Canon EOS 1D X Digital Camera Review

Automatic Features

The Canon 1D X's metering system does a great job of analyzing scenes and producing vivid images that are well-exposed. When shooting in modes that utilize it, the 252-zone, 100k-pixel RGB metering sensor does well. We found it rarely produced scenes that were too dark or too light, maintaining more highlight headroom than we usually needed. It's not the kind of camera you're going to give to a beginner or novice, but if you know what you're doing, the 1D X can take care of plenty of basics quickly and easily.

Buttons & Dials

It seems both Canon and Nikon came to the same conclusion when redesigning their respective flagship DSLRs this time around: more is better. While the D4 doesn't quite go to the same degree as the 1D X, there are many of the same touches. The 1D X now integrates a second joystick onto the back panel for portrait grip shooters, just as the D4 did. Both cameras also grabbed some popular control features from their prosumer models, integrating them into the professional bodies.

Menu

The menu in the Canon 1D X is the same as we've seen on previous Canon models: a series of tabs aligned horizontally along the top edge of the screen. The tabs are each color-coded and most have multiple pages within them. Canon uses red for the shooting and video option tabs, purple for autofocus, blue for playback, yellow for system settings, orange for custom options, and green for the customizable "my menu."

It's an intelligent menu that's easy to navigate, and the multi-controller joysticks make navigating the menu and various options a breeze. You can also use the control dials on the camera to quickly sweep through on-page lists or move between entire tabs, letting you quickly slide around the menu quickly and easily. An important addition is the autofocus menu, which lets users take much more sophisticated control over the camera's autofocus performance.

Instruction Manual

The instruction manual for the 1D X is massive, as you'd expect. The camera comes with a basic manual that stretches to 419 pages, if you include the index, various legal junk, and wasted pages. That doesn't include the supplemental manual for the wired LAN, which is a good thing to keep in your bag, as it includes some basic setup and troubleshooting tips that may come in handy. Overall we found the manual to be very good at explaining the basics, and the index was (usually) outlined intelligently. For example, where one entry was referenced on multiple pages, the manual sometimes outlined what each page pertained to, sometimes not. (i.e. "Movie" has 29 references in the manual, and each reference is called out beside corresponding page numbers; the "Q" menu has four references, and the manual just lists the pages and expects you to go hunt for what you need)