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Photographers.co.uk

Canon EOS 1D IV

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV The Canon EOS 1D IV is a new top end Digital SLR and is due to be available to buy in December 2009. Early indications are that the camera will be priced at a RRP of around £4500.

Significant Upgrade
There has been fair amount of redevelopment incorporated into the camera with a new, CMOS sensor and Dual "DIGIC 4" processors. A further enhancement is the introduction of Spot AF. This offers a more precise focus area to meet the needs of photographers that require pinpoint focusing. To take advantage of this feature you will need to use compatible lenses.

Key Features
One of the main target markets for the EOS 1D IV is sports photography. Canon has released the camera with one eye on the forthcoming 2010 Winter Olympics. Features likely to appeal to sports photographers include a 10 frames per second burst rate with a 14-bit conversion rate. The buffer has room for up to 121 jpeg images or 28 RAW images. This is an increase of roughly 10% on its predecessor.

Other features included with the EOS 1D IV to help with sports photography include a focusing system with a 45 point AF system. 39 of the points are cross type. Different AF points can be set for vertical or horizontal orientation. This means no intervention is required for switching from landscape to portrait framing. The standard ISO range is between 100 and 12,800. The can be boosted to extend the range to between ISO 50 and 102,400.

As well as for sports photography these rapid acting controls are also likely to appeal to wildlife photographers and photojournalists.

Weatherproofing
When you are battling against inclement weather you will be pleased to know Canon has weather proofed the EOS 1D IV with 76 seals. The camera has a full magnesium alloy body, providing protection against knocks and bumps. The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV becomes dust and water resistant when used with Canon's range of weather resistant EF lenses and Speedlite EX flash units.

Sensor Size and Crop Factor
The sensor offers 16.1 megapixels. Canon has used an APS-H sized sensor. This gives a crop factor of 1.3x.The LCD screen is 3 inches in size and consists of 920,000 pixels.

High Definition Movies
As is now becoming the norm with professional level Digital SLRs the EOS 1D IV sports a High Definition movie mode. The movie mode offers flexibility over the resolution and frame rate you can shoot at. The maximum resolution is 1080p. At this resolution you can opt to shoot at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second. The next set of options allows you to shoot at 720p with frame rates of 50 or 60 frames per second. This gives you the chance to create slow motion movies. Stills can be grabbed from movies although there is not a feature that controls this in camera.

Further Features
Other features include live view and intelligent noise reduction. There is also an automated cleaning system to keep dust at bay.

Canon has also included an auto lighting optimiser. This can be switched on to automatically correct the contrast and brightness of images as they are recorded. This is likely to give benefits to workflow and is another feature that will be of interest to photographers who need to process photographs quickly before dispatch.

Memory Cards
The EOS ID Mark IV is compatible with UDMA 6 memory cards. In fact you will need to use these cards if you are to maximize the speeds at which the camera is capable of working. Images can be stored to CompactFlash and SD / SDHC cards.