And in this corner, weighing in at 42.7 ounces—the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III! Sorry, as I mentioned in the previous review on the Nikon D3, it's tough to resist comparing Canon's new top-of-the-line professional camera against Nikon's latest flagship model. Despite having nearly double the resolution of the D3 and about half the frame speed, the 1Ds Mark III seems a worthy competitor to the new quasi-full-frame Nikon, mostly because, at the time of this writing, they're the priciest models from each brand. But, as mentioned previously, pitting the 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS-sensor-equipped 1Ds Mark III ($7,999) against the 12.1-megapixel "FX-format" CMOS-sensor equipped D3 ($4,999) is really an apples-to-oranges comparison.

In reality, the 1Ds Mark III is designed to compete against medium-format digital cameras, including the Hasselblads, Mamiyas and Sinars of the world, companies that have become so worried about DSLRs taking over the medium-format market they've even begun adopting the DSLR moniker as their own. (Not to mention that fact that some medium-format cameras are starting to look and feel more like DSLRs. Oh, the shame of it all!)

So while a Canon vs. Nikon angle always makes for good copy—and one we've admittedly taken up in these pages and online—in this case, it's not entirely appropriate. The 1Ds Mark III, like the D3, is a camera that needs to be looked at on its own terms. Here's what we found out when we put this beast of a Canon to the test.



"S" is for Studio

The differences between the 1Ds Mark III and D3 become glaringly apparent after you spend just a couple of hours shooting with them. While the Nikon feels like it's been built from the ground up, the 1Ds Mark III is more of a natural extension of what Canon has been doing in the pro space over the last several years. Slow and steady wins the race, seems to be Canon's thinking.

Though it's designed almost identically to the Canon 1D Mark III—the 10fps sports/photojournalist DSLR which has come under withering attack for its erratic autofocus system since being launched last summer—the 1Ds Mark III is not built purely for speed. It's built, quite simply, for resolution and detail…pixels and pixels of glorious detail.

So rather than test the 1Ds Mark III in a sports setting—as I did last summer with the 1D Mark III while shooting basketball and soccer—I opted for a studio setting, working again with my photographer friend Jason Groupp who also helped me test out the Nikon D3. For the 1Ds Mark III, we brought the camera to his Manhattan studio and used it to photograph a model he's worked with as part of his Revolution Workshop <www.revolutionworkshop.com> shooting sessions.

We shot with the 1Ds Mark III while alternating between three different lenses—a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, and EF 85mm f/1.8 lens. Jason's been a dyed-in-the-wool Canon 5D shooter since that camera first debuted in 2005, and he noticed some similarities in the layout of the 5D's controls that have since migrated up to the 1Ds Mark III, including the helpful "multi-controller" joystick that sits above the control dial.

Though it's not always mentioned in reviews, Canon has done a good job of simplifying the overall ease of use of its professional cameras between the Mark II and Mark III iterations, getting rid of awkward multi-button configurations and simplifying a confusing and hard-to-read menu setup. Other welcome additions to the Mark III line are the AF-ON button, which is great for back-button focusing, and the smaller and lighter (but more powerful) lithium-ion battery, which piggybacks onto the camera's charger rather than dangling from a cord as on previous models.



"S" is for Similar

Though the 1Ds Mark III has the same 3-inch LCD as the 1D Mark III with equivalent resolution (230,000 pixels), it seemed noticeably sharper than the screen on the 1D Mark III that I tested out last summer. In one of the first firmware upgrades to the 1D Mark III, Canon increased the screen's sharpness, a change that seems to be improved upon even further on the 1Ds Mark III.

Though this may seem like a small thing, the 1Ds Mark III's superior LCD was a real boon for composing shots in the studio, giving Jason a good sense that the lighting set-up he was using was producing the right sharpness, color and contrast. (The difference between the 2.5-inch screen on the 5D and the 3-incher on the 1Ds Mark III was even more dramatic.) The 1Ds Mark III's bright and clear optical viewfinder, which has 100 percent picture coverage and a .75x magnification factor, was about the closest we've seen to a true 35mm finder.

Canon has stuck to the dual CompactFlash and SD card slot set-up on the 1Ds Mark III, which now seems a little odd after trying out the much more preferable dual-CF-slotted Nikon D3. (Since most professional photographers use CF cards, why bother with SD?)

