Canon EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR
Canon
- 1888B002
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Reviews
(43)
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I have been a loyal Canon user for many years. I own a 30D and the MarkIIID. The Mark IIID was sent back for the recall to address the AF. The work they did to it negatively effected the color balance. It was sent back to the factory. The factory then lost my camera (having shipped it with the wrong FEDEX number). They sent another Mark III. It had back focus problems. In the meantime, another camera was sent as a loaner. It was proudly pronounced in tip top shape and was new. It arrived half packed, used, dirty sensor and dirty contacts for the lens. The AF didn't work. Canon believes that they didn't do anything wrong. Customer Service Rep. Elizabeth Wood responded with a litany of liability-speak but bottom line, they would only send another camera. The MarkIII has significant AF problems, even with the firmware upgrade. Save yourself the stress, don't buy Canon
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After reading bad reviews on the focus problems with this camera I waited a while to pull the trigger. I shoot sports, equestrian (some indoors), and stage dance. I bought this camera for low light useage, and the superior focus speed. I have not been dissapointed. I use 3200iso when necessary without any worries. My mark3 came from Canon with the latest firmware update already installed. The battery life is incredible, shot 1700 images and still had 40% left. The wait was worth it.
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When one reads the early reviews of this camera, they will be surprised to see the focusing problems experienced by a seeminly large number of photographers. Canon has come out with both hardware and firmware fixes to this body. I purchased a model with a serial number indicating manufacture after these fixes have been effected. I am having absolutely no issues with this camera's focusing in both focusing modes. I love this camera. It is truely a magnificient camera. For those of you who are serious about your photography, you won't be disappointed (except for the cost). Enjoy if its in your budget.
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The Best DSLR on the market right now, lots of people have complained about its focussing issue, what they don't know is you need to calibrate the camera with all your lenses and that eliminates the focussing problem 100%
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I've been reading about what a great camera this is, but it seemed like a big chunk of money to plunk down when I was pretty happy with my 30D. Boy was I surprised. I bought the mark III because I wanted a pro body - one reason being that I knew my recently purchased Canon 500 mm f/4 IS would not autofocus with 2X teleconverter. The Mark III will autofocus down to f/8.0. I'm mostly a budding bird photographer, and after making a few images I saw the great color reproduction. The camera is balzingly fast from it's AF to it's 10FPS mode. It will take me fair bit of time to explore all of the custom settings avaialble - so many ways to set it up to your personal liking. Plus it has "My Menu" which allows quick access to the items that you use a lot, e.g. format, autofocus options, etc. My 30D, which is a fine camera, feels more like a toy in my hands. The mark III fits your hand like a glove, feels solid and performs wonderfully. This is more camera than I'll ever need, but I'm certain
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Overall this camera is amazing. The only problem is the focus problems that are well documented elsewhere. The mirror fix and firmware upgrade from Canon helped, but there is still a tendency for focus to drift when shooting rapid fire. However, under low light there is not any camera that even comes close to it for quality.
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I'm a sports photographer. I've been using this camera for a while now. I decided to give it a good testing before even writing any remarks.
There seems to be a lot of hype about the focus issue. Personally, I've never experienced the problem, and I bet the majority of photographers haven't either. Some people need to do research before blaming the camera. There are many user faults, causing the camera to seem as if it is not focusing. They also need to check their lenses.
I shoot different sports, from rugby to show jumping, polo and horse racing. So, tracking a fast moving object (person or horse) is very important. Out of about 100 images, maybe 2 would be out of focus. Those I would more blame on myself than the camera. People really need to RTFM. There are so many custom settings, especially for focus, to enable you to use the camera to it's full potential, for whatever you use it for.
The camera is pure quality. I don't deny that there are some focus issues, but again, these are
There seems to be a lot of hype about the focus issue. Personally, I've never experienced the problem, and I bet the majority of photographers haven't either. Some people need to do research before blaming the camera. There are many user faults, causing the camera to seem as if it is not focusing. They also need to check their lenses.
