The Canon EOS-1D X ($6,799 direct) is a camera that just screams professional. It's physically imposing, with a big design that incorporates portrait and landscape shooting controls and loads of control buttons. The 18-megapixel full-frame image sensor is impressive in low light, and the autofocus system features 61 selectable points. Its banner feature is the ability to shoot at an impressive 14 frames per second, a figure that is sure to please photographers who make a living capturing fast action. If you need this type of camera, you know it, but it's not perfect. For non-pros, another Canon full-frame camera, the EOS 6D, is a better choice. It's a comparative bargain and our Editors' Choice for full-frame D-SLRs, but its burst shooting capabilities and its autofocus system pale in comparison.

Design and Features

Like its closest competitor, the Nikon D4SEE IT the 1D X features a design that incorporates vertical shooting controls in addition to the standard horizontal ones. Other enthusiast-oriented D-SLRs, including the APS-C Pentax K-5 IIs and every full-frame D-SLR on the market, offer a vertical shooting grip as an add-on accessory. The grip houses a huge battery—it's rated for more than 1,110 shots using the viewfinder, though extensive use of live view will reduce that figure. The 1D X measures 6.4 by 6.2 by 3.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.4 pounds. Like other top-end cameras it features a magnesium alloy chassis, covered in hard polycarbonate and a grippy textured leatherette. The body is protected against dust and moisture, and the image sensor features a self-cleaning mechanism to help reduce the occurrence of dust spots.

The viewfinder is a pleasure to use. It's a pentaprism design that covers 100 percent of the frame and offers 0.76x magnification. That's slightly larger than the 0.7x finder found in the Nikon D800SEE IT. The difference doesn't sound like much on paper, but the 1D X shows a noticeably larger image in its finder than the Nikon when viewing the same subject through a lens of identical focal length, focused at the same distance. The default focusing screen is clear and bright, but you can change it out to one that best suits your purposes. Canon offers screens that are ideal for macro photography, as well as one with a split-image focusing aid.

There are more controls than you can shake a stick at strewn across the camera's ample body. Two pairs of control buttons surround the lens mount—by default one activates the depth of field preview function and the other resets the active focus point to its default location. Like most of the controls on the camera, these can be customized to your liking.

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There are three buttons on the top to the left of the viewfinder. The Mode button lets you toggle between aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, and other shooting modes; just press it once, use either the rear or top control wheel to change the setting, and press it again to set it. The AF-Drive button serves two purposes—press it and the top control wheel adjust the autofocus mode, while the rear wheel sets the continuous shooting mode. The third button operates in a similar fashion, giving you control over the metering pattern and the flash compensation. (There's no flash built-in; this function only applies when using the 1D X with an E-TTL Speedlite.)

To the right of the finder you'll find a button to active the backlight for the top-mounted information LCD, and others to adjust white balance, exposure compensation, and ISO. On the grip there's the standard shutter release, a programmable M-Fn button, and a control wheel. These, along with the AF-ON, exposure lock, and autofocus point select controls that live on the top right corner of the camera, are duplicated on the vertical shooting grip. Rear shooting controls are limited to a control wheel, a button to switch between the optical finder and live view, the Q button, and two directional controllers that serve the same function.

The Q button brings up a menu of shooting settings on the rear LCD, and it's also the easiest place to go if you want to customize the 1D X's controls. From its Custom Controls submenu you'll be able to adjust the behavior of the shutter release, the AF-ON button, both directional controllers, both control wheels, the exposure lock button, the depth of field preview button, both M-Fn controls, and the Set button. With a little bit of effort you're able to configure the 1D X to best suit your tastes.

The rear LCD is big at 3.2 inches, but it looks small when framed by the 1D X's body. Its resolution is an impressive 1,040k-dots. It's a bit sharper than the 920k-dot display found on the Nikon D800, but even looking at them side-by-side it's hard to notice the difference. There are some additional controls underneath the rear LCD. Four buttons control image playback and allow you to add voice notes to images. There's also a monochrome LCD on the back of the camera; it shows you which card slot is active and shows the selected file format.