One smart add-on with the 1Ds Mark III is a way to lock in the USB cord with a screw for tethered shooting to a laptop or desktop computer. Studio photographers will love this especially when shooting in Live View mode on the 1Ds Mark III. On the downside, pulling out the "extension system terminal" cover on the camera is a pain in the butt, and along with the metal screw and plastic extender you hook to your USB cord to lock it in, it gives you three more tiny things to lose track of.

The overall weatherproofed magnesium alloy/rubberized build of the 1Ds Mark III is as sturdy as ever, though the weight is about six ounces lighter than the previous model. The camera's shutter durability is rated at 300,000 cycles.

Why Nikon chose not to put a dust-reduction system on the D3 is a bit of a mystery. I've liked Canon's EOS Integrated Cleaning System since it first appeared on the Rebel XTi in 2006 and I continue to see the benefits even with a studio-targeted camera such as the 1Ds Mark III. With 21.1 megapixels of resolution, you're definitely going to see any speck of dust that intrudes into your pictures. Canon's cleaning system, which automatically shakes an infrared absorption glass cover on top of the CMOS sensor every time the camera is turned on or off, was effective in keeping our shots relatively spot-free.

Live View was the same on the 1Ds Mark III as on the 1D Mark III but much more appropriate in the studio where the slow process of turning the function on and focusing manually was less of a hindrance than when photographing fast-action sports. I was disappointed though that the 1Ds Mark III does not offer the custom function available on the Canon 40D, which lets you use the AF-ON button to pause the Live View, autofocus, and then take your picture.

"S" is for Sharp

Of course, all these bells and whistles mean nothing if the camera can't take a decent picture—but it does. For studio work with models or even product photography, the Canon 1Ds Mark III's 36 x 24 mm CMOS sensor, which uses 14-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converters, captured stunning amounts of detail, excellent sharpness and very low noise, even when shooting at the maximum ISO 3200. (The 1Ds Mark III defaults to a maximum of ISO 1600, but a custom function lets you add an "H" setting of 3200.)

In shots of our model taken with the 1Ds Mark III versus the 12.4-megapixel 5D (we did not have a Nikon D3 test unit at the time), the Mark III won hands down. In terms of image sharpness, detail and dynamic range, it was "like night and day" between the two cameras, as Jason puts it.

The difference was most pronounced in close-up shots, in which every detail of our model's face—including some things she may not have wanted revealed on camera—were clearly visible. For instance, along with faint hairs showing above her lip, we could see a few stray strands coming off her chin in pictures taken with the 1Ds Mark III. The facial hair was not discernable to the naked eye nor did it appear in shots we took with the 5D.

The amount of detail and contrast you get with a 1Ds Mark III image does come with some caveats. For one, more detail can mean more retouching work, especially if you're thinking of using the 1Ds Mark III at weddings since the camera's sharpness will reveal every flaw.

Jason, who is a wedding photographer himself, was pleased with the skin tones produced by the 1Ds Mark III, especially when stacked up to images we shot later with the Nikon D3. In comparison to the D3's skin tones, which we both found to be slightly bluer and less warm in cast, the 1Ds Mark III produced nice neutral skin tones that looked more natural.



"S" is for Submirror?

One area we didn't get to explore more in depth was the 1Ds Mark III's autofocus system, which Canon says includes a revamped and allegedly corrected submirror configuration. Problems with the submirror were supposedly behind the 1D Mark III's confounding autofocus issues.

We did, however, experience some excessive "lens hunting" by the 1Ds Mark III—compared to the 5D—as the camera tried to lock in focus on our model on a handful of occasions. This, however, did not seem to match the more serious issues experienced by sports photographers who've complained about the 1D Mark III losing focus in bright light on hot days.

Most of our shots of our model captured both in the studio and later on a Manhattan street in the evening produced images with sharp focus. Unfortunately, since we tested the 1Ds Mark III in December in New York City, we had no opportunities to photograph outdoor sports in high heat.

Because of the slower nature of studio photography, though, and the 1Ds Mark III's 5fps (vs. 10fps on the 1D Mark III) speed, it's anyone's guess whether or not this camera's autofocusing capabilities will be received as negatively as the 1D Mark III was. (Both cameras use the same 45 AF point/19 cross point system.) We're sure though, that with all the uproar over the 1D Mark III, many photographers and reviewers will be inspecting this camera closely.

