5D Mark III Full Spec List?

[Eric]

Currently I fail to see any magic in this camera, just as usual Canon's crippled update, whereas the price seems to indicate premium qualities.

In that sense Nikon has clear and understandable distinction - full package in all FF cameras targeting different auditoriums, against Canon's very expensive and crippled expensive option.

What exactly do you think is crippled about this? These specs look much more appealing to me than the Nikon D800.

Exactly... granted it can still change up until it's release, but other than MP, what does the D800 have that the 5d3 (rumored) doesn't have that has been confirmed?  ISO even wins (theoretically until tested) which is a first for canon.

Well, the D800 may have lower cost...higher shutter actuations...I'm sure a Nikon fan could list other objective advantages.

First, we dont know price, it's unknown until it really hits retail sites... secondly, you want objective comparisons of A) a camera that isn't RELEASED and B) a camera that isn't even announced.  Just looking at pure specs... AF advantage Canon, Metering/Tracking advantage unknown, MP advantage Nikon/maybe/depends/we will see, AF Pop-up flash advantage Nikon/depending if you pro/con pop up flash, FPS advantage Canon, IQ advantage unknown, is this what you are looking for?  Wait at least until tonight when we get the full scope and can compare paper to paper, but then again, we wont fully know until we get tests of production models... it's a pointless comparison right now.

You get no argument from me that it is a pointless comparison right now, but that isn't what you originally asked. You acknowledged we were just talking about rumors, but asked, given that, what does the D800 have that the 5d3 doesn't have. The 5d3 is rumored to cost $500 more and have 50,000 fewer shutter actuations. If rumors are true, those specs are more objective than, as you pointed out, things like high MP and pop-up flash, that depend on your viewpoint.

[awinphoto]

Seriously... has Canon introduced full-time AF (autofocus) during video shooting starting from 5D Mark III ? I have been longing for this feature for a couple years now.

I highly doubt it, there are too many situations that you would want manual control for that.  I do suspect there are some video features that we don't know about just yet, as the spec list didn't talk much about that aspect of it.

OK. Having the feature and not using it is fine. But not offering the feature is a total different story.  Just think how seldom you have been switching to manual. I guess most people stay on AF most of the time.

And the argument would be while all point-and-shoots, Micro 4/3s, and Nikon have it for a couple years, why is Canon not offering it?

hows this for food for thought... Lets say they get it in there... it's finicky, but it's there... Lets say you are filming your kids recital or even better, lets say you film your kids graduation outdoors... the kid is walking across the stage, all of a sudden a bird flys by, the AF freaks out, focuses on the new object, you lose focus that critical moment, then it's over... I've seen a lot of video cameras that do continuous AF do just this... The noise and grumblings about the feature would be so great it would be deafening... And secondly, the 60D, 7d, 5d2, etc... when you have IS lenses, you can hear the freaking IS buzzing in your shots... if you have regular lenses, you're going to hear whirling of the lens, even USM has some movement noise, all that's going to be picked up by the video feed... so unless you then have an external mic or get rid of all on board mic audio, it creates more havoc then good.  In theory it sounds good, but this camera, in particular, is geared for pro's and semi pros and advanced amateurs... Even the weakest indi shooter wants their own control.  If you want a dumbed down video camera, buy a $200 walmart special. 

[ruuneos]

Mmmmmmm SWWWWEEEEEET!! 5D3 and 7D would be an EPIC COMBO! love those specs

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Hmm. I'm actually a bit underwhelmed.

It has only 22MP vs. 36MP and it doesn't even hit any higher frame rate than the D800 can (with grip).

Wow I was so hoping the 6.9fps would at least be correct. 6.0fps is still a bit less than even the 40D/50D.
If they were going to stick to 6fps they should've given us at least 28-30MP and if they wanted 3x3 video sampling, well then just sample out of an inner rectangle, FF is already much larger area than most movies are shot on anyway and you'd get a bit more reach from the video.

No mention of the 1DX metering system, color aids for AF or digic 4 to assist AF.

So the D800 has 50% more MP, probably more advanced AF, the same fps (with grips) and 5fps in 25MP mode, it may even have better DR at low ISO.

If it at least had done the 6.9-7.5fps that may have been just enough two almost always get two key frames, but at 6.0fps you will only sometimes get two key frames. Sure it's way better than 4fps and even 5fps, but 6.0 flat is really at the utter low limits of where more fps just begins to help. And I mean if the 7D could do 18MP at 8fps and now years later you say the 5D3 can only do 22MP at 6fps, that is freaking less throughput than the 7D had. Granted the mirror box is FF and speed costs more there, but come one, at least toss us the bone of 7fps. And freaking give us full 1DX or at least full 1D4.

I just hope when the announcement its tonight it actually mentions true raw DR improvements of 2 stops at lowest ISO and that the AF is much closer to 1DX than it sounds from this leak....

This would have kicked ass two years ago, but today is today.
Too conservative again and for their 25th anniversary EOS release they have brought shame upon themselves (unless there are some amazing things not revealed in this quick spec list).

