The Canon EOS 1D Mark III is Canon’s latest DSLR, using the most advanced 10.1 megapixels CMOS sensor and DIGIC III image processing chip. The 12.7 megapixels Canon EOS 5D uses Canon’s last year technology coupled with last year’s DIGIC II image processor. It will be interesting to compare the two, especially as the EOS 5D has been considered one of the highest image quality camera of all times.

Test Notes – Field of view

The EOS 5D uses a full frame 35 mm sensor where the EOS 1D Mark III uses a sensor with a 1.3 crop factor. To achieve the same field of view with our 50 mm lens, we had to move the EOS 5D slightly forward. This is the most common act the photographer would do in real life. The full frame advantage is fully utilized in this comparison.

Noise Reduction

The new DIGIC III chip inside the EOS 1D Mark III has two Noise Reduction modes. With C. Fn II-2 set to OFF the EOS 1D Mark III reduces noise in a similar way to DIGIC II. However, when C. Fn II-2 is set to ON the new noise reduction produces a very different result. You can read more about the new noise reduction here.

C. Fn II-2 is set to OFF

Canon EOS 1D Mark III: JPEG large, Picture Style: Standard, AutoWB, ISO,
1600, 1/160, Canon 50mm@f8, NR OFF

Canon EOS 5D: JPEG Large, Picture Style: Standard, AutoWB, ISO
1600, 1/160, Canon 50mm@f8

• RGB View
• Luma View
• Chroma View

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Evaluation results

Sharpening

Canon seems to significantly reduce the sharpening amount with higher ISO settings of the EOS 1D Mark III. With the EOS 5D sharpening levels appear to be higher, strong edges look crisp and noise free.

Details

As with 100ISO, the Canon EOS 5D is able to capture more detail, being closer to the scene. Even so we are quite happy with the amount of detail the EOS 1D Mark III is showing at 1600ISO.

demosaicing and false colors

Once again we see a very slight advantage for the EOS 1D Mark III, showing less demosaicing errors. False colors are still very much apparent.

Colors and contrast

With picture style color and contrast is very much the same with both cameras. There are small differences between two cameras, which is to be expected.

Noise reduction

Noise levels from both cameras are very similar, but not the same. Luma noise seems to be a bit finer with the EOS 1D Mark III at midtones but slightly more filtered at the shadows. With chroma noise there is a bigger difference: the EOS 1D Mark III shows slightly less chroma noise. By looking at Chroma View you could see that Chroma data was being filtered slightly more aggressively (as a function of luminance). Overall, both cameras have very good signal levels and the differences are very small after noise reduction.

Final Notes

Both Cameras give excellent results, for 2005. At the time the EOS 5D was released this type of noise reduction was very common. Today, advanced chroma noise reduction systems are the new standard. This means that with C. Fn II-2 set to OFF the EOS 1D Mark III is producing old fashioned results, even with excellent signal levels that match the “noise famous” EOS 5D.

C. Fn II-2 is set to ON

• RGB View
• Luma View
• Choma View

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Canon EOS 1D Mark III @ 1600ISO	Canon EOS 5D @ 1600ISO

Setting C. Fn II-2 to ON really upgrades things considerably. Chroma noise is almost completely eliminated with very little side affects, a few of which are a slight chroma loss at the shadows and vague but large color stains. Switch to Chroma View to view the chroma filtering differences between the two cameras.
Monochromatic grain is very pleasing, not too large but not to flat. Many camera makers have not got this part right (including Adobe and Nikon).

You can read more about noise and noise reduction here.

We have evaluated many noise reduction algorithms in the past, from many different camera makers. We must say that the EOS 1D Mark III is as good as it gets. We have never seen an high ISO result that is so well balanced and tuned as this. We’d like to declare the EOS 1D Mark III as the new king of high ISO, for now (with C. Fn II-2 set to ON). Well done Canon.

