Canon Releases The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR - Press ...

Canon Releases The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR

Canon Releases The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR
February 23, 2007
HULIQ.com
The Legendary Canon EOS System Evolves To Meet The Demanding Needs Of Imaging Professionals With the Release of The World's Fastest Digital SLR, EF 16-35 mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens and Speedlite 580EX II Flash
Canon, the worldwide market leader in digital cameras, celebrates the 20th anniversary of its top-selling EOS single lens reflex camera system by announcing the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR, the world's fastest digital SLR camera. At 10 frames per second, the 10.1 megapixel EOS-1D Mark III digital SLR can fire huge motor-driven bursts of 110 Large JPEGs or 30 RAW files because it employs the new Dual DIGIC III image processor engine, providing enough computational horsepower to do parallel processing at a rate unmatched by any other digital SLR. The all-new 10.1 megapixel, APS-H size CMOS sensor which is designed and manufactured by Canon, is the most light-sensitive and innovative sensor that Canon has developed to date. It features a new microlens array and a more efficient pixel structure for ultra-low noise, resulting in exceptional image quality and an amazing ISO range of 100 to 3200 with extensions to ISO 50 and a highly usable ISO 6400. Furthermore, Canon today unveils several new accessories, including the EF-16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens and the Speedlite 580EX II Flash.
Scheduled for initial U.S. shipments in Spring, the estimated selling price of the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR will be similar to that of its predecessor, the EOS-1D Mark II N Digital SLR. This makes the new camera a stunning bargain and a "must have" for most pro shooters on the basis of features, performance, reliability, ease of use and compatibility with the powerful Canon EOS system.
"The new EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR is an essential tool for professional sports photographers and photojournalists because of its exceptional speed and durability and it will attract a broad range of other professional and advanced amateur photographers because of its superior image quality and improved low-light performance," said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager of the Consumer Imaging Group at Canon U.S.A. Inc. "In designing the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR, Canon responded to the requests of its many professional customers by adding new features that cater to their demanding needs. But at the same time, we have once again raised the bar for digital SLR cameras by introducing new technologies that only Canon can offer with the legendary EOS System."
See the Whole Picture with a Live View LCD
One of the landmark functions of the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR is the introduction of a Live View shooting mode, tweaked to meet the needs of professional shooters. Photographers who use point-and-shoot digital cameras are familiar with looking at the LCD screen on the back of the camera to compose their images. Normally, a single lens reflex cannot do this because the mirror that lets you look through the lens is in the way. With the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR, a photographer has several options in addition to conventional SLR through-the-lens viewing. If the camera is going to be close at hand, the new Live View shooting mode lets the user focus and compose on the extra-large 3.0-inch LCD screen and magnify the image 5x or 10x, to achieve the optimal focus.
If a user is going to be several feet away from the camera, in a studio, for example, the camera can be connected to a computer with a USB 2.0 high-speed cable. New software included with the camera, EOS Utility 2.0, lets you view what the camera is seeing in real time and control its operation. If a professional photographer is going to be far away from the camera, say, on the other side of a racetrack or stadium, or if the camera is hidden or buried someplace inaccessible, the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR can be operated wirelessly with the assistance of the new WFT- E2A Wireless File Transmitter. This allows users to view images directly off the camera's sensor in virtually real time with the ability to adjust many camera settings on the fly. As a side benefit, Live View shooting mode helps to reduce vibration by lifting the reflex mirror out of the optical path well in advance of the exposure, improving image quality at slow shutter speeds.
The EOS Integrated Cleaning System
Another first for a professional digital SLR of this caliber is a complete dust management solution, called the EOS Integrated Cleaning System. The new CMOS image sensor is designed with a lightweight infrared absorption glass cover that vibrates for 3.5 seconds when the camera is turned on or off. This brief delay can be cancelled immediately upon startup if desired, simply by pressing the shutter button. In fact, the sensor is sealed around its edges to help keep dust out. The shutter, newly upgraded to 300,000 cycle durability, generates less dust; it fires three times during the process so dust is shaken off the shutter curtains, too. This cleaning system uses very little battery power and can also be turned off in the custom function menu, if the user chooses to do so. The second part of the anti-dust system is a software solution that records the location of any spots that may remain on the sensor as Dust Delete Data and this information is appended to the image file. In the Digital Photo Professional 3.0 software application included with the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR, the spots are erased automatically.