I shoot different sports, from rugby to show jumping, polo and horse racing. So, tracking a fast moving object (person or horse) is very important. Out of about 100 images, maybe 2 would be out of focus. Those I would more blame on myself than the camera. People really need to RTFM. There are so many custom settings, especially for focus, to enable you to use the camera to it's full potential, for whatever you use it for.
The camera is pure quality. I don't deny that there are some focus issues, but again, these are
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Canon tried to make a big splash with the 30th anniversary EOS, but it really was a dud. I've had this body for over 6 months now, and it's by far the worst purchase decision I've every made.
1. It doesn't focus as it's supposed to. It has out of focus shots for one shot and AI modes, at a far worse rate than its predecessor. Canon even acknowledged this defect.
2. It has severe error problems (such as Error 99).
3. Even after the fix, it still doesn't focus as it should -- lots of professional sites note this -- and now Canon is indicating as of 2/1 that there could be another fix in the works.
If you're like me and heavily invested in Canon glass, then there's nothing to do but ride it out and hope they eventually get it right. (I still have faith in Canon, and think their products are very good, and the image quality of the 1dIII is simply amazing when it works....) But if you're new to the dslr (and ask yourself then, why you need such an expensive body anyway), it's worth
1. It doesn't focus as it's supposed to. It has out of focus shots for one shot and AI modes, at a far worse rate than its predecessor. Canon even acknowledged this defect.
2. It has severe error problems (such as Error 99).
3. Even after the fix, it still doesn't focus as it should -- lots of professional sites note this -- and now Canon is indicating as of 2/1 that there could be another fix in the works.
If you're like me and heavily invested in Canon glass, then there's nothing to do but ride it out and hope they eventually get it right. (I still have faith in Canon, and think their products are very good, and the image quality of the 1dIII is simply amazing when it works....) But if you're new to the dslr (and ask yourself then, why you need such an expensive body anyway), it's worth
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I had semi-switched from Nikon to Canon with the purchase of this camera. Despite reports over focusing issues, I haven't had any real problems with it. The frame rate and high ISO on it is phenomenal. Anyone whose wanting a pro-caliber camera, this unit and the Nikon D3 are, in my opinion, ought to be the top 2 choices. Having used both cameras, I have to give Nikon the nod because of its 9-fps burst at FULL frame, slightly lower noise level at high ISO, and a more accurate auto white balance. Nevertheless, the Mark III is a fantastic camera. Shooting with both Canon & Nikon is like dating a blonde & brunette at the same time. :o)
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In the last 3 years I have gone from 2 different point and shot cameras to the Canon 30D to the Canon Mark III. With each camera, I was telling myself - this should do it for some time. I read and learned as much as I could with each camera. When I got the 30D I was on cloud 9 - this was great - it would be nice to shoot faster though. When I heard about the Mark III coming out, I knew that was hopefully the last stepping stone I would require for sometime.
This thing rocked - couldn't believe how fast it could shot. I was surprised at how many shots were out of focus though (birding). I didn't experience anything like this on the 30D. I read about the AI focus problems and thought - well this is what is happening to me. For the next 5 months Canon stone walled me on a weekly basis. Promised firmware fixes, this fix that fix, reps telling me off.
I wrote a letter to Yoroku Adachi (President of Canon U.S.A.) and got a call back from one of his people. Very apologetic but same old please
This thing rocked - couldn't believe how fast it could shot. I was surprised at how many shots were out of focus though (birding). I didn't experience anything like this on the 30D. I read about the AI focus problems and thought - well this is what is happening to me. For the next 5 months Canon stone walled me on a weekly basis. Promised firmware fixes, this fix that fix, reps telling me off.
I wrote a letter to Yoroku Adachi (President of Canon U.S.A.) and got a call back from one of his people. Very apologetic but same old please
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After having my camera's 'stopper, submirror' repaired, the AI Servo performance is still in the 50-70% range, hardly acceptable for a consumer-level camera (my 30D performs in the 80-90% range), let alone a pro DSLR. Image quality is fantastic, handling, battery, interface, everything... except the soft images it routinely produces.
