While 4 megapixels certainly does not sound even remotely professional or cool, let me assure you that the Canon EOS 1D will amaze you.

Specifications

Released in 2001, the Canon EOS 1D is Canon’s first sole professional digital SLR. It’s primary focus is aimed at the photojournalists sacrificing megapixels for speed. The Canon EOS 1D has been out now for eight years and has numerous of reviews. Instead of focusing on the same thing that others have already discussed, I’ll focus on how relevant the 1D is still today. Let’s glance over the specs of this guy.

• 4.15 megapixel CCD sensor (JPEG pixel dimensions: 2,464 x 1,648)
• ISO 200-1600 in 1/3 steps (with ISO 100 and 3200 as a custom function)
• 4 sRGB settings with 1 Adobe RGB
• 45 AF points
• Evaluative, Partial, Spot (3 modes), and Center Weighted Metering modes
• 2.0″ 120,000 pixel LCD
• 87ms mirror black-out
• 30 to 1/16,000 sec shutter speeds with bulb
• 3 or 8 frames-per-second (FPS) for up to 21 JPEGs or 16 RAW
• 1/500th second Flash X-Sync

For more in-depth features, you can check out DPReview’s 1D specifications page. The Canon EOS 1D certainly shows its ages compared to the newer 1D line such as the Mark II/n and Mark III, but it’s still no slouch. The Mark II/n and Mark III’s fastest shutter speed is 1/8000th second whereas the 1D Mark I goes up to 1/16000th second, although you may almost never need to shoot that fast. You would have to photograph the sun with an aperture of f/1.0 or f/1.2 to need a shutter speed this fast. One perhaps more useful feature is the faster flash sync speed of 1/500th second. The Canon EOS 1D Mark II and the newer Canon EOS 1D Mark III’s fastest flash sync is 1/250th second. Having a faster flash sync speed is especially useful for flash fill. The 1D has a 1.3x meaning that with a 50mm lens mounted, it would be like a 65mm lens on a full frame sensor.

Build Quality

Canon EOS 1D

The 1D series design has changed very little in the course of nearly 8 years. The Canon EOS 1Ds uses the same identical body with a full frame sensor. The Mark II/n have a higher resolution screen (the Mark IIn gets a 2.5 inch LCD screen), the addition of a secondary card slot (Secure Digital, or SD), and the addition of a dedicated zoom/change memory slot button. The Mark III’s get a larger LCD (3 inch) and a completely different button layout in the rear.

The 1D, 1Ds, 1D Mark II, 1Ds Mark II, and 1D Mark IIn all use the same Canon NP-E3 (12v 1650mAh), which is nice because you only have to carry one set of batteries and a single charger if you have any combination of these 1D’s. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the new Mark III’s use a completely different lithium ion battery.

The build quality of the Canon EOS 1D is excellent with 90 points of weather sealing and the entire body built of magnesium alloy. It can survive being dropped from an elephant, not that you would want to try.

Operation

The biggest disadvantage of the Canon EOS 1D is the processing speed. The 1D utilizes a single Digic processor. While file flushing (time it takes to clear the buffer into the compact flash memory card) does a bit of time, and there is a very noticeable delay from on to ready and from sleep to wake, but once it’s on, it’s ready to go. I would recommend setting the auto sleep mode to something like at least 4 minutes so it doesn’t go to sleep too quickly and is always ready to fire. Auto focus acquisition is fast, especially with the 45 auto focus points. The Canon EOS 1D was the first digital SLR that could do 8 frames-per-second (FPS). The Nikon D2H is the second dSLR capable of the same speed, but was released two years later (2003) and sported a larger buffer (40 JPEGs). While the flush time might be slow, it’s noticeable faster compared to the Canon EOS 1Ds when it comes to image review. With the 1Ds, it would take forever for the image to appear on the LCD, whereas with the 1D, it comes up quicker; granted that the 1Ds has 3 times the resolution so the camera has more data to move.

With 8 FPS, the Canon EOS 1D is clearly aimed at photojournalists and sports photographers whose needs require faster auto focus acquisition and capture versus megapixels and that’s where it shines. Surprisingly despite having only 4 megapixels, it excels in portrait photography. The weaker anti-aliasing (AA) filter means that photographs taken with the 1D are inherently sharper out of camera than the newer Canon EOS 1D Mark II with a stronger AA filter. Having a weaker AA filter on the flip side will cause more moire to appear with certain patterns, which usually isn’t too much of a problem. I can definitely say that the 1D is sharp, very sharp and this is with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM which generally isn’t that sharp in the edges.

