Canon announced this new 1D series body at the end of 2009. With the auto focus problems at the beginning of production of the 1D mark IIImark III bodies, everyone was skeptical about this new body.
Canon sure put in great effort to optimize their auto focus mechanism. It has been upgraded from 19 cross-type auto focus point to 39 cross-type auto focus points. They also upgraded the focussing algorithms to give more sharp images during the AI focussing mode.
The auto focus of the Canon 1D series can function till a maximum aperture of f/8.0 where other max out at f/5.6. This is especially handy when teleconverters are being used.
A new feature, which was previously introduced into the Canon 7D, is the orientation-linked AF points. When a manual auto focussing point is selected it changes for landscape or portrait. This comes in handy when switching fast between landscape and portrait or vice versa. A lot of effort went into the AF system and it payed off! When shooting in AI Servo at 10 frames per second the auto focus tracks the subject very well.
Here is a series of 100 % crops of a continues burst of of 24 frames at 10 fps of a runner coming straight towards the camera. As you can clearly see, most images are sharp. Take in mind that these are 100 % crop images and no sharpening was applied by the camera or in postproduction. All the pictures are available for download. The links are provided at the bottom of the review.
Canon claims that the AF tracking can be done on subjects with a maximum speed of 50 kph when moving directly towards the camera. The following images are from a scooter traveling at 55 kph. These images were shot at 10 fps in AI Servo mode.
To give an impression where these crops come from, here is one of the original images.
Canon also introduced a special algorithm to obtain sharper pictures when shooting macro. It senses that a macro lens is being used and it changes parameters so it adapts more quickly to unpredictable camera and subject movement. Although this feature sounds nice, most macro shots are made with manual focus.
The Canon 1D series is the top of the line. It is built to be used in the most demanding situations. The 1D series is aimed at the sport photographers although it is also very beloved with nature photographers and photojournalists.
The 1D mark IV delivers very fast auto focus, high image quality, 10 frames per second and durability.
On the 1D series you won't find a mode wheel like it is found on most other DSLRs. Instead of the wheel there is a button. Using this button you can select M, Av, Tv, P and Bulb mode. As you can clearly see the C1, C2 and C3 functions are missing like you can find them on the 5D mark II for example. The lack of these functions is a bit of a downside for me and could have easily been integrated into the system.
The build quality is equal to the previous version of the 1D. Even the button layout stayed the same. I received a couple of emails concerning the outer difference of the 1D mark IV compared to the 1D mark III. Except for the connections arrangement on the left side of the camera every button stayed on the same place. This makes the step from a mark III camera to a mark IV camera a lot easier.
Sometimes the Canon 1D series is described as heavy and big. Compared to the Canon EOS 550D it is big and heavy but people who use a mid range DSLR like the 5D mark II or the 7D with a battery grip attached won't feel that much of a difference.
| Model | Dimensions | Weight | MegaPixels | Shutterlife |
| Canon PowerShot G11 | 112.1 x 76.2 x 48.3 mm | 355 g | 10.0 | - |
| Canon EOS 1000D | 126.1 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm | 450 g | 10.1 | 100.000 |
| Canon EOS 550D | 128.8 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm | 530 g | 18.0 | 100.000 |
| Canon EOS 50D | 145.5 x 107.8 x 73.5 mm | 730 g | 15.1 | 100.000 |
| Canon EOS 7D | 148.2 x 110.7 x 73.5 mm | 820 g | 18.0 | 150.000 |
| Canon EOS 5D Mark II | 152 x 113.5 x 75 mm | 810 g | 21.1 | 150.000 |
| Canon EOS 1D Mark III | 156 x 157 x 80 mm | 1155 g | 10.1 | 300.000 |
| Canon EOS 1DS Mark III | 156 x 159.6 x 79.9 mm | 1205 g | 21.1 | 300.000 |
| Canon EOS 1D Mark IV | 156 x 157 x 80 mm | 1180 g | 16.1 | 300.000 |
The one thing I don't like is the placing of the FEL button on the portraiture grip. First of all it is not on the same place where you would expect it if you have been using is in landscape mode and secondly because of this different placement I push on it sometimes while shooting horizontally.
We must conclude that most changes are made underneath it's skin. Here are a couple of the features of the new camera:
In this table underneath you find the different sensor sizes.
| full frame | APS-H (1.3x) | APS-C (1.6x) |
| 36.0 x 24.0 mm | 27.9 x 18.6 mm | 22.3 x 14.9 mm |
With the release of the D3, Nikon had the upper hand in the high ISO race. It delivered really clean images at these high ISO's. Because of this many Canon users were very interested in how this new 1D series body performed at high ISO's. Nikon currently uses a full frame sensor with 12 MP to give their camera's their high ISO performance. Because Canon uses a APS-H, 1.3 crop, sensor with 16 MP it is more difficult to obtain the same high ISO performance.