The Canon EOS 1D Mark III is Canon’s latest DSLR, using the most advanced 10.1 megapixels CMOS sensor and DIGIC III image processing chip. The 12.7 megapixels Canon EOS 5D uses Canon’s last year technology coupled with last year’s DIGIC II image processor. It will be interesting to compare between the two, especially because the EOS 5D has been considered as one of the highest image quality camera of all times.

Test Notes – Field of view

The EOS 5D uses a full frame 35 mm sensor where the EOS 1D Mark III uses a sensor with a 1.3 crop factor. To achieve the same field of view with our 50 mm lens, we had to move the EOS 5D slightly forward. This is the most common response of the photographer in real life. The full frame advantage is fully utilized in this comparison.

At the bottom of this page you can find the same comparison with the EOS 5D being placed at the exact same distance as the EOS 1D Mark III. However, it should be noted that the later comparison does not fully reflect how the EOS 5D would be used in real life. Nature photographers that use long lenses from a fixed point would benefit more from the second comparison.

Same field of view

Canon EOS 1D Mark III: Jpeg large, Picture Style: Standard, AutoWB, ISO
100, AutoWB, ISO100, 1/10, Canon 50mm@f8, NR OFF
Canon EOS 5D: JPEG Large, Picture Style: Standard, AutoWB, ISO
100, 1/10, Canon 50mm@f8

Canon EOS 1D Mark III	Canon EOS 5D

Evaluation results

Sharpening

Sharpening levels of both cameras are very similar. The EOS 5D seems to show slightly higher sharpening levels. As always with Canon there is some overshoot (hallows) on the edge, which gives the image a nicely crisped effect.

Details

Being closer to the scene along with an additional 2.7 megpaixels, the EOS 5D has the upper hand here. Because the large clear edges are slightly stronger with the EOS 5D, there is a strong feeling of a sharper result. However, we are actually quite impressed by the EOS 1D Mark III, which managed to exhibit only slightly less detail.

Demosaicing and false colors

Demosaicing today is a minor issue as most camera makers have reached a level where demosaicing errors are much less critical than they used to be. Never-the-less, in EOS 1D Mark III there is a minor improvement. False colors as a result of demosaicing are still an (small) issue that Canon apparently has chosen not to address with DIGIC III.

Colors and contrast

Picture style color and contrast is very much the same with both cameras. There are small differences between two cameras, which is to be expected.

Noise reduction

The Canon EOS Mark III was set with High ISO noise reduction OFF. Still, at the dark parts of the image there is less color noise than the EOS 5D (you need a good screen to see that). This is clearly a result of the new algorithms of DIGIC III. We are not sure, but it seems that we can see a better tonal gradation in the dark areas. This is probably a result of the better noise reduction and the new 14 bit pipeline.

Final Notes

The EOS 5D clearly has a resolution and sensor size advantage. Even with all these advantages the EOS 1D Mark III has produced a fine result, with sharp edges and a good amount of detail. There are some processing advantages that DIGIC III has contributed to the EOS 1D Mark III, among those is a better tonal gradations at the dark parts of the image.

Same distance

We also compared the EOS 1D Mark III with the EOS 5D at exactly the same distance. This comparison is less true to real life, but still would be suitable to these with long lenses at a given distance.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III	Canon EOS 5D same distance

The EOS 1D Mark III has more pixels per mm which produces more fine details overall. However the EOS 5D still produced sharper, crisper hard edges. This could be the result of a different or weaker optical low pass filter but probably is the result of a slightly different edge enhancement profile.

To confirm that we have processed RAW files from both cameras using ACR4 with the sharpening controls closed, we applied unsharp mask filter using the following settings:
Amount 70
Ratios 0.7
Threshold 0

As the crop below shows, the differences in sharpness seem to come mostly from processing differences between the two cameras, although in some cases the EOS 5D still shows stronger edges.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III	Canon EOS 5D same distance

Welcome to our color transformation database. Here you can compare, explore and understand how color is transformed by the cameras we test. To understand more about this database please read this help file.

