5D Mk III Owners - are you happy?

[swampler]

Canon or Adobe, whoever is to blame, it's still a pain having to convert RAWs to DNGs to edit in Lightroom.

Or, yourself.  LR 4.1 RC released a couple of days ago edits 5D Mark III files without converting to DNG first.

[risc32]

northstar, so it's a stop or 2 better in iso, but you consider that a maybe 3% increase in IQ? to me ISO performance(at any setting) is a big part of IQ, and a stop or two is a pretty damn good increase. And to the guy using a flash at ISO 3200 and 6400, are you serious? I mean, really? are you lighting an arena, or something hundreds of feet away? Are you sure you know what you are doing?

just spent some time with the camera shooting kids running around a baseball field. I'm VERY pleased. Still doesn't have that tactical, even violent "snap" that the 1dmk2 (and probably all 1d series models)have, but the keeper rate is very, very good.

[Stephen Melvin]

I purchased two of them. Love them. The 24-105 and 70-200 IS II lenses are excellent and very sharp. I shot a wedding over the weekend and the results were great. The auto ISO is a neat feature unless you turn on the flash, then it stops working. As long as you don't try and use flash and auto ISO together, the camera is a dream. The focus system is great, I like it better than the Nikons I was using.

The auto iso defaults to 400iso when flash is used which i think is pretty darn smart!

I absolutely hate that it does that. You'd think these guys had no real world experience shooting these cameras. I'd like complete control over the ISO range, including when using flash. Apparently it goes up to 1600 if you set the flash head to bounce, which isn't nearly enough. I typically use my flash at events with the ISO set to 3200 or 6400.

Then why are you using auto iso if you want complete control??? One of my custom settings has auto iso which with flash brigs it to 400iso, another starts out at 2000iso when i shoot with a flash because auto is not on but iso 200 is the default. I have read the distance of the flash at high iso reaches farther so i want to try it.

You're kidding, right? I'd like to be able to set the range of auto ISO, instead of it just defaulting to 400 for direct flash or maxing out at 1600 for bounce. The biggest part of the awful direct flash look is mismatched balance between the flash and the ambient light. The ability to set the range with complete control would be extremely useful, not to mention trivial for Canon to implement.

[cMojo]

Received my 5D3 yesterday, and quickly fired off a few frames. In a dimly lit room, with camera on full auto. Using my existing 24-105L, which has yet to be micro adjusted to the new body.

I pointed the camera at the dog and clicked. The camera chose ISO 12800, F5.6, 1/50. OMG. There was very little light in the room but the camera focused INSTANTLY. The in camera preview looked good, but looking at the RAW file in Lr4.1 showed that 5D3 captured detail that I did not see in the room. I was reluctant to shoot over ISO 1600 with my 7D, but this camera is a game changer.

A few hundred frames later, after shooting in a variety of settings today, I can tell anybody who is naysaying the 5DMkIII the following:

1. You haven't shot with it. If you did, you would have nothing to cry about.
2. The "not enough of a change from 5D2" crowd have definitely not shot with it.
3. The AF is so good it becomes transparent to the photographer. You forgot about it. It happens FAST. 5D3 isn't just for weddings. You can use this body for anything.
4. Exposure is dead on accurate.
5. In camera HDR really works well. Merges three exposures and keeps the originals around if you want them. Best of all worlds.
6. Ergonomics are the best Canon has ever done.
7. Quiet is good. 5D3 is QUIET.
8. Moving the old hard-to-find DOF Preview button from your left hand (thumb) to your right hand is intuitive and makes it possible to check depth of field with one hand.
9. SD cards let Mac users cut the cord!
10. 22MP is big enough to print big (I routinely print 30 x 40) while keeping file sizes manageable.

[Tcapp]

Received my 5D3 yesterday, and quickly fired off a few frames. In a dimly lit room, with camera on full auto. Using my existing 24-105L, which has yet to be micro adjusted to the new body.

I pointed the camera at the dog and clicked. The camera chose ISO 12800, F5.6, 1/50. OMG. There was very little light in the room but the camera focused INSTANTLY. The in camera preview looked good, but looking at the RAW file in Lr4.1 showed that 5D3 captured detail that I did not see in the room. I was reluctant to shoot over ISO 1600 with my 7D, but this camera is a game changer.

A few hundred frames later, after shooting in a variety of settings today, I can tell anybody who is naysaying the 5DMkIII the following:

1. You haven't shot with it. If you did, you would have nothing to cry about.
2. The "not enough of a change from 5D2" crowd have definitely not shot with it.
3. The AF is so good it becomes transparent to the photographer. You forgot about it. It happens FAST. 5D3 isn't just for weddings. You can use this body for anything.
4. Exposure is dead on accurate.
5. In camera HDR really works well. Merges three exposures and keeps the originals around if you want them. Best of all worlds.
6. Ergonomics are the best Canon has ever done.
7. Quiet is good. 5D3 is QUIET.
8. Moving the old hard-to-find DOF Preview button from your left hand (thumb) to your right hand is intuitive and makes it possible to check depth of field with one hand.
9. SD cards let Mac users cut the cord!
10. 22MP is big enough to print big (I routinely print 30 x 40) while keeping file sizes manageable.

VERY well said. Especially that anyone who thinks its only a "5d2.5" has certainly not shot with it. Night and day. Love it.

[EvilTed]

"SD cards let Mac users cut the cord!"

Actually, not exactly true.
The CF slot is rated to UDMA 7 while the SD slot is not compliant with the UHS standard.
So, in order to maximize speed and get 6FPS, you'd be advised to use the fastest CF card you can afford and use the SD slot as backup.
I use a Lexar 1000x 32GB.

