Canon EOS 1d x Mark III is a flagship DSLR Camera for pro sports and wildlife photographers. It’s designed for specialist photographers, and its best technology for high-end sports photography remains DSLR.
the EOS 1dx mark III may look a great deal like its predecessor 1DX Mark II but features over 100 updates improving the image quality, autofocus speed, and communications.
That’s important to mention upfront that all the photos or the video from the 1DX are for a pre-production version of the camera.
1 DX Mark III is the same as its predecessors it’s a tool that needs to pick it up and start shooting without delay. Canon has developed new control for the 1DX mark III the new smart controller which effectively turns the AF arm button into an alternative way to adjust the air ferry position.
So after I spent a couple of hours with this camera taking photos, and videos and checking out everything that it has to offer I will explain what you’ll get for its price of around $6500.
Table of Contents
Canon 1DX Mark III Sensor
Canon 1d x Mark III is a 20. 1 megapixel full-frame sensor It’s actually the same resolution as the 1DX Mark II which is actually fairly unsurprising and has the exact same image size as the 1DX Mark II.
But with a new sensor and new low-pass filter that match 24 megapixel rivals in detail.
The quality of the sensor is fantastic, the colors are exactly as you would be expected from a Canon. So keeping that resolution at 20.1 megapixels actually feels like a very deliberate move as well.
It means that there’s enough detail there to work with but the file size is not ridiculous. After testing this camera the shot raw and JPEG and RAW files were all between 20 and 28 megabytes.
So what I like about this camera is the point that whether using an electronic or mechanical shutter both support continuous autofocus 20 frames per second with continuous AF and a mechanical shutter.
1DX Mark III Autofocus
- AF Brightness Range EV-4 to EV21
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF for fast autofocus up to 3,869 manual AF positions and
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF system up to 525 automatic positions
- capable of tracking the head and face of subjects
Canon dual-pixel CMOS AF works really fast, and 1DX Mark III has a smart controller which allows quick and precise control of the AF point.
It has 5.5 K downsample to 4k raw video and that is a 12bit your 4k 60p cropped or uncropped 4k 24 25 frames a second with autofocus. Full HD 120 frames a second and can log all in the camera.
if you’re not familiar with raw video you can think a little bit along the lines of the difference between raw photos and JPEG.
And it gives a good idea of how much of a big deal that is it gives you such a huge amount of control over the final look of your footage.
the 4k 60p cropped or uncropped is a nice touch since sometimes it can be advantageous to shoot in that super 35-millimeter style.
and they can give you a little extra reach as well if you want to go with that.
now given that the 1 DX mark 2 already had 4k 60p and full HD 120 P would it be nice to see some slightly faster frame rates.
I have used the 1 DX mark for a long time and it’s been one of my go-to video systems over the last couple of years and canon has been sure to continue this hybrid design with the mark III.
There is a whole new system built into it Canon uses a CMOS sensor as the AF sensor for the first time and that gives the autofocus 28 times more resolution and ultimately more information means more accurate autofocus and that’s a lot more information to work with.
So, with sensible compression dual pixel autofocus is available in 4k movies up to 30 P or up to 60 P. If you switch to a cropped cinema 4k format there’s also the option of 10 bits elog or even 12 bit 5.5 K raw video all recorded internally.
the Mark 3 features a top burst speed of 16 frames per second with continuous autofocus a boost over the 14 in comparison to the Mark II and an impressive mechanical achievement.
1DX Body
So, if you’ve used the 1dx mark II at you will see that the button layout is the same very much deliberately and that’s because at the heart of it.
This camera has a proper touchscreen which is an extremely welcome thing you could use as a touchscreen another mark to select focus points and things like that in Live View.
But also you can use it in menus and pretty much all the time. the sealed body looks almost identical to its predecessor but now features faster Gigabit Ethernet along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
the left side is occupied by a wealth of ports with thick rubber flaps for protection, the wide Ethernet has been upgraded from a hundred megabits a gigabit, and the USB to a 3.1 gen2 type-c port.
Canon quotes unlimited jpg or hip shooting or over 1,000 RAW files which is considerably more than the 170 raw buffer of the Mark II.
You can’t charge or power the camera over USB, Canon stuck with mini rather than full-size HDMI, alongside the microphone and headphone jacks is an n3 remote terminal and a dedicated port to connect the optional WFT the 9v accessory to extend the wireless performance in a handy upgrade.
1DX Mark 3 was built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in addition to the dedicated GPS receiver now Wi-Fi was left out of earlier models as the range for a built-in system, especially when housed within such a tough body wouldn’t be sufficient for wireless connectivity.
Canon 1DX Battery Life
the Mark III employs the same LP-E 19 battery packers before but now squeezes greater life from it with canon quoting almost 3000 shots per charge, during my time with the Mark III I was able to achieve over 3,000 shots also including a few minutes of video.
1DX Viewfinder
the mark 3 employs an optical viewfinder with the same naught point 7.6 times magnification and 100% coverage of its predecessor 1dx Mark II.
the viewfinder now employs a new 191 point autofocus system with a hundred and fifty-five cross-type sensors versus the 61 point system at Mark II of which 41 Macross type. The 1DX mark II is able to manage 16 frames per second but only in live view and without autofocus.
this allows the mark III to Trump both its predecessor and the older Nikon D5 also 1DX Mark III has a dedicated autofocus sensor with fixed AF points. The Mark III uses a separate high-resolution CMOS imaging sensor with its own dedicated education processor.
Canon EOS 1D X Mark III Specs
- Canon EF 70:200mm
- f/2.8 LI.S. III USM lENS & Essential Kit
- San Disk 64 GB + 72 Tripod
- Tracking Subjects Head and Face
now sticking out file sizes for a minute it’s also possible to shoot with 10 bit a giffiles which are actually the same size as JPEGs that capture more information.
