Canon also announces the EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM

Aug 20, 2007 13:29 GMT  ·  By

At last, the long awaited upgrade to the 1Ds Mark II has officially arrived. After some leaked information from Amazon, Canon has announced today the 1Ds Mark III, a full-frame monster with a CMOS sensor containing no less than 21.1 megapixels, extremely close to Mamiya's medium format ZD system with 22 megapixels. Note however that Mamiya's sensor measures 36mm x 48mm while Canon's CMOS is 24mm x 36mm (the standard size of 35mm film).

Luckily for the 1Ds Mark III, the 35mm full-frame DSLR is much more versatile than the medium format solutions. Canon has fitted all the goodies of the previously released 1D Mark III; well...not quite all the goodies. The larger sensor with superior 21.1MP resolution (5632 x 3750) makes it impossible for the 1Ds Mark III to achieve the dazzling 10 frames per second of the 1D Mark III. But don't worry, it doesn't mean that it's dead-slow, after all, 5 frames per second in bursts of up to 56 Large/Fine (21-megapixel) Jpegs or 12 RAW images is not exactly slow.

Aside from the differences in resolution and continuous speed, the 1D Mark III and the 1Ds Mark III are identical. The latter also features two DIGIC III processors to handle the humongous amount of data coming from the full-frame CMOS sensor and the 14-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) conversion process, which is touted as being able to recognize 16,384 colors per channel (four times the number of colors recognized by the EOS-1Ds Mark II Digital SLR camera's 12-bit conversion capability). Another shared feature is the UDMA compatibility, which allows for double data transfer compared to standard memory cards.

Unsurprisingly, the new 1Ds Mark III also boasts the Live View shooting mode, which lets users focus and compose on the impressive 3.0-inch LCD screen and magnify the image to achieve the optimal focus. What's more, if the camera is connected to the computer via USB, the EOS Utility 2.0 allows the photographer to view what the camera is seeing in real time and to control its operation. It's worth noting that Canon's Live View shooting mode functions on a different basis than the Olympus/Panasonic one, the EOS-1D Mark III lifting the mirror prior to exposing. This works a little bit like mirror lock-up, thus reducing the vibrations caused by the mirror's flapping.

In terms of autofocusing, future owners will enjoy the full power of the system present in the 1D Mark III speed demon. The module has 45 points, but with 19 of them being high-precision cross-type. Moreover, the company's engineers have made other improvements, the most important being the new micro-adjustment feature that allows for very fine changes in the AF point of focus for each lens type in use, along with the addition of adjustable focus-tracking sensitivity.

It will be interesting to see whether the 1Ds Mark III suffers from the same autofocusing errors as the 1D Mark III. Apparently, the 1.1.0 firmware version for the 1D Mark III does not solve the aforementioned autofocusing errors.

Last but not least, there's the EOS Integrated Cleaning System, which works by vibrating the infrared absorption glass for 3.5 seconds when the camera is turned on.

All in all, the 1Ds Mark III (with a durability rating of 300,000 cycles and an availability slated for November) seems to be the upgrade professional photographers have waited for, the resolution, speed and set of features placing it in a class of its own. However, the 1Ds Mark III will set you back $8,000, the same price tag as the previous 1Ds Mark II and although everybody says that it's normal for pro bodies to be expensive, this one is insanely expensive.

Aside from the 1Ds Mark III body Canon has also announced an improved version of the EF 14mm f2.8L USM wide-angle lens. Unlike the older model which only features one aspherical element, the new EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM incorporates two such elements and one Ultra-low Dispersion (UD) to control chromatic aberrations and purple fringing. Moreover, Canon also informs that the lens features the latest USM ring motor and dust and moisture sealing.

The new EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM will be available in October for a whopping $2,200, which is $500 more than what you'd pay for the EF 14mm f2.8L USM.

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The 1Ds Mark III
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