Canon 1Ds Mark II Comparison Review

The Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II is a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera that was revealed to the public in September 2004 and is equipped with a full frame sensor. It offers a resolution of 16.6 megapixel.

Is the Canon 1Ds Mark II a good camera? The 1Ds Mark II has a Camera Elo of 1468. This rating puts the 1Ds Mark II below average of all digital single lens reflex cameras. In terms of its sensor size category (full frame cameras), the 1Ds Mark II also ranks below average. Based on its within category standings, the camera earns a 2.5-star performance rating. – Well, the Canon 1Ds Mark II is more than 20 years old, and there have been many other good digital cameras released since 2004.

Read on to find out more about the camera's size, sensor, features, reception by expert reviewers, and how it compares to other digital cameras.

Body comparison with a credit card

An illustration of the physical dimensions of the Canon 1Ds Mark II vis-à-vis a credit card is provided in the side-by-side display below. Three consecutive views from the front, the top, and the rear side are shown. All width, height and depth measures are rounded to the nearest millimeter.

The table below summarizes the key physical specs of the Canon 1Ds Mark II alongside a set of similar cameras. If you want to review a particular camera pair side-by-side, just move across to the CAM-parator tool and choose from the broad selection of possible comparisons there.

Body Specifications

		Camera Model	Camera Width	Camera Height	Camera Depth	Camera Weight	Battery Life	Weather Sealing	Camera Launch	Launch Price	Street Price
1.		Canon 1Ds Mark II	156 mm	158 mm	80 mm	1215 g	1200	Y	Sep 2004	EUR 7 999	ebay.com
2.		Canon 1D Mark II N	156 mm	158 mm	80 mm	1565 g	1200	Y	Aug 2005	EUR 4 199	ebay.com
3.		Canon 1D Mark III	156 mm	157 mm	80 mm	1155 g	2200	Y	Feb 2007	EUR 4 309	ebay.com
4.		Canon 1D Mark IV	156 mm	157 mm	80 mm	1230 g	1500	Y	Oct 2009	EUR 4 699	ebay.com
5.		Canon 1Ds	156 mm	158 mm	80 mm	1265 g	600	Y	Sep 2002	EUR 8 999	ebay.com
6.		Canon 1Ds Mark III	150 mm	160 mm	80 mm	1385 g	1800	Y	Aug 2007	EUR 7 999	ebay.com
7.		Canon 1D X	158 mm	168 mm	83 mm	1551 g	1120	Y	Oct 2011	EUR 6 299	ebay.com
8.		Canon 1D X Mark II	158 mm	168 mm	83 mm	1530 g	1210	Y	Feb 2016	EUR 6 299	ebay.com
9.		Canon 1D X Mark III	158 mm	168 mm	83 mm	1440 g	2850	Y	Jan 2020	EUR 7 299	amazon.com
10.		Canon 5D	152 mm	113 mm	75 mm	895 g	400	Y	Aug 2005	EUR 3 399	ebay.com
11.		Canon 6D	145 mm	111 mm	71 mm	770 g	1090	Y	Sep 2012	EUR 1 999	ebay.com
Note: Measurements and pricing do not include easily detachable parts, such as add-on or interchangeable lenses or optional viewfinders.
Convert to Imperial

The listed prices provide an indication of the market segment that the manufacturer of the cameras have been targeting. The Canon 1Ds Mark II was launched in the US market at a price of $7,999. Usually, retail prices stay at first close to the launch price, but after several months, discounts become available. Later in the product cycle and, in particular, when the replacement model is about to appear, further discounting and stock clearance sales often push the camera price considerably down. Then, after the new model is out, very good deals can frequently be found on the pre-owned market.

Check 1Ds Mark II offers at
ebay.com

Sensor comparison with a 35mm slide

The size of the imaging sensor is a crucial determinant of image quality. A large sensor will generally have larger individual pixels that offer better low-light sensitivity, provide wider dynamic range, and have richer color-depth than smaller pixels in a sensor of the same technological generation. Furthermore, a large sensor camera will give the photographer more possibilities to use shallow depth-of-field in order to isolate a subject from the background. On the downside, larger sensors tend to be associated with larger, more expensive camera bodies and lenses.

The Canon 1Ds Mark II features a full frame sensor and has a format factor (sometimes also referred to as "crop factor") of 1.0. Within the spectrum of camera sensors, this places the Canon 1Ds Mark II among the large-sensor cameras that aim for top notch image quality.