Advanced Autofocus Technology
The brand-new autofocus system in the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR represents a complete reconsideration of professional AF. Like previous EOS 1-Series Canon cameras, the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR has 45 AF points, but unlike its predecessors, 19 of them, rather than seven, are of the high-precision cross-type configuration. In addition to the center point, the new array allows the other points to be divided into groups of nine inner and nine outer focusing points plus a center point, which makes picking an individual focusing point much faster and easier than going through all 45, as in the past. During manual AF point selection, the AF point area is expandable. At the request of sports and wildlife photographers, a new micro-adjustment feature allows for very fine changes in the AF point of focus for each lens type in use, along with the addition of adjustable focus-tracking sensitivity as another sophisticated new AF feature. In addition to the AF sensor itself, other new components in the AF system include the reconfigured concave submirror and the secondary image formation lens, both products of Canon's vast expertise in optical engineering. Last but not least, the low-light sensitivity of the new AF sensor has been doubled to EV-1 for superior performance compared to earlier EOS digital SLRs.
Twice as Smart With Dual DIGIC III Image Processors
To cope with the voluminous signal processing required by the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR's 10.1 megapixel resolution and top continuous shooting speed of 10 fps, Dual DIGIC III imaging engines are incorporated for parallel signal processing. The DIGIC III image processor replaces the DIGIC II and assists in rendering very fine image detail and natural color reproduction with 50% less shadow noise than previous EOS digital SLRs. The CMOS sensor reads out to the dual DIGIC III processors simultaneously in eight channels.
By having two processors handle the workload, image processing is now approximately 1.5x faster; Compact Flash(tm) access speed is now 1.3x faster and SD card access is now 2x faster.
The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR is compatible with the new high-capacity SDHC format memory card. The extra power of dual DIGIC III processors has also allowed analog-to-digital conversion to improve from 12 to 14 bits per channel, meaning that tonal gradation for RAW images is now divided into 16,384 separate levels per channel rather than 4,096. The difference can be seen in the superb prints and magazine spreads the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR makes, as well as, in its freedom from defects such as moir?¢Ç«®??.
The Canon Proprietary CMOS Sensor
The all new, 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor is designed and manufactured by Canon using semiconductor manufacturing equipment that is designed and manufactured by Canon, allowing synergies that are unique in all of photography. The sensor is APS-H size, 28.1 by 18.7mm, significantly larger than the much more commonly found APS-C, usually about 23.5 by 15.5mm. The lens magnification factor is 1.3x, rather than 1.5x or 1.6x. The increased sensor size means that each pixel can be larger for a given resolution. The pixels of the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR are 7.2 microns square. A sensor with 10 megapixels in APS-C size would have pixels less than 6 microns square, smaller and therefore receiving less light, requiring more amplification and producing more noise.
The comparison is even more favorable to the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR because Canon's intense involvement with sensor technology has enabled it to increase the proportion of each pixel that is sensitive to light, called the fill factor, so its pixels are not only bigger, but they are also more receptive to light. Yet another improvement comes from the revised microlens array that collects light for the sensor. The new unit has smaller gaps between the tiny lenses, meaning more light is gathered and less is lost. All of this helps to explain the sensational low-light performance of the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR and the terrific quality of images shot at ISO 3200 and 6400.
Focus On New and Advanced Professional Features
The EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR has several new features that make it much more reassuring and confidence inspiring. Highlight tone priority extends the dynamic range of highlights by about one stop and improves gradation within highlight areas. Safety shift lets the camera automatically change the shutter speed,