5D mk3 - A few complaints

[wickidwombat]

So i've been snapping away wildly all weekend with the 5Dmk3 and there are a couple of things that bug me
overall the build and handling are significant steps up but there is some silly stuff going on.

1 - The rate button, probably the single most useless button I have even seen on a camera EVER, which would be fine if you could assign it a usefull function instead such as a bracketing button like ever 1D has had since the 1Dmk1 remember that good ol 4MP kodak sensor? its nice to just hold a button down and scrollt he wheel bringing up the bracketed stops. having to go into the menu to enable bracketing on a PRO body is just plain lame. This could easily be fixed with a firmware update to enable assigning of more functions to that button
as for rate and protect the whole 2 features you can choose this button to perform, very underwhelming. As it is this button is a total bull tit.

2 - out of camera Jpeg files are horrible, accross the board there is far too much smearing going on they are well and truely overcooked, mushy and about as sharp as a bowling ball. I like to have medium jpg files writing to the SD card so i can just pop it out to give someone quick access to the pics without jumping through all the raw processing hoops. As it stands I'm really not going to give anyone these jpegs so i've turned it off all together until an update comes out.
This is particularly concerning because all the talk from the marketing machine talked up how all the improvements of blah blah stops is based on jpegs. If this follows through to the 1Dx there are going to be alot of unhappy people with $6500 less in their pocket.

3. RAW processing, I'm a bit amazed that none of this was sorted out prior to release, neither DPP or adobe are producing satisfactory results. The only way i can even see the detail i'm chasing is in DPP preview.

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

[Bosman]

So i've been snapping away wildly all weekend with the 5Dmk3 and there are a couple of things that bug me
overall the build and handling are significant steps up but there is some silly stuff going on.

1 - The rate button, probably the single most useless button I have even seen on a camera EVER, which would be fine if you could assign it a usefull function instead such as a bracketing button like ever 1D has had since the 1Dmk1 remember that good ol 4MP kodak sensor? its nice to just hold a button down and scrollt he wheel bringing up the bracketed stops. having to go into the menu to enable bracketing on a PRO body is just plain lame. This could easily be fixed with a firmware update to enable assigning of more functions to that button
as for rate and protect the whole 2 features you can choose this button to perform, very underwhelming. As it is this button is a total bull tit.

2 - out of camera Jpeg files are horrible, accross the board there is far too much smearing going on they are well and truely overcooked, mushy and about as sharp as a bowling ball. I like to have medium jpg files writing to the SD card so i can just pop it out to give someone quick access to the pics without jumping through all the raw processing hoops. As it stands I'm really not going to give anyone these jpegs so i've turned it off all together until an update comes out.
This is particularly concerning because all the talk from the marketing machine talked up how all the improvements of blah blah stops is based on jpegs. If this follows through to the 1Dx there are going to be alot of unhappy people with $6500 less in their pocket.

3. RAW processing, I'm a bit amazed that none of this was sorted out prior to release, neither DPP or adobe are producing satisfactory results. The only way i can even see the detail i'm chasing is in DPP preview.

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

We must be from different universes because none of those things you mentioned about the cameras capability agree with my findings whatsoever, other than the adobe LR not having raw capability because CS5 does with the beta but DPP works very well. I just never use it so its kinda hard to navigate around it.
Maybe you got a dud because sharpness, focus speed, color, high iso, sharpness of images is lining up nicely enough for me to consider selling the 1dm3 i own for a 5dm3 and shoot sports with that. If you are testing fast lenses F1.8 and faster then turn servo off unless you have a 200 F1.8. Servo no matter what camera screwed with the high end primes.

[wickidwombat]

We must be from different universes because none of those things you mentioned about the cameras capability agree with my findings whatsoever, other than the adobe LR not having raw capability because CS5 does with the beta but DPP works very well. I just never use it so its kinda hard to navigate around it.
Maybe you got a dud because sharpness, focus speed, color, high iso, sharpness of images is lining up nicely enough for me to consider selling the 1dm3 i own for a 5dm3 and shoot sports with that. If you are testing fast lenses F1.8 and faster then turn servo off unless you have a 200 F1.8. Servo no matter what camera screwed with the high end primes.

