Controls
At first glance, the 1Ds Mark III appears easy to operate. There are the familiar Canon control wheels, one just behind the shutter release and a thumb-wheel on the back of the camera. The first hint that the camera might not be so simple is the presence of three external LCD displays: top deck, rear monitor, rear icon panel. Where should you look to find a particular piece of information or verify a particular camera setting? It isn't obvious.
The familiar top-deck control wheel ("mode dial") from Canon's cheaper digital SLRs is chucked due to its susceptibility to dust, moisture, and failure. To change among exposure modes, you press a couple of bottoms on the top left of the camera while simultaneously turning the main control dial.
In some ways the interface is simpler than on Canon's lower-end bodies. There are no idiot modes so you don't have to wonder what the camera will do when set to the flower icon, the "running guy" icon, or the "green box" icon. You choose among Metered Manual, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, and Program autoexposure. You choose between One Shot (subject not moving) and AI Servo (subject moving) autofocus modes.
In most ways, however, the interface is much more complicated. The menus are deeper. There are more buttons. There are choices about which of the two memory cards you would like the camera to write to. Or maybe you want it to write to both simultaneously?
The camera includes a fast processor, massive internal memory, and high-resolution 3" screen. Would a "help" or "more info" option on the menu choices and custom functions be too much to ask for?
Philip Greenspun
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