Canon 1DX Mk III

20 MP Full-Frame 16 FPS

World's Fastest DSLR

World's Best Pro DSLR (2020-)

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III (50.5 oz./1,433g with battery and one card, has two CFexpress type B slots (won't work with SD, SDHD, UHS, CF, CFast or XQD cards), $6,499 new or about $5,500 used if you know How to Win at eBay) and Canon EF 50mm f/1L USM. bigger.

I got mine at B&H, where it came with a free CFexpress card and reader as a promotion back in 2020. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

This 100% all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally approved sources I've used myself for way over 100 combined years when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used camera — and all of my personally approved sources allow for 100% cash-back returns for at least 30 days if you don't love your new camera. I've used many of these sources since the 1970s because I can try it in my own hands and return it if I don't love it, and because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I've used myself for decades for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

 

February 2022   Better Pictures   Canon Reviews   EF Lenses   Mirrorless   Flash   All Reviews

Old 1DX Mark II Review

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III with EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

Sample Images       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Performance   Recommendations

These are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery, and there's more 1DX III shots at High ISOs.

These are all shot as JPGs; no RAW CR3 files were used or needed.

Canon 1DX Mk III Sample Image FIle

Fountain, 6:53 PM, 03 October 2020. Canon 1DX Mk III, Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II at 148 mm at f/10 for 30 seconds at ISO 50 (LV 2.6), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © JPG file.

 

Canon 1DX Mk III Sample Image FIle

Seven Palms Oasis, 7:09 PM, 03 October 2020. Canon 1DX Mk III, Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS at 16 mm at f/4 for 30 seconds at ISO 100 (LV -1.0), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © JPG file.

 

The Digital Lens Optimizer makes my old 1990s EF lenses look great. These next two shots are with my Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM that sells used for about $100 if you know How to Win at eBay, and they look great!

Canon 1DX Mk III Sample Image FIle

Sign Within a Sign, 11:30 AM, 21 October 2020. Canon 1DX Mk III, Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM at 28 mm at f/10 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation, (LV 15.6), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © JPG file.

 

Canon 1DX Mk III Sample Image FIle

Public Art, 4:27 PM, 25 October 2020. Canon 1DX Mk III, Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM at 135 mm at f/10 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation, (LV 15.6), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © JPG file.

Please help KenRockwell.com

Introduction       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

New   Good   Bad   Missing

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

Amazon

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

The 1DX Mark III is the new professional standard for full-time big-league pro sports shooting — and every kind of shooting. It replaces the awesome 1DX Mark II, both of which offer awesome pictures, super-fast autofocus that never lets go, insanely high frame rates and essentially limitless battery life all housed in a bulletproof, ergonomic body.

This Mark III adds even faster frame rates (why fast frame rates are important) and an even better all-new autofocus system that now tracks eyeballs, all through the optical finder in real time.

The best news about the 1DX Mk III is the magic rear controller inside each AF ON button for both vertical and regular grip positions. Much better than thumb clickers, just slide your thumb over either AF ON button and whatever you're controlling, like AF Area selections or scrolling around zoomed images, just follows the exact position of your thumb! Once you've tried it, nothing else compares. It feels your fingerprints, and as you slide your finger around, moves exactly in response to it.

Canon and the 1DX Mark II own about 80% of the top-end pro action market. Nikon has about 19% and Sony about 1% of this market; just look at what the guys in the sidelines are shooting when you see major news and pro sports events covered on TV. While some mirrorless cameras may give an awesome finder display with a zillion little AF boxes dancing all around, the difference is that the 1DX Mark III actually tracks and motors lens-focus and delivers in-focus images rather than just having an impressive animated finder display. Boxes in the finder and actual in-focus results are very different things. 80% of the top pro shooters can't all be wrong!

Also critically better than any mirrorless, the finder is a genuinely live, real time optical image with zero delay. Regardless of the frame rate, any electronic or mirrorless finder is always slightly delayed from reality.

Why does Canon own the lion's share? Easy: it's not just the world's fastest DSLR and best overall system out there; Canon also has the best pro support through Canon Professional Services (CPS) and (800) OK‑CANON. When you do this for a living it's not just what a camera does on paper; it's how well you can stay up and shooting in all conditions as you shoot the heck out of your cameras each and every day in a very difficult and increasingly competitive environment. When you shoot for a living even a slight advantage can mean you getting the cover shot or the next job over some other poor guy with the old 1DX Mark II.

