The only "hands-on" report so far seems to be:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E1DMK3/E1DMK3A.HTMEverybody seems to be quite excited about the 1D3 and I already ordered mine, but looking at the specs and information out so far there are still a few things wrong:
- Isn't anybody a little bit disappointed about having "just" 10MP and 1.3x crop factor? (on the other hand, kudos to Canon for making the image quality a priority...)
- Still no easy way to lock the mirror. (the additional setting is to put it down without taking a picture, it seems, rather than raising it!)
- Picture styles (why? It only needs to be a function of the raw conversion engine), but no Custom Mode(s) like on the 5D which would be so practical to quickly switch from one specialty to another. Especially considering all the options now available, especially the settings locks. If I'm shooting flying birds, I'll be happy locking out all the settings, like slow speeds, AF options, drive options, that I want to avoid, but I really want to be able to revert to something more generic in a hurry if something else shows up.
- The Multi Controller, so practical on the 5D, isn't used to select AF points. A great shame as it was the only practical way to frame wildlife properly (and fast enough). I would even be happy with a smaller selection of AF points, say 9, as long as I could choose them with a single flick of the multi-controller rather than two full turns of the wheel.
- Sticky controls are more comfortable, but what will be the chances of accidental settings changes now? Even with the very secure 1Ds2 controls, I often find my camera's settings scrambled after I have been dragging it for a few hours in the jungle.
- Wonderful wireless functionality and connectivity but why does it all have to go through the external WiFi module? To have a direct USB connection from the camera to the hard disk or GPS would have been much nicer.
Eagerly expecting your hands-on review, Michael, and maybe there still is time to send some feedback to Canon. All the gripes are easily solved in software (I know you'll be mad about the mirror lock! ;-) )
On the good side, all the specs went up by 25%, which is brilliant considering the maturity of the previous offering and a few problems were really fixed. My favorite is the control wheel option which finally makes it possible to adjust exposure consistently across modes. Before, if you where in Av you'd have to turn one way and if you where in M you'd have to turn the other way to increase exposure...