Canon EOS-1D X Review

[jaduffy007]

The only thing Nikon beat Canon with the D800 is the megapixels and price (not enough for me and many photographers to switch sides). Everything else, the Mark III does much better.

Actually the D800 not only has a lot more resolution but the quality of those pixels are better, clean shadows, etc. Medium format digital dynamic range too. Qualities I have paid 10's of 1000's of dollars for, now in a $3000 body. In contrast canon is milking its loyal base.

"Everything else much better", such as? I don't know about you, but resolution, DR are pretty much top of my list of priorities. I'm going to resist rehashing this tired old argument in detail, but I can't think of anything the 5d3 does "much better". And just to be clear, I'm not saying the 5d3 is a bad camera, just over priced relative to competing products.

I'm not suggesting it's worth switching sides over ...yet...but that point is within sight. I dont think it serves us to embrace an "ignorance is bliss" mentality, pretending the advantages of the D800 are not highly desirable. 8)

I understood that the noise advantage of the D800 disappeared by ISO 800? and similarly the DR?

While true to a very significant degree, those same advantages disappear even faster and more severely on the Phase One $48,000 IQ180 kit.

You're right but the d800 doesn't fall off a performance cliff until iso6400, especially true with downsizing. So unless someone shoots predominantly at 3200 and higher, why sacrifice the significant advantages from iso100 to 800??
Topaz Denoise and downsizing to 16mp creates miracles.

I really want to stop high jacking this thread, but I didn't start it !!!

 

[Philco]

That's great Brian. Since I've met and worked with a lot of other full time photographers, it makes sense I wouldn't know anyone that would pony up for a 1 series outside of that circle. The guy who used to valet in at my building had a 1DII a couple of years ago, but he was a working pro overseas before coming here, so he still counts. In my point I was responding to the idea that photographers would buy a 1 series to shoot their cats (sarcastically) and I agree that it's not a hobbyist camera. The people I've met who approached buying a camera to tote around like buying a watch, bought Leicas. I'm sure their cat photos are very nice.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

And he's saying 1 stop improvement in noise for higher ISO. If that's true for raw and not just JPEG then that's quite significant as that advantage. Likely this will at least pair it with the D4 in performance.

This isn't the difference 4MP less makes, this is a new sensor design.

He is saying RAW. It actually looks like a solid 2/3 stop better than 5D3 at high ISO, insane! That has got to beat the D4 and make the 1DX be the best lowlight DSLR in history (and I'm not honestly sure it could be ever beaten, at least not with a standard CMOS sensor + Bayer CFA).

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Great review and highly appreciated comparison with the 5D3 high ISOs. As I the 1Dx is way out of my economic reach, as an enthusiast amateur photographer I will have plenty of camera with the 5D3 covering any type of photography I am aimed at. I really consider it as kind of a mini 1Dx at almost half of the price. Made the day for me, though. Suirely will go for a 5D3 within a year or so. Saving up for a nice WA. Cheers, Pedro

There's another aspect to the sensor performance in the 1DX and that is if the improved picture quality isn't due to just a better JPEG noise elimination algorithm then that quite clearly Canon can deliver a better sensor than what is in the 5D Mark III.

One guy with Canon connections said months ago that we'd soon enough realize that Canon held back their new sensor tech for the 1DX so they could re-use the old lines once more to raise margin on the 5D3 since they felt that all the body upgrades were enough this time to not force their hand at the 100% new sensor tech.

Of course we still have no clue how it does at low ISO. I still tend to bet the D800 will cream it there. Perhaps, if we are lucky, it can match the D4 ISO100 DR and banding though???

 

[briansquibb]

That's great Brian. Did you buy a 1DX yet?

I dont want to be an early user so I am happy to wait. I have a 1D4 so its not urgent.

My 1DS3 is limited in low light so I thought the 1DX might do duties there as well.

The 1DS3 will stay top dog for iso 50-200 shots (which are about 50% of my photos) until there is a clear improvement coming along. I had 5D2 and did side by side testing and the 5D2 was clearly worse than the 1DS3.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

The only thing Nikon beat Canon with the D800 is the megapixels and price (not enough for me and many photographers to switch sides). Everything else, the Mark III does much better.

It's not even so much the MP as the quality of the pixels, much better at ISO100-800 on the D800.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

The 1dx is completely different, as the review says it's all about build quality, af tracking and fps. You don't need 14fps of your cat, and the 1dx's weight and size are not in the "fun" category anymore.

Depends on your cat

hah

 

[jaduffy007]

That's great Brian. Did you buy a 1DX yet?

I dont want to be an early user so I am happy to wait. I have a 1D4 so its not urgent.

My 1DS3 is limited in low light so I thought the 1DX might do duties there as well.

The 1DS3 will stay top dog for iso 50-200 shots (which are about 50% of my photos) until there is a clear improvement coming along. I had 5D2 and did side by side testing and the 5D2 was clearly worse than the 1DS3.

I've always loved the 1ds3 files. I think it speaks to a camera with a specialty vs jack of all trades.

 

[Marsu42]

One guy with Canon connections said months ago that we'd soon enough realize that Canon held back their new sensor tech for the 1DX so they could re-use the old lines once more to raise margin on the 5D3 since they felt that all the body upgrades were enough this time to not force their hand at the 100% new sensor tech.

That sounds plausible and would have worked if it wasn't for the competition. Lets hope that Nikon forces Canon's hand now to release a 5d4 sooner than 4 years from now :-o ... imagine what Intel products would be like without AMD.