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

New since 1DX Mark II

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com New magical thumb-motion sensors on both regular and vertical-grip AF-ON buttons let us move AF points and scroll around zoomed playback images by sliding our thumb across the button; the best way to select AF pointsor see playback ever!

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Magic AF-ON Thumb Controller. bigger.

See the large black area on the AF-ON button? That's a magical sensor that translates sliding thumb motion across it into control signals for the camera!

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Now saves and recalls camera settings to and from a card at MENU > WRENCH 4 > Save/load cam settings on card.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Shutter counter at MENU > WRENCH 5 > System status display, where it shows shutter count in thousands as well as serial number and firmware version.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com 16 FPS using the regular SLR optical viewfinder, the world's fastest ever.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com 20 FPS with Live View, but I don't know anyone who shoots action this way.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Slots for two crazy-fast CFexpress cards. Regular CF, SD, CFast and XQD cards won't work.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com ISO now goes to ISO 102,400 regular and ISO 819,200 at H3. (1DX Mk II went one stop less high, to ISO 51,200 regular and ISO 409,600 H3).

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Face tracking AF, even through the optical finder with a new 191-point optical viewfinder AF system capable of tracking the subject's head, and face using Deep Learning Technology.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Eye tracking AF only with Live View.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com New options to keep viewfinder and/or rear displays lit during long exposures.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com A few backlit buttons; only a few around the LCD and not much else::

Canon 1DX Mk III backlit buttons

Canon 1DX Mark III Backlit Buttons. bigger.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com 191 AF points of which 155 are cross-type.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Dual Pixel CMOS Live-View AF with 3,869 selectable manual AF points (525 points auto-selected).

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Face-priority E-TTL II flash control to detect faces and optimize flash exposure for them.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com 1,000-shot or more buffer. At worst you're "limited" to 420 shots with C-raw+HEIF or 350 shots with raw+HEIF, but with any other combination of JPG, HEIF and/or raw you're essentially unlimited, mostly due to the super-fast CFexpress cards' ability to ingest data fast!

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com "High Detail Optical Low Pass Filter" claims the sharpness of using no anti-alias filter with freedom from aliasing on patterns and fabrics — claiming the best of both worlds. Claims this filter "breaks each light ray into 16 rays at the image sensor."

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Now can record in 10-bit HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) as .HIF files, as well as the usual JPG and Raw variants. HEIF has the same files size as JPG and offers 10-bit rather than the 8-bit precision of JPG.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Full-gate 5K 12-bit and downsampled 4K 59.94p with Canon Log, 10-bit 4:2:2 video internal recording.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Touch screen now also sets Quick Control screen, menus and "touch-based menu magnified view." (1DX Mark II touch screen only selected AF areas).

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Uses same LP-E19 battery and LC-E19 charger, but now rated 2,850 shots (1DX Mark II was only rated 1,210 shots).

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com 3.2 oz (90g) lighter than 1DX Mark II.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com As-shot Digital Lens Optimizer. The 1DX Mark II only could do this while converting from raw to JPG one file at a time.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com New "Clarity" picture style setting at MENU > CAMERA 1 > Clarity.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Clock (time of day) visible in viewfinder if you press the ISO button while the camera is in standby.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Top LCD counts bulb exposures as H:M:S.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Bluetooth.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Built-in Wi-Fi.

 

Good

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com As we expect from the world's top pro camera, awesome pictures, super-fast autofocus that never lets go, insanely high frame rates, essentiality limitless battery life housed in an bulletproof body.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Very bright rear LCD easily visible in daylight.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Superior viewfinder display with additive red LEDs rather than the dirty little black LCD AF Area boxes of lesser cameras. This way the AF area displays never block your subject.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com New built-in Wi-Fi.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com New built-in Bluetooth.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Takes same LP-E19 batteries as 1DX Mark II. (LP-E4N also works, with slower top speed, but LP-E4 does not).

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Can pull 4K and 4K DCI stills from video in-camera (so can 1DX Mark II).

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Rated to work perfectly up to 113ºF (45ºC), 9º (5º) hotter than just about every other camera (1DX Mark II also rated to 113ºF/45ºC),

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Built-in GPS, just like 1DX Mark II.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Built-in voice note recorder, just like 1DX Mark II.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Wired Gigabit Ethernet port, just like 1DX Mark II.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Optional WFT-E9 wireless file transmitter.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Made in Japan.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com 100% U. S. A.-based high-quality technical support at (800) OK-CANON.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Full duplicate set of vertical controls, including the magic thumb sensor on the back of the AF ON button:

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Vertical Grip Controls. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Vertical Grip Controls. bigger.

