5D3 and Canon's Comeuppance

[jrista]

Yeah, even despite the slightly lacking DR on the 5D III, it definitely sounds like a vastly superior wedding camera. I think wedding photogs were one of the two or maybe three primary groups of photographers they REALLY listened to when designing the 5D III.

And as a wedding photog, I am very thankful.

Something people don't take into account when viewing things like DxO mark is that for something like weddings, its not ALL about maximum image quality. Workflow has a bigger impact on profits than image quality from a camera (when all the latest cameras are so great). Clients don't know what color banding is. 5d3 workflow is MUCH faster than d800 workflow, and I don't think even nikon fanboys can deny that. So from where im sitting, canon can make me a more profitable business than nikon can. And thats what its really all about folks. Money makes the world go round. If you don't care about money, go shoot your kids birthday party with a hasselblad.

Yay for logic!

Aye! And as they say, Canon makes cameras to make money...on both ends of the line: for themselves and for their customers. 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Canon has historically been able to produce greater supply and keep supply moving, where as Nikon has regularly had supply problems (which is a small part of the reason I'm a Canon photographer today.)

With that kind of manufacturing advantage, you'd think that Canon could fill the back orders for the damn 70-300L tripod collar It's no biggie, as I've got a knockoff collar on the way. Philosophically speaking, can you  really call the Hong Kong collars a knockoff when the real deal Canon stuff is nowhere to be found ? Understandably, I'm sure Canon has much bigger priorities right now.

I hope it fits. I heard that the new knock-offs fit. So I finally ordered one. It arrived.
Oh it will fit all right.... if I first bash my 70-300L with a sledge hammer....
Back it goes.
 

[V8Beast]

Yeah, I'd figure replacement parts are pretty low on Canon's list of priorities.

Who said anything about replacement parts? The 70-300L doesn't come with a freakin' tripod collar. I would have ordered one when I bought the lens, but it's been backordered for over a year. A now LTRLI tells me the knockoffs don't even fit Maybe it's a Canon conspiracy to try to get people to upgrade to the 70-200 f/2.8 II and a 1.4 teleconverter I heard Kodak doesn't have any supply issues so maybe I need to switch

[briansquibb]

I hope it fits. I heard that the new knock-offs fit. So I finally ordered one. It arrived.
Oh it will fit all right.... if I first bash my 70-300L with a sledge hammer....
Back it goes.
 

Mine fits no problem

[PhilDrinkwater]

And as a wedding photog, I am very thankful.

Something people don't take into account when viewing things like DxO mark is that for something like weddings, its not ALL about maximum image quality. Workflow has a bigger impact on profits than image quality from a camera (when all the latest cameras are so great). Clients don't know what color banding is. 5d3 workflow is MUCH faster than d800 workflow, and I don't think even nikon fanboys can deny that. So from where im sitting, canon can make me a more profitable business than nikon can. And thats what its really all about folks. Money makes the world go round. If you don't care about money, go shoot your kids birthday party with a hasselblad.

Yay for logic!

This is VERY true. As someone who makes money from a camera, my needs are different to many. I think carefully about quality of images, but the "5%" difference between in visual quality between the various sensors is just irrelevant - and I'm really picky

For me it is (nearly) the perfect wedding photographer camera. Canon really did listen to wedding photographers needs. The silent shoot mode especially is unbelievable - really good for echoy UK churches

[itsnotmeyouknow]

TrumpetPower! - are you saying Canon has better lenses than say, Nikon? Would not say that that. Both brands, including Sigma and Tamron have good lenses.  Zeiss are the masters of all glass!

Would not say that Canon has the best IQ for their lenses. I have a Sigma 105 f2.8 which is MUCH sharper than say, Canon's 24-70 mm - yeah, comparing prime to zoom is not fair, but for IQ many brands have very, very good lenses!

for example: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - a $500 lens at a fraction of the cost of what Canon wants to sell you - is a STRONGER and has an overall better IQ lens than Canon 28 f1.8, Canon 35 f1.4

Isn't the Sigma 105 also a macro lens?  Macro lenses are in my experience amazingly sharp, so you are comparing apples with not even pears, but onions.  If you want to compare anything with the 24 - 70L, compare Sigma's own 24 - 70 which is good but not better than the L.  Or conpare the 105 to the 100 macros that canon produce.  Your arguments falls to dust when you compare a dedicated macro lens to an all purpose high quality zoom. 

