- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How it compares
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
- 16 MP
- APS-H CMOS
- 3" LCD
#2 in 2009 Canon DSLRs
Released October, 2009
Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The movie shooting version of view view is very much like the one for stills shooting, with a choice over how much information is displayed.
Conclusion Check out the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
First reviewed December, 2011
Features Key features of the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
16 MP
APS-H
Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)And, while the Mark IV's handling may be approaching the zenith of what any stills shooter might desire, it is pretty clear it isn't a camera designed for video shooting.
megapixels
| 0 MP | 24.1 MP    | 30 MP |
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)This cleaner processing, combined with the sensor's higher resolution makes the result pretty convincing.
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)Despite the resolution differences, the level of detail being captured doesn't appear to be radically different.
sensor size
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)Finally, we'll be comparing it to Canon's APS-C flagship, the 7D - this may not the 45 AF points or 10 frames per second capability of the 1D Mark IV but it does offer sophisticated AF, good build quality and greater nominal resolution in a considerably smaller, cheaper package.
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The APS-H sensor of the EOS-1D Mark IV allows you to create interesting shallow depth of field effects in video mode which are beyond the capabilities of conventional video cameras, but purists may still prefer the results from the larger-format EOS 5D Mark II.
viewfinder size
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The sensor size also has a knock-on effect on viewfinder size.
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The whole thing still seems a bit tacked-on, but that's understandable since it's a feature that uses the LCD on a camera that has evolved to be used with your eye to the viewfinder.
body size
156 x 157 x 80 mm
125 x 96 x 77 mm
131 x 97 x 73 mm
EOS-1D Mark IV by D_Sone--Sone (Sep, 2011)Remember, the air is pretty thin up there when you reach the flagship camera level.
EOS-1D Mark IV by Terry-L.-Manier-Jr.--TerryM (Apr, 2010)When I got the camera I was a little shocked that it feels heavy like my Mark IIN but not a biggy.
focus points
| 0 | 9   | 50 |
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)Interestingly, all 39 points remain cross-type when using Canon's 17-40mm f/4 L, 24-105mm f/4 L IS and various combinations of fast telephoto lenses with teleconverters, despite their maximum apertures being smaller than.
EOS-1D Mark IV by D_Sone--Sone (Sep, 2011)The 39 cross-type AF points are extremely useful in low light and all are accurate and fast.
Performance Real world tests of Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
DxOMark image quality
EOS-1D Mark IV by Sam-I-Am--A-Parent (May, 2010)I am pleasantly surprised to see how good very low light pictures look.
EOS-1D Mark IV by T.-Harmsen--www.intempus.us (Feb, 2010)They clean up very nicely and produce print quality work.
DxOMark low light performance
EOS-1D Mark IV by T.-Harmsen--www.intempus.us (Feb, 2010)I've shot basketball games in dimly lit stadiums, I've shot outdoor (albeit winter) sports, I've shot birds, I've shot in studio and each and every time I'm impressed with the 1D4's performance.
EOS-1D Mark IV by Mark-Kitaoka (Jan, 2010)In those cases where the shot was very dark, where the actor's face was shaded in a very dark manner, ISO 12800's noise is very visible, but not to the point where a noise processor will bring the image back to usefulness.
shutter lag
| 0 ms | 276 ms | 200 ms |
EOS-1D Mark IV by Me (Jan, 2010)With a fast card (60 MB/s or higher), you can lay on the shutter for several seconds on highest quality before it starts to lag.
EOS-1D Mark IV by Terry-L.-Manier-Jr.--TerryM (Apr, 2010)I'm not sure why but you (I) can not hand hold this camera and shoot low light, slow shutter speeds, with the accuracy of the predecessors to this camera.
continuous shooting
EOS-1D Mark IV by DPReview (Feb, 2010)With one of Lexar's 600X UDMA Compact Flash cards, the camera was still firing at full speed, 30 seconds and 300 frames into a burst.
EOS-1D Mark IV by Mark-Kitaoka (Jan, 2010)In shooting RAW burst, the ability of the Mark IV to write to the card after the buffer is full is easily three times as fast as the Mark III, but to be fair the III doesn't have UDMA capability.
battery life
1,500 photos
2,600 photos
440 photos
EOS-1D Mark IV by William-D.-Colburn--buys-things-on-amazon-far-too-often (Jan, 2010)The battery life is supposedly down with the larger sensor.
