Canon EOS 1D Mark III 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon EOS 1D Mark III 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
Digital camera Review: Canon EOA 1D Mark III is a super camera!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been reading about what a great camera this is, but it seemed like a big chunk of money to plunk down when I was pretty happy with my 30D. Boy was I surprised. I bought the mark III because I wanted a pro body - one reason being that I knew my recently purchased Canon 500 mm f/4 IS would not autofocus with 2X teleconverter. The Mark III will autofocus down to f/8.0. I'm mostly a budding bird photographer, and after making a few images I saw the great color reproduction. The camera is balzingly fast from it's AF to it's 10FPS mode. It will take me fair bit of time to explore all of the custom settings avaialble - so many ways to set it up to your personal liking. Plus it has "My Menu" which allows quick access to the items that you use a lot, e.g. format, autofocus options, etc. My 30D, which is a fine camera, feels more like a toy in my hands. The mark III fits your hand like a glove, feels solid and performs wonderfully. This is more camera than I'll ever need, but I'm certain with practice I'll grow into it. Buy this camera if you want the very best!!
Digital camera Review: Canon MKIII
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most excellent pieces of machinery in the photography world.
10 FPS, ability to use high ISO, ability to use teleconverters and autofocus, micro lens adjustments, and custom functions are why I bought it. Battery lasts all week. I shoot thousands of photos with one charge.
I did have to send it to Canon for an error99 problem, but it's fixed and working perfectly. The aiservo @ 10 FPS can miss a few frames in focus, this bothers me, so I have custon functioned it to shoot @ 7 FPS. It's a bit too sensitive in autofocus even in one shot/centerpoint for very small objects. I mostly do wildlife and birds in flight so this part is critical for us. This is discussed often in bird forums. Lets hope Canon addresses it, as the firmware upgrades have not totally solved this. Extremely fast otherwise.
Even so, it's a joy to use. The colors are better than the 40D.
It's larger, but excellent ergonomics, even for a girl.
Digital camera Review: Canon Mark III & Canon Support
Summary: 3 Stars
In the last 3 years I have gone from 2 different point and shot cameras to the Canon 30D to the Canon Mark III. With each camera, I was telling myself - this should do it for some time. I read and learned as much as I could with each camera. When I got the 30D I was on cloud 9 - this was great - it would be nice to shoot faster though. When I heard about the Mark III coming out, I knew that was hopefully the last stepping stone I would require for sometime.
This thing rocked - couldn't believe how fast it could shot. I was surprised at how many shots were out of focus though (birding). I didn't experience anything like this on the 30D. I read about the AI focus problems and thought - well this is what is happening to me. For the next 5 months Canon stone walled me on a weekly basis. Promised firmware fixes, this fix that fix, reps telling me off.
I wrote a letter to Yoroku Adachi (President of Canon U.S.A.) and got a call back from one of his people. Very apologetic but same old please be patient and apologies galore - but still we won't replace it with a functioning camera - it is a minor issue (again I was told that by numerous reps) - I say it is only minor if you don't use those features.
5 ½ months later it got fixed. I missed the birding season but there is next year (I was told that by a rep too!). It looks like the problem is fixed and looking forward to spring migration. If someone is reading this and hasn't purchased any camera gear yet, buy Nikon. I have too much invested in Canon gear to switch.
I would probably give the camera 4.5-5 stars now. Canon Support would get a 0.
Updated: May 29th, 2008
With the latest firmware updates and hardware fix, I would give this Camera an easy 5 stars. I have shot plays indoors at ISO 1600 (no flash) and can't believe how sharp shots come out.
My issue is still with Canon Tech (lack of) Support. I called yesterday about the WFT-E2A and got the usual run-a-round about the product. If you don't think you will ever need Canon Tech (lack of) Support, go Canon.
Updated October 11th, 2009
Well, I finally sent my camera in because I have been getting Error 99's since February - It is nice that it is working agaiin but I have no idea what to say about this camera - when it works it is great but I have had it for about 26 months and out of that time it had either the auto focus problem out of the box and error 99 problems. I would say I have had to deal with the camera being defective for about half of the time I have had it. Canon Support had me do all this useless stuff which of course involved me spending money on memory cards, calibrating the battery, using the AC adapter, various lenses, and cleaning contacts.
I was able to limp along with the camera for about 8 months because I came up with my own 'solution' of pulling the memory cards out, removing the lens, using the ac adapter (instead of the battery), and plugging in the TC803 and just setting that to shoot away until the error 99's stopped. I would than leave the camera on it on and changed the tc803 to take a picture every 3 minutes so it wouldn't go off into error 99 land again.
If I were a pro I would have dumped all my canon gear because this thing has been so unreliable. I have resisted purchasing any other canon bodies because of all the headaches I have had with this thing. Canon Support was friendly but wasted a ton of my time and some more of my $$$. It would be nice to get some sort of gift card from Canon or a lens at cost for all my mental anguish.
Digital camera Review: Do NOT buy this Camera until the AF issue is resolved
Summary: 2 Stars
I've owned this camera for about 3 months and it has been to the factory twice and still will not reliably focus correctly. When it does focus correctly or if I shoot landscapes in manual focus mode the images are incredible, but the AF totally sucks and is completely unreliable. It can't be trusted. I've shot hundreds of comparison shots between the 1D MkIII and my 20D and the 20D outperforms it in AF 90% of the time.
DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA UNTIL CANON ACKNOWLEDGES THE PROBLEM, ANNOUNCES A FIX FOR IT AND RECALLS/REPAIRS ALL THE CAMERAS THAT HAVE THE PROBLEM AND THE USER COMMUNITY AGREES THAT IT IS FIXED.
Digital camera Review: Doesn't focus and now doesn't work
Summary: 1 Stars
Canon tried to make a big splash with the 30th anniversary EOS, but it really was a dud. I've had this body for over 6 months now, and it's by far the worst purchase decision I've every made.
1. It doesn't focus as it's supposed to. It has out of focus shots for one shot and AI modes, at a far worse rate than its predecessor. Canon even acknowledged this defect.
2. It has severe error problems (such as Error 99).
3. Even after the fix, it still doesn't focus as it should -- lots of professional sites note this -- and now Canon is indicating as of 2/1 that there could be another fix in the works.
If you're like me and heavily invested in Canon glass, then there's nothing to do but ride it out and hope they eventually get it right. (I still have faith in Canon, and think their products are very good, and the image quality of the 1dIII is simply amazing when it works....) But if you're new to the dslr (and ask yourself then, why you need such an expensive body anyway), it's worth investigating other options. The one thing a photographer can't have is a body that can't be depended upon.