Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III - First Images
I was fortunate to receive my new EOS 1Ds Mark III just after Christmas. I had one on order from Camera World since Sept. 19th, but as of Dec. 15th Camera World and their parent company, Ritz Camera, had received no 1Ds Mark III's from Canon. I decided that if I was to have a chance of getting one before my upcoming trip on Jan. 5th that I needed to try something else. It looks like Canon has favored the smaller camera stores with this release unlike past new cameras which mostly went to the big internet/mail order stores. I learned of a store in Washington called Kenmore Camera that had received a number of Mark III's so I sent them an email and heard back in less than 30 minutes that they had none in stock, but thought they would get some the next week. There was no one ahead of me on a wait list for this camera. I paid a deposit and a week later they called and said the camera was in and shipped it out to me.
Because of the Christmas shipping rush it took 3 days longer than usual, but arrived in good condition. I had only had a chance to play with a few of the settings then yesterday my friend and fellow photographer, Gus Gustafson, wanted to look at it since he has one on order as well. We spent an hour or two going over most of the settings on the camera. After he left I looked out the window and saw some nice clouds over our nearby mountains and decided to take it out and see what kind of images it would make.
Because of the distance from the mountains, all shots were made with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS and the Canon EF 300mm f/4 IS lenses. I shot at ISO 100 off a tripod using a remote release. Even so, there were a number a shots that were blurred by camera movement due to the longer exposures I was using.
The raw files were processed in Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.1 and a few adjustments were made in Photoshop CS3. I'm still working on the best workflows, especially on capture sharpening and final sharpening.
I've posted a couple of single shot images, with 100% crops of sections of the image as well as a two shot stitch and a three shot stitch. Those were also done in CS3 using the Photo Merge function.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive review. It's main purpose is to share with those interested, the first images I got. I'm sure with improved long lens technique and shooting at higher shutter speeds I can get even better quality images, but these seem nice to me so far.
Provo Peak in Clouds
Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS, ISO 100. Shot at f/8
and 1/500 sec.
100% Crop
100% Crop
Provo Peak Sunset
Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS, ISO 100. Shot at f/7.1
and 1/125 sec.
100% Crop
Little Rock Canyon Sunset
Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @ 180mm, ISO 100.
Shot at f/7.1 and 1/160 sec. Two shot vertical stitch.
Timp in Snow and Clouds
Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS, ISO 100. Shot at
f/7.1 and 1/250 sec. Three shot horizontal stitch.
I've got a bit more testing to go, but overall, I'm happy with the camera and the results. I'll be trying it out extensively at the end of the week at the Wave and other sites near Page, Arizona.