Canon 1D Mark III- Full Review (Expanded and Updated)

Canon 1D Mark III- Full Review (Updated and Expanded)
drew strickland


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One additional comment:

It's ENTIRELY possible BOTH cameras that Rob Galbraith had for his testing had some flaw that the rental machine Drew used did not. Especially if the problem is heat related, perhaps some of the early models had a cold solder joint on one of the lines or something. Stranger things have happened!

I think it's clear Canon would not intentionally release a camera that could not focus on a static subject.

-Noel

Isn't that the truth. I can think of more than one occasion when I tried four different CAT5 cables to rule out bad cables in trouble-shooting network problems — only to find out when in desperation I tried a fifth that it was bad cables after all. (Yes, really more than one occasion — from now on I'll try five.) ;-)

Nill

That is entirely feasible, but then there is a wedding shooter over on DPR that had serious AF problems maintaining focus on stationary members of a wedding party also with two (2) 1DIIIs.

He announced a few hours ago that his dealer had talked to the Canon rep and the Canon rep authorized the return of the cameras as they are aware of the problem. It would seem that the problem is known at the highest levels, as no field rep would authorize full return without exec backup.

That would seem to indicate that the problem is not mythical, though it may be random, and as he was not instructed to send them in for service that would seem to argue against a firmware fix, too.

It might be that Canon did not adequately field or beta test this model in exactly the conditions it might be used in the most, i.e., fast lenses, bright sunny days and warm weather. Could Canon have been so jazzed by the fantastic indoor performance in low light that they just took it for granted that it would be a cake walk in the sun? We'll never know.

Here's the portion of the DPR thread where the photographer announced the return authorization:

Canon aknowledged the issue and will take the cameras back.: Canon EOS-1D/1Ds/5D Forum: Digital Photography Review

There were quite a few disbelievers there, too.

One case does not make a recall, but there wil be many others to follow and the sad thing is that Canon has nothing to offer them in replacement.

Joe Sesto
Nipomo, California

I have updated the autofocus section of the review with more details.

There are a number of new images including ones of stationary objects.

As Joe and others have correctly pointed out. Neither Rob, nor I, are in the best position to even attempt to try and troubleshoot an issue such as this.

I used to teach statistics and experimental design to undergraduates while receiving my master's degree. What I have to report on represents a sample size of 1. From his report, Rob has at best a sample size of 3. Both of which don't amount to a hill of beans in the world of statistics. Neither Rob, nor I, can answer these questions definitively.

Canon is the only party with a large enough sample size to truly address these questions.

Drew said: (I'm new here...not sure how to get rid of the irrelevant parts of the quote.)

"Canon is the only party with a large enough sample size to truly address these questions"

Agreed and I think they are on the case...

I called the Canon Service 800# today as my dealer had received notice of shipping of the 1DIII I had ordered...and I had until 5 PM to go or no go on the 1DIII.

I told the Service Rep about my concern that there was an AF problem that seemed to occur exactly the way I intended to use it, i.e., fast lenses, bright sunny days in HS/Servo mode at car races in sunny California.

He was very professional and straight to the point and he said that Canon was aware that there was a problem for some users, that Canon had seen the Internet tests, reviews and comments and Canon was looking into the issue, but had nothing official that they could say at this time.

He did not suggest that I take delivery and send it in for service if there was a defect.

His comments lead me to believe that there was a defect not likely to be resolved by firmware...but he did not say that.

I refused the 1DIII and will just wait until the smoke clears...but I fear this will not be a quick fix.

Joe Sesto
Nipomo, California

The fact that RG finds the camerat to focus acdurately when the focusing is first tripped, means to me that the problems are with the other functions, not the focusing. The problems are with the computer diddling around after first frocus is achieved. But first focus seems quite super.

That would be good enough for me, because I don't use any of the follow-the-subject-automatically junk. With my EOS-1Ds Mk II I focus each shot individually with one sensor and would never trust a machine to follow-focus something moving.

If I wanted a movie camera, I would buy one.

The point of photographing a moving object like an athlete, a soccer match, a theater or dance production, etc., is to get the right shot at the best moments in the sequence. Not to just mechanically follow the sequence at fixed intervals, which could easily miss the optimal moments.

In the manual-focus days, I did plenty of photos of dance sequences and moving subjects (not sports) getting just the right shots in each sequence, focusing individually (manually with a Messraster, see www.anstendig.org). That, a machine could never do for me.

And it seems that the more sensitive and fast they make the auto-focusing, the more it picks up on things a human being would ignore, and thereby the auto-focusing messes up. It even picks up on temperature/heat-wave movement, which the human would ignore.

Also, using a single sensor and placing it on the person's body and not the face is a huge misunderstanding of how then placement of the plane of focus works in a photo. The sensor should have been on the face, preferably the nearest eye, if the sensor is small enough, which most are not.

And with that camera's stated first-focus speed, there is no problem manually re-pressing the butto every time one wants the shot. If you choose your shots while they are moving, you will probably get a larger percentage of best, most telling shots. And your focus will be just fine, if what GB says is true abotu the camera's focusing speed when the button is first pressed.

Mark

Thanks for review Drew. Nice job.

When you get the camera next week or so can you do some low-light focus tests? I want this body to replace my 30D and that's one area I am seeking improvement in.

Chris