Canon 1D X Mark III Review
The Canon 1D X Mark III model is the top of the line in the industry currently. Super in demand, intriguing, and on everyone’s wish list right now. So what makes it so special? We will give you a detail-oriented practical review that lets you see how great a camera it actually is. And then you can decide if this is the one for you.
Marketed as the fastest DSLR yet, Canon has left no stone unturned in making the 1D X Mark III the Lamborghini of cameras. With an intelligent, fast autofocus that can almost read your mind, Canon is shooting for the stars. It’s not just built for speed. It’s built for durable use, stunning pictures, and comfort. Each model marks an Olympic year and while the 2020 Olympics were scrapped, photographers are lucky the Canon 1D X Mark III wasn’t.
The 1D X Mark III is priced at $6,499. The pricing makes it significantly higher than its predecessor and other competing cameras. But its definitely cheaper than medium format cameras like the Fujifilm GFX 100. With the steep price tag comes an array of features that photographers are going to be thrilled with.
Canon has continued to make cameras with its trademark design and the 1D X Mark III is no different. It’s as big as the Mark II in dimensions but is about 90 grams lighter. Photographers will find no hassles in size or weight or the design. It is ergonomically designed to be held comfortably and easily. You will find 35 mm mirrorless cameras about the same size and weight, especially when you add an optional battery or grip. What this means is it is fighting with the top of the line models for size and weight and coming out a winner.
The layout remains the same as of the Mark II except for the addition of the ‘Smart Controller.’ There are two controls for either vertical or horizontal operation. This acts as a pointing device and reads your thumb movements via an optical sensor to navigate focus points quickly. It’s much easier than using the joystick when you are using the viewfinder. The ‘Smart Controller’ is highly sensitive and a light movement can trigger it. There are options to reduce the sensitivity or switch it off completely.
The new Digic X processing chip is what makes the Canon 1D X Mark III so fast. The key component of the camera gives it speed and processes everything 2 to 3 times faster. The Digic 6 engines used in Mark II are slower than the Digic X by 3 times. Canon claims that it is 380 times faster when it comes to continuous processing speeds. There are separate ‘blocks’ that handle duties such as noise reduction, sharpness processing, and autofocus in Live view. So if you are shooting at 20fps, continuous AF/AE adjustment is maintained. The viewfinder autofocus gets its own Digic 8 chip, making full AF/AE adjustment available at the top speed of 16fps.
The CFexpress memory card format is another major contributor to the Mark III’s speed and functioning. It’s the Type B form factor, with an upgrade as the Mark III won’t be able to support anything slower.
A new file format has been introduced-HEIF with the 1D X Mark III. This was earlier only found in Apple devices but by introducing this in Canon, they have ensured a wider dynamic range and color output. Photographers will be able to capture 10-bit RGB color. The HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format) uses a more efficient compression algorithm than the JPEG. This provides more information available during the editing process and simplifies things for photographers who don’t like capturing RAW images.
There are many editing in post options available to photographers. It will cut down the time you spend in post-production. Various submenus in HEIF or JPEG are available which you can select. You can adjust saturation, sharpness, and contrast in-camera. All the things you would be doing in edit or post-production.
The future of photography is interchangeable lens cameras that appear mirrorless but Canon changed the rules with the 1D X Mark III. An optical viewfinder that has an all-new sensor system that employs an array of smaller square pixels. It departs from the traditional arrangement of line pairs to enable phase-difference detection measurements. The EOS 1D X Mark III emulates a mirrorless camera efficiently with 20fps continuous shooting, silent movements, and excellent auto-focusing, especially for faces. The features in it are so well-tuned that photographers won’t even be aware they needed something like this. The only closest competitor that comes to mind is the Sony Alpha A9 II. It has similar features but can’t match the Mark III for speed. With a DSLR that works well with both the optical viewfinder and the live view, is fast, accurate, and smooth, Canon has outgunned the competition by miles.