Flash Like the EOS-1v, the EOS-1d has no built-in flash (few pros desire that feature). But the EOS-1d offers the same flash capabilities as the EOS-1v. There's a threaded polarity-independent PC terminal for studio flash systems, plus a dedicated hot-shoe for the Canon Speedlite 550EX (and other Canon Speedlites, but the 550EX is the best match for this camera). Photo By Mike Stensvold With the 550EX, you get several great features. E-TTL autoflash uses preflash evaluative metering keyed to the focused subject to provide optimum exposures for flash and ambient light. High-Speed Sync (FP Flash) lets you shoot flash photos at all shutter speeds—up to the camera's maximum 1/16,000!—at close range. Flash Exposure Lock (FE Lock) is the flash equivalent of AE lock. Flash exposure compensation lets you adjust the flash output ±3 stops in 1/3-stop increments. Flash Exposure Bracketing (FEB) shoots three frames in which the flash output is varied while the ambient (background) exposure remains constant. Modeling Flash mode lets you preview the effects of the flash lighting, courtesy of a series of pre-flashes. Stroboscopic Flash mode causes the flash unit to emit a rapid series of bursts, allowing you to capture strobe-effect shots. And Wireless Multi-Speedlite E-TTL flash lets you move one or more 550EX or 430EX units off-camera for tremendous lighting versatility, with full E-TTL exposure control. The camera provides second-curtain sync with the 550EX and even with Canon EX flash units that don't offer it, second-curtain sync is available via Custom Function 15. Other Features The EOS-1d offers automatic single-shot advance, plus two continuous-advance modes. In high-speed continuous, you can shoot up to 21 shots at approximately 8 fps in Large and Small image-quality modes, and up to 16 shots at 8 fps in the RAW modes. In low-speed continuous, you can shoot the same number of shots at approximately 3 fps. Electronically controlled shutter speeds (courtesy of the CCD sensor and vertical-travel focal-plane shutter) range from 30 seconds to 1/16,000. To make longer exposures, just switch to bulb mode, and the shutter will remain open as long as you keep the shutter button depressed (you can use the optional Remote Switch RS-80N3 or Timer Remote Controller TC-80N3 to do this for you). However, exposure times of 1/15 second or longer may result in grainy-looking images due to picture noise. You can reduce the noise via the camera's noise-reduction feature, but noise reduction is done after exposure, and requires an equal amount of time, during which you can't shoot more pictures. Other features include a depth-of-field preview button, mirror pre-lock, full-information glass pentaprism SLR viewfinder with 100% coverage, built-in eyepiece dioptric correction (-3.0 to +1 diopters) and eyepiece shutter; intervalometer capability (via the Remote Capture feature); and compatibility with the full line of Canon EOS lenses, which currently number more than 50, ranging from a 14mm f/2.8 superwide-angle (18.2mm on the EOS-1d) to a 1200mm f/5.6 supertelephoto (crops like a 1560mm lens on the EOS-1d), including a 15mm full-frame fisheye, a 100-400mm tele zoom, true 1:1 macro lenses and three tilt/shift lenses. The EOS-1v was introduced as the strongest EOS body ever made, and the EOS-1d shares its heavy-duty weather-resistant magnesium alloy construction. More than 70 points have moisture-resistant seals, the battery pack is moisture-sealed, and the shutter is durability tested to 150,000 exposures. This is a true heavy-duty pro camera, with a confidence-inspiring solid feel. Besides the EOS-1d camera body, the package includes the rechargeable Ni-MH Pack NP-E3 and charger (the battery is not the same as the one for the EOS-1v, but the charger is), the DC Coupler Kit DCK-E1, a FireWire/IEEE 1394 camera-to-computer cable, a handstrap, a neckstrap, a CR2025 lithium battery for the date and time, the Canon software and Adobe Photoshop LE. Optional accessories include EOS-1v body attachments (angle finder, focusing screens, remote controls, lenses and flash units). In Use It does take a while with the instruction manuals (one for the camera, one for the software) to really learn the EOS-1d and all its features—after all, you're learning both a high-end pro AF SLR camera and a multifaceted software program. The shooting part will come quickly to any serious photographer; the digital features and software will take a little longer. But the manuals are clear and well-organized, with both table of contents and index. We were able to shoot all kinds of situations and subjects, download them into the computer, and work with them in Photoshop with minimal hassle. (We used the FireWire cord and Photoshop plug-in to download images to our Power Mac G4 because we didn't have a card reader that would accept the 340MB Microdrive provided with our test camera.) The camera worked beautifully with our studio strobes, which were connected via the PC terminal. We shot at the camera's maximum PC-terminal sync shutter speed of 1/125 at apertures determined with a handheld flash meter, in manual mode. It was great to be able to check the exposure, lighting and model's expression immediately after exposure, on the LCD monitor. Our model was able to critique her poses and "look," and amend them on the spot. (It was also fun to watch the "flip-book" animation when we played back the headshots on the LCD monitor.) One of the big advantages of a digital camera is the ability to check the image right after you shoot it. That way you can reshoot on the spot if necessary. Not having shot with our studio strobes in a while, we managed to forget to set the lens aperture after taking a handheld flash meter meter reading, but the digital monitor let us know that right after the first shot—not after wasting a whole roll of film. Our test camera was a preproduction test model with beta firmware, but we found everything quite functional, and got at least as high a percentage of "keeper" shots with the EOS-1d as we do with our pro film SLRs, and the images looked very good as-is, requiring minimal "tweaking" in Photoshop (generally, just moving the right arrow on the Levels histogram to the left to brighten the bright tones). We printed several of the Large/Fine 2464x1648-pixel JPEG images on a photo inkjet printer at 11x16.5 inches, and found they held up very well at that size. How do they look in print? Check out the images accompanying this text. Overall, working pros can do everything with this camera they could with a pro film SLR (plus a few things they couldn't do with the film camera), and get repro-quality digital images to boot. And that, after all, is the point of a pro digital camera.