A good reason is there is a new digit processor in there which is about 380 times faster than the mark 2.
there is a shocking statistic but you can certainly feel it when you are shooting.
It can actually show you 16 frames per second with the view finder and 20 frames per second with the live view a little hit about 1000 draws before it even starts to slow down.
so I tried testing this out but to be honest with you I never actually got to the point where it was slowing down before I just had to stop my card from filling up.
but 16 frames a second should be enough not just to shoot a 100-meter sprint but you could capture an entire 400-meter race which is crazy for a shoot for about a minute without even slowing down.
Image Quality
- Ability to make great photos in JPEG Raw and HEIF HDR
- HIGH-Efficiency image format
- High image size with CMOS sensor combined with low profile screen filter
- Continuous Shoots Raw + JPEG more than 1000
Storage Type
CF Express type B slots for the Mark III are not exactly cheap they are expensive but they’re incredibly fast and allow the mark 3 to not only record the 5.5K rool video but essentially shoot stills without any limits.
I’m not having to cycle through every single menu just to get where you want to go.
there have been upgrades to the connections, with high-speed communication being a key factor in the design of this camera.
so the ethnic connection is twice as fast and it has a separate Wi-Fi transmitter you can get the WFT e 9 which is very much a future-proof system.
there’s a MIMO technology that allows you to connect to Wi-Fi networks at the same time in case one goes down.
So a perfect feature of this camera is that you can send files quickly if you do a sporting event or something like that.
the camera itself is a little bit lighter than the mark 2 but the durability the ruggedness that’s all actually been improved ultimately this is designed as a tool.
I want to mention that the shutter life has actually been increased to 500,000.
Camera Battery
If I talk about batteries this for me was one of the most incredible things.
Because when I use just one battery for the whole time that I was using it for 5 or 6 hours taking photos.
I mean I was shooting continuously raw video high frame rate video and I never even came close to needing to recharge the battery 12×4 that is a big point for me.
So I can say with this incredible battery life you can get about 1210 shots from one battery.
Canon EOS 1 DX Mark III uses the same battery but it gets 2,850 shots which is absolutely outrageous.
This camera is just an incredible tool one of the best digital SLR for filmmakers, so the Mark II is no slouch but the Mark III speed is incredibly better.
Recording Time on 512 GB
- 5.5K RAW 25-35 minutes
- 4K Log 2 Hours
- 4K IBS Over 6 Hours
- 60 fps at 5.5K
- 60 fps at 4K
- 120 fps at 1080p
- Digital image stabilization
- Battery lasted 3 hours
- 20% faster recording than 1dx mark II
- 50% smaller file size
Canon 1DX Mark III Price
Advantages
- Time Sync Multiple Cameras
- Smart Control AF Button
- Higher Sensitivity, Speed & Better Resolution
- Straight from camera with noise reduction applied in capture one v20
- Provide Full silent mode
- High Resolution Sharpness Processing
- Touch screen focusing 100% vertical, 90% Horizontal
- Live View 20fps Approx AF/AE Tracking
- Live View Shooting EV-6 to EV18
- SanDisk Extreme Pro CFexpress Card
- Low Pass Filter 16 Point Separation
- High-speed continuous shooting up to 16 fps
- AF AE Tracking with Optical Viewfinder
Disadvantages
- Expensive CF Express Cards
- Only dual records in low
- Little Expensive
- Static Display
- No Animal AF
- Smaller Sensor than competitors
Wrapping Up
This camera is designed to be reliable so that no matter what you are going to be able to get the shot it’s designed to withstand hot weather cold weather or bad weather.
I can say that this is probably one of the best autofocus systems all around that I’ve used in a camera.
Conclusion
The is an amazing professional Canon sports DSLR camera so if you require a camera that continuously records images with lightning-quick autofocus and an unstoppable burst rate then you probably should buy one.
Canon 1DX Mark III gives a lot of flexibility to sports and wildlife photographers and really anyone who wants to absolutely nail a moment.
Release Date | 7 January 2020 |
Body Type | Large SLR |
Sensor Type | Full Frame |
Sensor Size | |
Sensor Resolution | 5472 x 3648 |
Sensor Pixels | 20.2 |
Processor | Digic X |
Lens Mount | Canon EF |
Color filter array | Primary color filter |
ISO | 100-102400 |
Focus Type | Dual pixel CMOS |
Focus points | 191 |
Focal length multiplier | 1x |
Screen Type | Articulated LCD fixed touch |
Screen size | 3.2″ |
Screen resolution | 2,100,000 dots |
Viewfinder type | Optical pentaprism |
Viewfinder Resolution | |
Viewfinder magnification | 0.76x |
Coverage | 100% |
Shutter type | Electronically controlled focal plane |
Shutter speed | Min 30 sec Max 1/8000/sec |
Continuous drive | 20.0 fps |
Sync speed | Sync speed |
Exposure Compensation | +/-5 at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps |
WB Bracketing | Yes |
Video Resolution | 4K 60 Full HD 120 |
Log Gamma | C-Log |
Video Format | MPEG-4, H.264, H.265 |
Storage Type | CF Express Type B |
Connectivity | USB 3.1 Gen1 / 5GBit sec |
Ports | HDMI Microphone Headphone |
Wirelles Transmitter | 802.11b/g/n/ac 5Ghz |
Build in Bluetooth | Yes |
Battery CIPA | 2850 |
External Flash | Yes |
Weight | 1440g |
Dimensions | 158 x 168 x 83mm |
is canon 1dx mark iii good for video?
the camera itself squeezes almost 3000 shots from the same battery pack so there’s no built-in stabilization with Canon explaining it’s not practical to implement it for the optical path outside of live view there is however electronic stabilization for movies.
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