In terms of low-noise/high ISO shooting, the 1Ds Mark III continues Canon's pattern of producing CMOS sensors that shoot very clean images in low light. Although I'd put it a notch or two below the Nikon D3—especially at ISO 3200 where the D3's shots were remarkably clean of image noise—the 1Ds Mark III shots in low-light were exceptional. In particular, a series of images we took of our model in a wedding dress pretending to hail a cab in front of Jason's Chelsea studio. At ISO 1600, it has a gritty magazine quality without being too grainy.

With the bump up in resolution from 16.77 to 21.1 megapixels on the 1D Mark II, the size of the pixels on the 1Ds Mark III has decreased to 6.4 microns from 7.2 microns on the previous camera. Despite the smaller pixel size I didn't see a noticeable difference in image noise between the new camera and its predecessor, which is likely attributable to the 1Ds Mark III's dual DIGIC III image processors and the effectiveness of its on-chip A/D converters.

Of course, with a maximum ISO of 3200, there was no way to compare the 1Ds Mark III to the Nikon D3's extreme ISO 6400 and above shooting capabilities.



"S" is for Slow

The biggest trade-off in having a camera that produces images with over 21 million pixels of information is that files this large can seriously "gunk up the works," as my grandfather used to say. For one, while the 1Ds Mark III boasts a fast (for a studio camera) five-frame-per-second shooting rate, we murdered the camera-s buffer while shooting in RAW+ JPEG mode.

Canon rates the camera as being able to handle bursts of up to 12 shots in RAW, which we more or less achieved. But in RAW + Large/Fine JPEG, when shooting to both a single CF card and splitting the two files between a CF and an SD card, we averaged approximately ten shots before the buffer seized up. The wait for the buffer to clear so we could continue shooting—that infernal red light on the back of the camera—was excruciating and is the one major caveat to the high-speed continuous shooting mode on the 1Ds Mark III.

Shooting in just RAW was better but not much. With RAW images we took outdoors in the evening at ISO 1600—where more amounts of information are being recorded—we could only squeeze off two to three shots at a time before the camera would freeze up for a few seconds as it wrote to the card. (It should be noted that we used both Lexar 300x UDMA and SanDisk Extreme III CF cards and a SanDisk Extreme III SD card in our testing.)

The 1Ds Mark III really got stuck in the mud when shooting tethered by a USB 2.0 cable to a MacBook Pro laptop. RAW files from the camera took about 4 seconds to transfer to my MacBook Pro (with 3 gb of RAM) and the buffer would fill after firing off about ten shots. While I thought the buffer took a long time to clear when shooting to a CF card, it was no comparison to shooting tethered with the camera seizing up and flashing the "busy" signal for up to two minutes. Some are arguing that Canon should have never switched from Firewire 400 on the 1Ds Mark II to the USB 2.0 on the new Mark III but, in my opinion, Canon should have gone straight to Firewire 800 instead. Any way you slice it, RAW files from the 1Ds Mark III are huge and a much faster connection seems like a no-brainer.

The other caveat to shooting images this large is that you have to have somewhere to put all these huge files. Shots straight out of the 1Ds Mark III opened up to a whopping 60 megs and 16 x 24 inches in size. If you're going to purchase the 1Ds Mark III, make sure you have a fast computer and plenty of storage, preferably a RAID system, to archive your shots.



The Bottom Line

Studio photographers looking to upgrade their equipment would be wise to consider seriously the Canon 1Ds Mark III. Along with the extreme portability you get with a true DSLR over a medium-format "DSLR," the 1Ds Mark III offers good value all around. While that may sound funny when we're talking about an $8,000 camera, if you consider some of the startup costs involved in going with a medium-format digital solution (camera body, digital back, lenses, Capture One software etc.), the 1Ds Mark III begins to seem like an attractive alternative.

In terms of image quality, we'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between our 1Ds Mark III files and other similar images we've shot with recent medium-format digital cameras. Add in the 1Ds Mark III's impressive low noise/high ISO shoot and its overall rugged build, and you've got yourself a pretty deal.



Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

www.usa.canon.com

Pros: Captures images with incredible detail and excellent sharpness; photos have very low noise at up to ISO 1600; produces natural skin tones; classic rugged and portable DSLR design; improved 3-inch LCD; more affordable alternative to medium-format digital cameras

Cons: Excruciatingly long time for buffer to clear after RAW image bursts; very slow USB 2.0 image transfer to a laptop when shooting tethered, buffer seizes up for as much as two minutes; some "lens hunting" as camera tries to lock in focus; still no autofocus in Live View mode

Price: $7,999