External White Balance Sensor

Also the Canon EOS 1D has an additional external white balance sensor that assists in adjusting and correcting white balance in addition to the sensor. From what I notice, the external white balance sensor hasn’t made any difference. Canon continued to put the external white balance sensor on the Canon EOS 1Ds, but stopped after that.

The second major disadvantage of the original 1D is the LCD. With only 120,000 pixels on a 2 inch screen, the image quality when displayed on the LCD is very poor and not very useful to judge color correctness of a scene. You really have to rely more on the exposure and RGB graphs. This isn’t too big of an issue if you’re shooting RAW, as all data is recorded, but can be very important if you are shooting JPEGs.

The Canon EOS 1D takes a single compact flash card with a maximum limit of 2GB (see Rob Galbraith’s excellent table on CF cards and write speeds). I had no problems using my SanDisk Extreme IV 2GB Compact Flash card. It formatted and wrote to it with no problems. When I tried using a higher capacity CF card, like my SanDisk Extreme III 8GB Compact Flash, the camera would only detect 2GB worth.

In The Field

With only 4 megapixels, there isn’t really any room to crop the image. Framing and composition are much more important when using the 1D versus using something like the Canon EOS 1Ds or the Canon EOS 5D. This can be limiting in situations where you don’t have a longer focal length lens to isolate the subject and would normally crop down. The 1.3x crop factor, in my opinion, is a great compromise between wide (full frame) and reach (1.6x crop factor). It makes this SLR very versatile by being able to retain a majority of the wideness but also have that little bit of “reach”.

The auto focus is exactly what you would expect from a 1D series: top notch and spot on. It’s 45 AF points do not disappoint. It’s not as fast as the newer Canon EOS 1D Mark II/n or the latest Canon EOS 1D Mark III, but it’s slouch compared to entry level (Rebel series) or consumer (10D/20D/30D/40D series) level dSLRs despite being older.

Noise. It’s noisy. Even at ISO 200, you can see the existence of noise in the shadows. Compared to the 20D, 30D, and 40D, it is noisier at the same levels. The noise exhibited is the chroma type of noise, which is similar to film grain, like the Canon EOS 1Ds. The noise doesn’t bother me too much because I think it gives the image a nice “feel”, nostalgic feel almost. Just check out wedding photographer Joe Buissink’s work. He shot with Nikon D2h’s (4 megapixels) for years and produced some stunning photographs. Just goes to show you that megapixels aren’t everything.

Battery life sucks. The CCD sensor definitely drains more battery power than the CMOS sensors. I’m getting about 500 or so shots on average with a full charge. If you’re using an Image Stabilizer (IS) lens, then the battery will drain slightly quicker.

The only other issue, for me anyways, was I was finding I was missing shots because of the slow start up times. It was getting to a point where I finally set the camera to fall asleep after 4 minutes as opposed to 1 minute that I normally have my Canon EOS 1D Mark II set to. When I’m using two bodies and when I know a crucial shot might be coming, I tend to periodically half depress the shutter on the 1D to keep it from sleeping so that it’s ready to fire.

I also tend to find that I was using longer focal length lenses on the 1D because of the megapixel limitation with cropping. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM would be primarily attached to it with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM on the 1D Mark II. The images taken with that lens comes out great.

Conclusion

The Canon EOS 1D is an excellent camera which is capable of great shots despite the shortcomings in megapixels. It has the fast frames-per-second and superb auto focus that all future 1D series will be based off of. The images produced by this camera are both sharp and natural looking and reminiscent of prints made from film. It obviously has some issues with noise, but those can easily be combated with a noise reducing software such as Noise Ninja.

It’s a great camera to have in any one’s arsenal, especially since the average price for a used 1D is around ~$800. By using a camera such as this, you can improve your photography skills because you learn not to rely on things you take for granted everyday such as major megapixels and excellent in-camera noise reduction. With 4 megapixels and virtually no possibility of cropping, you learn to better frame your shots instead of just firing off random shots and heavily cropping later.

