Here's a quote that I think sums up the 1DIII quite well:

"The EOS 1D Mark III isn't just for sports anymore. It's a more universal camera for the vast majority of pro photographers. With the multiple improvements in the new camera, photographers will no longer need to trade off resolution, image quality, and speed against each other. The 1D Mark III now has enough of all three to satisfy a huge slice of the market in a single camera body."

That is the first Canon camera ever that has made me consider changing from Fuji/Nikon. Apart from ergonomics, where Nikon still excels, this seems to be the best all purpose DSLR ever.

photographers will no longer need to trade off resolution, image quality, and speed against each other.

Are they saying that 10mp is enough?  isn't the 5D 12mp?  therefore aren't you trading off the 12mp of the 5D for the speed of the 1D.  I thought they were going to bring out a 22mp one as well.  

Agree this looks like a well rounded camera and very tempting.  I just want it in a smaller lighter body since my main use is travel.

If canon now has 4 stop IS technology (in there 70-200 f4L IS), why arn't they rolling this out across the board.

Note: I want the 100-400 L so was hoping they would upgrade the IS to 4 stop (from 2) and upgrade the weather proofing (to lose its name "the dust pump").

Are they saying that 10mp is enough?  isn't the 5D 12mp?  therefore aren't you trading off the 12mp of the 5D for the speed of the 1D.  I thought they were going to bring out a 22mp one as well. 

This looks to be a pure sports photography camera.  It shoots 10 fps @ 10 MP!  Wow!  Pro sports photographers are probably drooling over this one.

Quote from: CJPhoto on February 22, 2007, 06:37

Are they saying that 10mp is enough?  isn't the 5D 12mp?  therefore aren't you trading off the 12mp of the 5D for the speed of the 1D.  I thought they were going to bring out a 22mp one as well. 

This looks to be a pure sports photography camera.  It shoots 10 fps @ 10 MP!  Wow!  Pro sports photographers are probably drooling over this one.

The nice thing is that the very complete feature set makes it a good all round camera as well (read my post above). We may be getting back to the "old" days, when each manufacturer had one top body that solved most photographic challenges, unless you needed some particular feature. That would be a very positive development in my eyes.

I agree about the weather sealing. While Canon as well as Nikon make good, weather sealed bodies,

Unfortunately only in Canons 1D series.  As Ametures have to stay inside when it rains.

one up for the 4/3 guys I guess.

I received my 1Ds Mark II in the mail yesterday.  Then saw the announcement on the 1D Mark III this morning. 

I haven't had much of a chance to play with the new 1Ds Mark II but I'll tell you with the two images I took last night of stuff around the house, I can tell you that the 1D Mark III is an absolute STEAL at $4,000 USD.

I'm going from a 20d and a 30d.  I wasn't 100% happy with the 20d (going from film to the 20d) and the 30d is much better.  Getting the new camera, I realized the 20d is crap in comparison.  The 30d will be my backup until I can get the Mark III.

From the announcement on the Mark III, you are getting TWO digic III processors (compare it to a Pentium computer with dual core processors) and 10 shots per second up to 110 shots in JPG.  That's fast for sports yes, but here are some other things I've learned (and am still learning because it's like learning how to use a computer for the first time)...

The Mark III meters light in 63 different places.  That's very important for control over exposure.  On the Mark II last night, I learned that I can select up to eight spots to meter simultaneously when composing a shot.  If the Mark III has a similar feature, it isn't limited to just sports, but also still life, nature, and wildlife as well.

I suspect the speed of the camera will also gain a lot of popularity amongst bird photographers.  Have you ever met one?  I work with one.  This guy has no problem going down to New Mexico with a 600mm, a 500mm, a 400mm, a 100-400, as well as some other smaller L lenses to shoot birds.  At 10 fps set at AI Servo, he can fire away like a machine gun bearing hunter and be as content as can be.  Until know, he was only able to shoot 8 fps.

Another thing about this new camera - 6400 ISO.  That is virtually non-existent in digital.  Not only will that be popular with birders and astronomers but indoor sports photographers struggling to find ways to use flash will no longer need it.  Testing will soon show what quality comes out.

It isn't just about megapixel size.  This new camera at $4,000 is going to be a heck of a deal.

...and yes, I'm still happy with my new purchase 

Does anyone here think that the live preview function will be useful?

For macro, absolutely. I haven't checked if it's possible to zoom in for focus adjustments, but that would be nice. For PJ's it's probably also useful in crowds when they have to hold the camera high, not being able to use the viewfinder.

Does anyone here think that the live preview function will be useful?

For sports phototags that have a remote set up (ie. behind the goal) it will also help them set up (rather than take photo and check) (At the world cup, they have about 20 cameras on tiny 5 inch tripods, all remote controlled.

Also for Jornos taking above the head shots.

For Macro as noted. Plus tripod shots where view finder isn't accessable.

I think you can zoom in on the live preview.

no full size sensor, no sense in an upgrade

no full size sensor, no sense in an upgrade

Maybe not for you (or me), but I'm sure that plenty of people will be buying the camera.  Canon is the largest camera manufacturer in the world for a reason (they know what people want).

The next camera I buy will be a next generation model: a dSLR with no mirror, where image preview is totally digital. Guess it can't be called a dSLR then ...