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Love this body, the ergonomics of the mkIII are much better than the previous 1D series. I have owned 4 canon DSLR bodies and this one blows all of them out of the water. I waited on buying this body as Canon had problems out of the gate with it, but the AF problems have been fixed.I also waited about a month to write this review so I had a chance to test it in as many different situations and styles as possible.One shot, Servo doesn't matter, it focuses faster and more accurately than my mkII.From fast moving jets to pets to kids to players, servo, once dialed in through the multitude of custom functions, will yield more keepers than you could imagine. One shot mode is brilliant as well. perfect for portraits with the Highlight Tone Priority. So versatile, so spot on....forget what you read about the AF problems, that's in the rear view mirror.High ISO's are out of this world good. I can shoot in the dark with my high aperture primes at 3200-6400 and get very clean, low noise images. Can't
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I have used this in weddings and this is perfect camera.Fast AF and the best image quality. I can see the differenceclearly between picture quality of this camera and othermodels or brands.
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I have used the Mark II, 5D, and Mark III cameras and the autofocus of the Mark III is the best by far of the three and even better than the Nikon D2x camera. It is a completely redesigned system and needs to be used in a different manner than previous Canon cameras. I experimented until I found the settings that worked best in my usual low light settings and found I could get in focus sharp pictures 99% of the time. Of course you have to start out with properly calibrated lenses which is not always easy with Canon. Any problems with the lens will be magnified with the AF system. I did find that trying to have the AF system determine the part of the subject on which to focus does not work reliably which is to be expected as the subject is usually 3 dimensional and the camera does not know where to focus (ear, eye, nose?). White balance metering is far better than any other Canon camera I have used and the flash exposure and skin tones are also better then I see with RAW files from the
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I have used this camera for weddings and its low light AF isat least twice as fast and accurate as any other pro camerafrom Canon or Nikon and I have used them all. White balanceis very accurate which is also unusual with Canon as is theconsistent flash exposures with the 580EX II strobe. ISO 3200 images have well controlled noise and great skintones (much better than 5D). I have shot an entire weddingand at the end of the day have fewer than half a dozen outof focus images and none with exposure problems whetherusing ambient or flash. It is the first camera with which I have complete confidenceat the end of the day that I will have the images I need formy clients regardless of the situations I encounter.The only negative is the limited lens options with the APS-Hsensor that are available from Canon or third partymanufacturers.
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I bought this to replace my xti. I wanted something fast,great iso and better control and i was willing to $pend for it.What i didn't want was the problems this camera is giving. fantastic ISO as everyone knows, but the AF is a real hit ormiss.I went to a show and I took about 100 pictures iso 800 and1600 with the 70-200 and they were all great (you can seesome on pbase look for my name)I later took about 400 with 24-70 in NORMAL house light(party in a house iso 200-400) and more than 25% are out offocus and soft..even when using the Flash!!I would agree with the previous review, if you are thinkingabout getting the camera please wait until a N model isreleased.
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The AF (AI Servo Mode) on this camera was manufactured (in what appears to be about 45,000 cameras) defective! The fix is now being applied but it does not bring the camera into the realm of the 1D Mark II in terms of AF speed and tracking. Images that are in focus are fantastic ISO 400 on this camera. Noise at ISO 400 is competitive or better than that of the 1D mark II series at ISO 100! The hit-or-miss AF is a really millstone around an action photographer's neck and at $4,500 for a camera that Canon claimed would be better than the predecessor in every way, particularly autofocusing, this is a real deal breaker and bitter disappointment!Should Canon ever read this they might want to note the following:As an engineer extremely familiar with optics I suspect that the use of a concave submirror makes the AF inherently unstable through the introduction of an aberration (spherical aberration perhaps?) making the size of transmitted spot on the AF sensor vary as it moves across the AF sensor's
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A good camera with great features. Colors are vivid and images are sharp. I have had some great images come out of this camera. BUTAI-servo focusing and be a huge problem if you are tracking fast moving subjects in almost any lighting conditions.