The 1D is an excellent tool for the photojournalist and sport shooters. With 4 megapixels, you can make images to about 8×10 without any major issues. Images for the web or newspaper, 4 megapixels are plenty. The photographers who should consider the Canon EOS 1D are ones that don’t need the lowest noise but need a fast focusing and fast shooting SLR.

To see the sample images, please click here.

Canon EOS 1D Image Gallery

I know some of you may be wondering, why not a Canon 1D Mark III or Mark IIn for that matter? Well, it’s simple, it’s still hard at the moment to justify the cost of the Canon 1D Mark III (~$4,000) and for the price I paid for the Mark II versus what I would have had to pay for the Mark IIn, it was was simply too good a deal to pass up. Especially since the Mark II and Mark IIn are virtually identical except for a few key differences ( it’s like the difference between the Canon EOS 20D versus the Canon EOS 30D), they are one and the same.

Initial test shots and some light use with the Canon EOS 1D Mark II, all I have to say is that it is absolutely amazing. You don’t know how nice it is to have 45 AF points versus 9 on my Canon XTi. Even though this camera is about 4 years old now (first announced in February 2004), it still performs better than a majority of cameras currently out on the market. How many other cameras can do 8.5 frames per second or faster? To my knowledge, only 3 other cameras: Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn, Canon EOS 1D Mark III, and the Nikon D3. I did like my dad’s Canon EOS 5D to a certain extent, but I’m loving the 1D much more.

In case anyone is wonder, yes, I am still keeping my Canon EOS Rebel XTi, it’s still a very handy and versatile tool. And, yes, there is a very specific reason I purchased the 1D, which I’ll be announcing very shortly. As I get a chance to play with the 1D Mark II more and get more acclimated, I’ll post a review.

The Canon EOS 5D is pretty much about as professional of an digital SLR as you can get. It is one of the few full-frame sensor digital SLRs on the market. It feels very well built and handles like a charm. Plus a CMOS sensor of 12.8 megapixels definitely make for a lot of pixel details, so on paper it sounds quite promising, so how does it shape up in the field and in reality?

First, I must say I’m a bit biased against full-frame SLRs. I know there are a number of people who relish the fact that there are now a couple SLRs (both Canon) that are full-frame sensors similar to the ones found on film cameras. So what are the advantages of a full-frame sensor?

Advantages

1. The focal length of the lens attached to a full-frame slr, such as the Canon EOS 5D, is precise versus the same lens being attached on a smaller sensor that results in a crop factor. So if I was to attach a 24mm focal length lens on a full-frame slr, it is precisely 24mm. But if I was to take that same 24mm focal length lens and attach it to, say an Canon EOS Rebel XTi/400D, the 24mm focal length becomes ~38.4mm because of the 1.6x crop factor.
2. Bigger sensor will resolve higher quality because there is more surface area to gather more light. And in relation to how closely or loosely packed the pixels are on a given sensor, there will be less noise on a full-frame slr versus a non full-frame slr given the same amount of megapixels.
3. Lower noise. This relates to #2, with a bigger sensor that can gather more light because of its larger surface area, less amplification is needed to boost signal thereby producing lower pixel noise.

Disadvantages

1. Cost is considerably higher. More raw materials are needed to produce a larger sensor and a larger body is necessary to house a larger sensor.
2. The weaknesses in cheaper and poorly produced lenses are much more apparent and blaring.
3. Similar issues with the full-frame film sensors: vignetting and softness in the corners.

So what are my thoughts after using the Canon EOS 5D for two weeks so far (which I must warn is no where near enough time to get an accurate feel)?

Weight and Dimension

The Canon EOS 5D is definitely not a light digital SLR. It weighs 810g (892g with the battery), which is about 1.78 pounds. It is quite large in your hands, not quite as large as the Canon EOS 1D line, but definitely bigger than the Canon EOS 20D/30D and hugely bigger than the Canon EOS Digital Rebel line. The exact dimensions are 6.0 x 4.4 x 3.0 inches. Because of the huge grip, it is comfortable to hold and use.

Construction

Much like its younger brothers, the Canon EOS 20D/30D, the entire body is made up of magnesium alloy right down to the EF mount. It is not weather sealed, unlike its bigger brother, the 1D line.

