Yesterday Canon released an update to the 1D Mark III firmware – v1.2.3.

I reviewed the 1D Mark III earlier this year in a comprehensive review. There I covered extensively the AF system, addressing some misconcetions about its performance as while highlighting its strengths and weaknesses.

Canon’s feature list in this firmware only provides a single comment with regards to FF improvements:

“Improves the stability of AF accuracy in AI servo AF when shooting extremely low-contrast subjects continuously.”

It’ll be very interesting to see if this is their way of saying it addresses the issue of AF performance under bright sunlight.

Another point of note is that the firmware upgrades now allows the AF point to be selected automatically using the directional joystick on the back. This is a welcome addition.

I have already installed the firmware. If time permits I will provide an analysis of its performance under various conditions and post my findings here.

The firmware is available for download here.