Consistent information on actual sensor performance is available from DXO Mark for most cameras. This service determines an overall sensor rating, as well as sub-scores for low-light sensitivity ("DXO Sports"), dynamic range ("DXO Landscape"), and color depth ("DXO Portrait"). The adjacent table reports on the physical sensor characteristics and the outcomes of the DXO sensor quality tests for a sample of alternative cameras.

Sensor Characteristics

		Camera Model	Sensor Class	Resolution (MP)	Horiz. Pixels	Vert. Pixels	Video Format	DXO Portrait	DXO Landscape	DXO Sports	DXO Overall
1.		Canon 1Ds Mark II	Full Frame	16.6	4992	3328	none	23.3	11.3	1480	74
2.		Canon 1D Mark II N	APS-H	8.2	3504	2336	none	22.3	11.2	975	66
3.		Canon 1D Mark III	APS-H	10.1	3888	2592	none	22.7	11.7	1078	71
4.		Canon 1D Mark IV	APS-H	16.0	4896	3264	1080/30p	22.8	12.0	1320	74
5.		Canon 1Ds	Full Frame	11.0	4064	2704	none	21.8	11.0	954	63
6.		Canon 1Ds Mark III	Full Frame	21.0	5616	3744	none	24.0	12.0	1663	80
7.		Canon 1D X	Full Frame	17.9	5184	3456	1080/30p	23.8	11.8	2786	82
8.		Canon 1D X Mark II	Full Frame	20.0	5472	3648	4K/60p	24.1	13.5	3207	88
9.		Canon 1D X Mark III	Full Frame	20.0	5472	3648	4K/60p	24.2	14.5	3248	91
10.		Canon 5D	Full Frame	12.7	4368	2912	none	22.9	11.1	1368	71
11.		Canon 6D	Full Frame	20.0	5472	3648	1080/30p	23.8	12.1	2340	82

It should be noted that unlike many modern cameras, the 1Ds Mark II does not provide the possibility to capture videos.

Feature comparison

Apart from body and sensor, cameras can and do differ across a variety of features. For example, the 1Ds Mark II has an optical viewfinder that provides a field of view of 100% and a magnification of 0.70x. The adjacent tables list some of the other core features of the Canon 1Ds Mark II along with similar information for a selection of comparators.

Core Features

		Camera Model	Viewfinder (Type or 000 dots)	Control Panel (yes/no)	LCD Specifications (inch/000 dots)	LCD Attach- ment	Touch Screen (yes/no)	Max Shutter Speed *	Max Shutter Flaps *	Built-in Flash (yes/no)	Built-in Image Stab
1.		Canon 1Ds Mark II	optical	Y	2.0 / 230	fixed	n	1/8000s	4.0/s	n	n
2.		Canon 1D Mark II N	optical	Y	2.5 / 230	fixed	n	1/8000s	8.5/s	n	n
3.		Canon 1D Mark III	optical	Y	3.0 / 230	fixed	n	1/8000s	10.0/s	n	n
4.		Canon 1D Mark IV	optical	Y	3.0 / 920	fixed	n	1/8000s	10.0/s	n	n
5.		Canon 1Ds	optical	Y	2.0 / 120	fixed	n	1/8000s	3.0/s	n	n
6.		Canon 1Ds Mark III	optical	Y	3.0 / 230	fixed	n	1/8000s	5.0/s	n	n
7.		Canon 1D X	optical	Y	3.2 / 1040	fixed	n	1/8000s	14.0/s	n	n
8.		Canon 1D X Mark II	optical	Y	3.2 / 1620	fixed	Y	1/8000s	16.0/s	n	n
9.		Canon 1D X Mark III	optical	Y	3.2 / 2100	fixed	Y	1/8000s	20.0/s	n	n
10.		Canon 5D	optical	Y	2.5 / 230	fixed	n	1/8000s	3.0/s	n	n
11.		Canon 6D	optical	Y	3.0 / 1040	fixed	n	1/4000s	4.5/s	n	n
Note: *) Information refers to the mechanical shutter, unless the camera only has an electronic one.

One useful feature of the 1Ds Mark II is a presence of a top-level LCD. While being, of course, smaller than the rear screen, the control panel conveys some of the essential shooting information and can be convenient for quick and easy settings verification.

Connection comparison

For some imaging applications, the extent to which a camera can communicate with its environment can be an important aspect in the camera decision process. The table below provides an overview of the connectivity of the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and, in particular, the interfaces the cameras (and selected comparators) provide for accessory control and data transfer.

