype. These where dark days for Canon more so for customers that bought the MK3, me included. I sold my MK2 models when this camera arrived, what a mistake that was, in the summer months I earn a bit of spare dosh as a cycling photographer and rely on fast, accurate AF, sadly all i did was struggle, time after time, soft images, my way around this was instead of just taking two shots of a racing cyclist, I would fire a burst of 6 or seven , this way I was pretty assured of a sharp image, not an ideal situation, the people that hire me to cover events want the goods and the riders that buy the images want sharpe pictures, so that was the only way to deliver. The A/F problem has given this camera a certain stigma, which is a shame because its certain without it that Canon have produced there best ever DSLR.
Anyone who is in the market to buy one need to keep this in mind, Canon have on there web site a list of affected serial Nos, if the one you buy is within that range, make sure that it has had the fixes, these are , two firmware updates, and two hardware fixes, you should ask for documentation that the work has been carried out by Canon, the firmware you can check yourself, if all has been done then go ahead and buy, [new ones don't seem to have any probs] the reason is below.
Although this camera is only 10.5 mega pix it produces files that have to be seen, the colours are superb, and dynamic range is extraordinary, probably due to the quality of the twin digic processors and sensor, also you would not believe how much you can crop the images, large crops do not seem to effect the quality, there that good. Also I have found that images that are really underexposed, like mine :-), [I like to protect highlights] to bring out shadow detail is easy in Raw, just pull the exp slider to open them, you will find incredible detail there, no noise banding like the previous MK2 model, any noise is very film like and works very well for BW images. I often shoot at 1000, 1600 iso, at these settings, again provided the exposure is OKish the files are superb, 3200 is also workable and can be used regularly for very low hand held shots. One thing to mention is the ability to capture in 14 bit, most new cams do this and it does make a difference with more vibrant colours and extended dynamic range
This camera was built for speed and in every respect it does not fail, fire of a 2 second burst and you have taken 20 images, but it will still keep firing without pause, withe a good fast memory card write times are just the same, no pause or waiting, you will never miss a shot with it, not only is it fast at taking pics, the way the whole camera operating system is made and set out, reviewing and deleting images is a doddle. Want to bracket without a tripod, providing shutter speeds are highish, shooting into the light  , set auto bracket, set drive to high speed, steady yourself and fire, in milliseconds you have three shots that register for multi raw editing, for those that like HDR you can set it to bracket 7 shots. There is also a silent mode for the shutter and it really works, take the shot and all you hear is quite mirror up, bring the camera down to your side and let the mirror drop, great for theatre shooting etc.
Live view is a great feature, now you will read that it does not AF in this mode, no problem, set the camera so the set button activates the live view, and set the AF button to the back of the camera, you simply press the AF button then press the set button and all is in focus, quick to do and accurate, also the mirror locks up in LV mode, another advantage. All 1D Cameras have a built in hand grip That's part of the main body, its far better than separate ones, easier to keep water and dust out, and is near perfect for holding in portrait format.
Build quality is awesome, I had a 5d with grip and its weight was probably more than the MK3, they are lighter than the previous MK2 versions, the new batteries help here, loads smaller but will give thousands of shots before running out, the battery power is now indicated in percentage terms that helps enormously, no guess work as to when its going to die, bodies all water sealed as well, I have used my cams in torrential downpours with no adverse affects.
I wont go into all the cameras settings etc, take to long, but there well documented, but all you need with is an hour of reading the manual and you will be up and running in no time, not knocking Nikon here, there also superb, but the Nikon D3 manual is twice the size and ten times more confusing, to many settings IMHO.
Now there has to be down sides and here are a few I have found.
The 3inch LCD is great, but wish its was sharper, the AF button is a little to far placed, although you can assign other buttons to do that. wish it took two CF cards, instead of CF plus SD. the images straight out of camera can be a little disappointing, they look softish, but sharpen up very well, and thats really my main moans, might be others, but none come to mind and would be nitpicking.
My camera came back from Canon UK, [service was amazing 3 day turnround plus full clean up], I have used it at three races and finely it does what it was meant to do, it focuses so fast you cant see it happening, speed was never an issue, the last race i did, I took 340 images with one OOF shot, all moving targets, not a bad hit rate  .
