Canon EOS-1D Mark III

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The EOS-1D Mark III is only subtly different from the previous 1D's. The silhouette and contours are heavily rounded, and the surfaces are either matte black or black rubber with a leather texture. All gaskets and port covers, including the lens mount, have a rubber seal, and that should help in keeping out dirt and moisture

 

For such an ambitious and complex camera, the EOS-1D Mark III has a very plain face. The shutter releases – one for horizontals and one for verticals – sit on slanted planes at the top and bottom of the hand grip on the left side. There's a bulge along the bottom that serves as a vertical grip. The depth of field preview is a small button at roughly the 7 o'clock position on the lens mount. The lens release is at about 3 o'clock, and it's large and easy to actuate. That's it for controls on the front.

 

Both shoulders slope gradually up to the viewfinder hump. There's a hint of a ridge on either side of the hump's peak but no seams or hard edges. The Canon logo is above the lens mount, and EOS-1 is on the right shoulder. There's a “D” below that, and then, below the lens mount, “Mark III.”

 

 

The 3-inch LCD takes up a big chunk of the EOS-1D Mark III's back. Canon's standard Quick-Control dial is also large and has a large SET button at the center. A small 4-way controller is above the dial. The power switch is a large lever below the dial. The media card door latch is also large and sturdy, with a two-step action. The user must flip it out and turn it to open the door. In a very significant advance, the Mark III continues to write data to the cards when the door is open while the 1D Mark II N stops writing data when the door opens, which results in data loss.

 

The Menu and Info buttons are on the left shoulder, while the autofocus on, autofocus site selection, and exposure lock buttons are on the right. The AF and exposure buttons are meant to be used during shooting, while the index finger is on the shutter release, so they are duplicated in the lower right corner, for the vertical grip.

 

The viewfinder is large and surrounded by an even larger soft rubber eyecup. A diopter control is on the right side. A low, wide monochrome LCD runs below the main display. It shows shooting data and control status. The three buttons below it are: the delete button; the function button, which cycles through white balance, recording media settings and file format/size; and the Picture Styles button, which calls up color and image parameter presets. The Playback button is at the lower left of the large display.

 

 

 

Two rubber covers protect ports for flash sync, remote control, USB connection, and analog video output on the left side. A screw cap covers a multipin port for the wireless connectivity module. The battery latch shows at the bottom of the left side. It's as robust as the media door latch. The strap lug is inset into the shoulder. A small, round disk near the top of the left side looks like a button that's inconvenient to use, but it's not. It's a hole for an indexing pin on the wireless unit.

 

 

The media card door makes up much of the Mark III's right side but features of the vertical controls show up here as well. The largest is an on/off switch for the controls. There is also a control dial and a flash exposure lock button.

 

 

The three buttons on the left shoulder of the EOS-1D Mark III control exposure mode, autofocus and burst modes, and metering and flash exposure compensation. Pressing the Mode and AF/Burst buttons simultaneously activates the bracketing feature. The hot shoe on top of the viewfinder hump is compatible with Canon's EX dedicated flashes. The new 580 EX II mounts with a water-resistant seal and a durable metal-to-metal connection.

 

The Mark III has a second monochrome LCD on the right shoulder. This one shows exposure data, a frame counter, metering pattern, burst mode, exposure mode, battery charge, bracketing, flash exposure compensation, autofocus point selection mode, mirror lockup and an exposure level scale. From left to right, the buttons on the top of the Mark III control a backlight for the monochrome LCDs, exposure compensation, and ISO. A fourth small button near the shutter release controls the flash exposure lock. The control dial is set just behind the shutter release.

 

 

There's not much on the bottom of the Mark III. The tripod bushing is centered on the optical axis, and the camera surface around it is rugged but will still show scratches if users are sloppy about mounting the camera. There is a flush-mounted strap lug on the bottom, for users who like a wrist strap on a 40.1-ounce camera body.