Canon EOS 1D X Mark III Body

The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III is designed to meet the professional sports photographers every need, and for professional sports photographers who have the budget, this camera delivers excellent results.

I only had a brief time with the 1Dx Mark III, and a pre-production sample at that - but what I’ve seen so far is very impressive. Canon’s packed in a wealth of important upgrades crucially without getting in the way of the handling experience that pros have become familiar with. Owners of previous models can pick up the Mark III and just start shooting without skipping a beat. Of the new features, I was fascinated by the use of an imaging sensor for viewfinder autofocus duties. It makes a lot of sense, and driven by Deep Learning it did a great job at recognising and tracking people in often complex scenes. Coupled with the faster burst speeds, DIGIC X processing and swift card writing, this is a camera that effortlessly handles action at the highest level - as it should. I was also fond of the new Smart Controller which quickly allows you to reposition the AF area, and it’s a relief to finally find a camera company offer an alternative to JPEG for compressed images, with the HEIF format having a lot of potential. Arguably the most controversial aspect is that it’s still a traditional DSLR, but Canon firmly believes this is still its best technology for the very specific requirements of demanding pro sports photographers. As a test of a pre-production body that’s all I can say for now, but do check out my video field test below to see how it performs in practice.

Canon's EOS-1D X Mark III is currently the camera to beat in its class. It churns out great images right out of the camera, has class-leading dynamic range and makes for a powerful video camera. Its autofocus subject tracking is, if not head-and-shoulders above its peers, competitive with the best on the market. If you need a rugged camera that can keep up with just about anything you point it at, then look no further.