 

Bad

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Works only with expensive CFexpress type B cards, which is great if you like these, but does not work with any SD, SDHD, UHS, CF, CFast or XQD cards.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Nothing else other than size, weight and expense.

 

Missing

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No automatic brightness control for rear LCD. 1DX Mark II didn't have that, either, but the 5DS/R does.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No 4:3 "Ideal Format" crop.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Only a mono mic for video.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Shoots lots of video formats, but oddly it can't shoot at 24 or 23.976 at regular 4K; just 59.94 or 29.97 FPS. Even my iPhone 11 Pro Max shoots 4K/24, and that's how I usually shoot! For 24 or 23.976 you'll have to shoot at 5.5K raw or 4K DCI, which are 17:9.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No swivel screen; this is a pro camera.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No USB charging.

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III with EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. bigger.

 

Lens Compatibility       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

YES

This Canon EOS DSLR works flawlessly with every full-frame Canon EF EOS lens made since 1987.

 

NO

APS-C EF-S DSLR lenses won't mount.

Mirrorless EF-M lenses for the APS-C EOS-M series won't mount.

Full-frame RF lenses for the EOS-R mirrorless system won't mount.

 

Specifications       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Performance   Recommendations

 

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Image Sensor

5,472 × 3,648 pixels native resolution (20 MP).

24 × 36 mm CMOS.

Ultrasonic cleaner.

 

ISO       specifications       top

ISO 100 ~ 102,400 regular.

ISO 50 (L), ISO 204,800 (H1), ISO 409,600 (H2) and ISO 819,200 (H3).

 

Auto ISO

Adjustable for high and low limits from ISO 100 to ISO 102,400 (only to ISO 6,400 with flash).

 

Image Sizes       specifications       top

5,472 × 3,648 pixels native resolution (20 MP) in JPG, Raw and HEIF.

4,368 × 2,912 as M1 JPG (12.7 MP).

3,648 × 2,432 as M2 JPG (9 MP).

2,736 × 1,824 as S JPG (5 MP).

 

Cropped Aspect Ratios

1:1 Square, shown with two crop lines in finder.

 

Still Formats       specifications       top

JPG or HEIF and/or raw or raw-c.

sRGB and Adobe RGB.

 

Video       specifications       top

5.5K Raw (5,472 × 2,866) at 59.94*, 29.97, 24 or 23.976 FPS.

4K DCI (full-gate resampled to 4,096 × 2,160) at 59.94*, 29.97, 24 or 23.976 FPS.

4K DCI (cropped to 4,096 × 2,160) at 59.94, 29.97, 24 or 23.976 FPS.

4K (3,840 × 2,160) at 59.94* or 29.97 FPS.

1,920 × 1,080 at 119.9**, 59.94, 29.97 or 23.976*** FPS

* No autofocus

** No audio

*** coming as a firmware update.

 

Audio       specifications       top

Mono microphone built in.

3.5mm Mic-in jack with plug-in power overrides built-in mic.

When shot with video you may record audio either as uncompressed LPCM or as AAC.

3.5mm Headphone jack.

 

Autofocus       specifications       top

191 AF points, of which:

155 are cross-type.

65 are cross-type even with f/8 lenses.

Many of these offer greater precision at f/5.6 and f/4, and some offer even better precision with f/2.8 lenses.

 

Center point works from LV -4 ~ +21 with f/2.8 lens.

Center point works from LV -3 ~ +21 with f/5.6 lens.

All points work from LV -1½ ~ +21 with f/5.6 lens.

 

Red dot-matrix display of AF points in finder.

 

Light Meter       specifications       top

LV 0 ~ 20, no lens specified. (LV -3 ~ +20 for Live View and movies).

216-zone (18 × 12) evaluative metering with a 400,000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor.

In Live View, there are 384 zones (24 × 16) read from the live image sensor.

Evaluative, Center-weighted, 6% central and 2% spot work with either viewing mode.

The finder also offers multi-spot metering, and you can de-activate the extra modes you don't use so you can select the ones you do faster.

 

Optical Finder       specifications       top

100% coverage.

0.76× magnification with 50mm lens.

35.1º diagonal apparent angle of view.

20mm eyepoint.

-3 ~ +1 diopters.

 

Shutter       specifications       top

1/8,000 ~ 30 seconds.

