Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

I have been a professional photographer since 1983 using Canon cameras (AE1, T90, EOS 1 and a Mamiya RZ 67. I Beta tested the Canon AF system with the 620 back in 1987 and on my recommendation changed the picture desk at the newspaper I was working form Nikon to Canon. Since then I have professionally used a EOS 620, 650, D30, (not 30D) 1D, 1DMk2 and my latest, the £6,000 1D Mk3. It's simply not up to scratch with the focus. It has front focussed out of the box, and although I know there is a compensation that can be dialled in, why can't a £6K camera perform like it's previous incarnations? The focus is random on my camera to say the least, I have lots of shots out of focus that I didn't have with previous cameras. I have also had the Err 99 appear and it has locked up on me with a 35 -350 L lens on a couple of jobs which has lost me shots. I have booked the body in for a examination following a recall from Canon, (I thought it was just me) so hopefully that will sort out the problems. Rant on: Canon have been targeting pro-am photographers with their 10D 20D, 30D, 40D 5D and now the 5D MK2 (with no Autofocus on video) who are going out making money with good quality cameras, but they don't have the £6K capital investment to recoup. Hence lower assignment prices (or hopefully for the toggie, bigger profit margins) which makes it tougher for the pro forking out for the pro bodies to get an equivalent ROI (Return On Investment). I also use Mac computers, who have a similar "we're the best, so we can charge more than the rest" Well, I have had issues with my new MacBook Pro case bending (heat?) and a new Mac Pro straight from Apple with a bent grill, which they are refusing to change as I left it too long to open the box. Rant off. Update March 2013: Still soldiering on with a +3 autofocus correction dialled into custom functions and the results are random. I always focus on the eyes with people and can take a series of shots and have a few with the focus on the wrong spot. My old 1D Mk2 is still spot on focus-wise. I see Amazon have decided not to sell the 1DX - wonder if there is any connection with my review of my poorly performing 1D Mk 3s? Update December 2013: I still use the 1Ds Mk3 and was photographing a wedding on the 23rd December and I was in the bride's hotel room photographing her - after 44 frames I pressed the shutter button and nothing happened - like the battery had died - although the display was still on - battery was of course charged up! I tried switching off then on again, which sometimes clears a fault like this, but no joy - display on but controls not working. I then tried battery out - wait 10 seconds and then back in - no joy, this time the display was blank like a flat battery. I had to finish the wedding with my trusty backup 1D Mk2 When I got back home I tried the Mk3 and it worked for a few frames, then on swapping the memory card it locked up again. So back to Canon and I will sell it when it is fixed. FWIW I had almost every shot in focus with the Mk 2, something the Mk 3 would not have come close to! Google me: Spike Photography if you want to ask me about EOS 1D MK3 OR MacBook Pro I am happy to talk or email you. Cheers Spike

Great camera. I'm a pro photographer and I've bought this second-hand as a second body. Interestingly, although trumpeted as the top-of-the-line canon, my EOS 5d mk3 remains far superior. I guess it just shows what 8 years of technology change produces! I just can't ever justify the price of the most recent 1D model. This does the job though.

Very good camera for the price and good service I use it all the time .... Great photos

Superb Camera Specification With 22.3 million effective pixels, the Canon EOS 5D Mk III's sensor only has 1.2MP more than the 21.1MP Canon EOS 5D Mk II that it replaces, but it has 4.2MP more than the 18.1MP Canon EOS-1DX at the top of Canon's DSLR lineup. Whereas the Canon 1DX has two Digic 5+ processors, the 5D Mk II has one, which in combination with its eight-channel readout means that it has a top continuous shooting speed of 6fps. Autofocus The Canon EOS 5D Mark III has the same 61-point wide-area autofocus system as the flagship Canon EOS-1DX. This is a big improvement on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which has nine user selectable AF points and six assist points, giving a total of 15. Of these 61 points, 41 are cross-type and five are dual cross-type points, which is good news for accuracy. The customisable AF presets introduced in the Canon EOS-1D X are also available, which Canon claims helps when shooting more challenging subjects. [...]

This is quite simply the best DSLR in the world. There are a host of settings available to make this camera "Your own". You need to take a while to set this camera up for your own particular needs, and after you have done that....away you go. It is like driving a Rolls Royce. Photos are razor sharp. If you need to crop your photos, you can do so without worrying about loss of quality. It is heavy, but reassuringly so. It must be used with "L" series lenses, otherwise photos will show up imperfections in cheaper lenses. Weatherproofing means you can go anywhere with it, even in our famous British climate. The only little gripe I have with this machine is the LCD screen. I would have thought for this sort of price a high definition screen would have been installed. The screen is only of use for checking the composition of the photo. If you zoom in on any part of the photo the definition is not high enough to be able to confirm the focus accuracy. Having said that, the focussing ability of this camera is so good that if you use it correctly, and make sure you are using the correct focussing points, there is very little chance that your photo will be anything less than razor sharp. As for noise on high ISO settings, it fares extremely well. Obviously there is a little noise, but the photo still retains remarkable detail. Some of this cameras competitors claim virtually noise free images at high ISO settings, but this is nearly always at the expense of detail in the photo. If this is what you want, it can easily be achieved in Photoshop or similar. At least with this camera you have the choice of retaining detail with a little noise, or removing noise and losing some detail. Focussing is spot on. Metering is spot on, even in difficult lighting situations. If you have special needs for focussing or metering, this camera caters for everything that can be thrown at it. I have no hesitation in recommending this camera to anyone who is in the market for a top end DSLR.