Canon’s EOS-1D Features Smooth Video and Low-Light Auto-Focus
12:38 pm, October 20th, 2009, Ed Sutherland
Canon Tuesday released its EOS-1D Mark 4, a $5000 DSLR aimed squarely at Nikon’s line of D3 pro shooters. The central attraction for the EOS-1D Mark 4: video. The camera can capture either standard or high-definition video at 50 or 60fps. Nikon’s equal-priced DS3s only shoot 720p video using jpeg files.
Also of interest, 39 of the 45 autofocus points are low-light sensitive compared to 15 of the DS3’s 51 AF points.
Aside from smooth video and more sensitive focusing, the EOS-1D Mark 4 offers 16 megapixel images and 802.11n file transmission. The camera is due in December for U.S. consumers.
In the end, the deciding factor may be your inventory of lenses. If you have invested heavily in Canon lenses, you may want to go with the EOS-1D Mark 4.
[Via iClarified, Gadget Lab and Canon]
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
If you make a living off it, very easy to justify $5000.
I do love these people who go out and buy £1200 DSLRs and then get them out once a month to snap the kids or Granny, then show off how great their camera is! If you pay that for a camera, get out there and use it! Use it and damn good excuse to get some exercise. When I got my first DSLR, I weighed 24 stone! After 3 years of my camera “making” me go out, I am now down to 17 stone and still dropping!
I have a 450D, dragged that thing across boggy Scots moors, through streams in Wales, muddy forests in the south of England, all over the place. Even stood at the base of a 75ft waterfall in the Scots Highlands, got absolutely drenched and so did the camera. Dried it in the car for 45 mins, good as new.
Love my Canon kit!
Fuzzypig, on October 20th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Fuzzypig, we are all very happy for you. But what does your pontification have to do with this story?
j welch, on October 20th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
j welch,
And what does your comment have to do with this story? At least Fuzzypig’s commentary makes mention of DSLR cameras, and his own experiences with them. He’s not the author of the article and under no obligation to any editorial purity; his commentary was not rude or discussing a subject completely and entirely off-topic. He offered some of his personal experiences with DSLRs to anyone who was willing to read it. If they find no value in it, so be it – it’s a comment, on a blog, not a front page story in the NY Times.
Your comment, on the other hand, offered absolutely no value at all to anyone.
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Fuzzypig,
Great example for utilizing an expensive “toy” (assuming you’re not a professional) as a motivator to “get out and do stuff”. An unseen value of the camera, to be sure!
It’ll be interesting to see how well this camera stacks up against its competitors, I’m personally a Canon guy, so this camera is exciting news to me. However, I know many who swear by Nikon. It’ll be interesting to see how they answer in the high end market.
Observer, on October 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
“Nikon’s equal-priced DS3s”…..if you mean the D300s, which is the most expensive Nikon with video capabilities, it goes for roughly $1800. So Nikon’s closest equivalent with slightly reduced MP, FPS, video resolution, ISO (who’s going to get usable shots at ISO 102400!?!) and more focus points is under half the price!!! Slap a battery grip on the D300s and you’ve got a more realisticly prices 1d mkIV.
From someone who has (and uses) a Canon 400d, 50d, 5d mkII and a Nikon D700 and D90, I think Nikon win this round.
Scott, on October 21st, 2009 at 4:12 am