Canon EOS-1D X Mark III field testing has begun [CR2]

Aug 26, 2015
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I hope the new 1dx3 will show off its new sensors as well as class leading, uncropped 4k.
This is a very unrealistic expectation, the best they can do it make FF 4k (or maybe 8k) available at the C300 Mark III level as a paid option.

For mirrorless cameras, an RF-mount focal reducer might come at some point to combat that crop factor (maybe that's one reason they are holding back on the video-focused R model for now and make a high-megapixel one).
If it kept all functions intact, it would probably be a huge seller, bigger than it ever was for Sony.
 
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I suspect it might be released later this year - at the very least, it will be in the hands of quite a lot more testers.
Why? Because there's a major sporting event taking place in Japan this year - the Rugby World Cup starts on September 20th. Sure, not as big as the Olympics, but a pretty useful testing ground, and Canon are one of the official sponsors - it would be very surprising if they didn't want their product to be pre-eminent.
 
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How does the Sony a9 do overall as a pro level camera? There is more than just being fast.
Durability, long lenses, ie 600mm, 800mm, Ease of use including menus, and other checklist items that Canon and Nikon have that Sony completely lacks to this date.
Consumer/enthusiast/pixel peepers bells and whistles do not seem to be major factors to actual working pros around the world.
...and then there's the CPN support network...which Sony hasn't got. I can't imagine Sony support covering large media events like the Olympics...When a pro buys pro gear, he /she is also buying into a support program. I'm a CPN platinum member and I had a dropped 5DIII which needed some extensive repairs. I dropped it into their service center...through Wex...it was back in my hands 2 days later. It's an amazing service for CPN guys. My old Guitar tech used to say...quality gear is easily repairable gear.
 
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A traditional 1Dx3 would satisfy regular still pros that depend on predictable behavior and result from the camera. It will probably be announced in good time for the Olympics with access primary given to accredited photogs. The rest would have to wait a few months.
That what I would like to see is a R doing that what folks expects of a 5D5. That said: Still loving my 1D2 though...
 
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Hector1970

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Personally I'd have thought 4 or 5 years ago Canon would have targeted the Tokyo Olympics to showcase their latest mirrorless technology in a Pro Model . It would have had possibilities to a much higher frame rate, silent shutter, super focusing system, no black out etc...
It would seem to odd to me that their target would have been to have a new 1DX III which possibly has only incremental improvements on the 1DX II (higher MP, new focusing system). I don't know whether they can improve on FPS with a mechanical mirror.
But a 1 DXIII it would appear to be the next pro camera for high end photography.
It will be interesting to see what Canon can do with it to make it clearly superior to a 1 DX II (which is a very fine camera).
I'll be really interested in seeing what progress they've made on focusing which still can be frustrating (but in generally really very good once it locks on). I hope they can improve the locking on of small objects. Somehow recognising birds in flight would be amazing. Effective Eye focus would be great too.

I doubt if they'd shrink it. Personally I'd love if they made 1 DX somewhere between the size of a 5D IV and 1 DX. I'd be happy with one battery but the buttons on the vertical are handy. Potentially they'd make it a bit lighter.

I'd love if some how they could make it quieter on silent shutter - which is not very silent.
I'm heavily invested in EF lens so this camera will tempt me alot.
It will be expensive so I'd better start saving.
 
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koenkooi

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Nobody is considering a pellicle mirror alternative? Or flapping mirror with interchangeable viewfinder housings to allow both EVF and OVF options to get the best of both worlds?

Or replacing the AF chip with a smaller version of the sensor, e.g. APS-H sized 8 megapixel sensor with DPAF. That would allow you to use the OVF while having all the fancy new DPAF tricks.
 
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It depends on what you shoot. I do not believe all these people would be shooting with sub par AF.
View attachment 183293View attachment 183294

Now when the 1D MkIII AF was genuinely suspect the white to black lens ratio changed drastically, now, very heavily leans to the white for the highest end pros that live and eat by their AF performance.
Look at allllllll that nicely balanced glass with full integrated grip bodies capturing images ranging from 10-14 frames per second. And not to mention soooooooo much f4-5.6 and more going on, the 1d series may not be a Sony with with better noise sensitivity but the 1d series has such smooth and nice grain at higher ASA and skin tones that actually depict humans compared to that mushy dishwater skin tones that Sony has. Photography isn’t just about dick measuring it’s about having fun, telling stories and maybe making some money if that’s your goal. The most beautiful images I have seen are the ones I have stored in my brain, we often forget to put the camera down and see and live life. Just because you have a nice camera in your hands doesn’t mean you are cool or an artist. Those who are living and doing life in front of our lenses are the cool ones and those people should be respected and sought after and not those of us mashing buttons. I used to think that I needed the best gear to make a career in cinematography and photography and you don’t. I used a 5dmkiii and a 1dxmkii( yes with that beautiful mjpeg codec that most of you hate) to make some documentaries that are on Netflix and hbo and other stations, I have had photos taken with a 60d published in the New Yorker and other publications, I use a mavic and a mavic air and have some of those images on the travel channel. If you are good at what you do you can take and make any piece of gear work. Photography is sometime not about the gear but about the place and time. I stopped commenting and coming to this site because it’s as bad as Facebook with some of the people but I came back yesterday to see what’s up and new and I see that tribalism is still alive and well. At the end of the day canon may not make the most tech crazy gear but it is reliable and I, like many professional cinematographers and photophotographers love and am grateful for the reliability of canon products. But I refuse to get any R series no matter the specs of the reliability and ergonomics are not there. Switch brands if you want no one cares, get excited about all that new R glass if you want but don’t forget to live. Also Cfast is not dead, those things are everywhere and with ARRI still using them they will be around for awhile, a well lit scene looks better with canon color science than a wide open aperture high asa Sony with no lighting. Ummmmm....... did I forget anything. Oh the 1dxmkii is probably the best photo camera body ever made and unless you own one won’t understand, I hope the 1dxmkiii camera doesn’t get a tilty flippy screen and internal recording is waaaayyyyy more betterererer than an external recorder. Ooooooo forgot about pixel pitch, actually the hell with it, this got way to long winded. Go buy a 1dxmkii and a c200 or 300mkii and stop complaining.
 