1/250 flash sync speed.

 

Remote Releases       specifications       top

N3 remote cords.

 

Frame Rates       specifications       top

To 16 FPS, viewfinder shooting with great tracking autofocus and exposure.

To 20 FPS, Live View shooting.

 

Buffer (Burst) Sizes       specifications       top

1,000-shot or more buffer.

At worst you're "limited" to 420 shots with C-raw+HEIF or 350 shots with raw+HEIF, but with any other combination of JPG, HEIF and/or raw you're essentially unlimited, mostly due to the super-fast CFexpress cards' ability to ingest data fast!

 

Flash       specifications       top

1/250 sync speed.

 

Built-in Flash

NONE.

 

External Flash

Dedicated E-TTL II hot shoe for use with all EX and EL series flash.

Standard PC (Prontor-Compur) flash sync terminal.

 

LCD Monitor       specifications       top

3.15" (80 mm) diagonal.

2.63 × 1.75" (66.7 × 44.4mm) image area.

2,100,000 dots.

3:2 aspect ratio.

Does not swivel.

 

Connectors       specifications       top

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.
Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

Left Column:

Connector for WFT-E9.

3.5mm mic input.

3.5mm headphone output.

Remote terminal for N3 remote cords.

Right Column:

Gigabit Ethernet

USB-C 3.1 gen 2.

HDMI mini-C (non CEC compatible)

PC (Prontor-Compur) Flash Sync

 

WiFi       specifications       top

Built-in Wi-Fi.

Also works with new optional WFT-E9:

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.
Canon WFT-E9. bigger.

Doesn't work with older WFT-E6 or WFT-E8.

 

Storage       specifications       top

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

Two CFexpress type B slots

Does not work with CF, CFast, SD or XQD cards.

 

Power       specifications       top

Battery

Canon 1DX Mk II

Canon LP-E19 battery for 1DX Mk III. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mk II

Bottom, Canon LP-E19 battery for 1DX Mk III. bigger.

LP-E19 rechargeable Li-Ion battery included.

Rated 2,850 shots (2,360 at 0º C / 32º F) for regular shooting, or 610 shots with live view (530 at 32ºF/0ºC).

Also works with older LP-E4N but not the discontinued LP-E4.

 

Clock Battery

Small internal rechargeable that charges in 8 hours from the main battery, and then can run the clock for a month with no other battery in the camera.

 

Charging

Canon 1DX Mk II

Canon LC-E19 charger for LP-E19 battery for 1DX Mk III. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mk II

Bottom, Canon LC-E19 charger for LP-E19 battery for 1DX Mk III. bigger.

LC-E19 dual battery charger included. Also charges older LP-E4N and discontinued LP-E4 batteries.

 

Size       specifications       top

6.60 × 6.22 × 3.25 inches HWD.

167.6 × 158.0 × 82.6 millimeters HWD.

 

Weight       specifications       top

50.535 oz. (1,432.8g) actual measured weight with battery and one card.

Rated 50.8 oz. (1,440g) with battery and card, 44.1 oz. (1,250g) stripped.

 

Quality       specifications       top

 

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

Made in Japan.

 

Environment       specifications       top

Operating

32º ~ 45º C (32º ~ 113º F).

0 to 85% RH.

 

Canon's Model Numbers       specifications       top

3829C019.

DS126771.

 

Included       specifications       top

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

Announced       specifications       top

Monday, 06 January 2020, 8 PM NYC time.

 

Promised for       specifications       top

Mid February 2020.

 

Price, U. S. A.       specifications       top

February 2022

$6,499 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.

 

January ~ November 2020

$6,499 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield, where often it's offered as a promotion with a free CFexpress card and reader.

 

Getting a Legal USA Version       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

This section applies in the USA only.

Your camera must include a printed USA warranty card from Canon U.S.A., Inc. The serial number printed on the card must match the serial number engraved on the bottom of your camera:

Canon 1DX III USA Warranty Card

Canon 1DX Mark III USA Warranty Card. bigger.

If not, you got ripped off with a gray market version from another country. This is why I never buy anyplace other than from my personally approved sources. You just can't take the chance of buying elsewhere, especially at any retail store, because non-USA versions have no warranty in the USA, and you probably won't be able to get firmware or service for it — even if you're willing to pay out-of-pocket for it when you need it!

