Almost 10000 photos shoot with 5D Mk3 – Thoughts, Odds, Problems, Firmware Fixes

[John Thomas]

just a side note.
10000 pictures in two weeks that would be around 740GB with the D800 and around 280GB with the 5D MK3.. right?

RAW images of course.

do you delete a lot or are you one of the shooters who stores all images?

No, usually I do not delete. But don't take it as a dogma. The thing is that I must be very careful what I delete because my photos enough times happened to be valuable because of other factors besides the artistic / main subject. For example a rare architecture detail from a byzantine building which got demolished, a VIP which was preset somewhere where nobody else expected etc.

And the funny thing is that in enough cases neither I was aware of these things. After a while due of some circumstances etc. I discovered these things.

Hence, I delete sparingly photos because you never know what you delete. And also, the storage / GB today is so cheap that isn't worth the time to do it. But of course, if I have some big series of bad photos (IOW I'm effective in making space) I delete them. Imho, it needs discrimination.

HTH

jt.

 

[Astro]

a TB every month (with backup) is not exacty cheap..... but compared to the film day... well yes.

 

[John Thomas]

a TB every month (with backup) is not exacty cheap..... but compared to the film day... well yes.

To be sincere: I do not shoot with the same frequency all day/month/year long. It depends on event(s). Till 5DMk3 I had 2 disks (one for backup) x 2TB covering ~ 1.5 years.

HTH

 

[Drizzt321]

Hey JT, I just shot a concert in a smallish, dark venue, I know exactly what you mean about the AF system. I had my 5d2 along as my 2nd camera, and wow! The AF on the 5d3 (I kept it in zone, moved it around here and there) and it was almost always spot on with AI Servo, just a few missed due to focus. Plus, the noise is much nicer @6400+ than the 5d2 is @3200.

Although I did shoot fully manual (plus manual ISO), I'm not sure if I'd want to switch to Av or Tv mode or not. Problem being is that the shutter speeds will suddenly start to drag below 1/50 or 1/60 which is pretty slow for a show to begin with. As it was, I was mostly shooting at or barely smaller than max aperture. For me, I dialed in my general settings during the earlier acts, and then had some pretty good base settings during the main band, and just stayed decently aware of the stage lighting conditions and varied the shutter and/or ISO a bit to compensate for a time when there was more/less light. Maybe I should try and let the camera take a bit more control next time in Tv w/Auto ISO...

 

[briansquibb]

I'm not sure if I'd want to switch to Av or Tv mode or not. Problem being is that the shutter speeds will suddenly start to drag below 1/50 or 1/60 which is pretty slow for a show to begin with.

How does that work in Tv mode?

Just put it in Manual mode at, say, 1/60/f4.0 and auto iso and then there will no more adjustments needed

 

[PhilDrinkwater]

Well, he could raise his max allowed auto ISO.

I wish Canon would let you set the min as high as 1/2000, then I could use Av for sports and be a lot more useful than simply 1/250 as the max. Instead, I've been using M mode with auto ISO for this condition, but you can't use EC in M mode with auto ISO.

I've sent both of these comments to my UK Canon rep... and also that the 1/f option needs to work differently.

 

[briansquibb]

Instead, I've been using M mode with auto ISO for this condition, but you can't use EC in M mode with auto ISO.

There is a workaround giving the equivalent using AV mode - see it you can get this implemented on the 5DIII

Objective: Set set a minimum and maximum shutter speed. In Av mode if the shutter speed dropped below the mimimum then the ISO would be bumped up so that the minimum was reached again.

Method:

- enable safety shift (iso speed) C.Fn 1 - 8
- set shutter speed range C.fn 1 - 12 ( set the minimum shutter speed )

In the field:

- set the Av value
- set the base iso value (can be L so then it acts as auto iso)
- set exp comp as needed (yes we get exp comp and auto iso this way)

I have photographed karts so I set the minimum Tv to 1/500, Av at f/4 and iso100 which was about the critical point. ISO went up and down as expected, Tv went above 500 when the cloud lifted and ISO got to 100

So there you are - how to get ec with iso and Av limits set.

This applies to the Series 1 only

 

[Drizzt321]

I'm not sure if I'd want to switch to Av or Tv mode or not. Problem being is that the shutter speeds will suddenly start to drag below 1/50 or 1/60 which is pretty slow for a show to begin with.

How does that work in Tv mode?

Just put it in Manual mode at, say, 1/60/f4.0 and auto iso and then there will no more adjustments needed

Well, true, just with Auto-ISO it'll quickly max out at the top of the ISO as much of the frame is dark, while the main subject(s) will still have decent lighting because of the placement of the lights, and will probably end up getting over exposed.