I knew that guy who saw it weeks ago and said it would be a somewhat underwhelming  release thanks to Canon marketing ruling the roost again would be true although I had hoped not.

[Fandongo]

Looks like the 7d.  I don't get that stupid stop/start picture/video dial thing.  Shutter-picture, Set-record...hopefully changing it back to that is an option.

The rate button may be scoffed by some, but plenty of iffy pictures can be salvaged in post. With a rate feature, they should have a search filter function so you can quickly skim the best shots, perfect to show a client.

It's sad that the t2i will still have more features.  Canon should hire Alex and release an official ML firmware.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

So this is what the rumour source meant by "simplified 61pt af".  Without the 100,000 pixel metering sensor linked to the af system, the 5D MkIII will not have the performance of the 1D X when it comes to subject tracking.  It could still outperform all previous 1-series cameras though.  To be honest, I think that the price tag is looking a bit steep considering that this is the camera that the MkII should have been! The rest of the specifications need to be top notch, or people will start to ask why this is so much more expensive than the D800 (not that they won't ask that anyway -and be justified in doing so).

It doesn't mention digic 4 assist for AF so it may not even track better than a 7D for all we know.

[jchong62]

Seriously... has Canon introduced full-time AF (autofocus) during video shooting starting from 5D Mark III ? I have been longing for this feature for a couple years now.

I highly doubt it, there are too many situations that you would want manual control for that.  I do suspect there are some video features that we don't know about just yet, as the spec list didn't talk much about that aspect of it.

OK. Having the feature and not using it is fine. But not offering the feature is a total different story.  Just think how seldom you have been switching to manual. I guess most people stay on AF most of the time.

And the argument would be while all point-and-shoots, Micro 4/3s, and Nikon have it for a couple years, why is Canon not offering it?

hows this for food for thought... Lets say they get it in there... it's finicky, but it's there... Lets say you are filming your kids recital or even better, lets say you film your kids graduation outdoors... the kid is walking across the stage, all of a sudden a bird flys by, the AF freaks out, focuses on the new object, you lose focus that critical moment, then it's over... I've seen a lot of video cameras that do continuous AF do just this... The noise and grumblings about the feature would be so great it would be deafening... And secondly, the 60D, 7d, 5d2, etc... when you have IS lenses, you can hear the freaking IS buzzing in your shots... if you have regular lenses, you're going to hear whirling of the lens, even USM has some movement noise, all that's going to be picked up by the video feed... so unless you then have an external mic or get rid of all on board mic audio, it creates more havoc then good.  In theory it sounds good, but this camera, in particular, is geared for pro's and semi pros and advanced amateurs... Even the weakest indi shooter wants their own control.  If you want a dumbed down video camera, buy a $200 walmart special.

Again, you are thinking in a pro-Canon way.
I have been using a Canon T1i with MF video of my kid. You wouldn't understand how hard it has been.

Don't find birds flying through as an excuse because there are no birds in 99% of the time.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Couple of things......

1) Anyone notice the Digic 5+ in the specs?? <------  notice the "+"  What's the "+" for compared to the two Digic 5's in the 1Dx?

The 1DX uses two Digic 5+, it's only the P&S and maybe new rebels that will use Digic 5 regular.

2) No 1Dx AF and metering....said this about a dozen times in the past weeks that it would never happen.  The processing power isn't here for that, 1Dx needs dedicated Digic 4 for the AF and metering.  Lot of folks said it would be otherwise.  Reality wins as usual.

But it only has a single digic 5+ so why would there have been no room for a digic 4 for the AF? You were speculating they couldn't fit three digics in there.
And for $3500, what does this have the D800 doesn't for $500 less? It seems to offer less to be honest.

4) On the subject on high ISO IQ performance.....the mk2 goes to 25,600 native...BUT...the 1Dx goes to 51,200 native ISO. If we are to take this as any indication of performance, I had also said the 5D3 would NOT outperform the 1Dx in IQ.  This hints that is the case, as I seriously doubt a camera Canon touted as a merging of the 1D and 1Ds lines but with better performance than either would hand the IQ crown to a body costing less than half the price.

If it is worse than 1DX then they are in trouble.

5) 6 fps....not the 6.9fps/7fps we saw in the earlier specs.  That one item is a near deal breaker for me and why I'm strongly leaning towards the 1Dx.  I have a 5Dmk2 and a 7D, I shoot work across the spectrum....kids...high school...weddings...studio...sports.  I need the higher frame rate and 8fps does that for me.  I'm not looking to have "a camera for X and a camera for Y and a camera for Z".  I just want one and a backup body.  The 5D3 does not go far enough for me to do that if I sell the 5D2 and replace it with the 5D3.  It comes close, but I'd still be shooting the 7D for the frame rate.

Yes if they only give us 22MP and can't even get us to 7fps, that is wayy weak for $3500. It is not any faster than a gripped D800 can attain. And pumps less MP per second than the few years old 7D actually.