As I said previously, if there had been no AF issue in the beginning, the accolades from pros and serious amateurs would have been great, Canons best, fastest, quality DSLR ever.
The other thing for me is this, not only is it primarily designed for fast action, its also now, unlike the MK2 versions, an all round camera, it takes great pictures from portrait to landscapes, with good lens, delivers detailed images, a tonal range that helps in colour and mono work, plus the dynamic range gives pictures with a true 3d look to them.
So if you want pure resolution, then the 1ds or 5dmk2 is the way to go, for a camera that does all things very well indeed don't hesitate, you will love it.
Any questions on this camera, please ask, I use mine day in and out, and can work mine blindfold now.
I know that colour images are not allowed here  , but below is a picture from one of my latest races,
Martin
This is at iso 400, fill flash [thats why there is a slight double image] exposure was 1/250 @f4.5, 24~105 L, LARGE jpeg setting. The cyclist would have been at 30,40 mph, small target through viewfinder, all focus point used [ring of fire] A1 servo mode.
All from a 10 meg px sensor
This is straight out of camera, no in camera sharpening applied
Image capture sharpened in PS
Cropped as for sale on site
100% crop
Last edited by martinimages, 21/Apr/09, 6:22 am
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11/Apr/09, 5:39 pm
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JustDave
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Great review Martin. You are not making my decision any easier though. 
I really want the high ISO of the 5d, but I have also seen your underexposed shot of the rocks and the amount of detail you pulled out. Makes me think useable files at 3200 are a very real possibility, and may be able to be pushed a stop in post. Not sure though. The 5d puts out great images at 6400, but is not a 1D series, focus and build primarily. I am really struggling with this one. Maybe I should just buy both. Will have to sell one of the kids though. Hmmm.
Any way, this is a hard one. It may be that I should rent both so I can make my own judgement on what will work for my immediate needs.
Regards,
Dave
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11/Apr/09, 6:20 pm
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martinimages
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Well do try them both, basically and I have had this argument before lol, the 5dmk2, although it will give great images at its high meg size files, its now where near a 1d series camera in other respects, the 1d cameras are far superior in every other aspect, but are designed with pros in mind so to be expected, yes you will get usable files from the MK3 at high iso settings, whether there as good as the 5d mk2 i am not sure, probably the 5dmk2 is a stop better. Its difficult, my decision was based at the time on having a camera that would do most jobs well, the MK3 fitted the bill for my own types of photography, look at what you do in the main, if your not a sports shooter then the MK3 might not be for you, I would certainly look at a second hand 1DSMK2 as well, prices have dropped since the newer model came out but it is still an awesome camera with as they say hair splitting detail, its heavy, rugged but ohhhhh what a camera, I have had mine a few weeks and the files are stupendous, the detail incredible, and its contrary to popular belief a very fast camera in operation, superb A/F and lots more, will do a user review of that as well
Martin
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11/Apr/09, 6:40 pm
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JustDave
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
I do long for a 1 series. Sports are something I would shoot more of with a camera capeable of doing a good job. I have looked at the MK2 and am very interested in youre review. One question is battery life. Some say it is hard to tell what is left on the battery, as in the 1d mkii. Focus is highly praised. Low light may not be as good as 1d mkiii though. Perhaps you can shed some light on that as well. It is sometimes hard to back away from all the new bells and whistles and really take a look at what will work. Thanks for the reviews Martin. It will help in the end.
Regards,
Dave
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11/Apr/09, 7:30 pm
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martinimages
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
First , battery life in the MK2 is very good, lasts from full charge for around 1200 shots taking previewing into account, the downside is when the life starts to go, it shows as a bar graph but dies quite quickly, so a spare is always recommended.
The battery indicator in the mk3 is far superior, they are a different sort, li-ion, the mk2 is ni-mh, the MK3 shows as a percentage indicator going from 100% left down to nil, very accurate, it will shot over 2500 shots on one charge, will lower that if you use live view a lot, it also tells you as to the condition of the battery, mine is two years old and is still at maximum, it will tell you in time whether you need to get another.
As regards the MK2 yes a great camera, but i did find it lacking in resolution at 8.5 meg for enlargements, also banding in the dark shadows was a problem at times.
The AF on the MK3 in low light is just great , will focus in nearly dark conditions as long as contrast can be found, it don't need much to lock on.
