New Canon 5D Mark III

[Birger.Niss]

This is my first post on CR. I have been following all you brilliant guys/gals for some time now.
Since 2006 I have been using my 350D, but yesterday I went crazy and bought the 5D3 I've been yearning for for sometimes now, to a large extent inspired by your posts.
With the body I bought the 24-70mm, f/2.8 II, the 50 mm, f/1.2 and the 8-15 mm fisheye - I'll probably be taken away in a straight jacket soon
So far I've been blown away by the quality both resolution, sharpness and high ISO performance. It's so incredible much better than the 350D in all aspects.
I obviously have a lot to learn, but I know were to get help

 

[fugu82]

The 5D3 is a joy. You will love it! Running searches on the Forum helped me enormously when crawling up the learning curve on this camera.

 

[matt2491]

Congratulations!

 

[Click]

Welcome to CR. Congrats on your new acquisition.

 

[webphoto]

Congratulations on your new camera. The 5D Mark III is the best DSRL today.

 

[V8Beast]

Congrats on the new toy!

Congratulations on your new camera. The 5D Mark III is the best DSRL today.

I love my MKIII as much as the next guy, but it's only the best DSLR today for people - like me - who can't afford a 1DX.

 

[Bolt]

Wow, big upgrade. Good on you.

it's only the best DSLR today for people - like me - who can't afford a 1DX.

You got that right. 5D MkIII is the best 'in class'.

 

[Fleetie]

Wow; you've obviously been saving your pennies.

I bet you're really enjoying that nice big viewfinder image, and I expect you'll have lots of fun with your excellent new camera.

Have fun!

 

[rpt]

Congratulations and welcome to CR! That having been said, look forward to you posting pictures!

BTW, I went from 300D to 5D3 and so I understand your delight! One word of caution - the DOF is very different. It takes a while to fully comprehend that... Also don't hesitate to push the ISO. It is not grainy at 800 I had a hard stop at 400 ISO. With the 5D3 even 12800 and 25600 ISO can be workable!

Enjoy!

One more thing - if you think the images are soft even when you take a stationary subject from a tripod, try live view focus. If that is sharp and the normal AF is soft, you need to micro-adjust the AF for your lens.

 

[jdramirez]

Congratulations and welcome to CR! That having been said, look forward to you posting pictures!

BTW, I went from 300D to 5D3 and so I understand your delight! One word of caution - the DOF is very different. It takes a while to fully comprehend that... Also don't hesitate to push the ISO. It is not grainy at 800 I had a hard stop at 400 ISO. With the 5D3 even 12800 and 25600 ISO can be workable!

Enjoy!

One more thing - if you think the images are soft even when you take a stationary subject from a tripod, try live view focus. If that is sharp and the normal AF is soft, you need to micro-adjust the AF for your lens.

Define very different. I heard through the grapevine that full frame cameras are a 1/2 stop shallower in depth of field than crop sensors at the same aperture an focal length. Is the 1/2 stop that substantial of a change?

I have enough to get an mkiii... but I don't want to be impatient and buy one only to find that I could have saved an extra $200 in a month. It's a quandary.

 

[Old Shooter]

Congratulations and welcome to CR! That having been said, look forward to you posting pictures!

BTW, I went from 300D to 5D3 and so I understand your delight! One word of caution - the DOF is very different. It takes a while to fully comprehend that... Also don't hesitate to push the ISO. It is not grainy at 800 I had a hard stop at 400 ISO. With the 5D3 even 12800 and 25600 ISO can be workable!

Enjoy!

One more thing - if you think the images are soft even when you take a stationary subject from a tripod, try live view focus. If that is sharp and the normal AF is soft, you need to micro-adjust the AF for your lens.

Great comments! You have a high-performance machine with some great glass - I can't recommend FoCal enough to get the most from your investment... Like rpt says, don't think you have to shoot at 100 ISO to get good results... Mine goes through a battery quite a bit quicker than my XSi - I bought an extra for my bag...

Welcome and Enjoy!

 

[Dylan777]

Welcome to CRs and Congrats on your purchases!!!

AFMA is almost required on 50L - this lens is best to shoot at wide open. My is SUPER at f1.4.

 

[scottkinfw]

You do have a lot to learn.

Read the manual, and everything else you can. Then go out and shoot, shoot, shoot.
Try shooting using each feature.
It will take lots of time before you become familiar with each setting and how to apply them in a way to get the pic you want.
The autofocus alone will keep you learning. Got mine about a year and a half ago, and am still learning.

Great choices, good luck.