Shifty dealers may include color copies of a card from a legitimate USA lens in a gray-market box, hoping you won't check serial numbers and catch their fraud. A card with the wrong serial number means nothing other than that you have no warranty coverage.

The serial number on the box doesn't have to match, but it should. It will be hidden someplace on the sticker with all the bar codes. If not, it means a shady dealer took things out of boxes and was too sloppy to put them back correctly — and it means you got a used lens if anyone other than you took it out of the box.

If a gray market version saves you $1,200 the risk might be worth it, but for $600 or less I wouldn't risk having no warranty or support.

Always be sure to check yours while you can still return it, or just don't buy from unapproved sources or at retail so you'll be able to have your camera serviced and get free updated firmware as needed. Get yours from the same places I do and you won't have a problem.

 

Performance       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Overall   Autofocus   Manual Focus   Ergonomics

Exposure   Finder   High ISOs   Lens Corrections

Mechanics   C123   Silent Mode   Noise & Vibration

Top LCD   Rear LCD   Rear Data LCD   Playback

Data   Save Settings to Card

Power & Battery   Clock Accuracy

 

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Overall       performance       top

The 1DX III is the world's top pro camera. Overall, it's the best for a lot of good reasons, like speed and ergonomics and picture quality and flexibility and durability. It gets it all right, so long as you don't mind big, heavy and expensive.

 

Autofocus       performance       top

Autofocus is fast, and always has been with these cameras. It locks on and tracks just about anything and always gets the shots. This, and the previous models, haven't been the world's top pro sports camera for nothing.

If you can't get it with the 1DX III, you can't get it.

 

Manual Focus       performance       top

Manual focus is great. Not only is there a live ground-glass and green OK dot in the finder like most cameras, the selected finder Focus Area LED blinks red as you get perfect focus.

You have to preselect the Focus Area; they're not all active at once, and they blink red only while you have the shutter half pressed.

 

Ergonomics       performance       top

Ergonomics are one of this pro camera's many strong points. Everything has its own control, and the new magic sliding finger controller is so far ahead of every other camera that you won't ever want to go back to anything else.

Hidden inside both the regular and vertical-grip AF ON buttons are magic sensors that see your fingertip and track exactly how it slides over it. You can select AF areas much faster than clicking, and it's a dream being able to move around a zoomed-in playback image as if our finger is sliding it around.

The thumb sensor even works great while wearing latex or nitrile exam gloves. Bravo!

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Magic AF-ON Thumb Controller. bigger.

 

It has two complete sets of controls; held vertically all the front and rear buttons are duplicated:

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Vertical Grip Controls. bigger.

 

Canon 1DX Mk III Vertical Controls

Canon 1DX Mark III Vertical Grip Controls. bigger.

 

It's easy to enter text with the touch screen, and the little beeps help let us know it's working.

 

Sadly the PLAY, MENU, INFO and other buttons are on the left side, requiring a separate hand to press:

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

A few buttons around the rear monitor are backlit, and that's it. Sadly most are not lit, but those that are are the perfect brightness to be legible in the dark but not so bright as to be disturbing:

Canon 1DX Mk III backlit buttons

Canon 1DX Mark III Backlit Buttons. bigger.

 

Exposure       performance       top

Exposure accuracy is the same as other Canon cameras. I usually use -0.7 exposure compensation in contrasty outdoor light to keep saturated colors from overloading with how high I set my saturation (+4).

This is the same as my other digital Canons for over ten years, so however you've shot before, do the same thing here to get your results.

 

Finder       performance       top

The finder is big, bright and sharp.

While it's big and bright, the eyepiece ocular is so small that it's easy to cut-off the view of the top corners if your eye isn't centered. The eyepiece is a small rectangle, not a huge round eyepiece.

Better than mirrorless, the 1DX III optical finder is sharper with essentially unlimited resolution, always the perfect brightness, works at an infinitely high frame rate with zero blur, and never gets noisy or blurry, even in pitch darkness.

The 1DX III finder is always live and only for shooting; but worse than mirrorless you can't playback or set menus with it, and it doesn't show you how your pictures will turn out before you take them.

Worse than mirrorless, the finder goes black during each and every exposure as the mirror flips up and out of the way to allow exposure. At high frame rates the finder image stays remarkably stable and without vertical smearing, but it is flickering as fast as the camera is shooting each frame.

Better than other DSLRs, there are two exposure compensation scales, one at the bottom and a big second scale along the right side.

The diopter adjuster is hidden behind the eyecup so it never gets knocked by accident.