I'd much rather spend $3500 on a 5D3 than $6800 on a 1Dx if I can get 90% of what I need and no deal breakers.  My gut tells me the 5D3 will not do this, but I'll wait until it's out and in some folks hands before deciding.  I have time, not like I need to buy a body today or in the next 3 months.

My gut is hoping the real specs tonight will end up saying 6.9fps not 6.0fps and that they will mention much better DR and AF that is identical other than for the color tracking help. But I have a bad feeling that won't be the case.

[steveg]

Anybody knows if it has 60fps?

Doesn't say.

No full specs yet.

I'm really hoping it does slow motion. My plan was to sell the 7D and replace it with the 5D mk III, but I use the slow motion all the time. Hmmm. Decisions....

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Currently I fail to see any magic in this camera, just as usual Canon's crippled update, whereas the price seems to indicate premium qualities.

In that sense Nikon has clear and understandable distinction - full package in all FF cameras targeting different auditoriums, against Canon's very expensive and crippled expensive option.

What exactly do you think is crippled about this? These specs look much more appealing to me than the Nikon D800.

In what way? D800 has Nikon's best AF effort, more MP, same fps with grip, $500 less.
Hopefully some little things like fps will go up with the official announcement tonight, hopefully the AF is not as watered down as I fear, hopefully the HDR mode is some super-advanced dual read method and not just some software nonsense.
Specs are as are not bad, but they already seem like Canon could have delivered them a while back and the price increase of $800 is insanity if these specs are to the T.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

as a videographer, it seems to not be very different of the actual mark2

What you think

I think in this area it will destroy the mark 2.

I think it must have 3x3 binning so it should have no moire/aliasing messes, much, much higher actually delivered resolution (5D2 is not close to true 1920x1080p), much better SNR, at the very least.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

It says:

"61-point high-density reticular AF (up to 41 crosstype points)"

61 high density and 41 crosstype points, I am satisfied.

Exactly - hardly "crippled", is it?

It remains to be seen. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. You can tons of points that don't work well too. Hopefully it will be the 1DX AF minus not one single thing more than the 100,000 exposure sensor color tracking help (and hopefully the loss of that won't make the AF logic suddenly perform much worse).

[tt]

Currently I fail to see any magic in this camera, just as usual Canon's crippled update, whereas the price seems to indicate premium qualities.

In that sense Nikon has clear and understandable distinction - full package in all FF cameras targeting different auditoriums, against Canon's very expensive and crippled expensive option.

What exactly do you think is crippled about this? These specs look much more appealing to me than the Nikon D800.

In what way? D800 has Nikon's best AF effort, more MP, same fps with grip, $500 less.
Hopefully some little things like fps will go up with the official announcement tonight, hopefully the AF is not as watered down as I fear, hopefully the HDR mode is some super-advanced dual read method and not just some software nonsense.
Specs are as are not bad, but they already seem like Canon could have delivered them a while back and the price increase of $800 is insanity if these specs are to the T.

Is the $500 less including the $500 for the grip to get the equivalent fps?
Sorry - I dot know the USD equivalent prices of the D800.

The price of the 5D Can't be raised later on by Canon, only discounted.
It's a 3 year price. Expensive, yes but then we haven't seen updates to the lines underneath it.

Is it insane if they'll sell all they can make at the full price for now, then sell more later on at a discounted price?

[bdeutsch]

I love reading this comments -- arguing about whether the specs are good enough when they haven't even been announced yet.  I'll save my arguing for another few hours!

Actor Headshots NYC | Gotham Family Photos | NY Wedding Photos

[april]

All right people. I really need an honest opinion here. I was shooting Nikon D5100 up till now and was hoping to upgrade to full frame by the end of this year.
To begin with, I had both the D800 and the 5D Mark 3 on my wish list. I mean I really don't have a huge investment in terms of the lenses, and I'll always get some return when I sell of my present gear (In case I decide to go with canon).
I need opinion on this because if I do go with canon on the mark 3, then i'll also get L lenses, and the investment then is going to be substantial. So its going to be a long term commitment. And the tech guide on the D800 kinda scared me a bit with all the chatter involving image blur with the slightest movement because of the "high resolution". And I'm also not sure about its iso performance in comparison to the D700.
Suggestions please guys..?? What would be a better camera for me. I mean we cant really say much until both the cameras are out and have been thoroughly reviewed. But going by the spec list...?? Which way should I go..??

firstly this will depend on what type of shooting you do and how much are you willing to loose... up to this moment we don't have a concrete basis on the capabilities of this coming 5dIII. long ago i am eyeing on nikon cameras but since most of my friends have canon so I went for canon which i regret up until i saw the specs of the 1dx. once i've a lot of lenses from canon its no turning back for me thinking that selling expensive gears will be a big loss so for my part it's more economical to upgrade than to jumpship. but if i was on your situation i'd stick to nikon...... unless the 5dIII is worth every peny you will loose when you switch to it... one thing more "once you get to own an L lens its addictive"