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Panasonic S1 is very interesting camera for me. It has ergonomic, weather sealing, eyeAF, IBIS, dual card slot, good video option, weather sealing, touch screen LCD, 5.8 million dot EVF. Pretty much everything I wish Canon EOS R Pro would be for $2500. The high ISO is very clean and it focus fast even in dark situation. The only unknown is how well the EF-L adapter works.

If Sony come out with next gen A9 or A7R with 5.76 million dot EVF, best eyeAF with live tracking and fully touch screen LCD like a6400, I would switch and get 2 Tamron lenses for cheap.

Yes but what do you do when someone comes out with 6.8 million dots and better eye focusing?
 
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You guys are worrying too much about the EF mount and DSLRs in general.

There will always be a niche for a high-end DSLR. Mainly, journalists.
There's at least 10 years of habituation between that group and their digital 1D cameras.

No way Canon will force them to change to the RF mount. Not a year before the Olympics in Tokyo.
The 1D series in DSLR form with EF mount is here to stay. For $6,000 you would expect such! :]

Heck, Nikon still sell their F6 35mm camera brand new at B&H for $2,600. In 2019!!!
 
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A couple observations that have gone unnoted in the discussion:
1) Whether you like mirrors or not, when Canon opts to stop refreshing lenses in EF mount, it's game over. There is too much innovation going on in lens development (and a resulting quickening of the lowering of values of used equipment) for pros not to make the decision to move within 2-4 years after the inevitable trickling off. That point will, for Canon's business reasons, come sooner than many will wish, if it hasn't come already. We'll know only in retrospect. Almost certainly it'll be like Sony alpha mount, where no one will know if it is supported due to a dissonance between Canon words and actions, and then a few years later we'll realize it wasn't being supported for some time. Resale values of lenses will go down significantly, forcing pros concerned about capitalization of equipment to take the loss and move to mirrorless of some brand or other. I'm not advocating for this; just observing that I can't think of an exception to this mount evolution narrative in the past 30 years.

2) If you make more money on medical imaging than on cameras, your technology research emphasis will be on resolution, detection, optics, materials and a bunch of other things that really matter to those most important business lines. One of the areas not stressed is processor speed. Medical imaging is not a dynamic environment requiring tens of shots per second. Quite the opposite. You get a medical image, and they tell you to go home so some dude can come in and examine it and send you a report 2 weeks later. So if you want to control your own chip fab - a billions-dollars investment - you aren't necessarily multiplying the costs of that fab to maximize performance on an edge case product line like cameras. It may be the case that Canon is in a market position that requires a multiplication of computing needs just after a years-long period when the Digic chips haven't advanced nearly as quickly in computational capacity as those of other brands, perhaps because of a combination of build-it-here philosophy along with a corporate-wide prioritization of other research and capital needs. I do not know that this is the case, and I hope it is not. But I am aware and not overly-skeptical that it is a possibility. Were it true, you would see Canon releasing a series of cameras over a number of years that had lower frames per second than desired and versus the competition. This would be especially true on mirrorless. Where they did have great frame rates, you would see the use of multiple chips. You would also see computationally-intensive features, such as zebras, desirable codecs, etc. left out. I think you would also see an emphasis on the landscape and studio photographer for the "pro" mirrorless models, less the sports/action set. Were this incorrect, you would likely see evidence of that with one or two cameras that showed a physical and technological capacity beyond 300 mp/second throughput, like other brands have shown. Fingers crossed that's coming.
 
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They have already said the EOS R series are not replacements for the DSLRs. Some people prefer optical viewfinders & you can certainly see the difference between the 5D series and the EOS R being much shaper optically (I certainly noticed this as good as the EOS electronic finder is its not up to an optical finder).
Some people still prefer the larger size. Ive also found some things similar and others very different & for the first time in years I have to think about using the EOS R over any of my DSLRs.

