III. NEW AND IMPROVED DESIGN FEATURES
11
Exposure Control
Most EF Lenses provide distance information, and this data
is also considered in determining if there is a highly
reflective object, once again lessening the chance of
underexposure. The EOS-1Ds Mark II is compatible with
the color data transmission feature introduced on the
Speedlite 580EX. When the Canon Speedlite 580EX is
used with the 1Ds Mark II, the color temperature of the
flash is incorporated in white balance calculations,
affording a remarkable improvement in color balance accuracy.
Flash sync is provided from the side PC socket and the newly strengthened hot shoe. A locking pin
in the hot shoe prevents Speedlite slippage. The two connections can be used simultaneously.
Hot-shoe mounted flash units can sync at 1/250 or slower. Studio flash can sync at 1/125 or
slower. The PC terminal has no polarity issues and can be used safely with sync voltages up to 250V.
The EOS-1Ds Mark II is compatible with Canon’s entire line of EX series Speedlites plus
the MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite and the MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite for close-ups. Wireless
flash works with the on-camera Speedlite 580EX, 550EX, MR-14EX, MT-24EX or Speedlite
Transmitter ST-E2 serving as the master, transmitting wireless signals to an unlimited
number of 580EX, 550EX and 420EX Speedlites as slave units. The 420EX can only function
as a slave, and the MR-14EX or MT-24EX can function only as master units. The master
unit’s flash can be enabled or disabled. Even when disabled, the flash head can still
transmit wireless optical signals. Except with the 420EX, a modeling flash can be fired.
Up to 3 groups (for main, fill and background) of slave units can be set up. The slave
unit’s ID is set to Group A, B or C. The flash output ratio between Groups A and B can be
adjusted automatically from 8:1 to 1:1, or from 1:1 to 8:1. The flash output of Group C
can be adjusted through flash exposure compensation.
The EOS-1Ds Mark II has a 21-zone silicon photocell that handles maximum aperture TTL
metering. There are four selectable metering modes: Evaluative, which is linkable to
any AF point, Partial, which meters approximately 8.5% of the screen, Center spot
metering, which reads approximately 2.4% of the screen and has added options of AF
point-linked or multi-spot metering, and Center-weighted average metering, which
calculates over the entire image, but emphasis is placed in the center zone.
The 1Ds Mark II, like the 1D Mark II, has seven shooting modes: Shutter-priority AE,
Aperture-priority AE, Program AE, either Evaluative or Averaged E-TTL II program
autoflash (21-zone flash metering), Manual exposure, Flash metered manual or Bulb.
The metering range is from EV 0 to EV 20 and the ISO range is from 100 to 1600 in
1/3-step increments with 50 and 3200 menu-selectable. In addition to manual
exposure compensation, auto exposure-bracketing (AEB) records 3 exposures in an
adjustable range of up to +/- 3 stops in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments. AE Lock is available
in any auto exposure mode.
Speedlite 580EX
