Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II & Mark III Review

CANON EOS-1Ds MARK II

CANON EOS-1Ds MARK III

The EOS-1Ds Mark III is the seventh Canon professional EOS-1D series digital SLR, although only the third of the 's' suffix sub-category which indicates a full frame sensor. Three years since the last EOS-1Ds, the Mark II, the Mark III pushes digital SLR resolution over the twenty megapixel barrier with specifically twenty-one-point-one million pixels (5616 x 3744) on its 36 x 24 mm (full 35 mm frame) sensor. Canon also claims to have increased the 'light gathering efficiency' of the sensor by reducing the amount of (wasted) space between micro lenses, hence despite the resolution increase the Mark III still provides sensitivity up to ISO 3200 (with boost enabled).

As well as increasing resolution Canon has pushed continuous shooting up a step with five frames per second over the Mark II's four frames per second. This means that at full speed the two DIGIC III image processors are dealing with an impressive 185 MB/sec. Other improvements include the larger screen, Live View, a fourteen-bit A/D converter and fourteen-bit RAW files, UDMA Compact Flash support (up to 45 MB/sec) and a whole range of features (such as dual storage slots and Picture Styles) inherited from the EOS-1D Mark III.

From a build, function and usability point of view the EOS-1Ds Mark III is identical to the EOS-1D Mark III apart from the full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor, (naturally) larger viewfinder and UDMA support for Compact Flash cards.

The EOS-1Ds Mark III is the seventh Canon professional EOS-1D series digital SLR, although only the third of the 's' suffix sub-category which indicates a full frame sensor. Three years since the last EOS-1Ds, the Mark II, the Mark III pushes digital SLR resolution over the twenty megapixel barrier with specifically twenty-one-point-one million pixels (5616 x 3744) on its 36 x 24 mm (full 35 mm frame) sensor. Canon also claims to have increased the 'light gathering efficiency' of the sensor by reducing the amount of (wasted) space between micro lenses, hence despite the resolution increase the Mark III still provides sensitivity up to ISO 3200 (with boost enabled).

As well as increasing resolution Canon has pushed continuous shooting up a step with five frames per second over the Mark II's four frames per second. This means that at full speed the two DIGIC III image processors are dealing with an impressive 185 MB/sec. Other improvements include the larger screen, Live View, a fourteen-bit A/D converter and fourteen-bit RAW files, UDMA Compact Flash support (up to 45 MB/sec) and a whole range of features (such as dual storage slots and Picture Styles) inherited from the EOS-1D Mark III.

From a build, function and usability point of view the EOS-1Ds Mark III is identical to the EOS-1D Mark III apart from the full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor, (naturally) larger viewfinder and UDMA support for Compact Flash cards.

Model line history

The EOS-1Ds Mark III represents a 26% increase in resolution over the EOS-1Ds Mark II which in turn represented a 50% increase in resolution over the original EOS-1Ds.

Model	Announced	Effective pixels	Sensor size	Continuous High (JPEG)	LCD monitor
EOS-1D	Sep 2001	4.2 mp	1.3x crop	8.0 fps, 21 frames	2.0"
EOS-1Ds	Sep 2002	11.1 mp	Full frame	3.0 fps, 10 frames	2.0"
EOS-1D Mark II	Jan 2004	8.2 mp	1.3x crop	8.3 fps, 40 frames	2.0"
EOS-1Ds Mark II	Sep 2004	16.7 mp	Full frame	4.0 fps, 32 images	2.0"
EOS-1D Mark II N	Aug 2005	8.2 mp	1.3x crop	8.3 fps, 48 images	2.5"
EOS-1D Mark III	Feb 2007	10.1 mp	1.3x crop	10.0 fps, 110 images	3.0" (Live view)
EOS-1Ds Mark III	Aug 2007	21.1 mp	Full frame	5.0 fps, 56 images	3.0" (Live view)