From reading the specs on the Canon site, it appears that the 1D MK III also lacks DEP. Canon first abandoned DEP with the 1Ds Mk II (it was on the Mk I).

I keep hoping that they will restore this feature, as it set Canon apart from all camera manufacturers for the last 20 years. DEP was an easy way to hyperfocus -- a critical feature for landscape photographers. (Unless you want to carry around depth of field tables, and you think you can accurately judge distances within the range of one or two feet.)

Of course, there is little hope that DEP will be restored, when Michael Reichmann has consistently applauded each of the new Canon cameras that dropped this feature, and doesn't even mention that Canon dropped DEP in his reviews.

Michael is on record as applauding this feature, just read this:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/dep.shtml

But now the absence of DEP isn't even mentioned in his reviews.

Of course, Michael also has, at times, argued that Canon and Japanese manufacturers don't listen to input from reviewers. But his latest review pretty well puts that myth to rest, when he finishes by saying :

Canon -- please make note that I will be leaving for a 10 day shoot in Madagascar on October 20th. A review sample of the 1Ds MKIII by that date would really be appreciated, both by me and about a million readers each month :-)

Either that, or you'll end up with a review featuring more photographs of my dog. The choice is yours.

Michael, why not use that market clout to push Canon to restore DEP, since you know how important it can be for landscape photographers?

If you, the editor and publisher of a web site devoted to landscape photography, won't at least criticize Canon for dropping the feature, then why do you even bother to keep the above metnioned review of DEP on your own web site?

I enjoyed and used DEP on my EOS-3, and I'd noted it missing from the newer cameras, as well... Marty, I guess you and I were the only ones using it...

When it was dropped on the 1Ds MkII there were many protests but you'll find more of those threads on what was then the Galbraith forum (now Pro Photo). My own view is that given Michael's complete silence on the topic, people just gave up on Luminous Landscape with regards to defending a feature that is expressly made for landscapes, and took the discussion to another forum.

The reason that it was not widely used by photographers is because Canon never implemented it properly, so it selected a faster hand-held shutter speed and a self-defeating wider aperture. As Michael explains, you used DEP by first hyperfocusing, then switching to manual focus to lock in the focus, then switch to AV and set F16. Then you have the benefit of hyperfocusing and F16.

If Canon had designed DEP for tripods and landscapes, many more photographers would try it out, see that it works and works very well, and then use it.

I'm convinced that it was dropped, in part because Canon never properly implemented it.

There were two implementations — DEP in the 1-series cameras, which I thought worked fairly well, and the utterly useless A-DEP in the others. Which are you referring to, or both?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

I have it, (1Ds-Mark 1) have never used it, and don't miss its absence on the 1D-MkII. It's easy enough to set focus at the center of interest and then choose an aperture appropriate for the desired DoF.

Obviously the DEP in the 1-series cameras.

+1 - A-DEP is nothing more than a sick joke...

I assume I have it too, (1Ds-Mark 1) and have clearly never used it! As for missing it.....

The EOS 650 had a DEPTH mode for automatic DoF adjustment that was based on a multi-step approach. This feature stuck with the EOS series into the high end of the 1-series cameras until Canon killed it.

First you focused on the nearest subject you wanted in focus, then on the subject farthest away, and then you recomposed to your final frame and took the photograph.

The downside for the 650 was that it didn't have the 45 focus points of today's 1-series cameras, so it would be very cumbersome for tripod mounted photography.

The A-DEP mode of the 10D/20D et al appears even less useful.

Hyperfocus was always overrated. So was trying to have too much in focus.
http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/DOFR.html