Lighter, faster, quieter, more economical ... no not a new model of car (though it took as long to develop) but the new Canon 1D.


Make no mistake about it, it's a great camera and I want one right now.




My heart says yes, my head says maybe, my wallet has the casting vote. Having bought a 1DmkIIN and 1DSmkII in the last 2 years, I am having a hard time justifying my desire for this camera.



Larry's feature list is a great start, definitely this camera has addressed all of my wish list items after owning a pair of (what are soon to be the old model) 1D bodies for a year.



More high precision focus points, particularly around the outside of the AF ellipse; less weight, from a much smaller battery pack and smaller body; AF microadjustment and Integrated Cleaning System, so it doesn't go back to Canon so often; faster sync shutter speed of 1/300 with EX series flash; lower noise low light performance going out to 6400 ISO, should help in night races like the le Mans 24 hours or dark indoor karting circuits - that's a great advantage, weatherproofed flash for night races, no more plastic bags over my 580EX.





That's just the features I thought I could actually use.





Live view? I didn't want that, I thought, until my wife drove me down the strip last night with the 1DmkIIN on the windscreen (inside) on a culmann sucker mount with wired remote, trying to get some nice light trail images. Hunched over in the passenger seat trying to look through the viewfinder I suddenly realised as my back gave a warning twinge that the 1DmkIII might have an application of live view here.



Image format tagging? I don't think I want that, but Larry pointed out that if you're shooting for particular use say 8x10 prints or magazine cover, then being able to tag your images with the desired aspect ratio that's then picked up in DP Pro speeds up the workflow.



Longer battery life? Well I've shot all day at race meetings and not had to use a spare battery so far, but the extra capacity will make me happier even though I've never been in a position to need it yet.




I've almost convinced myself that I must join the waiting list at my local Pro dealer when I get home to the UK ...