5D mark III or 7D and 5D mark II

[Beemar]

My first post. Hope I can add some info. Have 7D just bought 5D markIII, trying to ignore the suggestions of soft focus. Frighten animals each year in Kruger park with my 70-300mm lens which is perfect for use from a vehicle, with the 7D, if using tripod for longer range shots even a 500mm length might still not be long enough, and it is too heavy for hand holding.So now it's down to the 5D with shorter range (no crop factor). I've tried both camera's and yes there is a closer picture with the 7D, but with the extra 5 Megapixels of the 5D a very small crop gets you to the same size shot, without loss of quality on one hand, but you gain very fast auto focus, several stops of usable ISO re loss of light in afternoons/evenings. The real trick however with the 5D mark III, is the extra speed that you really need for hand held pix that you get from the extra ISO at any time, like 1/000/ or 1/1500 sec.gets you the sharp pix you're praying for. One more suggestion from Art Wolfe don't take portraits all the time, let a little of the background scenery into your shots to help tell the "story" (Thanks Art!!) A 70 - 300mm is plenty in that situation. No disadvantage I can see with the 5D versus the 7D,- Beemar.

[neuroanatomist]

...but with a 1.4x TC, your AF will be slower which is not good for birds photography... now, the question is how much slower?

It will depend a lot on the lens being used with the TC.  I can't speak for the 5DIII (or 6D, obviously), but even with the 2xIII (slows AF by 75%), the 1D X and 600/4 II do well for BIF.

[Kernuak]

I was shooting with the 7D and 5D MkII for a couple of years, the 7D for wildlife and the MkII for landscapes, macros and low light. Back in July, I replaced the MkII with the MkII and finally got to use it properly last month (other than playing around in my back garden and for landscapes). The first morning I was in Scotland, I used the 7D as usual for red squirrels, then the light levels dropped, so I switched cameras. After that, the 7D never came out of the bag, there was such a marked difference in image quality, despite the loss of reach. At one point I even had the 2x extender on the MkIII (something I rarely did with the 7D) and the image quality was still better. It's such a joy to use and once you get used to the AF, it's so much more assured. So in short, get the 5D MkIII and keep your 40D as backup.

[canon816]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, i'm more and more convinced about the 5D mark III as my next dslr body 

I've owned all the cameras you are asking about and currently shoot with a pair of 5DIII's.  I would much rather have 1 5DIII then a 7D and a 5DII.

It seems that most everyone has given you great reasons so I won't write a book, but will just state that the image quality at high ISO is the kicker for me.

[CharlieB]

I'm biased... I got the 5d2 and 7d... instead of the 5d3.   Two bodies, both not bad... not as good as it gets, but not bad.  And they do the jobs I want to do with them.

[vlim]

Thanks guys for your comments and advices  Now, i know the 5D mark III is my choice, i have to think about the best option in terms of lens to couple with...