What surprises does Canon still have in store for the EOS-1D X Mark III?

Hector1970

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Mar 22, 2012
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You are better than me then. I do use a very compact travel tripod so I'm regularly shooting from 12"-18" above the ground so even though the buttons might be in the same place relative to each other they are not in the same place relative to me. I also regularly use and adjust lights for dawn shots so walk to and from the camera a lot of times in the dark. But I'll often use a CamRanger or WFT in situations like this so I don't have to keep bending down to adjust the camera and I can do test shots from the light position rather than the camera position.

Bottom line, I would find illuminated buttons useful, other companies offer them. You wouldn't, that is fine.

Here is an example of when I'd find them useful, pre dawn shoot, seven lights, setup in complete darkness.
As much as I like to think I know my camera backward illuminated buttons would be a help at times. It wouldn't be a big selling point but its definitely very useful.
I'll be interested in what they do about keeping the camera silent when required. I think it will get more common that people will expect press conferences to have the noise of cameras kept down. Same for weddings and some sporting events. Now that's its possible to be silent , more rules may come into play. Yes you can flip the mirror up but unless the viewfinder is some sort of hybrid its not ideal. It will be interesting if they try to solve that issue. None of the Canon DSLR's are particulary quiet on silent mode. A hybrid viewfinder would be attractive to me.
The key selling points for me will be the progress in focusing, ISO performance and FPS.
I'd be surprised if they don't move the MP slightly at least as it nudges people to replace their 1 DX II's.
You'd need a significant improvement in focusing and ISO performance otherwise as a 1DX II is very robust and would work on for most needs.
 
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tron

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Nov 8, 2011
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I only shoot stills. In fact the only video I have ever shot was with my 7DII behind a 500mm f/4L IS II on a tripod.
But since there are many video shooters who are supposed to have/want/like 1Dx series let's say for fun that a nice surprise would be a global shutter.

Now I can leave CR and come back a few days later to read (or not read) the responses :D
 
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You'd need a significant improvement in focusing and ISO performance otherwise as a 1DX II is very robust and would work on for most needs.

What improvement in 'ISO performance' are you hoping for? Given, as is repeated here often, all current sensors are almost at the limit of low light sensitivity.
 
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I agree. I have to show up for certain gigs with as many as 20 cards. It will cost me a fortune to switch. I own a total of 4 Cfast cards that I use solely for backup. I'd much prefer they do what Nikon did with the D5 and have modules for either dual CF slots or dual XQD slots.
yeah, seems I typed CFast out of ignorance. Another said dual CFExpress slots. Just as bad for me, and worst for you. I would love to be able to customize the card slots. I understand the desire to be able to write really fast for the video and high burst modes. I can accept whatever slower writing is required. My issue is storage. I currently travel with a portable photo wallet - it only has SD and CF slots. The Mk II is looking better and better, if the price drops considerably.
 
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How much for the lenses?


From what I understand and have been told, the new MF "65mm-series" lenses will be 15% to 25% more in price across the board than competing "Luxury" series full frame lenses. There will be NO cheaper "Kit Lenses" for this range of camera. It will be ALL-PRO, ALL THE TIME in terms of available lenses !!! However, there WILL be a great 18-to-55mm zoom and a great 70 to 200mm zoom though at "reasonable" price points though if you don't want to spend too much on the big glass primes which WILL be expensive! It's actually EASIER and slightly cheaper to build lenses for a larger sensor but since ALL the primes will be BIG high end glass, get your wallet out!

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20 mp is okay for an action camera. My wife just recently made impressively detailed A3 prints from image files shot with her old 12 mp Nikons. The only downside is that there's not much room for cropping, which is indeed something a birder could miss.


I've been able to get GREAT high quality 36 by 24 inch prints from EIGHT megapixel cameras! The KEY is to first edit, crop, colour correct, unsharp mask FIRST, and THEN use a FRACTAL RESIZER to resample your original image to about 4x the original pixel count (i.e. 32 megapixels) and then print at 600 dpi (or about 280 Lines per inch -- Note DPI and LPI are NOT the same thing!) using Error Diffusion and Best Quality Printing set to ON. (some printers use the slowest print setting for best printed image quality!) Both Epson and Canon professional printers have this capability to CHOOSE the type of error diffusion (test which diffusion setting works BEST for your specific image). The fractal resize step does the increase in actual pixel density. The error diffusion settings during the print stage re-distributes the aliasing and edge softening errors of the upsize operation amongst neighbouring pixels so the human eye is TRICKED into seeing a higher resolution image than it really is!