 

1DX Mk III High ISO Performance       performance       top

Complete Images       details   dark detail   performance   top

As seen at normal image sizes below, the 1DX Mark III pretty much makes the same great images from ISO 100 to ISO 51,200.

ISO 50 (L) is a "pull" ISO, and has more highlight contrast, but it can lead to clipped highlights if you have too much subject contrast. Otherwise ISO 50 looks great like the rest, and gives a slightly cleaner and bolder image.

ISO 102,400 has a slight amount of green-magenta color mottling, but otherwise looks fine at the normal image sizes below.

ISO 204,800 (H1) looks worse. Blacks are only dark gray, the colors have shifted slightly and the color mottling is worse.

ISO 409,600 (H2) is pretty bad and mostly unusable, even for normal-sized images. The image is fuzzy, grainy and only half there. Noise reduction has erased half the image trying to reduce all the noise!

ISO 812,900 (H3) is laughably useless: the images are completely awful. Just like in Nikon's pro cameras, these extreme push ISOs are only for the purposes of marketing the camera to impressionable rich amateurs; pictures at these speeds are worthless - and as we all know, it's easy to push images from regular cameras to get the same results at these same insane ISOs.

This is magnificent performance, so long as you ignore the pushed H2 and H3 ISOs as purely marketing folly. You'll never see Nikon or Canon show any sample images at these foolish settings.

Click any for the camera-original JPG (quality=10) images. Sharpening was set to 7,5,5:

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Click any for the camera-original © JPG files. (Quality=10, about 13~25 MB each).

 

600 × 450 Pixel Crops (9.1× magnification)       High ISOs     performance       top

What we see at the high magnifications below is that fine details go away as the ISO increases. This happens with all cameras and our own eyes and is an artifact of noise reduction working harder as the ISO increases.

The most detail is at ISO 50 (L), and becomes softer at every higher ISO. This is normal and how noise reduction works in every camera.

ISO 50 (L) is a "pull" ISO, and has more highlight contrast. This increases perceived highlight detail, and leads to clipped highlights if you have too much subject contrast, as in the case of the window reflection in the glass of the clock face.

By ISO 25,600 most of the detailed scrollwork between the clock numbers is gone.

By ISO 51,200 the minute marks are mostly gone.

By ISO 102,400 all the detail is gone from the clock face, leaving only the numbers.

At ISO 204,800 (H1) even the numbers and hands are starting to disappear.

At ISO 409,600 (H2) the clock face is mostly gone!

At ISO 819,200 (H3) there is barely any picture left at all.

These are 600 × 450 pixel crops.

If these are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 18½ × 28" (50 × 75 cm) at this same magnification.

If these are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 37 × 56" (1 × 1.5 meters) at this same magnification.

If these are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 75 × 112" (2 × 3 meters) at this same extreme magnification.

Click any for the camera-original JPG (quality=10) images. Sharpening was set to 7,5,5:

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Click any for the camera-original © JPG files. (Quality=10, about 13~25 MB each).

 

Dark-Area 600 × 450 Pixel Crops (9.1× magnification)       High ISOs     performance       top

Here are crops showing the dark grillwork of the fireplace.

The most detail in the fine screen is at ISO 50 (L), although ISO 100 is very close.

The screen is obviously softer by ISO 400.

The screen and even some of the bricks are starting to be erased by the noise reduction by ISO 800.

By ISO 6,400 most of the screen and the bricks are gone.

The bricks behind the grill go away by ISO 3,200.

Even the iron bars are starting to go away at ISO 25,600.

The bars are getting lost in noise at ISO 51,200, and mostly gone at ISO 102,400.

By ISO 204,800 (H1), there is nothing in the shadows except noise, which becomes even stronger at ISO 409,200 (H2) and at ISO 812,900 (H3) the noise is stronger still and taking on color mottling.

Again, this is normal for all digital cameras, and the 1DX Mark III is doing better than most here.

These are 600 × 450 pixel crops.

If these are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 18½ × 28" (50 × 75 cm) at this same magnification.

If these are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 37 × 56" (1 × 1.5 meters) at this same magnification.

If these are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 75 × 112" (2 × 3 meters) at this same extreme magnification.

Click any for the camera-original JPG (quality=10) images. Sharpening was set to 7,5,5:

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Canon 1DX Mark III High ISO Performance Sample Image File

Click any for the camera-original © JPG files. (Quality=10, about 13~25 MB each).