In the tradition of professional level SLR, there is no built on pop-up flash (partly due to the huge viewfinder), so an external flash unit would have to be used. The buttons are slightly different than the Canon EOS 20D/30D. The four buttons (Menu, Info, Jump, and Preview) that are left of the 2.5″ LCD is slightly raised higher than on the Canon EOS 30D. The On/Off switch is also more pronounced. The two buttons on the back upper right hand side is also different than the 30D. The Auto Exposure Lock/Zoom Out button is larger than the Zoom in button whereas on the 30D, it is the reverse being that the Auto Exposure Lock/Zoom Out button is larger and the other is smaller. And the final major difference is the jog dial doesn’t have the Picture Style selection that the 30D has.

Field Test

It’s definitely wild to be able to have a wide angle lens really be a wide angle lens. My walk around lens, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM is amazingly wide allowing me to capture more than I was able to capture before. The catch-22 to having no a full-frame sensor is that while my lenses are all now wider like it should be, I don’t have the same focal crop I had before. At times I am finding the 70mm focal length on my walk around lens to be lacking that extra little field of view I used to have with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D. I find myself switching lenses back and forth more often with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM.

I also do find that both my lenses are better counter-balanced on the Canon EOS 5D because of its weight than when the two lenses were mounted on my XTi. I don’t find my trigger finger and hand to be as sore because I’m not having to support all the lens weight through the smaller grip. I do find myself garnering more attention these days because everything looks so big now. Before the lens was intimidating for people, but with the 5D now, everyone is just surprised by the sheer size.

Having the extra megapixelage is quite nice. It allows for some amazing crops that I could never have achieved with my Nikon D100. While the Canon EOS 5D only has a 2.8 megapixel advantage over the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D, the differences in the pictures is quite evident. This also further proves that megapixels do not mean everything. I would have personally preferred a faster burst rate (3 frames-per-second), but it has the highest buffer of all the other Canon dSLRs, except for the Canon 1D Mark III, with 60 JPEGs. The XTi could only manage 27 JPEGs at best before slowing down to 1 frame-per-second. The 3fps is quite adequate for most and many occasions, but having an additional 2fps would be great for sports photography.

The ISO noise suppression on the 5D is amazing. When I have to use ISO 800, there is less noise in the pictures than my Canon EOS Rebel XTi/400D at the same ISO level. ISO 800 on the Canon EOS 5D looks equivalent to the XTi/400D’s ISO 400.

Final Thoughts

The Canon EOS 5D is very, very nice, but I wouldn’t buy it. It is three times as much as my XTi/400D and double the price of the Canon EOS 30D, but doesn’t offer enough over the 30D and the XTi/400D to be worth it. But then again the 5D is a very specific niche dslr. It has a full-frame CMOS sensor at about a third the cost of the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II with a few less megapixels also. I would rather spend the extra $200 and purchase the Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn or Mark III over the 5D. But if you need full-frame and top notch ISO noise control, then the Canon EOS 5D is your choice. Full-frame is nice, especially when you need wide angle, but I personally need more reach than I need wide and the 1.3x crop factor of the 1D is a good compromise between full-frame and 1.6x crop factor.

[rating:4]

This is a wish list and hopefully a long term road map of where I would like to build my photographic equipment to. The Want Factor Rating is merely my ranking of importance to me in terms of what I would want first versus another.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn

Want Factor [rating:5]

This has always been my dream digital SLR (dSLR) to own. With lightning fast 8.5 frames per second (FPS), you couldn’t possible miss a shot. Also with the weather sealed body and the body being made entirely of magnesium alloy, this is truly a professional grade dSLR that can handle the rough elements. The 1.3x crop factor allows for more elements to be the frame versus the 1.6x crop factor of the Canon EOS XTi/400D/10/20D/30D. With its amazing 45 point auto focus sensor, it almost guarantees a precise lock on any object anywhere in the frame. This dSLR is a favorite amongst sports photographer and photo journalist. Now with the release of the new Canon EOS 1D Mark III, the prices should fall on these models making them a more attractive deal.

