Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

2.4. LOOKING AT THE CANON DSLR LINEUP

Lining up the Canon dSLR models on a camera store counter creates an impressive array of choices. If you put the lenses of your choice on each camera body, the lineup quickly becomes a photographer's ultimate toy store. Each camera presents a unique opportunity that satisfies the shooting needs, requirements, and credit limit of one or another photographer.

This section gives you an overview of Canon's dSLRs, with insights that you're unlikely to learn while browsing at a camera store. In the last year, I've shot with each of these cameras, and I've talked to other photographers who have or are currently shooting with them.

Your priorities may include overall weight, speed, features, or a balance of all these factors against total system cost. Ultimately, you have to decide which camera to buy, but this chapter can help you evaluate the camera you currently own or are looking to buy against the lineup that Canon offers.

2.4.1. THE CANON EOS-1DS MARK III

The big-boy leader of Canon's dSLR lineup is the EOS-1Ds Mark III, a workhorse of a camera built to endure the rigors of the field in very rigorous and demanding applications such as outdoor assignments, but optimized for studio use with its large megapixel size and full-frame sensor.

A photographer I know of uses an EOS-1Ds Mark II, for example, which is constructed similarly to the Mark III. He accidentally dropped it on a concrete floor from standing height. Though he caught it on first ...