JoeDavid said:
I find myself with a 5D3, 5D4, and 5DS since I haven't sold off the 5D3 yet. Here's an unscientific, real world test of the three bodies. I took them out and shot a scene with the same 24-70/2.8L II lens at f8 and approximately 45mm. I used the live view histogram to set the exposure with each camera to make sure the highlights were just inside. I then used DPP to open each image setting the white balance to Cloudy, the Picture Style to Neutral, and then the Auto Gamma function to let Canon adjust the overall look of the image. Visually, on a 4K corrected monitor (DataColor Spyder) with the image scaled to fit, they looked identical except for a slight registration difference caused by mounting the different cameras onto the tripod. I then transferred all three to Photoshop where I cut out a 100% 900x600 shadow section and did a 100% Shadow and Highlight correction to the shadows. I also had Costco print all three originals at 20x30". You have to examine them very close to find a difference in the prints. I could see a slight resolution advantage in the 5DS image but not a great amount at that print size (might have something to do with their print process). Anyway, here's the resulting comparison. BTW, I see uglier false color in the 5D3 and 5DS with a similar test using ACR which means that Canon must be looking for it and taking some measures to reduce it.
Very useful samples.
I generally feel the colors of the 5DS/R (and 5DIV) are somewhat improved from the 5DII/5DIII. That's however not very obvious in your samples.
I note that you used DPP - which normally works well (I'm consistently weary of Adobe's profiles for the 5DS/R). I use a custom color profile that I built myself for my own 5DS/R processing which may be important for my improved color results. There is no doubt my color profiles are better than DPP, however, I'm sure you can process DPP files in RAW to practically match my custom profiles.
I recently took the 5DIV for a test run. Its a great photographic tool for stills. Reliable and familiar. Have not had time to work through the few thousand shots yet. Also, time did not allow me to use it together with the 5DS/R (or the 5DIII) as you did here.
For my own test run I find it very difficult to see any differences in the 5DIV colors compared to the 5DS/R.
The AF is better on the 5DIV than the 5DS/R - but marginally so. My take is that the difference between the 5DIV and the 5DS/R AF is less than the 5DS/R and 5DIII (as we should expect). Low light AF is still the biggest difference between the 5DS/R/5DIV models and 5DIII for my use. Interestingly I found that the smallest focus point works better on the 5DS/R than the 5DIV - and I stopped using it with the 5DIV after a while. And the 5DIV single focus point works well enough anyway.
The "expanded" AF area was a disappointment to me. I was suspicious when I saw the viewfinder-overlay in advance and in real life use this was confirmed. Shooting style and motives may make it more helpful for others. I would surely welcome a significant increase in Canon's AF spread one day.
On resolution (very important to me) the 30 MPIX of the 5DIV certainly helps a lot compared to the 5DIII. But its still somewhat less than the 5DS/R and makes the 5DIV less attractive as a back-up at the current price point. If I was using a 5DIII I would probably upgrade just for the improved sensor. Its a bigger jump from the 5DIII to 5DIV than the 5DII to the 5DIII.
Final note: I thought I set the GPS - but there's nothing to prove it on my RAW files even if the GPS signal was blinking on the 5DIV...
Of course user error cannot be excluded
