Canon Eos 1DX – First Impressions

Last week all Twitter, Facebook and all the forums went crazy about Canon’s announcement of their new flagship camera: the EOS 1DX. The kind people of Canon Belgium invited me a week or two ago to the Canon Professional Solutions Expo in London so I expected a new camera would be coming up.

This was basically a press trip but I don’t consider myself to be a journalist so don’t expect me to give you a series of double checked facts. In this post I will only share my personal first impressions based on the specs, the presentation at the expo and my brief hands-on time with a pre-production sample.

For a blogger/photographer like me, a couple of beers and the use of a sofa can be considered a luxurious trip, but in the world of serious journalism there are hosts who hold up cards with your name upon arrival, nice hotels and “informal” dinners. Usually that’s not my kind of thing but I really enjoyed myself during the pre-event activities. All the people from Canon Europe, Worldwide and the different countries were very approachable. The usual hollow marketing talk was left behind in favor genuine discussions and conversations, nice!

The next morning we got up pretty early to attend a presentation about the 1DX at the Business Design Center before the doors opened for the general public. After reading the specifications of the 1DX a couple of days ago, I was really anxiously awaiting the presentation. Judging from what was known I thought Canon made some brave decisions that would really benefit today’s working professional photographer.

Let’s face it, without having tested the camera for a considerable time in real life situations, we just don’t know how it will perform in the field. So let me make it clear once more that everything I write at this time is purely based on specs, theories and a couple of minutes with the camera in my hands.

But as I said, I felt pretty positive about the camera and the presentation only made that feeling stronger. The presentation was kept short and highlighted features that are really important to working photographers rather than useless high tech bells and whistles.

Here is what I think:

The 1DX is an all-rounder without too much compromise

I think this is the most important thing for most modern day photographers. In the past I’ve seen lots of high end cameras that were made for a kind of specialized professional photographer that doesn’t really exist anymore (or very few). I know that most icons in the photography business advocate specializing. I agree with that … in theory. But the reality is different. Financial recessions, technological evolutions and the speed in which markets move have changed the game. Once you are an established household name, you might be less affected by the speed of changes. But I know excellent photographers who did very well for 20 years and then suddenly had to find a new market in order to survive. I can only speak for myself and I can say that I would have been bankrupt many times if I didn’t combine commercial work with teaching, portraiture, corporate events, … So I need a camera that I can use in these very different circumstances. At this moment the Nikon D3 is probably the best all-round pro camera. If my expectations about the Canon 1DX are fulfilled, Canon has said the new benchmark.

Oh yeah, before I forget, Canon also has a new printer: The Pixma Pro-1 but I don’t know much about printers, so I’ll leave that to the people who do.

Because, I had a train to catch and little time to spare after the presentation, I was the first non-Canon employee who get to play for a couple of minutes with one of the pre-production models. Without going into too much technical detail, here’s the most important points, I remembered. And the reasons why I think it will be the best all-round pro camera when it hits the market (expected in April – May):

ISO performance
Less megapixels, means better high ISO performance. The camera also packs heaps of processing power and advanced algorithms to reduce noise. If I understand it right there are no more gaps betweens the micro lenses on the sensor which should make each pixel receive more light too. We were not allowed to put our own CF-cards in the camera (which is common with pre-production cameras), so I haven’t seen a real file. But I did shoot some shots at ISO 51.200 and zoomed in on the LCD and it seemed usable for weddings and reportage work. It’s in no way a scientific approach but I think we can be pretty sure, this camera will have great ISO performance.

Image quality and resolution
I have nothing bad to say about the image quality of my 5Dmk2, so I’m pretty confident the 1DX will not disappoint. At 18 megapixels, found the perfect middle ground between resolution, image quality and noise.

Autofocus and speed
12 Frames/sec is fast enough to satisfy the sports shooters, so it should be fast enough for pretty much anything. And the best thing is, that you don’t have to give up image quality for that speed. The autofocus system is completely redesigned and seems to be adaptable to the needs of individual photographers and individual needs. I did some testing in the low and flat light of the press room and deliberately choose the 50mm f/1.2 because it’s not exactly know for fast focussing. I was pretty surprised by how fast and snappy it locked focus and followed moving subjects.

Video
There are no real revolutions maybe but Canon has build upon the great video capabilities of the 5D2, 7D and 1D4. They must have realized that these cameras are widely used in the video industry and they build in new and improved features that make the 1DX a tool that fits better into the world of professional video.

Ergonomics, build quality and “feel”
An often underrated parameter when it comes to choosing a camera is the “feel”. It’s a tool you’ll have to work with every day, so it better feels right to you. This is a very subjective thing that only you can judge. But to me the camera felt familiar yet somehow less bulky and heave that the former 1D-series. The layout of the buttons and dials is very logical and even better than the previous versions.

It sure is way to soon to come up with conclusions. I hope to do a real test with the camera soon, so I can decide if I will sell a kidney to get this camera.

A big thanks to Canon Belgium for inviting me and the great working relation we have developed. On the (by the way excellent) Canon Professional Network site, you can find a lot of info on the 1DX. Very soon there will be a whole series of videos about the camera too.