I think after all years Canon has finally got it: we don’t need more megapixels, we need higher ISO performance. The Canon EOS 1D X is the most significant release by Canon since the original Canon EOS 5D back in 2005. Reading the specs of this thing and I feel like I’m dreaming, but it’s actually all true! It looks as if Canon is back in the race against Nikon. And while the Canon EOS 1D X is quite amazing (on paper so far until we see actual use reviews), it’s certainly not ground breaking compared to when Nikon released the D3 and practically changed the landscape and redefined what it is to be the king of low noise as the Nikon D3 was totally unexpected whereas the 1D X was a long time overdue.

The biggest things that stand out right off the back to me: the three DIGIC processors (!), Canon’s first camera that can meter in color, the 61-point autofocus, the new ISO 204,800 ceiling, dual CompactFlash card slots (FINALLY!), wired LAN port and the more appropriate price of $6,800. Canon finally pulled out all the stops and built a true flagship camera reminiscent of when they were the market leader in the professional market.

THREE DIGIC PROCESSOR

So the back-bone of the system, the Canon EOS 1D X’s primary functions are all controlled by a pair of Canon’s new DIGIC 5+ processor. What’s makes it really interesting Is that Canon has opted to add a third processor, a DIGIC 4, purely to power autofocus and metering. It remains to be seen if this helps speed-wise in reality or just overkill. But it does sound very impressive to have a dedicated processor for autofocus, an area that Canon has been taking a reputation beating in for awhile.

100,000-PIXEL RGB METERING SENSOR

While Nikon has been putting RGB metering sensors in its camera since the Nikon F5 and is now on all it’s dSLRs, this is a first for a Canon SLR. While in reality, RGB metering vs non-color metering in field-use isn’t a huge difference from what I can tell, it does seem to help.

SIXTY-ONE POINT AUTOFOCUS

Wow. When Canon first introduced their 1D line, 45-point autofocus was a huge thing and no one challenged that until Nikon released their D3. Having lots of focus points is a great thing in my opinion as I’m not a huge fan of focus-and-recompose especially when using a fast prime wide open (>f/2.0). With lots of focus points, it allows for very precise focusing and the freedom to frame as you want while maintaining focus accuracy; very useful when you have a razor thin DOF. Having loads of cross-type sensors means you can acquire much faster focus acquisition when shooting with the camera’s portrait oriented.

ISO 204,800

Canon has been losing the low noise battle since Nikon released the NIkon D3 and hasn’t had a real shot to claiming it back until now. I’ve longed believed and have said this repeatedly, Canon had the magic formula to the lowest noise possible with the introduction of the original 5D. With only 12-megapixels on a full-frame sensor, the original 5D was the pinnacle of low-noise. That’s why the Nikon D3/D3s and Nikon D700 only have 13-megapixels. Canon had it right, but went overboard cramming more and more megapixels into their bodies. More megapixels is fine, but if your a wedding photographer like us, lower noise is almost always more important than higher megapixels except for during the formal portraits (12-megapixels has always been more than plenty for us). I doubt any of my bridal clients would accept and appreciate that they can blow up to poster board sizes the shot I got of them kissing in the dark church with no lights on an overcast day which looks like a Pointillism painting taken with a 100-megapixel camera. This was the very reason why I, and perhaps many other wedding photographers, left Canon for Nikon.

DUAL COMPACTFLASH SLOT

While Canon was the first to introduce the very cool feature of dual memory slots, Nikon made it useful. I hardly ever used the SD slot of my 1D bodies because I didn’t really have any SD memory cards and I didn’t want to spend money on SD cards when I already had a stack of CF cards. That’s why I love Nikon’s dual CompactFlash slots; I can use the many CF cards I already have! I love not having to fiddle around and worrying about swapping memory cards and missing a key moment. I can just keep shooting away.

WIRED LAN PORT & BLUETOOTH

This is one of those “why didn’t they think of this sooner”. Rather than forcing people to use the often slower transfer speeds of wireless, Canon took it one step further and put an actual LAN port on the camera! Tethered shooting might not be something you may do often or at all (and the reason why tethered shooting is not more popular is the difficult to setup and the painfully slow transfer speeds), but having the ability to transfer your photos quicker from camera to computer while shooting might make you consider or shoot tethered more often.

Bluetooth will probably be too slow to transfer photos over, but if you can control your camera over Bluetooth either through your computer or a Bluetooth remote, that would be ultra cool. No more concerns about line of sight or USB cables everywhere.

THE PRICE TAG

This may not seem like much, but Canon positioning this dSLR at about $6,800 might still be a bit high, it’s not anything like being priced at $8,000. Typically, you could get the 1D-series for ~$4,000, but you have to pay double that for double the resolution (1Ds-series)?! That never made any sense as both the 1D and 1Ds used the same exact body/frame and partsright down to the mirror; the two big differences was the viewfinder and sensor.

As a wedding photographer, equipment backup is key. So getting two 1Ds bodies meant $16,000 on camera bodies alone…. For that price, I have two Nikon D3 and a couple of lenses.

CONCLUSION

I think this is certainly going to make a lot of professional Canon users very happy. Hell, I can’t wait to see what Vincent LaForet does with this; Impress us with another Reverie type video? When Canon kept upping the megapixels but losing in the low-noise area, it left many of us photographers such as photojournalist, event photographers, wedding photographers, and etc. scratching our heads wondering “what about us?” Fortunately Canon has finally opened its eyes and said, here it is. And prior to the release of the 1D X, you had to choose between speed and noise (the 1D-series) or full-frame and more megapixels (1Ds-series). Nikon made the better decision: let users choose between low noise (D3) or higher megapixels (D3x) and not crop sensor or full-frame.

One thing I didn’t hear anything about, but a feature I love on my D3 (also available on the D700) is the DX-crop mode. With a flip of a switch, I can go from full-frame to 1.5x DX-crop for tighter in-camera compositions, at the cost of half the resolution, but it would be the same penalty doing it in post-processing later. At least this way, I crop how I want it in-camera and don’t have to think about it again. I use this mode all the time, especially when shooting with prime lenses; it’s almost like having two lenses.

They also further improved upon the layout of the 1D-series. There also appears to be a couple extra buttons, one next to the DOF preview button and two up near the shutter button. This is certainly something that I have always liked about Nikon how they have two configurable buttons on the front next to where your fingers would be so you could program a function to them and use it without taking your eye away from the viewfinder. Canon appears to have taken it another step and added more buttons. How configurable it is, remains to be seen. They also got rid of the useless print button after all these years. I do like how the rear’s layout is visually cleaner.

The name is also quite interesting. Rather than calling this the Canon EOS 1D Mark V, they opted to go with 1D X, which has been said to stand for Xtreme performance, Xtreme speed, and so forth.

The Canon EOS 1D X definitely blows the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV clearly out of the water but is it enough to make me want to switch back to Canon? Probably not. But for many current Canon users on the fence, this will no doubt keep them Canon users. Canon does still have a few lenses that has no Nikon equivalent, one being my absolute favorite of all time: the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. And there is the 85L as well. Nikon’s superior CLS flash system is plenty enough to keep me Nikon, but that’s a whole different story. At least Canon is back in the game now.