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I had this camera for about 5 weeks and so far no problems. I shot 3 weddings and 1 engagement in India plus numerous other events, family portraits, etc etc with this camera. One of the complaints (by other reviewer's) was that the AL Servo do not function in hot weather. I can assure you that it is hot and humid in India and the camera works just fine. I was the official track photographer for a local school district athletic meet last week and I had the opportunity to test the AL Servo function. Wow, pictures were amazing.
I can only tell you how satisfied I am with this camera based on my experiences with it. So far (thousands of pictures to credit) the camera is working flawlessly under some extreme (hot and dusty so far)conditions. I am a event photographer and I travel throughout the world. I started my photgraphy career with a Minolta Film 35 mm (manual) camera at age 10. I had many cameras after that (including D200 and EOS 30D) I've been photgraphing pictures for over 23 years
I can only tell you how satisfied I am with this camera based on my experiences with it. So far (thousands of pictures to credit) the camera is working flawlessly under some extreme (hot and dusty so far)conditions. I am a event photographer and I travel throughout the world. I started my photgraphy career with a Minolta Film 35 mm (manual) camera at age 10. I had many cameras after that (including D200 and EOS 30D) I've been photgraphing pictures for over 23 years
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The reason I bought this camera was for it's low-lightshooting capabilities, and in this I am more than satisfied.This is a definite step up from the 1D mII and the 1Ds mIIin this department. I do however find being able to shoot insingle shot mode limiting, as shooting in servo is at besthit or miss in daylight. I test shot moving cars at nightand the focus was dead on, but almost 2/3 of the daylightshots taken in servo have between 6-18 backfocus on anygiven subject, moving or not. Target acquisition and ratioof in-focus pictures was much higher with my 1D mII and eventhe 1Ds mII. This camera was purchased in August of 2007, supposedlyafter the focus problem was resolved.
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SYNOPSIS
I have had this camera for two months and LOVE it! The build quality, colour "truth", speed between frames, and ability to set custom features is remarkable. I am disappointed with the AI Servo reliability but relieved to see that there is a hardware fix.
WHAT I HAD
Previously I had a Digital Rebel (300D - I know, I know, it's an older camera fraught with slowness and poor colour reliability but I had great lenses and the Rebel served me well) and had used a variety of other digital SLR's. The Rebel served me well for 3 years, but it was time to move on. I shoot 30,000 pictures per year and new that I was going to get a lot of use of the next camera... Along with the Rebel, I had the 18-55mm f3.5/5.6 (awful - never sharp), the 70-300mm f3.5/5.6 (works okay at f8), the 70-200mm f2.8 IS (unbelievable), the 2x converter (good but too little light for the Rebel), the 24-70mm f2.8 (unbelievable), the 50mm 1.8 (I know it's controversial, but I love this lens - I have tried the
I have had this camera for two months and LOVE it! The build quality, colour "truth", speed between frames, and ability to set custom features is remarkable. I am disappointed with the AI Servo reliability but relieved to see that there is a hardware fix.
WHAT I HAD
Previously I had a Digital Rebel (300D - I know, I know, it's an older camera fraught with slowness and poor colour reliability but I had great lenses and the Rebel served me well) and had used a variety of other digital SLR's. The Rebel served me well for 3 years, but it was time to move on. I shoot 30,000 pictures per year and new that I was going to get a lot of use of the next camera... Along with the Rebel, I had the 18-55mm f3.5/5.6 (awful - never sharp), the 70-300mm f3.5/5.6 (works okay at f8), the 70-200mm f2.8 IS (unbelievable), the 2x converter (good but too little light for the Rebel), the 24-70mm f2.8 (unbelievable), the 50mm 1.8 (I know it's controversial, but I love this lens - I have tried the
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I did hold off buying the mark III due to the comments about the focusing. I've had the camera for several weeks now. Took about 10 minutes to figure out the button changes. Much easier! Alot of one finger controls. I've already shot over 10K clicks. I've shot high end weddings, several production shoots and sports events. I've really put the camera to the test! I can say my lab/clients love the color. Color really pops! No red cast like the 5D. The performance is just over the top! Low light shooting is unreal. Shooting at 1,600 ISO with no noise! Very quick, focus is much better than expected. I do have the new update, it does seem like Canon has fixed the servo issues. The camera is light, if you have a 1D you know how important this is. Especially when using 2 bodies. Still have no dust on the sensor! The rear screen is amazing, so big! Looking forward to seeing what the Nikons D3 can do but for now it looks like Canon may have the best SLR body again!
