Canon EOS 1D X Arrives Today
Update: The 1D X is faulty— the memory card door will not close (with or without a card inserted). I can release the latch mechanism with a small screwdriver, at which point the camera will agree to shoot with the card door open. But I cannot get the card door to close at all. I spent 10 minutes at it with no luck.
Otherwise, the 1D X functions fine (once the screwdriver trick is used). So I am proceeding with various tests, and finding some interesting stuff compared to the 5D Mark III.
The 18-megapixel Canon 1D X (about $6799) arrived today.
I’ll be launching into an immediate assessment of image quality under controlled conditions: sharpness and ISO, using my dolls setup, followed by some ad-hoc shooting and outdoors work, and some autofocus testing and video quality assessment.
How does sensor quality compare to the Canon 5D Mark III? Is there disappointing banding and streaking noise at low ISO as seen with the 5DM3? One would hope not, given Canon’s image quality statements:
The EOS-1D X employs a completely new imaging sensor, producing the lowest noise of any EOS digital camera to date for stunning portraiture and studio work.
The new 18-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor utilizes large pixels - 1.25 microns larger than those in the EOS-1D Mark IV sensor and .55 microns larger than those in the EOS 5D Mark II sensor - together with gapless microlenses to achieve enhanced light gathering efficiency, higher sensitivity and less noise at the pixel level.
The new sensor has improved on the already very high signal-to-noise ratio of sensor output of earlier EOS models for outstanding image quality, even in extremely low light. When combined with the Dual DIGIC 5+ imaging processors the results are stunning. The images produced with the EOS-1D X camera's new sensor are so clean that files can easily be up-sized if necessary for even the most demanding high-resolution commercial applications