Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II

"Sunlit" Portrait:
(This is my new "Outdoor" Portrait test - read more about it here.)

High resolution and strong detail, with good overall color. Good exposure, with excellent detail in both highlights and shadows.

• Exposure compensation: +1.0 EV, slightly higher than average.
• Contrast/Tone: Excellent. (Using the low contrast setting) Nice highlight and shadow detail, with good midtones.
• White Balance: 4,900 Kelvin is best. Auto is a hint cool, and the Daylight and Manual settings are a little too warm.
• Color accuracy: Very good overall, though blues are slightly purplish and the strong reds a hint magenta. Good yellows and greens, however.
• Skin tones: Pretty good, though a little pink.
• Resolution/sharpness: Exceptional, strong detail in the flower bouquet and in Marti's face.
• Shadow detail: Good, with moderately low noise.

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV, see files 1DS2OUTK49P0.HTM through 1DS2OUTK49P3.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Contrast Series:
An excellent contrast adjustment, with a wide range, reasonably fine steps, and very little effect on color saturation.

Contrast Series
Lowest	Low	Normal	High	Highest

Kelvin White Balance Series:
The ability to set white balance in units of degrees Kelvin is very handy, giving very fine-grained control, and making it trivial to arrive at the correct white balance setting if you have a color-temperature meter available.

Kelvin Series
4,500	4,600	4,700	4,800
4,900	5,000	5,100	5,200

Exceptional resolution and detail, and good exposure.

• Exposure compensation: +1.0 EV, again slightly higher average.
• Exposure/Tone: Pretty good contrast, though highlights are just on the verge of being too bright. Shadows and highlights maintain good detail.
• Detail: Even stronger in this close-up shot, with good definition. (Even though shot at f/8, the incredible resolution of the 1Ds Mark II makes depth of field very much a limiting factor here.)
• Distortion: Not applicable, will vary with lens used.

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.7 EV, see files 1DS2OUTFACK49P0.HTM through 1DS2OUTFACK49P5.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Because the EOS-1Ds Mark II has no built-in flash, flash results will be entirely a function of the flash unit used with the camera. Hence, there are no sample photos in this section.

Auto White Balance

Incandescent White Balance

Manual White Balance

2,800 Kelvin White Balance

Good color with Manual and 2,800 Kelvin white balance settings, higher than average exposure compensation required.

• Exposure: +1.7 EV adjustment needed, a bit higher than average.
• White Balance: 2,800 Kelvin best overall, though Manual also quite good (just a little cool in the skin tones). Auto and Incandescent settings both rather warm. (You'd expect a professional camera like the 1Ds Mark II to have its incandescent setting balanced to the 3200K that's used in tungsten studio lighting, but I'm more than a little disappointed by the poor performance of its auto white balance system on this subject.)
• Color: Skin tones a little pink, and blue flowers are dark and purplish. Reds a little oversaturated, and greens a little warm. Still, not bad, considering the difficult light source.

To view the exposure series from zero to +1.7 EV, see files 1DS2INK28P0.HTM through 1DS2INK28P5.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

ISO Series:
Noise levels remain quite low, even at ISOs as high as 400. At ISO 800 and 1,600, noise level is a little higher, though the tight grain pattern is unobtrusive and doesn't strongly interfere with fine detail. High-ISO images hold together remarkably well, even when printed at fairly large sizes: Even at ISO 1,600, prints as large as 13 x 19 inches should be quite acceptable for most uses.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Manual White Balance

Accurate color, with high resolution and strong detail. (Please note that this is a poster we prepared for the purposes of this test so that it looks the same from camera to camera. As such, the trees and foliage will look the same from camera to camera. It is intentional, and not a sinister plot. To see the trees grow and the seasons change, look to the Far Field shots below.)

• Sharpness/Detail: A lot of visible fine detail, though details are just a hint soft overall.
• Sharpness in Corners: Consistent with the rest of the frame.
• Color: Auto and Manual white balances very close, Daylight setting a hint yellow.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: Relatively slight, barely noticeable in brick patterns.

High resolution and strong detail, with a good dynamic range. Nearly accurate color, but slightly dark overall.

This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance, and to present a near-infinite range of detail to the camera. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio.

• Sharpness/Detail: Excellent, strong detail throughout the frame. Good definition in the fine foliage.
• Sharpness in Corners: Not applicable, a function of the lens used.
• Color: Slightly dark color overall, with flat greens.
• Dynamic Range: Good, strong detail in the bright highlights and in the shadows.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: None noticeable.
  
  

Resolution Series:

ISO Series:

Sharpness Series:

Contrast Series:

Contrast Series
Lowest	Low	Normal	High	Highest

Saturation Series:

Saturation Series
Lowest	Low	Normal	High	Highest

Tone Series:

Tone Series
Lowest	Low	Normal	High	Highest

Color Series:

Color Series
Adobe RGB	High Saturation	Low Saturation	Portrait	Standard

Lens Zoom Range

The EOS 1Ds Mark II's zoom range will depend entirely on the lens in use. Hence, there are no sample photos in this section.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Manual White Balance

Good overall color, though dark. High resolution and strong detail.