One of the improvements was the light-gathering efficiency of the new sensor by using the no gap technology between the micro lenses of each photodiode. Another improvement has been made into the algorithms that were made possible because of the new Digic 4 Image Processor. This all makes that the 1D mark IV has a standard ISO range from 100 till 12800. This can be expanded using the custom function from ISO 50 till the staggering ISO 102400.
Off course we all know that this highest ISO setting is just for commercially purposes.
| ISO 50 | ISO 100 | ISO 200 |
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| ISO 400 | ISO 800 | ISO 1600 |
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| ISO 3200 | ISO 6400 | ISO 12800 |
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| ISO 25600 | ISO 51200 | ISO 102400 |
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As can been seen clearly in the images above the 1D mark IV delivers very good high ISO performance. It is easily usable up to 6400. ISO 12800 is usable but noise is becoming clearly noticeable but images can be used with good post processing.
The ongoing ISO settings, which have to be enabled in the custom functions, clearly give an increase in noise. For people like photojournalists, where the picture matters more than noise, ISO 25600 is still usable. ISO 51200 and 102400 are just a last resort.
Although Canon has put a lot of megapixel into this sensor it delivers very detailed pictures with low noise. This increase in MP will leave more room for cropping by the sport shooters that will buy this camera.
If you upgrade to this camera be prepared to invest into new memory because the RAW files are 24 MB and more depending on the ISO setting.
The Canon 1D mark IV can both use compact flash (CF) and secure digital (SD) cards. These can be configured to be used as an overflow (when 1 card is full it starts writing to the next), backup (for digital security) or you can write 1 format, like RAW, to 1 card and another format, like a large JPEG, to the other.
Having 2 card slots is an important feature if you ask me. If you are shooting sports you can write RAW to 1 card and large JPEG to the other. After every important moment you can give the card with the JPEGs to the runner who uses them to give live updates. The RAW files can then be used for post processing afterwards.
Wedding photographers can use the backup function just to be on the safe side and not losing those important shots.
What I don't get about the dual card slots is that Canon uses 2 different types of cards. Most people using 1D type cameras will most likely used compact flash (CF) cards in previous cameras so they have to invest in secure digital (SD) cards to be able to make use of this feature. Nikon has been wiser at this front and uses 2 compact flash (CF) slots.
Another thing the Canon engineers improved while developing the 1D mark IV is the auto white balance (AWB). It had some problems with low light situations and with tungsten lighting. It always judged it to warm. Although this isn't really a big problem when working with RAW images, where you can easily change the AWB during post processing, it is a big problem with JPEG images.
Although the AWB gives a little better results under tungsten lighting it still gives a bit to warm images.
Canon also introduced video into the 1 series. Many people make the remark that they don't need video into their camera but when you have it, you will love it! The ability to record high definition 1080p video with a large variety of high quality lenses is something incredible in this price range! Normally you would spend 20 times more to obtain this level of quality.
Although AF is available in movie and live view mode it is not recommended. It works but it tends to hunt and it doesn't work that fast.
Audio is provided with the build in microphone or an external microphone can be used via the 3.5 mm jack. This allows stereo audio recording. Although the build in microphone works quit well, you also record the sound of the image stabilizer or the sounds of the buttons you push. So if you want to use the movie function a lot more you should consider buying and aftermarket microphone like the Sennheiser MKE 400.
To stabilize the shot you can always shoot using a tripod with a video head or when you want more freedom a shoulder mount. If you are still considering which lens to buy, I can suggest you to go for an image stabilized lens. In the next video you can clearly see the difference between the obtained image with the IS turned on and with the IS turned off.
The Canon 1D mark IV delivers the following modes:
Given the staggering resolution of the movie mode from the 1D mark IV, it literally eats memory. The 1080p and the 720p mode uses 330 MB/min and the 480p mode 165 MB/min. That means the longest video you can make in 1080p and 720p is 12 minutes due to the maximum file size of 4 GB due to the FAT32 format of the memory cards and 24 minutes for the 480p mode. The only thing I don't get about the combination of resolution and frame rate is the lack of 25 fps in the 720p mode. This would decrease the memory usage thus enabling longer movies.
To give you an insight to the quality of video the 1D Mark 4, or Canon in general, delivers, some footage of 24 and House M.D. are shot with these cameras.
The battery from the 1D mark IV, the LP-E4, provides about 2h30 of video. BTW the battery used in the 1D mark IV is the same as in the mark III so people who upgrade don't need to buy new batteries, which is quite expensive because each battery costs about 140 Euro. For still pictures the battery life is about 1500 shots. Although many parameters affect the number of shots possible with a single battery.
Conclusion:
The Canon 1D mark IV delivers a very nice resolution increase compared to the 1D mark III and still delivering very good high ISO performance. The new AF tracks subjects really well and more cross autofocus points were added.
Finally the 1D series provides a movie mode which delivers staggering footage.
Pro:
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Cons:
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Here you can find the links to the full res photo's used in this review.