The EOS-1Ds Mark II is the sixteen (point seven) megapixel successor to the EOS-1Ds which was announced almost exactly two years earlier. Carrying on from the EOS-1Ds the Mark II has a full size 35 mm (36 x 24 mm) sensor which means it introduces no field-of-view crop, an 18 mm lens on this camera will provide exactly the same field-of-view as it would on a 35 mm film camera. At first glance it's clear to see that Canon has stuck (as they did with the EOS-1D Mark II) with the same body and control layout. The timing of the EOS-1Ds Mark II's announcement was interesting if not totally surprising coming just five days after Nikon announced the twelve (point four) megapixel D2X, the megapixel one-up-man-ship continues.
Despite the significant jump in resolution from the EOS-1Ds (11 mp) to the EOS-1Ds Mark II (16.7 mp) the camera maintains an impressive four frames per second shooting rate and a buffer large enough for 32 JPEG or 11 RAW images. The EOS-1Ds Mark II's internal bus throughput of approximately 67 megapixel/sec is virtually identical to the eight megapixel EOS-1D Mark II.
Full frame 35 mm size sensor delivers film-like shooting experience, real wide angle
Huge, bright viewfinder view really fills your vision
Very low noise at higher sensitivities, maintains detail even when noise visible
Impressive four frames per second continuous shooting (considering file sizes)
Very well implemented buffering system backed up by fast media throughput
Superbly well built, 'a solid block', fully environmentally sealed, totally robust
Very fast in use, extremely short shutter lag, instant startup
Excellent and supremely fast auto focus, 45 point AF and a large AF area for focus tracking
Five preset image parameters, two customizable
Wide range of ISO sensitivities, ISO 50 - 3200 (with 'ISO Expansion' enabled)
New brighter and sharper LCD monitor is a big improvement over EOS-1Ds
Dual storage slots, well implemented 'backup' double-save mode, awkward to switch slots
Superb Secure Digital performance, approx. 9 MB/sec with a fast card
Proper RAW+JPEG with immediately selectable JPEG image size
Directly selectable JPEG image quality (compression ratio) per image size
Huge range of custom and personal functions, one of the most configurable cameras
Three types of bracketing: Exposure, Sensitivity (ISO), White Balance
Inbuilt portrait grip
Interchangeable focus screen
Firewire (IEEE 1394) and USB connectivity (for PictBridge)
Remote tethered capture software for studio work (included)
Voice annotation feature (built-in mic)
Orientation sensor
Optional WT-1 wireless transmitter (802.11 b/g)
Battery / Double Charger and AC Adapter all included with camera
Supplied Digital Photo Professional now a mature and quality RAW converter