Clearly, you haven't looked through the electronic viewfinder of the Sony a7RIII or a9. They are as good if not better—especially with very long glass— as any optical viewfinder from Canon, including the 1D X Mk II.
 
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Architect1776

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A bird photographer friend of mine sold his 1DX2 for an A9 to match with his Canon 600 Series 2 lens. He's very happy with it and is not looking at moving back to DSLR.

Sony's lens lineup is not as expansive as Canon but they do have the f/2.8 16-35, 24-70 70-200 & 400. They have 17 months to roll out 600 or 800.

As for AF performance and accuracy I have yet to watch a YouTube review that dismisses the body for sports. It does take issue with number of native lenses and some ergonomics but that's about it.

All signs has Canon only spending R&D money for RF mount camera bodies. Why else announce the development a f/2.8 with IS 15-35, 24-70, 70-200 lens and future RF mount camera bodies with in body image stabalization (IBIS)?

My hope is that these bodies will sport a dual SDXC UHS-II or SDXC UHS-II + XQD memory slot rather than CFast.

I would be very surprised if they come out with a DSLR-based replacement of the 1DX2.

I seriously doubt the XQD as it is also dead. If anything the CFExpress would be ideal as that is where the future is.
 
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Yes but what do you do when someone comes out with 6.8 million dots and better eye focusing?

Once it meet a certain level of accepted performance, I'm not interested in upgrade as often unless there there multiple area of performance sensor, AF, EVF, IBIS or some new features that's useful to my workflow like significant DR upgrade that allow me to no longer do exposure blend, global shutter (no HSS).

I had Canon 6D longer than most people shooting weddings and charging $3000 and up. I still shoot with 5D IV and haven't upgrade to FF mirrorless craze yet even though all my purchase is a business expense and tax deductible. I just want a significant upgrade and getting the most bang for my buck.

It's also why I don't upgrade my computer and smart phone as often unless there is significant upgrade in multiple areas. It has been 4 years since I built a I7 6700K and I'm only interested in upgrading to a 8-16 core processor Ryzen is coming out in July and I'll be good for 4 more years. Same logic when it come to FF mirrorless. I'll be needing 2 camera along lenses. It's going to be expensive purchase and I want a significant upgrade not an incremental upgrade most companies like to push out each year.

Beside, if there are a camera I really want, I wouldn't mind upgrading sooner than later either. If I have the money why not. It can be tax deductible.
 
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Clearly, you haven't looked through the electronic viewfinder of the Sony a7RIII or a9. They are as good if not better—especially with very long glass— as any optical viewfinder from Canon, including the 1D X Mk II.

I used both A7RIII and A9 and I didn't like it. I found the EOS R to be more pleasing to look at. A7III is even worst.
 
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PureClassA

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A traditional 1Dx3 would satisfy regular still pros that depend on predictable behavior and result from the camera. It will probably be announced in good time for the Olympics with access primary given to accredited photogs. The rest would have to wait a few months.
That what I would like to see is a R doing that what folks expects of a 5D5. That said: Still loving my 1D2 though...

A 1DX3 would have to be some pretty substantial upgrades from the 1DX2 to make even consider upgrading mine. I'd hope the resolution would top out at 24 or maybe even as high as 26, but any more than that would probably start sacrificing gains elsewhere like higher FPS from a pure processing power standpoint. I think the biggest gains would be (as previously discussed by some others) in the AF area. The sensor would probably debut (along with the EOS R Pro) this newly rumored Canon IBIS, which given the camera's primary audience would likely be the most attractive new feature
 
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Aug 7, 2018
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I hope they will not bump the resolution too much. If you want a high resolution, you can still buy a 5D Mark V, which will come out at some point. My 1D X has "only" 18 megapixels and to be honest, I would prefer having only 12 in exchange for better low light noise performance. My 1D X does not even allow me to recover details in the shadows at ISO 100. The noise is just to bad. Before increasing the megapixel count Canon should improve noise performance.

As far as the Tokyo Olympics are concerned, I will definitely visit them, but still use my old camera as my budget does not allow both the journey and a new 1 series camera in the same year. I already used my 1D X in Rio and it pretty much did the job. If you are not an accredited press photographer, any lenses over 200mm are not allowed anyway. However it might be possible to "smuggle" an extender into the venue to get 280mm out of your 200mm lens. The sport where a good camera with fast AF and high fps shines most is fencing. The most difficult was archery. Even with high fps you almost never strike the exact point when the arch leaves the bow. Gymnastics are very good for testing the video capabilities of your camera. By the way, ticket sales start in April.
 
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Well, if this rumour is true, they might have an (excellent) 1DXii sensor to slot into one of their 'pro' R bodies, at no development cost again. A pro R body positioned in theory above the 5Div, and below the new 1DXiii, and aimed at those wanting to upgrade from the old 5Div and open to a mirrorless alternative. Sounds very in line with the marketing strategy to date.
That would make a lot of sense. A pro body R a little higher than the 5D, with R lenses would be a good proposition, priced 4.5k
 
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