Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II 10.1 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body Only

Canon Fastest 1 Series Camera

Strengths: Lighter than its predecessor 1D Mark II, longer batter life, 14 bit, clean high ISO image quality, large LCD, live preview

Weakness: Heavier than 5D to carry it all day long, price. Canon should throw in E1 hand strap if they charge that much.

It's a joy to use this camera. Shutter noise seems quieter than 5D. Body styling is very ergonomic and feel very solid. Weather sealed with Canon L lens will be handy if there is need to shoot under the weather.

By cash4me - Nov 24, 2007

Canon 1D Mark III

Strengths: Image Quality at high ISO (800 to 1600); 10 Frames per second shooting; reviewers rate image quality of this Canon model better than the new Nikon D3 (Mark III has tighter grain structure) at low ISO.

Weakness: Coming from Nikon, the menus system is not as intuitive (not as good as Pro Nikon bodies). Also, there is a known hardware defect when shooting in warm weather and using the AI Servo mode.

Great camera - if you can find one that focuses properly for successive shots in warm weather. Canon (as of November 2007) has finally acknowledged this problem (first reported on the Rob Galbraith web site), and will be taking back 1D Mark III camera bodies for repair. If buying after 1 November 2007, dealers should only be sending the "fixed" model that is recognizable by a "blue dot" on the...
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Great camera - if you can find one that focuses properly for successive shots in warm weather. Canon (as of November 2007) has finally acknowledged this problem (first reported on the Rob Galbraith web site), and will be taking back 1D Mark III camera bodies for repair. If buying after 1 November 2007, dealers should only be sending the "fixed" model that is recognizable by a "blue dot" on the outside of the box. See the Canon web site for further details.

That being said, this camera is a joy to use. I received one of the last non-repaired cameras...but AF has worked in cool weather just fine.

In late October 2007, Dell (Small Business) was running a special with coupons so that you could purchase a new Mark III for about $3200-3400 depending upon how many "stackable" coupons you could find (plus tax and shipping; total about $3600). Otherwise, the best deal one could find in late 2007 was for about $4079 including shipping from Tri-state Camera in Manhattan.

I purchased this camera body to shoot birds in flight with a 400 F5.6 lens and 1.4x (II) teleconverter. With the 1.3x sensor magnification, this seemed to me a better way to go than with Nikon (who do not currently make an AF 400 F5.6 lens). The quality of the image at ISO 800 or 1600 is much, much better than the Nikon D200 or the Nikon D2X or D2Xs. I own the latter camera bodies so I can compare (or see the many web sites where such comparisons can be viewed side by side). Anyway, for moving targets, this camera body was a better deal for me than the new Nikon D3 (full frame) or D300 (1.5 sensor crop factor).

By rdcny - Nov 19, 2007

Excellent camera, fast, sturdy,good low-light performance

Strengths: Extremely fast, very good shutter sensitivity, battery lasts more than 1500 shots, little signal noise up to 3200 ISO.

Weakness: Sensor dust delete software does not work well. It is not great to use it to capture dust data then use Canon professional software to remove the blemish. It does not work well.

Overall, a true professional camera and I like the fact that it is very fast, orgonomical, sturdy, great low-light performance, battery lasting power. Auto focus actually works very well in Al-servo mode. I just hope that the sensor dust removing available in the camera can be more effective to totally eliminate the manual cleaning needs. My cleaning interval is about 1200 pictures.

By jasontu04 - Aug 7, 2007

Another Master Piece

Strengths: Body very solid, nice designs, more features, 10fps.

Weakness: Heavy, cost lot of money.

This camera is awesome, real great, more features, woooo...i'm very happy with 10fps performance, like macine gun. Very nice combinations with Canon Speedlite 580EX II with Canon EF 200mm f2.8 IS USM telephoto lens, the pictures very great, no comment.
One of the best from Canon.

By reinard9 - Oct 10, 2007

EOS-1D Mark III SLR Digital Camera is AWESOME!

Strengths: There are a lot of strengths for this camera. Fully automated or manually adjustable. Over 10 Megapixels. 2 sets of controls, for landscape or portrait use. Can hold 2 memory cards.

Weakness: Very heavy. Expensive.

I just love this camera. I have had it for 1 week, and it has turned my hobby into an obsession. The photos come out GREAT. This camera has forced me to buy some books about photography and really understand all my options. I feel like I could be a professional photographer with this camera.

By bambamhr - Nov 26, 2007