 

Lens Corrections       performance       top

There are options to correct for falloff (Peripheral Illumination Correction), Distortion and a Digital Lens Optimizer which corrects for a suite of other aberrations.

If you turn off the Digital Lens Optimizer, you are then offered à la carte ON/OFF options for Chromatic Aberration Correction and Diffraction Correction.

These are great; it lets me use my old 1990s EF lenses and get superbly sharp results; just zoom-in on the full resolution image from my $100 used Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM and it looks great!

Canon 1DX Mk III Sample Image FIle

Public Art, 4:27 PM, 25 October 2020. Canon 1DX Mk III, Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM at 135 mm at f/10 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation, (LV 15.6), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © JPG file.

 

Mechanical Quality       performance       top

It's a tough camera. More than lesser models of camera, the 1DX III is built to enjoy taking a beating.

The outer casings are metal.

The card door and card-door and battery release levers are plastic.

The serial number is engraved into a metal section in the bottom:

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

It's made in Japan.

 

C1, C2 and C3 modes       performance       top

It has these. You select among them by holding the MODE button and turning either dial.

I program my M-Fn button to swap among them.

 

Silent Mode       performance       top

The Silent Modes aren't. The "Silent" modes are about as loud as other cameras.

 

Sound, Noise & Vibration       performance       top

This is a big, hard, fast and powerful camera. It makes more noise than slower cameras as its shutters and mirrors slam around as fast as they can.

The good news it's well balanced; there isn't too much recoil when running at 16 FPS.

It does seem quieter than my pro Nikons.

 

Top LCD       performance       top

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III with EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. bigger.

It's a good-sized LCD, but there's so much crammed into it that everything is pretty small.

It has a dim amber LED backlight if you press the ☀ button.

 

Rear Main LCD Monitor       performance       top

It's the usual rear LCD. It's fixed and doesn't swivel.

There's no auto brightness control.

Set manually, it can become very bright and look great outdoors in daylight.

 

Canon 1DX Mark III

Canon 1DX Mark III. bigger.

 

Rear Lower LCD Data Display       performance       top

The lower data display shows basics you can see above like frame and folder counts, file and card types and WiFI, GPS and Bluetooth status.

You and I both would think this is a very helpful display, but I've never looked at it.

It also has a dim amber LED backlight if you press the ☀ button near the top LCD.

 

Playback          performance       top

Playback is the usual from Canon, with the huge new benefit of the awesome finger-slide AF ON button controller.

Just slide your finger around on either of the AF ON buttons and it's like having your finger on the image to move it around when zoomed.

You don't click the AF ON button; you slide your finger around and the image follows your finger motions exactly. Bravo!

 

Data       performance       top

There are ten selectable levels of JPG compression. You may set different levels for each image size as well, and these settings are saved and recalled in the C1, C2 and C3 settings.

Regardless of the set compression level, the file size varies greatly with subject complexity, as it should.

 

Save/Load Settings to/from Card       performance       top

The Save/Load system is easy to use and works well, except that as of my version 1.1.0 firmware mysteriously it doesn't recall my copyright data.

I hope that newer firmware will fix this; the good news is that the contents of the C1, C2 and C3 settings are saved and recalled fully.

It should save up to ten different settings files to a card, and can select among them when recalled. Canon suggests that it might only work if your camera is on the same firmware as the camera that saved the file.

Of course you can save and recall these to and from your computer, email or the internet. I share my settings below.

 

Power & Battery       performance       top

I've been shooting my 1DX Mk III for over six weeks, and my battery still reads half! I haven't shot that many frames.

Like other DSLRs, I've left the power switch ON this whole time. It wakes up instantly when I tap the shutter. I only turn it OFF if I jam my 1DX III into a bag where its shutter button might get pressed accidentally.

Battery life has never been a complaint with these cameras. It's a big battery for a big camera.

 

Clock Accuracy       performance       top

Every sample is different, but mine loses 210 milliseconds per day (6.2 seconds per month), which is typical.

This matters when you shoot multiple cameras (or this camera and an iPhone) and then sort all the images based on capture time to compare similar views of each scene.

Set the clock to set itself via the GPS at MENU > ↙PURPLE BIDIRECTIONAL SNAKE ICON↗ > GPS settings > Auto time setting > Auto update and it will always be correct and not drift.

 

1DX III Tricks & User's Guide       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Finder Adjustment

The finder's dioptometric adjuster is hidden behind the eyecup. This is why the eyecup ships uninstalled: so you see the lever and adjust it before attaching the eyecup. Once the eyecup is attached the adjuster is invisible and out of the way; remove it to readjust the finder.