Input-Output Connections

		Camera Model	Hotshoe Port	Internal Mic / Speaker	Microphone Port	Headphone Port	HDMI Port	USB Port	WiFi Support	NFC Support	Bluetooth Support
1.		Canon 1Ds Mark II	Y	- / -	-	-	-	2.0	-	-	-
2.		Canon 1D Mark II N	Y	- / -	-	-	-	1.1	-	-	-
3.		Canon 1D Mark III	Y	- / -	-	-	-	2.0	-	-	-
4.		Canon 1D Mark IV	Y	stereo / -	Y	-	mini	2.0	-	-	-
5.		Canon 1Ds	Y	- / -	-	-	-	FW	-	-	-
6.		Canon 1Ds Mark III	Y	mono / -	-	-	-	2.0	-	-	-
7.		Canon 1D X	Y	mono / -	Y	-	mini	2.0	-	-	-
8.		Canon 1D X Mark II	Y	mono / mono	Y	Y	mini	3.0	-	-	-
9.		Canon 1D X Mark III	Y	mono / mono	Y	Y	mini	3.1	Y	-	Y
10.		Canon 5D	Y	- / -	-	-	-	2.0	-	-	-
11.		Canon 6D	Y	mono / mono	Y	-	mini	2.0	Y	-	-

Further information on the features and operation of the 1Ds Mark II can be found in the free online Canon 1Ds Mark II Manual or on the Canon support site.

Expert reviews

While the comparison of technical specifications can provide a useful overview of the capabilities of different cameras, it remains incomplete and does no justice, for example, to the way the 1Ds Mark II handle or perform in practice. At times, user reviews, such as those published at amazon, address these issues in a useful manner, but such feedback is on many occasions incomplete, inconsistent, and unreliable. This is why hands-on reviews by experts are important. The following table reports the overall rankings of the cameras as published by some of the major camera review sites (amateurphotographer [AP], cameralabs [CL], digitalcameraworld [DCW], dpreview [DPR], ephotozine [EPZ], photographyblog [PB]).

Review Scores

		Camera   Model	AP   score	CL   score	DCW   score	DPR   score	EPZ   score	PB   score	Camera Launch	Launch Price	Street Price
1.		Canon 1Ds Mark II	..	..	..	+ +	..	..	Sep 2004	EUR 7 999	ebay.com
2.		Canon 1D Mark II N	..	..	..	..	..	..	Aug 2005	EUR 4 199	ebay.com
3.		Canon 1D Mark III	..	..	..	..	..	..	Feb 2007	EUR 4 309	ebay.com
4.		Canon 1D Mark IV	5/5	..	..	89/100	..	..	Oct 2009	EUR 4 699	ebay.com
5.		Canon 1Ds	..	..	..	+ +	..	..	Sep 2002	EUR 8 999	ebay.com
6.		Canon 1Ds Mark III	..	..	..	+ +	4.5/5	..	Aug 2007	EUR 7 999	ebay.com
7.		Canon 1D X	5/5	..	..	..	4.5/5	4.5/5	Oct 2011	EUR 6 299	ebay.com
8.		Canon 1D X Mark II	..	..	4.5/5	89/100	4.5/5	4.5/5	Feb 2016	EUR 6 299	ebay.com
9.		Canon 1D X Mark III	..	+ +	5/5	..	4.5/5	4/5	Jan 2020	EUR 7 299	amazon.com
10.		Canon 5D	..	88/100	..	+ +	o	..	Aug 2005	EUR 3 399	ebay.com
11.		Canon 6D	5/5	+ +	..	83/100	4.5/5	4.5/5	Sep 2012	EUR 1 999	ebay.com
Note: (+ +) highly recommended; (+) recommended; (o) reviewed; (..) not available.

Care should be taken when interpreting the review scores above, though. The ratings were established in reference to similarly priced cameras that were available in the market at the time of the review. Thus, a score needs to be put into the context of the launch date and the launch price of the camera, and rating-comparisons among cameras that span long time periods or concern very differently equipped models make little sense. Also, please note that some of the review sites have changed their methodology and reporting over time.

Check 1Ds Mark II offers at
ebay.com

Camera to camera comparisons

In case you are interested in seeing how this camera compares to another one, just make a corresponding selection in the search boxes below. Alternatively, you can follow any of the listed hyperlinks for comparisons that others found interesting.

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