• White Balance: Daylight setting has best skin tones, though slightly warm overall. Auto white balance a hint cool, though still good. Manual setting cool and magenta.
• Color: Dark tones overall. Blue robe a little greenish, but skin tones pretty good.
• Sharpness/Detail: Very good. (Way beyond the limits of the poster though.)

Macro Shot

The EOS 1Ds Mark II's macro performance will depend entirely on the lens in use. Hence, there are no sample photos in this section.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Manual White Balance

Good overall exposure and color.

• White balance: Auto and Manual settings both produced excellent results, Auto slightly warmer. Daylight was a little yellowish.
• Color Accuracy: Generally excellent hue accuracy, but saturation varies a bit: Reds are a bit hot (as usual with this target), cyans are shifted toward blue (also typical, helps sky colors), but yellows and yellow-greens are a bit undersaturated, pure greens are a bit oversaturated. Overall color accuracy is very good to excellent, but yellows look slightly dull to the eye.
• Shadow detail and noise: Good detail in the briquettes, very low noise.

Now, for the REAL technoids, Imatest!

I've recently begun using Norman Koren's excellent "Imatest" analysis program for quantitative, thoroughly objective analysis of digicam test images. I've now also begun measuring dynamic range, as determined by Imatest and a Stouffer 4110 density scale, and this information is included on my Imatest analysis page as well.

The results in the tests below mirror those seen above in other test shots. The test series are repeated here without further comment, for the benefit of our more quantitatively-oriented readers.

ISO Series:

Contrast Series:

Contrast Series
Lowest	Normal	Highest

Color Series:

Color Series
Adobe	High Saturation	Low Saturation	Portrait	Standard

Low-Light Tests

Great low-light performance, with low noise. Color balance is warm, but still good results overall. Autofocus system works to a bit darker than 1/8 foot-candle, excellent for average city night scenes.

• Exposure limit: 1/16 foot-candle. (About 1/16 as bright as typical city street lighting at night.) Results are just a bit dim here at ISO 50, but still fairly usable.
• Autofocus Limit: A bit below 1/8 foot-candle, about three stops darker than typical city night scenes.
• White Balance: A little warm-toned.
• Noise Levels: Quite low throughout the ISO range. Even at ISOs 1,600 and 3,200, noise is surprisingly low.
• Detail loss to anti-noise processing?: Minimal at one foot-candle, and still low at 1/16 foot-candle.
• General Notes: Thanks no doubt to Canon's advanced CMOS sensor technology, the EOS-1Ds Mark II delivers remarkably clean images down to very low light levels, even at high ISOs. The 1Ds Mark II's AF system works down to a bit below 1/8 foot-candle (Corresponding to a 30-second exposure at ISO 100 and f/8), but there's no AF-assist light to help in absolute darkness. (The excellent Canon external flash units do have bright AF-assist lights built into them, so there's probably no need for an assist light on the camera body itself. - The inherent AF sensitivity is likely to be sufficient for most non-flash shooting situations.)

(Note: If you'd like to use a light meter to check light levels for subjects you might be interested in shooting, a light level of one foot-candle corresponds to a normal exposure of two seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 100.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 50	3.2 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	13 sec f2.8	25 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8
ISO 100	1.6 sec f2.8	3.2 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	15 sec f2.8	25 sec f2.8	25 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1/1 sec f2.8	1.6 sec f2.8	3.2 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	13 sec f2.8	13 sec f2.8
ISO 400	1/2 sec f2.8	1/1 sec f2.8	1.3 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8
ISO 800	1/5 sec f2.8	1/2 sec f2.8	1/1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	3.2 sec f2.8	3.2 sec f2.8
ISO 1600	1/10 sec f2.8	1/5 sec f2.8	1/2 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	1.6 sec f2.8	1.6 sec f2.8
ISO 3200	1/20 sec f2.8	1/10 sec f2.8	1/5 sec f2.8	1/2 sec f2.8	1/1 sec f2.8	1/1 sec f2.8

Flash Range Test

Because the EOS-1Ds Mark II has no built-in flash, flash results will be entirely a function of the flash unit used with the camera. Hence, there are no sample photos in this section.

ISO-12233 (WG-18) Resolution Test

Excellent resolution, 2,200 - 2,400 lines of "strong detail."

• Resolution: 2,400 lines horizontally, 2,200 vertically.
• Artifacts begin at: ~2,000 lines.
• Extinction point: ~3,000 lines.
  
  
• Barrel/Pincushion distortion: N/A, will depend on the lens in use.
• Chromatic Aberration: N/A, will depend on the lens in use.
• Corner Sharpness: N/A, will depend on the lens in use.

Resolution Series:

Wide Angle	"Fine" JPEG	"Normal" JPEG	"Economy" JPEG
4,992 x 3,328	1DS2RES4992F	1DS2RES4992N	1DS2RES4992E
3,600 x 2,400	1DS2RES3600	-	-
3,072 x 2,048	1DS2RES3072	-	-
2,496 x 1,664	1DS2RES2496	-	-

Sharpness Series:

Sharpness Series
Soft	Normal	Hard