 

Magic Finger (AF ON) Controls

Both AF ON buttons have magic detectors to detect sliding finger motions to select focus areas and scroll around zoomed playback images.

To use it to select Focus Areas, you first need to wake it up by pressing the AF Select mode button (or however you activate the AF Area selection mode) for it to respond to you.

I believe there's also the option to force the magic thumb sensor to be active always for AF selection.

It's always active when you have a zoomed playback image.

 

Manual Focus

Your selected Focus Area LED blinks red in the finder as you get perfect focus.

You have to preselect the Focus Area; they're not all active at once, and they blink red only while you have the shutter half pressed.

 

C1, C2 & C3 Modes

Once programmed, these modes recall everything about the camera.

I use C1 for general shooting (SL advance mode, P exposure mode, 6,1,3 sharpening, +4 Saturation, Auto ISO), C2 for outdoors (same as C1 but -0.7 stops exposure compensation and full LCD brightness) and C3 for tripod shooting (same as C1 but Av exposure mode, ISO fixed at 100, 2 second self timer, etc.).

To set these, first set your camera as you'd like to have it saved, then save it at MENU > WRENCH 4 > Custom shooting mode (C1-C3).

Oddly, C2 and C3 aren't active unless you enable them first at MENU > CUSTOM 3 > Restrict shooting modes and check C2 and/or C3.

I like to be able to select among these while looking through my finder. To allow this, set MENU > WRENCH 2 > Viewfinder display > Show/hide in finder > and check MODE. You'll see them as little black letters at the bottom left on the image area's ground glass.

I prefer to set my M-Fn button to let me select among these modes. To do this, set MENU > CUSTOM 6 > Custom controls > M0Fn: C, and now just tap the M-Fn button to cycle among these modes.

 

Save/Load settings to a card

Do this at MENU > WRENCH 4 > Save/load cam settings on card.

This saves everything about the camera, including all of the C123 settings above.

You can save and recall these to and from your card and computer, and you can email them to your friends, and if you like, here is my own settings file. This link won't do anything on your computer or browser; use it to download my file to your computer and then drag it to the root directory of your memory card in a card reader, then stick your card in your camera and go to MENU > WRENCH 4 > Save/load cam settings on card > Load settings > OK to copy my settings to your camera. Be sure to save your own settings first in case you hate mine. My settings are programed as explained at C1, C2 & C3 modes.

 

Clock & Time

Clock (time of day) visible in viewfinder if you press the ISO button while the camera is in standby.

Set the clock to set itself via the GPS at MENU > ↙PURPLE BIDIRECTIONAL SNAKE ICON↗ > GPS settings > Auto time setting > Auto update and it will always be correct and not drift.

 

Shutter Counter

See this at MENU > WRENCH 5 > System status display, where it shows shutter count in thousands as well as serial number and firmware version.

 

Image Downloads

Ideally get a CFexpress card reader.

Without a dedicated reader, I use Apple's standard Image Capture program (included in every Mac) and connect my 1DX III with a USB-C cord. Turn on and be sure the 1DX III is awake, and it should appear in Image Capture from which you can download your images.

 

See also Canon's 1DX III User's Guide.

 

Recommendations       top

Sample Images   Intro   Lens Compatibility

Specifications   USA Version   Performance

User's Guide   Recommendations

You people know who you are. You're the driven pros who define the industry, and through whose eyes the rest of the world sees sports and world history unfold.

I got my 1DX III at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

This new Mark III gives a little bit more of everything than the old Mark II could — especially two more frames every second and a life-changing finger-motion encoder for controlling the camera which can make the difference between you getting the image and making the sale, the space on the page or the job over some other guy, which makes this new camera more than worth its modest price.

If you're not a full-time pro, the differences are moderate to minor depending on what's important to you; the old Mark II is still better than anything else on the planet except this Mark III..

See also Is It Worth It.

This 100% all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally approved sources I've used myself for way over 100 combined years when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used camera — and all of my personally approved sources allow for 100% cash-back returns for at least 30 days if you don't love your new camera. I've used many of these sources since the 1970s because I can try it in my own hands and return it if I don't love it, and because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I've used myself for decades for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken Rockwell.

 

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Ken Rockwell.

 

 

 

02 February 2022, 04, 05 November 2020, 24 September 2020, 06 January 2020