Rangefinder Magazine
April 2002

First Exposure: by John Rettie
Canon EOS-1D

From the front the Canon EOS-1D looks like any other EOS camera.

Canon EOS-1D
It’s been a long time coming but finally users of Canon EOS lenses and equipment have a high end professional digital camera body made from the ground up as a digital camera instead of being an adapted film camera.

Canon has aimed this all-new EOS-1D digital camera directly at those photographers who first and foremost need speed and ruggedness. It sports a 4.15-megapixel CCD producing 2464x1648 pixel images that has a 1.3X multiplier effect. It can capture images at an amazing 8 fps for a burst of up to 21 images, making it an ideal sports and news camera with more than sufficient resolution for newspaper and most magazine work. Studio and portrait photographers might feel it doesn’t have the number of pixels they’d like so the newly announced 6-megapixel EOS-D60 could be the right camera where speed of operation is not so critical.

Anyone who is familiar with the EOS-1V 35mm film cameras will feel at home with the 1D as it has the same look and feel. Indeed from the front and top the EOS-1D looks just like a film camera—the only clue that it is digital; is the word “digital.”

Most important—all of the major camera operating features on the capture side of the camera are in the same positions. This means that it’s entirely practical for one to use the digital camera body alongside a film body and be able to immediately use one or the other without having to think about different operating procedures.

The back of the EOS-1D features two LCD screens for viewing images during playback as well as providing access to setup

Having said that there is a learning curve required on the digital side of the camera. Why? Because there are so many choices that can be made in the way images are processed and stored. If you thought the EOS-1V offered too many choices, the 1D takes it one step further. I was hard pressed to figure out how to configure the camera without reading the manual. Just like a computer!

Although the buttons and switches are laid out in the same positions as on the EOS-1V camera, the body is unique to the 1D as the battery compartment at the base is integrated intro the main body rather than being an add-on unit. The camera is made from the same cast magnesium alloy and like the EOS-1V camera the 1D is fully sealed so it can withstand the elements. The PC terminal, remote cable plug and port for the Firewire cable for connecting to a computer are hidden under two rubber covers for protection. The cover for the Compact Flash card slot is tightly shut and requires the turning of a recessed knob to be released. I found this knob to be a little too small and finicky to open and I have small hands. It would be impossible to open it when wearing gloves. Of course, if you’re lucky enough to be using a large storage card such as a 1GB Microdrive or one of the new 640MB CF cards you’re unlikely to need to access the card in the field anyway.

	Users of the EOS-1 line of film cameras will immediately feel at home with the

The top LCD screen on top of the body displays all the camera functions such as metering mode, shooting mode, shutter speed, aperture, shots remaining battery life, exposure compensation and drive mode. It’s essentially identical to that on the 1V. Likewise the three buttons on the left for changing ISO, drive mode, shooting mode, etc are identical in operation to the 1V. The shutter button and main dial in the regular position and in the vertical grip also operate in like manner.

It’s when one gets to the back of the camera that it becomes apparent this is a digital camera. The layout of the function buttons is similar to the layout on the old Kodak DCS 520/Canon D2000 digital camera bodies, which is beneficial to the many sports and news photographers who use those cameras. A two-inch LCD color monitor is used for displaying images during playback and for viewing setup menus. Beneath this monitor there is a smaller LCD panel that displays settings relating to the digital side of the camera such the picture display format, white balance, image quality, and folder and file numbers.

The camera uses a shutter mechanism that is very similar to that in the 1V. Because of this there is virtually no shutter lag when taking pictures. It also allows flash synchronization speed up to 1ž500 second when used with the EX-series Speedlite flash units. The ID also uses the same Area AF focussing system as in the 1V. It has 45 autofocus points that can be set up in various ways to suit a photographer’s needs. The 21-zone evaluative metering system can be used in full, partial or spot.

In operation, the EOS-1D is delightful as it feels just like a highly responsive film camera. The camera is functional within a second of being turned on while shutter lag and other features such as slow capture speed that plague so many digital cameras are non- existent. There is a very useful readout in the viewfinder, which tells you how many shots can still be taken before the buffer fills up. Even when shooting fairly rapidly it rarely showed less than 10 shots. Most of the time when I looked it showed that 19 frames were available.