You will then need a FW800 reader to maximize download speed, but fear not, there is a kid on the block for $50 (see my previous post in accessories).

ET

[dmj]

I'm getting my 5DIII tomorrow, have been a struggle to get one if you didn't preorder.

Since I have no direct experience I can't say if I'm happy or not, however as most people I have considerred my purchase very thoroughly.

When reading forums you always need to be very filtering. When I bought my 5DII the forums were full of haters, but I have never regretted it. When I bought my 5DII it was mostly forlandscapes and weddings and boy have it been agreat match.

In the meanwhile I've become a father (I bought a 7D to keep up with the kids, but sold it because it didn't produce satisfying images compared to the 5DII). I knew new bodies were comming up, 1Dx had great specs for what I wanted. The biggest surprise was how the 5D was changed from a super high res slow camera to a fairly high res and fairly fast cam. If I was looking for the same tool as I did when buying the 5DII I would absolutely consider the D800.
However, I now want a more versatile camera and that is the 5DIII. Therefore this is my choise, and I think people should consider their needs before buying the camera for them.

For everyone calling the 5DIII a minor upgrade of the 5DII are probably people who thinks that penis size translates directly to megapixels. If you look at all other specs they have been dramatically improved, and let's see how well the IQ of the 5DIII will be once we have optimized raw converters etc.

I can't wait for my cam to show up.

[thure1982]

"SD cards let Mac users cut the cord!"

Actually, not exactly true.
The CF slot is rated to UDMA 7 while the SD slot is not compliant with the UHS standard.
So, in order to maximize speed and get 6FPS, you'd be advised to use the fastest CF card you can afford and use the SD slot as backup.
I use a Lexar 1000x 32GB.

You will then need a FW800 reader to maximize download speed, but fear not, there is a kid on the block for $50 (see my previous post in accessories).

ET

Are you hearing your self?
Download speed is not the question.
He says, you can plug the SD card directly in to your MAC. Witch is awesome.
And your response is...

No, the fast CF are expensive.

[Viggo]

You're kidding, right? I'd like to be able to set the range of auto ISO, instead of it just defaulting to 400 for direct flash or maxing out at 1600 for bounce. The biggest part of the awful direct flash look is mismatched balance between the flash and the ambient light.

And that is in fact why we use gels for color and either ev-compensation or manual flash for light.

[DarkKnightNine]

I purchased two of them. Love them. The 24-105 and 70-200 IS II lenses are excellent and very sharp. I shot a wedding over the weekend and the results were great. The auto ISO is a neat feature unless you turn on the flash, then it stops working. As long as you don't try and use flash and auto ISO together, the camera is a dream. The focus system is great, I like it better than the Nikons I was using.

The auto iso defaults to 400iso when flash is used which i think is pretty darn smart!

I absolutely hate that it does that. You'd think these guys had no real world experience shooting these cameras. I'd like complete control over the ISO range, including when using flash. Apparently it goes up to 1600 if you set the flash head to bounce, which isn't nearly enough. I typically use my flash at events with the ISO set to 3200 or 6400.

Are you kidding me. You say that you whant complete controll over ISO and yet you hate that the camera set the AUTO-ISO to 400.
Why the hell do you use auto then?

Yeah I don't get it either. I just tried what you said and I can set my ISO to whatever I want when using flash. You DO have complete control over your ISO setting when using a flash. Just don't set it to Auto, problem solved.

[ramon123]

waiting...

[roofyroo]

Image taken today on the 5D MKIII

- AF point expansion with a single point and 4 surrounding points
- 85mm f1.2 lens
- ISO 100
- f1.6
- 1/3200
- AI Servo Case 1
- shooting full size RAW
- basic adjustments in Adobe Lightroom 4.1

I wanted to test subjects moving mainly for our wedding work. Pretty impressed with this running shot and the AF tracking.

[Northstar]

northstar, so it's a stop or 2 better in iso, but you consider that a maybe 3% increase in IQ? to me ISO performance(at any setting) is a big part of IQ, and a stop or two is a pretty damn good increase.

You are right, 1.5 stops is a darn good increase.....just maybe not for $3500 when everything else for me(d7k) is about the same to very slightly better.  I still might do it though.  I don't dislike the camera, It IS a very good camera.

[Stephen Melvin]

I purchased two of them. Love them. The 24-105 and 70-200 IS II lenses are excellent and very sharp. I shot a wedding over the weekend and the results were great. The auto ISO is a neat feature unless you turn on the flash, then it stops working. As long as you don't try and use flash and auto ISO together, the camera is a dream. The focus system is great, I like it better than the Nikons I was using.

The auto iso defaults to 400iso when flash is used which i think is pretty darn smart!

I absolutely hate that it does that. You'd think these guys had no real world experience shooting these cameras. I'd like complete control over the ISO range, including when using flash. Apparently it goes up to 1600 if you set the flash head to bounce, which isn't nearly enough. I typically use my flash at events with the ISO set to 3200 or 6400.

Are you kidding me. You say that you whant complete controll over ISO and yet you hate that the camera set the AUTO-ISO to 400.
Why the hell do you use auto then?

Yeah I don't get it either. I just tried what you said and I can set my ISO to whatever I want when using flash. You DO have complete control over your ISO setting when using a flash. Just don't set it to Auto, problem solved.

Reading comprehension fail?

I want complete control over the range that Auto-ISO works. Canon does not allow this in the Mk III, instead arbitrarily limiting it. I do wind up using manual ISO, because Canon's Auto-ISO implementation is so very limited.

Apparently, this is a difficult concept for some people to understand.

[wickidwombat]

I had ticked it's ok
but now i'm revising that to the "Its going back category"