Imaging Resource posted some performance data of the newly released Canon nEOS-1D Mark III camera. To summarize the article, the Canon Mark III’s performance was excellent overall, starting with a startup time that was really faster than our human reflexes. Full AF shutter lag was almost as fast as prefocused and manual focus lag times, which were also excellent. Full Autofocus, the time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, it is 0.069 second. The prefocused performance, time to capture after half-pressing and holding shutter button, is only 0.054 second.

Continuous HI mode speed was very impressive, but we noticed performance varied depending on the lens and especially the aperture used. Stopping down lenses to very small apertures slowed continuous-mode shooting, apparently because the lens aperture must return to its maximum setting between each shot for metering and/or focus determination. For best continuous speeds with the Mark III, use L-series lenses and shoot with the lens wide open. Again, keep in mind that this is a prototype, so these numbers may change once we test a full production unit.

At Continuous HI Large Fine JPEG format, it is only 0.11 second (i.e. 9.52 frames per second), for the time per shot averaged over 11 shots. Shutter speed at 1/400s and lens used in the test is the EF 70-200mm f/4L USM @ f/4.

Website : Canon EOS-1D Mark III Performance Data