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You mean the full frame sensor designers who write on this forum, yes maybe I should have listened to them

I'm only giving my impression of what I've read, of course, but it is possible to understand the principles underpinning technology without being directly involved in its development, don't you think? Dreaming is fine, but it often leads to disappointment.
 
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GoldWing

Canon EOS 1DXMKII
Oct 19, 2013
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en.wikipedia.org
I've been able to get GREAT high quality 36 by 24 inch prints from EIGHT megapixel cameras! The KEY is to first edit, crop, colour correct, unsharp mask FIRST, and THEN use a FRACTAL RESIZER to resample your original image to about 4x the original pixel count (i.e. 32 megapixels) and then print at 600 dpi (or about 280 Lines per inch -- Note DPI and LPI are NOT the same thing!) using Error Diffusion and Best Quality Printing set to ON. (some printers use the slowest print setting for best printed image quality!) Both Epson and Canon professional printers have this capability to CHOOSE the type of error diffusion (test which diffusion setting works BEST for your specific image). The fractal resize step does the increase in actual pixel density. The error diffusion settings during the print stage re-distributes the aliasing and edge softening errors of the upsize operation amongst neighbouring pixels so the human eye is TRICKED into seeing a higher resolution image than it really is!

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So at an international sports competition where we take 1000's of pictures we could die before we hand in our assignments using your workflow?????
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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False analogy. Ray Charles could play piano with is hands without seeing the keys. So could Stevie Wonder, and Pig Robbins, and Ronnie Milsap, etc.
They could/can, but somebody has to show them where the piano is first. On a tripod in the dark illuminated buttons would do that for sighted photographers.

As with any feature every user won't find it useful, indeed some may never use it, that's not the point, the point is many users would find it useful other manufacturers offer the feature and Canon have already said they will include it on the MkIII.
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Except the 1D X and 1D X Mark II are more accurately a continuation of the full frame 1Ds line, not the APS-C 1D series.
I disagree.

The 1D line were APS-H, a bastardized sensor size forced on the model due to sensor costs and manufacturing limitations of yield and wafer size at the time. But the 1D line was always primarily focused on fps iso performance and AF, the 1Ds line was more about the best 135 format sensor Canon could make coupled with their best AF (though detuned from the concurrent 1D model AF), the fps, a sports cameras raison d'être, were lackluster at best.

For sure nobody outside Canon ever considered the 1D X a step up in outright low iso image quality from the higher resolution 1Ds MkIII, indeed that final 1Ds still had more MP (though the difference was trivial) than the 1D X MkII.

No I'd say the 1D X was the natural replacement for the 1D MkIV and the 1Ds MkIII was the end of the line for the studio and wedding photographer orientated 1 series cameras irrespective of sensor size.
 
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Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
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I disagree.

The 1D line were APS-H, a bastardized sensor size forced on the model due to sensor costs and manufacturing limitations of yield and wafer size at the time. But the 1D line was always primarily focused on fps iso performance and AF, the 1Ds line was more about the best 135 format sensor Canon could make coupled with their best AF (though detuned from the concurrent 1D model AF), the fps, a sports cameras raison d'être, were lackluster at best.

For sure nobody outside Canon ever considered the 1D X a step up in outright low iso image quality from the higher resolution 1Ds MkIII, indeed that final 1Ds still had more MP (though the difference was trivial) than the 1D X MkII.

No I'd say the 1D X was the natural replacement for the 1D MkIV and the 1Ds MkIII was the end of the line for the studio and wedding photographer orientated 1 series cameras irrespective of sensor size.

The 1D X forced users of both the 1D Mark IV and the 1Ds Mark III to accept some compromises from what they could have had if the division had been maintained.

The fact remains, the 1D X has the same sensor size as the 1Ds series did. Lenses have the same angle of view on the 1D X that they had on the 1Ds Mark III and its predecessor.

The fact remains that the 1D X mark IV was the end of the line for Canon's APS-H sensors. Lenses did not give the same angle of view on the 1D Mark IV and its predecessors as they give on the 1D X.

In return for a relatively minor decrease in resolution compared to the 1Ds Mark III, the 1D X offered the same full frame size sensor and a quantum leap forward in fps for a FF camera.
 