I was testing with sigma 85 f1.4 and canon 50mm f1.4 I havent given it a good work out yet with my 70-200 2.8 yet I will and see if it helps the AF

you dont agree with the rate button being useless? i like having bracketing easily accessable horses for coarses I guess.

generally i really like the camera I just feel the IQ is not up to the level of my 5Dmk2 cameras at the moment. I am blaming this on raw converters I did post raws compared between my 5D2 and 5D3 previously. The 5D2 is clearly sharper
https://rapidshare.com/files/265985045/045C0110.CR2
https://rapidshare.com/files/2949940123/IMG_8491.CR2

[Christian_Stella]

I actually find the Rate button extremely helpful. I do food photography and can often take 50-75 photos of the same plate of food.  After a full day's shoot I can have 300-600 shots for 8 plates of food. I find that reviewing the shots on the camera through an HDMI cable is the quickest way to get through them all and swiftly zoom in to check focus. Up until now I've been writing the file numbers of keepers on a steno pad during this process.

The comparison view, rate button, and instant zoom to 100% to check focus are 3 amazing ways to take pixel peeping out of the sluggish Lightroom 4 and onto an IPS monitor through HDMI.

This was possible before with the protect feature, but it was too cumbersome.

I would imagine the Rate button and comparison views will also give many professionals the opportunity to work on their commute.

That said, I think all of the buttons should be more customizable in general.  I'd love to map a button to rotate, to quickly view a portrait oriented photo in all it's glory. Of course they should just automatically orient themselves when you turn the camera sideways in the first place.

I also miss the fact that the multicontroller was basically the Q button on the 5d2 and there's no way to get it back that way.

[Stephen Melvin]

That said, I think all of the buttons should be more customizable in general.  I'd love to map a button to rotate, to quickly view a portrait oriented photo in all it's glory. Of course they should just automatically orient themselves when you turn the camera sideways in the first place.

I also miss the fact that the multicontroller was basically the Q button on the 5d2 and there's no way to get it back that way.

You know you can set the camera to not rotate vertical images on the camera display yet have them come up correct when imported on the computer, right?

And I don't know what your last sentence means.

[XanuFoto]

This is a AF system new to many of us. We will first have to patiently master it before we overreact and think the world is ending.

[wickidwombat]

This is a AF system new to many of us. We will first have to patiently master it before we overreact and think the world is ending.

I'm not overreacting, agree totally that I need to spend more time with the AF to get a handle on it there are so many more options and settings to be considered thats just for starters!

[Christian_Stella]

Yes, I know you can set the rotate to always display in portrait. I'd rather not have one or the other though, especially as I often hook the camera to an external monitor.  The digital level is smart enough to automatically flip between landscape and portrait, I don't see why photos couldn't. Smartphones have spoiled us with that simplicity.

I was talking about pressing the joystick in used to be the same as the Q button.  Maybe that was a custom setting I'd made.

Overall I'm still really happy with how much more customizable things are.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

Ack! Don't say that. I was hoping AF would be it's saving grace and reports had been generally really good so far.
What sport were you shooting?

(I just noticed you were using 50mm 1.4 and sigma 85 1.4, I don't know anything about the sigma, but the Canon 50mm 1.4 always seemed like an erratic lens to me for sports AI Servo. Where you comparing 50 1.4 on 5D3 to 70-200 2.8 on 1D3? I hope. Although if the 50 1.4 does noticeabyl worse on the 5D3 than the 1D3 that doesn't sound hot.)

[wickidwombat]

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

Ack! Don't say that. I was hoping AF would be it's saving grace and reports had been generally really good so far.
What sport were you shooting?