EOS-1D Mark IV by William-D.-Colburn--buys-things-on-amazon-far-too-often (Jan, 2010)The battery smart-logic only understand shutters, and doesn't keep track of video, so shooting movies will play havok with matching up a shot count to the battery life.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
HD video -
Generic -
Gives you more flexibility when framing your shot -
104 ms -
39 -
Opaque -
1,500 -
45 -
1/8000 s
cons
-
74.0 -
APS-H -
Oct, 2009 -
22.8 bits -
0.59x -
3" -
920 k dots -
1,320 ISO -
12.0 ev -
16 MP -
No automatic HDR -
None -
The screen is fixed in place -
Taking quality photos in low-light will require external hardware -
No geotagging included -
No automatic stitching -
1,230 g -
156 x 157 x 80 mm
Reviews Word on the street
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|---|---|
 |
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 | Rated by 16 users at amazon.com Rated 20% by by tomphotos--tomphotos (Jun, 2010)  Rated 100% by by O.-Wroe--ozvisuals (Jul, 2011) Rated 100% by by William-D.-Colburn--buys-things-on-amazon-far-too-often (Jan, 2010) |
Sensor
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)In addition it also provides an extensive range of RAW conversion features which include digital exposure compensation, white balance, tone curve, color, picture style, sharpness and lens correction parameters.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The main difference between the 1D Mark IV and the Nikon D3S is clearly sensor size and pixel count.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)Ultimately, though, the 1D Mark IV performs well enough in low light that we were able to comfortably shoot sports in light requiring ISO 25,600, and that's not a sentence we can write about many cameras.
Focus
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)Those problems, which appear to have come from a combination of manufacturing error, increased complexity of AF customization and the AF sensor occasionally being overwhelmed in bright conditions, have become notorious.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)In automatic AF point selection mode the camera will highlight (glowing red) the AF points which were used to measure AF distance (you can turn them off using C.Fn III-13).
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The AF point selection method has also been revised, both for manual selection and for automated selection with subject tracking via the new AI-Servo II system.
Iso
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 100% by by Eric-Strate-Photography (Feb, 2010)The blazing fast AF, improved AI servo performance, video, and high ISO performance will open up completely new areas of photography to you.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)But if the corollary of that statement is that we consider ISO 25,600 to be perfectly usable then we think it's going to sound pretty good to the Mark III shooters limited to 6400.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 20% by by tomphotos--tomphotos (Jun, 2010)That's all great, but I would assume that it would also perform as good as the previous generation cameras in the low-iso range.
Autofocus
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 100% by by T.-Harmsen--www.intempus.us (Feb, 2010)The autofocus system is noticeably superior to the 1D3's, which was outstanding to begin with.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 100% by by Randym (Feb, 2011)I love the way you can adjust the autofocus sensitivity, so that the camera will continue to track a player, even if the referee crosses in front of him.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)The complexity issue is addressed in greater depth in the AF section of the review - the AF setup is simply the most prominent example of a system that you'll get more out of if you learn about it in some depth first.
Image quality
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 89% by by DPReview (Feb, 2010)This disparity means that you can expect to recover around 1EV of detail in the highlights but that color accuracy is likely to drop off after as little as 0.33EV if the green channel has clipped.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 100% by by Mark-Kitaoka (Jan, 2010)The dynamic range of the Mark IV in terms of color is FAR superior to the Mark III, but I attribute this to a new sensor and new processors.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV | Rated 100% by by Mark-Kitaoka (Jan, 2010)In the past Noise Ninja did not yield acceptable results at H1 or 2, blurring the detail beyond my acceptance level.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Nikon D4 Fastest rapid fire mode Nikon D4 vs Canon EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 2 | Sony SLT-A99 Highest resolution screen Sony SLT-A99 vs Canon EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 3 | Pentax K-5 II Larger dynamic range Pentax K-5 II vs Canon EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 4 | Canon EOS 5D Mark III Many many cross-type focus points EOS 5D Mark III vs EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 5 | Canon EOS 5D Mark II 4-way tie: Largest sensor EOS 5D Mark II vs EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 6 | Canon EOS-1Ds Many more contrast-detection focus points EOS-1Ds Mark III vs EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 7 | Nikon D3200 High resolution Nikon D3200 vs Canon EOS-1D Mark IV |
 | 8 | Canon EOS 600D 2-way tie: Has a flip out screen EOS 600D vs EOS-1D Mark IV |
New duel?
Let the battle continue or dare to compare.
Popular Questions
August 12, 2012
I am looking to upgrade. I have used a 7d for 3 years
I shoot high action sports indoor with low light. I shoot for magazines, newspapers and the web. I have loved my 7d but at higher iso is grainy. I am looking for a step up. My problem is I to...
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January 21, 2013
Shutter lag
Will I notice the slower shutter lag difference in the 5D MK III? And does the 1D have better/faster focus accuracy?
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