APRIL 28, 2008 UPDATE: After having acquired a Canon EOS 1D Mark II, I no longer need the Mark IIn version. For my second body, I would rather acquire a Canon EOS 1D Mark III or Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II

Want Factor [rating:5]

Canon has released their next generation 1Ds model, the Mark III, coming in at a whopping 21MP. Fortunately this has brought the prices of the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II down to somewhat more *affordable*. Originally I was contempt with just the 1D line, I’ve increasingly found many reasons to why I would want a full frame sensor, the main one being is full advantage of wide angle lenses. Also 16.7MP is still a very respectable MP size allowing for very large quality images.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III

Want Factor [rating:4.5]

It was only a matter of time before Canon would release a followup to their highly successful Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn. They up the standards, once again, with the first dSLR capable of 10 FPS! Also with a bigger LCD, 3 inches versus 2.5 inches, viewing images are now much easier. Also with Canon’s new technology, Live Preview, allows for use of the LCD to take pictures without the need for use of the eye viewer making it easier to take product images and image duplications. Also improved is a new 10 mega pixel sensor (versus 8.2 mega pixel on the Mark IIn), quality is further upped. With the addition of the Dust Sensor Cleaner, it will definitely cut down on dust spots in pictures. Very pricey, ~$4,000, I would love to have this dSLR (if money was no object), but I think the Mark IIn is more than adequate, especially for what it’ll be selling for when the Mark III begins shipping.

Canon EF 300mm f/4L USM IS

Want Factor: [rating:4.5]

Despite being a f/4 lens, this is still a very usable lens for landscape, bird photography, and some sports shooting. Having Image Stabilization is also a big plus especially at this focal length.

Being a prime lens makes its auto focus fast and accurate. I’ve seen quite a number of excellent pictures produced by this lens.

There have been times that I have found my Canon EF 70-200mm needs just a little more reach. The price is still relatively affordable, not that more expensive than the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, compared to its bigger f/2.8 brother’s $4,000 cost.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L USM IS

Want Factor [rating:4]

If my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM had image stabilization (IS), it would have been a perfect lens, but unfortunately it doesn’t. This guy has IS though and also better reach (the additional 35mm can make quite a difference). The major drawback I don’t like about this lens is the slow aperture of f/4. While IS will make a difference for that in low light hand held shots, it unfortunately can not stop action like a f/2.8 lens can. But this lens would still have various uses such as portrait photography, a general walk around lens, and so on. It is lighter and smaller than my 24-70mm f/2.8L, making it easier to use and carry, especially on a small dSLR such as the XTi.

It’s sharpness is right on par with the 24-70mm f/2.8, so there isn’t much sacrifice other than for the faster aperture. And also because it is a stop slower, getting bokeh shots will be slightly more difficult. I definitely would like to add this to my current gear list for many reasons.

Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 USM IS

Want Factor [rating:0]

Having a bit more wide angle would be really nice. My most widest lens is my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, while is wide, there are times where it just isn’t quite wide enough to get everything I want. The major things that is nice about this lens are: 1) Image Stabilization (IS), much needed for those slower shots, 2) nice wide angle, 17mm makes a big difference, 3) f/2.8 and 4) pro level lens means it is very sharp. The draw backs on this lens for me is: 1) No “L” designation meaning no magnesium alloy body, just high impact polycarbonate (i.e. plastic), 2) expensive for not being an “L” lens, but it does contain all elements of being an “L” except for the polycarbonate body and 3) It’s an EF-S mount lens, meaning it won’t work on full frame SLRs (i.e. Canon 1D/1Ds lines and the Canon 5D).

Never the less, this lens will still be invaluable for indoor shooting with no flash. It’s about the same size as the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L USM IS.

APRIL 28, 2008 UPDATE: Because I’m slowly moving out of the 1.6x crop factor SLRs, this EF-S lens would be useless to me.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6L USM IS

Want Factor [rating:3.5]

This has a great focal length that allows for that extra reach without breaking the bank. While the 100-200 focal length is already covered by my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM, I have no lens that goes beyond the 200mm, that is where this “little” lens steps in. But because of its slow aperture, it unfortunately isn’t an ideal sports lens. It can do great bird shots and even some action shots where adequate lighting is available. Also as an “L” lens, it has the sharpness and build quality. One other great feature also is the IS that is built in on this lens making it easier to get sharp pictures.

Overall size is not that much bigger than the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM. The pictures are plenty sharp, not as sharp as the prime lenses and also not as sharp as the 70-200, but for having a 100-400mm focal length readily available, it is plenty sharp. This is a lens I would pack with me to air shows, zoos, and such.