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The whole idea about the camera making jpg files is to have something quick that is viewable over a wide variety of devices. Replacing jpg with an uncommon file type negates that reason. If you want real quality, you shoot RAW. If you want fast and portable, you produce a jpg. A file format that meets neither set of conditions is doomed to failure.
I don’t know, the format is slowly gaining acceptance. It really is much better. For both still and video. Same quality at half the file size, or much better quality and the same file size.

in my experience, though not lately, since I’m retired, magazines in a hurry with deadlines prefer HPC. If it’s shot properly, it’s fine for magazine usage.
 
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The numbers you are using are technically correct but those are the absolute minimum acceptable standards. We wouldn't typically accept original art at resolutions below 300 DPI and we would prefer it to be much higher. All editing is usually done on high rez files and we don't sample down until we are ready to do seperations and go to press. 150 LPI may be OK for some publications but you are not going to get a photgraphic quality image at that LPI. The screen pattern will usually be visible on high quality coated paper at 150 or lower LPI.

We can often get high quality offset from 300 DPI files if they don't require a lot of editing but it is far from ideal and anything below that will definitely effect the quality of the final print.

(Offset color process printing is done with fixed line per inch dot matrixes rather than the dispersed ink used by ink-jets for those that aren't familiar with the process)
Almost every magazine is 150 lines. So photographic quality is being printed at that level. Is it the same as a high quality inkjet? No, but magazine quality is the best most people will ever see.

i know a lot about fashion photography, and while clients claim to want high Rez, as soon as the images are turned in to the editing department in the mag, they get brought all the way down. Maybe you don’t know that, but I’ve had the experience many times with photographers in my lab.
 
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So at an international sports competition where we take 1000's of pictures we could die before we hand in our assignments using your workflow?????

===

I don't have to worry about speed, as OUR custom designed and coded Fractal Resizer is the FASTEST in the world using 8 CPU cores (16 threads on an AMD Threadripper) and can resample a low resolution 4096 by 2160 pixel VIDEO FRAME from a higher end video camera up to as much as 65,556 by 34,560 pixels (1.89:1 aspect ratio) in less than TWO SECONDS and it still looks quite decent !!! Normally, we resample video frames from DCI 4K video resolution to about 8192 by 4320 (35.3 megapixel) for print and poster use, since we use the Canon C700 Global shutter camera at 12 bits or greater UNCOMPRESSED as a stills camera at 60 fps burst rate equivalent ...OR.... we can use our "NEW" 50.3 megapixel unreleased MONSTER Medium Format camera which has 16-bits per RGBA channel (64 bit colour -- RAW) and can shoot 8196 by 4320 RAW pixels at 60 fps burst rate!

When you have access to a BILLION DOLLAR+ Aerospace company's compute resources, there is NOTHING I cannot do or use to get or fix my shots! I can even rent satellite time on WHOLE UPLINK and DOWNLINK CHANNELS in mere minutes with a simple phone call !!!

I also hook up my camera to a 30 GHz radio modem (terrestrial link -- not a satellite link!) and can beam my photos in less than half a second since at that high frequency, the maximum channel bandwidth available with GREAT error correction is 1.25 GIGABYTES per second, so I can send over 500 frames If I use a Wavelet intraframe compression method in less than three seconds. I can send 35 frames of RAW uncompressed 4K video frames in about the same about of time with PROPER error correction. So I can choose whether it's RAW or Wavelet (JPEG-2000/HEIF) for my images. Speed of workflow is NOT an issue with us!

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I will PROBABLY be in Tokyo this year (2020 Olympics) but who knows as I get sent EVERYWHERE to do tests on our custom gear. I will be likely staying in Osaka and then take a crew chopper over to Tokyo to do aerials and MAYBE get some stadium shots on the track events and the Marathon ending MOST LIKELY.
Since we're not with NHK (Host Broadcaster Tokyo 2020) but rather a technical aerospace company, our current schedule is very fluid. The other possibility is the Summer X games in July 16-19 in Minneapolis OR the UCI Road World championships September 20-27, 2020!

We'll see! There's also the actual INTRODUCTION / WORLD PREMIERE of the new 50.3 megapixel/DCI-8K 60 fps Monster Combined Stills/Video Medium Format camera and it's APS-C and 2/3rd inch DCI 8K large sensor super-smartphone siblings event that I will be at!

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