Lab Plot

Canon EOS 1D Mark III Standard Canon EOS 1D Mark III Portrait

Delta C

Visual Differences

Canon EOS 1D Mark III Standard Canon EOS 1D Mark III Portrait ColorChecker 24 reference

Gamut (out of Gretagmacbeth DC chart)

Gamma (Luma)

Our Noise analysis contains a database of Noise measurements we have made in our lab. The readings below are the average of standard division values taken from the 6 gray patches in the Gretagmacbeth 24 patch chart. You can read more about our lab noise tests here.

Please choose one or more cameras to compare noise standard division statistics.

The Nikon D200 and the Canon EOS 5D are very different cameras. The Canon EOS 5D has a full frame 12.8MP CMOS censor while the Nikon D200 uses a 10MP CCD.
There are further differences inside the camera, the Canon EOS 5D uses the same old DIGIC II image pipeline where the Nikon D200 uses Nikons top of the line image pipeline. Let’s see how it went.

Test Notes – High Sharpening – Zoom Lenses

Because the significant difference in sensor size, The Canon EOS 5D will have a clear disadvantage if we would compare between the two with a standard 50mm lens. That’s because the Canon EOS 5D will have a much larger field of view than the Nikon D200 in the same distance, which means the EOS 5D real world advantages of full frame sensor isn’t utilized.

For that reason we used top of the line zoom lenses while placing the cameras at the exact same distance. The Canon EF 24-70mm 2.8L was set for 60mm and the Nikkor 17-55mm 2.8 was set for 38mm.
Further more, we used HIGH sharpening setting on the Nikon D200 as we’ve found the D200 normal sharpening quite soft compared the EOS 5D normal setting.

The Test

Nikon D200: Jpeg Fine, Sharp:High, AutoWB, ISO100, 1/13, Nikkor 17-55mm@38mm@f8
Canon EOS5D: JPEG Large, Picture Style: Standard, AutoWB, ISO100, 1/20, Canon EF24-70mm@60mm@f8

Canon EOS5D	Nikon D200

Evaluation results

Sharpening

The normal sharping level of the Canon EOS 5D is clearly higher and must have been made for printing. The Nikon D200 is only capable of reaching this much sharpening with the high sharpening setting. Both cameras exhibit a bit of sharpening halos, but keep in mind those are not very apparent in a print.

Details

The resolution and the full frame advantage are playing an important game here. As you can see the Canon EOS 5D is producing good strong amount of fine detail and textures. Note the yellow flower on the third crop form button and the red doll on the second crop. You can also see that the Nikon D200 struggles to produce details in the skin tons of the third crop.

demosaicing and false colors

Nikons upper hand in image processing is very much apparent here. As you can see the Nikon D200 produces some kind of fine checker like artifact in problematic frequencies, but still manage to cover and reduce false colors completely. The Canon EOS 5D on the other hand, is showing lots of demosaicing problems and does not cover and reduce false colors very well. It should be noted that the Anti Aliasing filter in front of the sensor has a large affect false colors and Aliasing. However, the image processing should still remove those.

Colors and contrast

There are huge differences between the two, and no body is saying those two cameras should produce the same output. Camera makes are working on "memory color" concept and both Nikon and Canon have reached their color model (or color style) years ago. Although it’s up to you to find your liken, it is noticeable that the Canon EOS 5D is producing a much more contrast image in the default setting. This means that Canon’s approach is closure to print from Nikon’s approach. You can still produce the opposite result from either camera by tuning the image processing settings.

Final Notes

The Canon EOS 5D has a clear resolution and sensor size advantage in this case. The detail this camera can produce is very impressing. However, the Nikon D200 does have more pixels per mm than the Canon EOS 5D, which means in some cases the Nikon D200 should produce more details by the nature of physics. It is most likely that nature photography (birds and such…) will be one of those cases.