[itsnotmeyouknow]

To illustrate my point, I have just come back from a weekend in Dubai, and at the Sheraton resort there was a dragonfly (or similar) enjoying the sun.  I had left my 100L macro in my hotel room some 36km away, so only had the 24 - 70L with me on my 5D3.  I would undoubtedly have got it sharper on the macro lens but 70mm and f/13 (ISO 250 1/640), I think it's pretty sharp


Dubai-critter-enjoying-the-sun by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[RLPhoto]

LoL! This is great! Canon is always going to serve its pocket book first but its ever more halarious to believe that somehow Nikon isn't! Take a look at the d800.

Nikon was like "crap... People are losing interest in the d700 and we need to make a new camera." Bam! Take the d700 and slap video and 36 megapixels. Easy money.

I remember the forums before the 5D3 was released and lots of people were like "add everything but more megapixels to the 5D3! We don't need more megapixels!" then the d800 is released and a riot broke out and now we all need more megapixels! It's obsurd.

Anyway, it's a clever marketing and the time old belief that more megapixels is better that's going to see more nikons that canons this generation around. It's brilliant!

[PhilDrinkwater]

I remember the forums before the 5D3 was released and lots of people were like "add everything but more megapixels to the 5D3! We don't need more megapixels!" then the d800 is released and a riot broke out and now we all need more megapixels! It's obsurd.

Anyway, it's a clever marketing and the time old belief that more megapixels is better that's going to see more nikons that canons this generation around. It's brilliant!

+1

[skitron]

Anyway, it's a clever marketing and the time old belief that more mega-pixels is better that's going to see more nikons that canons this generation around. It's brilliant!

LOL, and I suspect if Canon launched an effort to promote a new metric mega-ISO and how much more of *it* they have than Nikon, they'd probably kill them in the marketplace! 

The marketing geek in me honestly believes the market is full of folks that have a knee jerk reaction to all things mega and automatically gravitate to whatever has the most mega... 

[birtembuk]

I have been working long enough with one of the biggest MNC's to apprehend what might going on with Canon these days. When longer term strategies are set, it's like an aircraft carrier: no way you are going to change course whatever. And you can bet there's a lot of brainpower behind these strategies. My take is that, over the last couple years, Canon have become infatuated with video. So much so that their new mantra might as well be: Go Hollywood. I don't believe in complacency but in carefully planned design and release of their models. These guys are professionals.  C500, C300, C100, 1Dc, soon 5Dc (bet it's not April fool), 7Dc sooner or later and finally the whole range under Dc. The 5D3 - with no compressed HDMI output - finally fits quite well within that scheme.

They could not care less that a few gear junkies whine here and there and threaten to jump ship. Collateral damage to a much bigger picture. They'll look at numbers, that's what matters. Obviously, they are convinced to be right and it's not our call. We're grown-ups living in a world of free choice. You like it, you think it meets your requirements ? Go get it. You're not satisfy with the offering ? Decide for yourself. Lots of choice. On their side, only time will tell whether their strategy pays off. On our side, let's go out and shoot. Que sera sera.

Having said that, I think 5D3 is a great camera that actually fits the bill for a number of users.   

[caruser]

I remember the forums before the 5D3 was released and lots of people were like "add everything but more megapixels to the 5D3! We don't need more megapixels!" then the d800 is released and a riot broke out and now we all need more megapixels! It's obsurd.

It's partly absurd, and partly not about the megapixels, but about the dynamic range and/or the price, or rather the combination of the 5D3 being more expensive, having worse dynamic range (and not inheriting the flagship's exposure sensor; unlike the D800).

[Ellen Schmidtee]

I remember the forums before the 5D3 was released and lots of people were like "add everything but more megapixels to the 5D3! We don't need more megapixels!" then the d800 is released and a riot broke out and now we all need more megapixels! It's obsurd.

I was against more megapixels before the 5Dmk3 & D800 were released, I'm still against more megapixels now that they've been released, and - surprise! - still waiting for wide primes to be updates & a new ultrawide lenses.

Next year I'll have a saving account opened, and I'm considering spending the money on a Nikon FX camera for the 14-24mm f/2.8, in face of the extra megapixels.

[daveswan]

Was saving up for the 5DIII, then something happened. A little something called the Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

Guess who'll get my money now.

Canon really bogged up the much touted video / cine on the 5DIII to the rage of cinephiles everywhere,

[Chewy734]

Was saving up for the 5DIII, then something happened. A little something called the Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

Guess who'll get my money now.

Canon really bogged up the much touted video / cine on the 5DIII to the rage of cinephiles everywhere,

Doesn't the Blackmagic have a much smaller sensor than the 5D3?