(I just noticed you were using 50mm 1.4 and sigma 85 1.4, I don't know anything about the sigma, but the Canon 50mm 1.4 always seemed like an erratic lens to me for sports AI Servo. Where you comparing 50 1.4 on 5D3 to 70-200 2.8 on 1D3? I hope. Although if the 50 1.4 does noticeabyl worse on the 5D3 than the 1D3 that doesn't sound hot.)

lol Sport!? haha I was shooting my wife strolling towards me on a beach using standard mode selected spot focus, first trying outer points and then center point only, on the screen it looks like a high keeper rate but on the computer not so much. But Like I said I really need to spend alot more time playing with this AF there are ALOT of settings and i need to try AI servo with the 70-200 f2.8 and 300 f4L which i know work brilliantly on the 1Dmk3. But over the weekend the only lenses i was using were the sigma 85 1.4 the canon 50 1.4 and the canon 16-35 f2.8L II

[V8Beast]

wombat:

1) Are the raw files just soft, or terrible in other respects?

2) Is it the smearing of the details that makes the jpegs so bad?

I hope this is just an issue with the DPP software.

[Bosman]

Although the rate button isnt the awesomest most used button by pretty much everyone, i do occassionally shoot and try to remember what image number it was that i really liked in a wedding or a sport event. This gives me something to make that search quicker. Although maybe canon firmware could add the ability to review your images based on rating, that would be nice! The other thing i want is Speedlight custom functions for C1,C2, & C3, apparently you set it in camera and you cant have diff settings for diff C functions, that is just half baked to me. I wanted to set up one function to disable to flash so i just shoot avail light and if dark the flash metering beam still goes off like when you disable the flash. Then when i needed flash i have C2 for that scenario with like second curtain sync.

[jrista]

1 - The rate button, probably the single most useless button I have even seen on a camera EVER, which would be fine if you could assign it a usefull function instead such as a bracketing button like ever 1D has had since the 1Dmk1 remember that good ol 4MP kodak sensor? its nice to just hold a button down and scrollt he wheel bringing up the bracketed stops. having to go into the menu to enable bracketing on a PRO body is just plain lame. This could easily be fixed with a firmware update to enable assigning of more functions to that button
as for rate and protect the whole 2 features you can choose this button to perform, very underwhelming. As it is this button is a total bull tit.

While I can't speak to the utility of the rate button as I have not had the opportunity to use one, I imagine it can be useful to some people. @Christian_Stella spoke to that rather well. Canon demonstrated a very strong ability to listen to their customers with the 1D X and 5D III as well, so I would really wonder if the rate button was just some random addendum, and not something enough of their customers asked for that they put it on in direct response.

As for it being customizable, totally agree there!! I wish every button on a Canon camera was customizable, however it also seems to be Canon's MO to trickle out features...so maybe "someday".

3. RAW processing, I'm a bit amazed that none of this was sorted out prior to release, neither DPP or adobe are producing satisfactory results. The only way i can even see the detail i'm chasing is in DPP preview.

Ditto. Its kind of ironic that LR4 doesn't even seem to support these new cameras, despite being only a couple weeks old. You would figure the largest RAW processor on the market by sales volume and Canon would be in cahoots to make sure that DID NOT happen. 

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

This really surprises me. I just read in another post that you are using f/1.4 lenses. Thats an extremely thin DOF your working with there. Unless something has changed, don't Canon cameras AF at maximum aperture? I would be very surprised if you had GOOD luck with even the 1D X AF with its 100k RGB intelligent meter and an f/1.4 lens. You should slap on an f/2.8 lens, an f/4 lens, and an f/5.6 lens, and let us know how AF works then. I would hope the double-cross type sensors with the f/2.8 should nail focus perfectly every time. I'd expect the other 36 cross-type points to do extremely well keeping focus on a moving subject like a bird, a cyclist, a car or a basket ball player at f/4 and f/5.6.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

So i've been snapping away wildly all weekend with the 5Dmk3 and there are a couple of things that bug me
overall the build and handling are significant steps up but there is some silly stuff going on.

