Canon 1Ds Mark III Review

File this in the “Its better late than never category”

Canon’s flagship, the 1Ds Mark III finally gets the review treatment at DPR. To be fair DPR has only had the camera 8 months. That’s right 8 months.

Anyway, any review of the 1Ds has to be taken in the context of this camera’s role (true of any camera) and clearly the intended purpose of the 1Ds is to be a “studio” type camera. So while it doesn’t have the ISO performance of the current darling of the camera world, the D3, it doesn’t need to have it, since in typical use it will be sitting in a ridiculously well lit studio. The one thing it does need to do is capture a massive amount of detail, and at that it excels above all others in the world of DSLR cameras.

If you need resolution, the Mark III – as long as you choose your glass carefully – has it by the bucket load. From here the only way to get more resolution is to go medium format, which brings a whole new set of considerations (not the least the need to sell your house – or at least a kidney – to afford the body and lenses). The Mark III may not be able to beat a MF back in the studio for critical work, but the sheer versatility offered by a 35mm format camera that can shoot 21.1MP images at 5.0 frames per second at up to ISO 3200 shouldn’t be underestimated.

While it would have been nice to have put a higher resolution screen on the back of the 1Ds, there aren’t really that many cons to the 1Ds Mark III, except for me personally, the price (only $7999 high for DSLR, but ridiculously low compared to MF). I would seriously love to get my hands on this monster.

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