Did the guy predict what would be the next body to have a real sensor upgrade after the 1dx? The 70d? The high-mp eos?

 

[jaduffy007]

One guy with Canon connections said months ago that we'd soon enough realize that Canon held back their new sensor tech for the 1DX so they could re-use the old lines once more to raise margin on the 5D3 since they felt that all the body upgrades were enough this time to not force their hand at the 100% new sensor tech.

That sounds plausible and would have worked if it wasn't for the competition. Lets hope that Nikon forces Canon's hand now to release a 5d4 sooner than 4 years from now :-o ... imagine what Intel products would be like without AMD.

Did the guy predict what would be the next body to have a real sensor upgrade after the 1dx? The 70d? The high-mp eos?

I agree and this bodes well for the 1D X.

 

[Loswr]

I've never met anyone with a 1 series that didn't make money with it.

Nice to meet you Philco, I am a hobbyist with several 1 series and I dont make any money from them

Hello from another hobbyist who'll be getting a 1D X (preordered from B&H the first day possible).

 

[gmrza]

One guy with Canon connections said months ago that we'd soon enough realize that Canon held back their new sensor tech for the 1DX so they could re-use the old lines once more to raise margin on the 5D3 since they felt that all the body upgrades were enough this time to not force their hand at the 100% new sensor tech.

Of course we still have no clue how it does at low ISO. I still tend to bet the D800 will cream it there. Perhaps, if we are lucky, it can match the D4 ISO100 DR and banding though???

This explanation sounds entirely plausible. Most 5DII users were not screaming for better sensor performance - they wanted better AF, better environmental sealing, dual card slots, etc. Holding back new sensor tech for the 5DIV will make much more commercial sense for Canon. Those people who are using the 5DII professionally especially will mostly not think twice upgrading to the 5DIII. If Canon put newer sensor tech into the 5DIII, it would be harder, most probably, to sell the 5DIV. That is probably just commercial reality - it is what it is. Put in the shoes of Canon management, most people reading this forum would probably make the same decision.

 

[Marsu42]

This explanation sounds entirely plausible. Most 5DII users were not screaming for better sensor performance - they wanted better AF

At the same time, this real sensor upgrade on the 1dx explains why Canon was so lenient to put the 1dx's af system in a much "cheaper" camera body, though at a lower af speed as far as I understand it. They felt sufficiently confident that the 1dx would blow the 5d3 out of the water anyway - not only for better built and more shutter cycles and so on, but simply due to the 1dx's high-iso shots making a real difference unlike 5d2/5d3.

 

[chrysek]

Awesome review ))) finaly someone did something and provided some sample images )) good job )))

 

[Drizzt321]

This explanation sounds entirely plausible. Most 5DII users were not screaming for better sensor performance - they wanted better AF

At the same time, this real sensor upgrade on the 1dx explains why Canon was so lenient to put the 1dx's af system in a much "cheaper" camera body, though at a lower af speed as far as I understand it. They felt sufficiently confident that the 1dx would blow the 5d3 out of the water anyway - not only for better built and more shutter cycles and so on, but simply due to the 1dx's high-iso shots making a real difference unlike 5d2/5d3.

Well, I think they needed to do something big for the 5d3's AF system on top of whatever else they were doing because so many people seemed that was a big failing of the 5d2. If they hadn't done something that big, they might not have gotten all that many people buying the 5d3.

That, and they can also harness the power of mass production to make much of the AF system for both 5d3 & 1DX cheaper on a per unit cost since they share large parts. Same with the firmware, they probably could take large parts of the firmware from the 1DX and put them into the 5d3 for the AF system.

 

[GDub]

[quote author=Drizzt321]
That, and they can also harness the power of mass production to make much of the AF system for both 5d3 & 1DX cheaper on a per unit cost since they share large parts....
[/quote]

AKA, farm it out to slave labor in China. Brilliant! High end gear at "low" prices for those of us who don't care how we get our discounts.

 

[Drizzt321]

[quote author=Drizzt321]
That, and they can also harness the power of mass production to make much of the AF system for both 5d3 & 1DX cheaper on a per unit cost since they share large parts....

AKA, farm it out to slave labor in China. Brilliant! High end gear at "low" prices for those of us who don't care how we get our discounts.
[/quote]

That's what pretty much everyone else does in the electronics (or most other manufacturing) industry. Not saying I personally agree with the policy, at least in so much as the working conditions and pay are, from what I understand, mostly pretty horrible, unsafe, and they are paid almost nothing. Not saying it has to be up to US standards of pay (depending on local costs of living & such), but they really should be safe and have some decent pay.

 

[psolberg]

I'm waiting for DXO to take a crack at it and dp-review. Those are the statistics based reviews. For actual results I prefer http://diglloyd.com/
well worth the subscription give the sheer amount of comparisons using top of the line zeiss glass.

 

[GDub]

[quote author=Drizzt321]
That, and they can also harness the power of mass production to make much of the AF system for both 5d3 & 1DX cheaper on a per unit cost since they share large parts....

AKA, farm it out to slave labor in China. Brilliant! High end gear at "low" prices for those of us who don't care how we get our discounts.

That's what pretty much everyone else does in the electronics (or most other manufacturing) industry....
[/quote]

Aye, lad. There's the rub.

 

[bvukich]

I've never met anyone with a 1 series that didn't make money with it.

Nice to meet you Philco, I am a hobbyist with several 1 series and I dont make any money from them

You're also someone that has the skill to sell pictures, but takes the very noble route of taking pictures for people that can't afford it for free. That makes you many shades of awesome in my book.