The Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III SLR Digital Camera is Canons Top of the Line Camera. It is their professional level camera, and it does have a few nice features!
- 21.1 Megapixel
- Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
- 3.0″ LCD with Live View
- 5 fps Burst
- Dual DIGIC III Image Processor
- Self-Cleaning Sensor
- Fast AF system
- Picture Style Settings
- Weather Resistant Body
- Accepts UDMA CF Cards
I have had a few chances to use this camera but not to seriously. Here is my take on it…
The good thing about this camera is that it has a good sensor at 21.1 MP and can give great image quality. It also has a very good focusing system, one that out shines the 5d Mark II (which is very easy to do…). It also has a good sized body that has nice weather resistance that could probably survive a toddlers slobber, and maybe even some hurricanes. It also has a vertical grip and shutter button built in, that is mighty convenient.
One feature that may not make much sense to people is that it is UDMA compact flash card compatible. This means that if you buy a super high speed memory card this camera can actually keep up with it and make a difference for you, where as some cheaper cameras wouldn’t be able to make any difference in shooting speed with a faster card. It also has what is supposed to be a great battery that can do a lot of shooting.
Here is the down side…
The body is huge and heavy. When I first picked this body up my gut instinct said I needed two hands to just be able to hold it compared to other cameras that you may use two hands to just be careful. It really isn’t sooo heavy but it is much heavier and larger than all other bodies except for the Canon ID Mark IV body.
Another negative is that you can now have the same or maybe even a bit better image quality in the Canon 5d Mark II for almost 1/3 the price of this camera. Ouch. Oh and the 5d also can shoot amazing video (it has been used to shoot episodes of TV shows like House).
At this point the camera is getting a bit out dated compared to other more recently released cameras from this and other brands. I suspect that in 2011 this camera will be updated. I suspect it will have a sensor in the range of 29 MP, and perhaps even a bit faster shooting (though I am probably just dreaming about that), and other types of goodies like the ability to shoot HD video, maybe even with autofocus, which would be really cool.
So my recommendation on this is to carefully consider if you need the weather resistance, the vertical grip, and faster auto focus and shooting. If you do then see if you can just wait a few months and you may have a new version that is worth the almost 5 figure price tag it is sure to be.
Otherwise I guess just pic it up and start shooting!
Check out all the other current Canon Cameras on my Canon Camera Review page.
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