Ken Rockwell Updated 5D MK3 Review

[Z]

Ken Rockwell reviews often put a smile on my face. My favourite quote from this one is:

"The EOS iTR (Intelligent Tracking and Recognition) recognizes subjects based on face and color and employs AF points to continue to track subjects while moving. I presume Japanese faces are given priority."

To Canon autofocus algorithms, all white people look alike...

[BillyBean]

i am only going to say one thing ken rockwell shoots jpeg can you really take anything he says seriously lol

Generally, I agree with you, but I suspect others will get confused by the autofocus too. If you are coming from a long line of 1? and 5? series Canon's then maybe not, but we don't all fit that category.

Sure, Ken is the tabloid newspaper of the camera world, but even they have a point occasionally... if you can ignore the naked ladies on page 3...

[bvukich]

Yeah, but having two thumbs on the same hand ? 

LOL!!! 

[Canon-F1]

Ken Rockwell reviews often put a smile on my face. My favourite quote from this one is:

"The EOS iTR (Intelligent Tracking and Recognition) recognizes subjects based on face and color and employs AF points to continue to track subjects while moving. I presume Japanese faces are given priority."

To Canon autofocus algorithms, all white people look alike...

no pearl habor sideswipe from him this time?

[awinphoto]

if you can ignore the naked ladies on page 3...

uhhh... I guess i missed the naked ladies part... i guess i'll have to take a look again haha

[neuroanatomist]

Ken Rockwell reviews often put a smile on my face. My favourite quote from this one is:

"The EOS iTR (Intelligent Tracking and Recognition) recognizes subjects based on face and color and employs AF points to continue to track subjects while moving. I presume Japanese faces are given priority."

Of course, EOS iTR AF is a feature of the 1D X that requires the 100K pixel RGB metering sensor, and thus, the 5DIII doesn't even offer iTR. 

The only thing with less validity than KR's opinions are KR's facts. 

[dolina]

Surprisingly KR's opinions resonates with me... but then again Canon's not #2 in SLR sales.

[sawsedge]

 

My favorite quote... "No one will ever figure this out."

[ronrandle]

I don't normally weigh in on this, but Rockwell is patently incorrect on several things but the most glaring to me is this comment:

"A huge defect in the 5D Mark III's AF system is that no longer can I switch among the AF modes I use with one click, without stopping or taking my eye from my subject."

It's one of the things  I love about the MK3!! I actually read the manual, and if Rockwell had done the same, he'd see that he can tap the focus button on the back and the wheel near the shutter will scroll backwards and forwards through the auto focus options. No need to look away from the viewfinder.

Regardless of his thoughts, I'm loving mine. The performance is fantastic and in just a few minutes, it's set up exactly the way I want and the images are stunning.

[EYEONE]

My favorite quote... "No one will ever figure this out."

Hahaha, yeah. Don't tell him that 7D shooters have already figured it out.

[ghosh9691]

You guys are all wrong about bashing Ken Rockwell!!! He is the greatest thing to happen to the photography world since the invention of the camera (well the 35mm frame anyway).

Tell me this: when your day is going bad and you are feeling blue, which other camera/photography related site would you rather go to? Is there really another one that provides so much comic relief??? Don't you get a smile on your face when you see super saturated, orange shaded JPEG images of kids and buildings? Doesn't it feel like the sun just came closer to earth and obliterated your misery and made you think: "Man, even I can take better photographs!" (Pinatubian light not withstanding...)

 

[V8Beast]

It's hard to take a man seriously who posts snapshots taken with $5,000 worth of gear.

[Brymills]

I think you're all being very mean!

The guy went all the way to the Alabama Hills in California just to repeat THIS SHOT to demonstrate the camera's LCD display......

[Z]

Of course, EOS iTR AF is a feature of the 1D X that requires the 100K pixel RGB metering sensor, and thus, the 5DIII doesn't even offer iTR. 

The only thing with less validity than KR's opinions are KR's facts. 

That didn't even occur to me, oh dear.

[nightbreath]

His concerns seem, to me, to be incapable of holding even hot air.   

But for this particular brass tack, I don't have a 5DIII, but on my 7D and 5DII if the camera happens to be in automatic AF point selection mode (which it never is, because the 'mind-reading AF selection mode' hasn't been invented yet), pressing the multi-controller straight in changes to manual selection of the center AF point, and then it can be moved from there.  KR implies that can't be done with the 5DIII, but the manual seems to indicate he's mistaken (about a great many things, cue Emporer's voice from Star Wars).  Alternatively, you can register an AF point, and assign a button to that function.

A couple of my favorite points from KR's...ummm...review (and I use the term very loosely):

"If it was significantly different, Canon would have given it a new model number, instead of a "mark" appellation."  Right, because KR didn't say the 5DII was far better than the original 5D (oh, wait, he did).

"AF is much more complicated, not necessary better than the original 5D and 5D Mark II."  Ummmm, ok, sure...it's no better than the 5D's AF.  By extension, neither is the AF of the 1D X.  Ok, Ken, fine.

...and my personal favorite:

"Foolish RATE Button Clutter"  A Nikon shooter, complaining about 'button clutter' on a Canon camera.  I actually LOL'd when I read that heading line...

Why don't you start writing reviews by your own, Neuro? Seriously. I find your comments very useful.