Bells and whistles are put there to attract the buyer, they need something new to get you to buy, read my review on the 1dsmk2.
Live view you can live with out but in practice it is great to use at times, also sensor cleaning on the MK3 works very well, does not cure the dirt prob completely but keeps it at bay for much longer before a clean is necessary. Video is the in thing at the moment, for me that puts me off any still camera that has it, if i want video I will buy a vid camera, but soon there will be no choice as all cams including pro spec will have it
Martin
Last edited by martinimages, 11/Apr/09, 8:42 pm
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11/Apr/09, 8:31 pm
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JustDave
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
I made a mistake Martin. I was Referring to the 1DS MKII, not the 1D MKII. Oops. I had read your other review and it kind of spilled over into this one.
Regards,
Dave
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12/Apr/09, 12:08 am
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Bachs
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Mine is ordered!
The latest stock doesn't suffer from the AF issues.
Might seem a strange choice for a landscaper, but I'm branching into other areas and the two things I need are speed and high ISO performance for low light concert work.
Your review reflects what I have read elsewhere.
My dream has been a 1Ds, but with a 1D MkIII supplemented with a 5d MkII I will have all bases covered.
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21/Apr/09, 5:59 am
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martinimages
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Good choice Steve, its not a strange choice for landscape, in fact it does them very well and captures great detail with a good lens, and it rocks in low light as does the A/F, the A/F has to be used to really appreciate how fast it is, the settings for AF take a bit of getting used to , there are so many can be a little confusing, mainly applies to A1 servo
Martin
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21/Apr/09, 6:30 am
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Bachs
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Finally got my copy and it arrived with a duff battery!
Wouldn't charge and died in the camera after 10 minutes, at which point I didn't know wether the body, charger or battery was at fault.
Ordered another battery which fixed it, and wasn't dissapointed once I'd got my head around it.
It was quite a giant leap from the 350D I've been using so a bit of a learning curve.
The very first thing that surprised me, after hearing how they are big and heavy, was just how light it is out of the box.
This is due to the new magnesium alloy casting.
The new Lithium Ion battery is also considerably lighter.
With a heavy lens like the 24-70L on board, everything feels nicely balanced.
The other areas that really impressed me with the jump (or should I say quantum leap?) from the 350D was the high ISO performance and lightening autofocus performance.
Image filewise, there is a vast difference in the quality of the shadow areas and noise generally, and gradiations are very smooth, even when you start pushing it in Post Processing.
I've yet to road test it outside the house, but so far, I'm knocked out performance and quality.
I could have gone for a 1Ds or a 5D, but this camera is more than good enough for landscape work with the advantage of being great for all other areas of photography such as sports/wildlife etc.
A useful advantage of the incredible speed (10 frames per second):
You can set the camera to auto bracketing and high speed shooting and fire off up to 7 consecutive shots in the blink of an eye, obviously useful for creating HDR frames with virtually no movement between frames when taking shots with water in them for instance.
Another great feature and probably underated and missed by many, you can lock multiple exposure points.
This allows you to 'zone' your intended image and displays the multiple points on the exposure scale. You could view for instance how many stops below centre the shadow areas are, and how many stops over your highlights are. You can then 'shift' the whole set of exposure points up and down the exposure scale together, or just use the method to decide how wide you need to set your bracketing settings.
You can interpolate print files up considerably with no discernable loss of quality, the only reason I would have considered a 1Ds, but the 1d can produce files more than big enough for anything I am ever likely to need.
The build is excellent and I wouldn't be in too much of a panic if I dropped it, but I don't intend to test that area anytime soon!
Last edited by Bachs, 20/Jun/09, 4:41 pm
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20/Jun/09, 4:38 pm
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martinimages
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Re: Canon EOS 1DMK3
Thought you would like it Steve, I think, at this moment in time is probably the best DSLR Canon have made and is quite superb at everything you throw at it, the files crop superbly and like you say with no noticeable loss of quality. Rob Galbraith was the guy who really pushed Canon to get it right with his exhaustive testing of 1000s of frames, even after all that and knocking the A/F he stated he would not move to the Nikon D3 because of the file quality and in his own words nothing comes near to them, especially when cropped
Enjoy :-)
Martin
Last edited by martinimages, 20/Jun/09, 5:16 pm
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20/Jun/09, 5:16 pm
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