1 - The rate button, probably the single most useless button I have even seen on a camera EVER, which would be fine if you could assign it a usefull function instead such as a bracketing button like ever 1D has had since the 1Dmk1 remember that good ol 4MP kodak sensor? its nice to just hold a button down and scrollt he wheel bringing up the bracketed stops. having to go into the menu to enable bracketing on a PRO body is just plain lame. This could easily be fixed with a firmware update to enable assigning of more functions to that button
as for rate and protect the whole 2 features you can choose this button to perform, very underwhelming. As it is this button is a total bull tit.

2 - out of camera Jpeg files are horrible, accross the board there is far too much smearing going on they are well and truely overcooked, mushy and about as sharp as a bowling ball. I like to have medium jpg files writing to the SD card so i can just pop it out to give someone quick access to the pics without jumping through all the raw processing hoops. As it stands I'm really not going to give anyone these jpegs so i've turned it off all together until an update comes out.
This is particularly concerning because all the talk from the marketing machine talked up how all the improvements of blah blah stops is based on jpegs. If this follows through to the 1Dx there are going to be alot of unhappy people with $6500 less in their pocket.

The rate button actually can be good for sports, if you have a deadline, it can help to have rated a few during time outs and stuff, print press deadlines can get hairy at times and unless it's like SI at the Super Bowl, most of the time you don't have runners and on the spot assistant photo editors.

Yeah the jpgs looked weird, I noticed that weird black outline stuff from the early samples (and got quickly trashed for pointing it out and hoping some power that be would notice before release) and the cam appeared to trash all details in all but very high contrast areas even at ISO100 with the in cam settings for jpg that most of the early samples were posted with, I think they mostly use Standard profile + Standard or High NR for some reason, even at ISO100.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

4. AF isnt as good as i was expecting in AI servo but I'm still playing with it (there are lots of settings to play with and test) so i'll have to reserve judgement on this but as for just turning it on and shooting with AI servo in standard mode the 1Dmk3 still eats it alive both in speed and accuracy
Perhaps I am doing something wrong maybe 7D users have some tips on getting the most from these new AF systems in AI servo.

Ack! Don't say that. I was hoping AF would be it's saving grace and reports had been generally really good so far.
What sport were you shooting?

(I just noticed you were using 50mm 1.4 and sigma 85 1.4, I don't know anything about the sigma, but the Canon 50mm 1.4 always seemed like an erratic lens to me for sports AI Servo. Where you comparing 50 1.4 on 5D3 to 70-200 2.8 on 1D3? I hope. Although if the 50 1.4 does noticeabyl worse on the 5D3 than the 1D3 that doesn't sound hot.)

lol Sport!? haha I was shooting my wife strolling towards me on a beach using standard mode selected spot focus, first trying outer points and then center point only, on the screen it looks like a high keeper rate but on the computer not so much. But Like I said I really need to spend alot more time playing with this AF there are ALOT of settings and i need to try AI servo with the 70-200 f2.8 and 300 f4L which i know work brilliantly on the 1Dmk3. But over the weekend the only lenses i was using were the sigma 85 1.4 the canon 50 1.4 and the canon 16-35 f2.8L II

Hopefully it was just the canon 50 1.4 and sigma 85 at fault, I've always though the Canon 50 1.4 was a total dog at AF and some of the Sigma 24-70 and 70-200 and 120-300 I used (beat up pool copies to be fair) didn't focus as well as the Canon 24-70, 70-200 or 300 2.8. Or maybe the micro focus adjustment on your 5D3 is much different than on your 1D3 and even a quick dial in same for all lenses would help? Hope so. I guess it's possible you could have gotten a copy with an AF detector with tons of bad pixels or something or even that the AF simply won't be amazing with the 5D3, at least not compared to 1 series, but hopefully the latter won't be the case.