Canon EOS-1D Mark III review

Canon rates the battery to provide up to 2,200 shots per charge, and though we didn't test it, we believe them. After a full weekend of shooting many hundreds of shots in Raw+JPG mode, the battery hadn't even drained halfway. Of course, along with the new battery comes a new charger, so professionals or companies that have invested in extra batteries and chargers for older 1D models may be annoyed to find that they have to buy new spare batteries and chargers. The charger that comes with the Mark III can charge as many as two batteries at once, though only one battery comes with the camera.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon EOS 1D Mark III

0.1

0.5

1.1

0.4

Nikon D2Xs

0.2

0.7

1.1

0.4

Sony Alpha DSLR-A100

1

0.5

1.6

0.4

Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

0.5

0.8

1.2

0.4

Pentax K10D

0.5

0.5

1.6

0.5

Nikon D80

0.1

0.3

0.9

0.5

Image quality
Images shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark III can be absolutely stunning. Colours look extremely accurate, and the automatic white balance does an excellent job of neutralising colours under a variety of lighting situations. The only times it became confused was in situations in which there was mixed lighting, and even then it produced pleasing, if not absolutely spot-on results. If paired with a sharp lens, the 1D Mark III can produce images with a vast amount of fine detail.

However, where this camera really shines is its ultra-low noise. Even at its highest sensitivity setting of ISO 6,400, we were able to make pleasing prints. On a monitor you'll see a covering of fine, multicoloured grain, but there's still an impressive amount of shadow detail and finer detail, especially for such an extreme setting. At lower sensitivities, images are extremely clean, and noise doesn't even begin to show up significantly on monitors until you reach ISO 800.

Conclusion
If you can afford the cost of the 1D Mark III, and are a Canon shooter who doesn't absolutely need the higher resolution of the 16.6-megapixel 1Ds Mark II, then this camera is a no-brainer. Nikon shooters who are reading this might even begin to second-guess their beloved brand, but with rumours flying about a possible D3, you'll probably want to wait and see if Canon's top competitor can match this. It's going to be extremely difficult, though, as this is one of the best digital cameras we've ever used.

Additional editing by Nick Hide