		Of course a large part of operational speed in a digital camera is the speed at which the camera processes images and writes them to the storage card. This is also a function of the speed of the storage card. I tried the camera with a 1GB IBM Microdrive as well as one of the new 640MB CF cards from Lexar. I did not perform any accurate timings as both of these cards proved to be ideal. I used the Fine JPEG format (least compression) for most of the photo shoots while I had the camera. At this setting the average file size was around 2.0 MB, giving a capacity of about 500 images on the 1GB Microdrive.
This original shot of Las Vegas model Maggie Goldstein has only received minimal sharpening after capture withno in-camera sharpening.	An unretouched picture of Las Vegas model Lina So shows how well the EOS-1D retains minute detail. Minimal sharpening was done after capture with no in-camera sharpening.	One unusual setting on the 1D allows a raw file and a JPEG file to be captured at the same time. This could prove useful for those who need a raw file for post processing in a computer but also want a file that can be read quickly without requiring the special Canon software needed to read the raw files. Of course, the duplicating of files slows down the camera and substantially reduces the capacity of a storage card as each raw file is about 5MB.

I was also impressed by the capacity of the NiMH NP-E3 battery pack that is provided with the camera. In one session I shot almost 600 images in two hours yet the battery gauge had only moved down one notch from full. Canon says the battery is good for over 300 images so I guess I was economical in my usage of the LCD screen, which tends to be the biggest drain on a battery.

The EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS lens is Canon's newest high-end zoom lens. It weighs the same as the EOS-1D camera body making it a good match

Incidentally, I got to use the newest EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the camera. This lens with image stabilization and a consistent aperture ratio of f/2.8 throughout its zoom range was an ideal match to the EOS-ID, although its effective range became 90–260mm due to the multiplier effect of the CCD. The lens weighs in at 3.5 lbs., which is the same weight as the camera body making the combination a nice balance if somewhat heavy for hand holding over a period of time.

Images are played back within a second after capture and with the push of a button the previously captured files can be viewed individually, four at a time or nine as small thumbnails. A histogram and information about the shot can also be shown on the monitor. There is no provision for zooming in on a picture for greater detail, which is a shortcoming. Nor is there a video out option for viewing images on a TV screen. It’s also possible to record up to 30 seconds of sound with each image by pressing a record button and speaking into a microphone incorporated in the back of the camera. This is a feature that has long been popular on the Kodak line of professional cameras.

Canon provides a choice of five color characteristics as well as the usual array of white balance settings. At first the number of choices can be confusing for those new to digital photography. But after a while it becomes similar to choosing specific films for different needs. When I first shot with the camera I found the images were too cold but after some fiddling with settings I was able to get a warmer look. Like all digital cameras it’s important to remember that the camera is also the film and the processor. Consequently, more decisions on settings need to be made. Once one has mastered them it is great to be able to change “film” and “processing” on the fly while capturing images.

The door to the CompactFlash card slot is well sealed. The slot takes Type I cards such as this 640MB Lexar CF card as well as Type II cards.	The NiMH battery included with the camera has a decent capacity for shooting 300 or more images on one charge.

For those who want to use the camera in a studio setting the camera can be hooked up to a computer via the Firewire cable and even more parameters can be controlled. The software included with the camera can also set custom personal functions that can then be downloaded into the camera to further customize the way the camera works. These are in addition to the regular 21 custom functions that are controlled in the camera. All these functions closely match those found on the EOS-1V.

One of the neat features of digital cameras is that they can often be upgraded by changing the firmware, which is software permanently loaded in the camera. While I had the camera on review, Canon issued a firmware upgrade to help lower the banding in shots taken at high ISO settings. It was easy to download the upgrade from Canon’s website and then put the file on a CF card and load it into the camera. In all honesty I could not see any difference in the image quality but then again I did not suffer from any banding problems anyway.

I found that the image quality obtained by the EOS-1D was very good, if not outstanding. In quick side by side comparison with a friend’s D30 I was surprised at how little difference there was in image quality, despite the D30 only having 3megapixels. However, as expected, I could see an improvement over the images captured on my own 2.7-megapxiel D1 camera.

Overall the EOS-1D is a superb camera. If you own Canon lenses and you’re shooting sports or news there’s no question that the camera is ideal as long as you can justify the $5500 price tag. If you’re shooting weddings and portraits it probably provides more speed and ruggedness than really required. The bottom line though is that it’s great that Canon now has a good lineup of two excellent digital camera bodies to go along with its range of EF lenses.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.