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I've shot thousands of photos with this camera now and all I can say is WOW!I had a little learning curve, but once I got all of my custom functions set the way I wanted them, I was up and running.I had some of the focusing problems with the AI Servo mode that some reviewers have listed but after I got the custom settings right, the focus was ON and I haven't had a problem since.The clarity, color, and sharpness are surreal. I'm not even mentioning the shutter speed which is blazing fast. Better get you a fast CF card to shoot with or you are defeating the purpose of this camera.I love the 2200+ shot battery charge that also tells you how much charge you have left. This intelligent battery goes on and on. The same battery will also work on the new Mark III 1DS that is coming out soon.50-6400 ISO lets you get a lot of shots that you might not have before and the noise isn't noticeable until you reach 6400 ISO.You can read the manufacturer's site for all the things this puppy will do,
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I received mine 2 weeks ago and have been very cautious concerning the AF issues that have been posted around the web.My initial thoughts after the 1st round of shots taken at my son's night baseball game were amazing what a camera. Need a higher ISO...go for it. No need to worry about noise here. Even at ISO 3200 pictures were outstanding compared to what I have been used to.I'm basing my opinion on my 20D which, by most standards is quite good. I thought I had a reason for concern the other day when I was playing with the CF settings and was unable to focus on the door frame in my house. This was in low light and my 20D focused almost instantly and the MarkIII would hunt and seldom would lock-on. After some more testing and good feed back from an on-line discussion group I found out that this is normal with the lens I was using (28-135). Once I switched to my 70-200 2.8 lens the low light focus was excellent.At my son's last 2 soccer games I shot over 600 shots with an OOF percentage
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For the most part the M3 is an excellent camera. I've owned mine for a little over 3 months and shot thousands of photos. The above reviews list all the good things about it so I won't duplicate those. I do think it's necc. to list that there are problems with the ai servo/focus on this camera. I'm experiencing them and they are heavily documented on the web. Many times in ai servo, I will find nothing in focus in my photo. There is an issue with this and thus far, canon's only response is we're looking into it. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the M3 but I think my ultimate conclusion will come when canon solves the aiservo issue.
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Well what can I say? I owned pro equipment for 30 years. Coming from a 1DMKIIn, I thought this was the answer to myhigh ISO images and it appears it may very well be. The ISO3200 shots for indoor sports looked very clean and usableright from the camera. The reduced weigh over the IIn is a big plus and the batterylast forever. I returned mine. It wold not properly track and focusmoving objects when using the Ai-servo mode...It lost focuson base runners in softball, football players and movingvehicles. I have heard the issue reside in tracking birdsbut i do not shoot that type of event The AF Trackingsimply was not complying and compared to my MKIIn failedmiserably. Anyway, if you only shoot in single shot - non Ai AF mode,this camera would be fine. But as an action tracking sportscamera it was far too unreliable to consider seriously untilthief is corrected.....hence my return.Good luck with this one.
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There's no questioning the IQ of this camera. When the focus is on, the pictures it takes are stunning.The ergonomics/button placement is much better than my old 1dsMKII was. The new battery is lighter, more intelligent, and lasts and lasts.Unfortunately, as of this time, Canon still has NOT sorted out the problems widely reported by experts/reviewers and users alike with it's AIServo focusing. It misses many, many shots. Rob Galbraith has duplicated this problem on quite a few sample bodies and even had Canon technicians provide him bodies while they watched. The results were just as poor. If you're a bird shooter, don't even consider this camera until it's been fixed by Canon. If your livelihood depends on getting the shot, you may want to wait before buying it.mark