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Canon EOS-1D Canon leaps into the professional SLR arena, with the fastest digital SLR on the planet! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet --------------------------------- 1. Overview 2. Specifications 3. Spec Comparison 4. Features: Speed 5. Features: Image Quality 6. Features: General 7. Features: Color 8. Features: Ruggedness 9. Operating Details 10. Summary --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on EOS-1D Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Features: Color :(Previous) | (Next): Operating Details>> Page 8:Features: Ruggedness Review First Posted: 09/24/2001

Features: Ruggedness

Environmental Sealing
When Canon announced their top-of-the-line film SLR, the EOS-1v, they called a lot of attention to the lengths to which they'd gone to make the camera rugged and relatively impervious to the elements. Carrying many of those same features over to the EOS-1D, Canon is again making a lot of noise about the camera's ruggedness. As well they should: While the Nikon D1 series of cameras sports a similarly rugged magnesium-alloy body, the EOS-1D incorporates an unprecedented level of dust and moisture sealing, with no fewer than 70 individual seals. Pushbuttons and switches are sealed with silicone rubber covers or boots, rotating parts (dials and levers) have O-ring or sheet seals, the edges of the CF slot and battery compartment cover are lined with silicone rubber packing, external cover seams are sealed internally with a variety of materials and techniques, and external electrical interfaces are sealed with elastomer caps. Some of Canon's newer lenses also have enhanced environmental sealing as well, making a very water- and dust-resistant system when combined with the EOS-1D body.

We think this is a pretty significant development. While you still probably wouldn't want to dunk an EOS-1D under water, it would have to be a relief to a lot of sports and outdoor shooter to not have to worry if their $6K camera body happens to get rained on. - And it isn't just about water: The sealing works to keep dust out as well, potentially even more lethal to fine optical equipment than water.

Shutter Life
Shutter durability and operating life is a parameter that doesn't get a lot of air time in the press, as the tendency is to perhaps think that the numbers published for most pro equipment are way beyond what photographer would be likely to encounter, or that would be a serious issue. (While it'd be nice for a shutter to last forever, most folks would understand if their camera finally gave up the ghost after 10years of hard usage.)

With digital cameras though, and particularly fast digitals like the EOS-1D, we think shutter life is going to become a much more commonplace issue. With the EOS-1D, you can burn off the equivalent of a half-roll of pictures in a couple-second burst. You can do that with film cameras too, but processing cost and the need to wait to see what you've captured means that you're less likely to do it frequently. With the EOS-1D, you can burn 20 frames, check to see what you've got, and then burn another 20 to try again. Again and again. It's not at all inconceivable that you could run through a thousand exposures in a single day's shooting (that's only fifty 20-frame burns, after all). In light of this, shutter life becomes pretty important. We confess that we haven't paid much attention to this parameter ourselves in the past, but we think it's going to become increasingly important. With a projected life of 150,000 exposures, the EOS-1D's shutter system is one of the more reliable out there.