This is my first post on CR. I have been following all you brilliant guys/gals for some time now.
Since 2006 I have been using my 350D, but yesterday I went crazy and bought the 5D3 I've been yearning for for sometimes now, to a large extent inspired by your posts.
With the body I bought the 24-70mm, f/2.8 II, the 50 mm, f/1.2 and the 8-15 mm fisheye - I'll probably be taken away in a straight jacket soon
So far I've been blown away by the quality both resolution, sharpness and high ISO performance. It's so incredible much better than the 350D in all aspects.
I obviously have a lot to learn, but I know were to get help

 

[Birger.Niss]

Thanks a lot to all of you for the hearty welcome and all the congrats ;D
Today I was unable to play with my new toy except for a couple of shots with the 50 f/1.2.
I bought it specifically for the shallow DOF, so I used it at f/1.2. There were certainly misses, but also a few spot on's.
I haven't gotten to playing with AFMA yet, but given the fact that at least some were on the spot gives me confidence that the AFMA values will be small.
I'll be posting when I have something of sufficient quality for you guys

 

[Kernuak]

Congratulations and welcome to CR! That having been said, look forward to you posting pictures!

BTW, I went from 300D to 5D3 and so I understand your delight! One word of caution - the DOF is very different. It takes a while to fully comprehend that... Also don't hesitate to push the ISO. It is not grainy at 800 I had a hard stop at 400 ISO. With the 5D3 even 12800 and 25600 ISO can be workable!

Enjoy!

One more thing - if you think the images are soft even when you take a stationary subject from a tripod, try live view focus. If that is sharp and the normal AF is soft, you need to micro-adjust the AF for your lens.

Define very different. I heard through the grapevine that full frame cameras are a 1/2 stop shallower in depth of field than crop sensors at the same aperture an focal length. Is the 1/2 stop that substantial of a change?

I have enough to get an mkiii... but I don't want to be impatient and buy one only to find that I could have saved an extra $200 in a month. It's a quandary.

You have to be very careful when talking about DoF differences between crop and full frame. DoF is actually greater with larger sensors, so the 5D MkIII actually has more DoF than the 350D etc. However, when you start talking about the same field of view, then you will have less DoF on fulll frame, because you either have to stand closer or use a longer lens to get the same field of view. For me though, I took the step to full frame for landscapes and the differences in DoF never came into play, for the simple reason, I "see" differently when using full frame and simply frame differently. Of course, when it comes to wildlife and portraits, it would be a different story, as you probably would be looking for similar framing. In addition to that though, the effects of diffraction are less noticeable on full frame, because of the larger pixels and how they interact with physical characteristics introduced by lenses, so you are able to use narrower apertures with less softening due to diffraction. I believe the generally accepted differences in DoF when using the same field of view is around 1 stop, which is made up for (and probably more so, based on my anecdotal experience, not measured scientifically) by the differences in the diffraction limited aperture between full frame and crop sensors.

 

[JPAZ]

Welcome. The biggest issue with your new toy is that you have lost your alibi. Now when I have a photo that comes out poorly, I can no longer blame my camera.....it is my fault! I am looking through some recent pictures from my son's graduation taken indoors at 400mm f/8 with iso 12800 and they are pretty decent even before PP. These would never have been at all possible with my 50D. Some of the "non-keepers" are the ones where I inadvertently focused on the podium instead of him as he walked across the stage! I've got to work on using focus points and the AF scenarios" better. An ongoing learning experience. I am still amazed by the look of pics I have been getting.

 

[Birger.Niss]

Last shot of the day before turning in
50 mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2, 1/25 sec, ISO-2000, factor 2 downscaling.
Ambient street light.

 

[jdramirez]

Congratulations and welcome to CR! That having been said, look forward to you posting pictures!

BTW, I went from 300D to 5D3 and so I understand your delight! One word of caution - the DOF is very different. It takes a while to fully comprehend that... Also don't hesitate to push the ISO. It is not grainy at 800 I had a hard stop at 400 ISO. With the 5D3 even 12800 and 25600 ISO can be workable!

Enjoy!

One more thing - if you think the images are soft even when you take a stationary subject from a tripod, try live view focus. If that is sharp and the normal AF is soft, you need to micro-adjust the AF for your lens.

Define very different. I heard through the grapevine that full frame cameras are a 1/2 stop shallower in depth of field than crop sensors at the same aperture an focal length. Is the 1/2 stop that substantial of a change?

I have enough to get an mkiii... but I don't want to be impatient and buy one only to find that I could have saved an extra $200 in a month. It's a quandary.

You have to be very careful when talking about DoF differences between crop and full frame. DoF is actually greater with larger sensors, so the 5D MkIII actually has more DoF than the 350D etc. However, when you start talking about the same field of view, then you will have less DoF on fulll frame, because you either have to stand closer or use a longer lens to get the same field of view. For me though, I took the step to full frame for landscapes and the differences in DoF never came into play, for the simple reason, I "see" differently when using full frame and simply frame differently. Of course, when it comes to wildlife and portraits, it would be a different story, as you probably would be looking for similar framing. In addition to that though, the effects of diffraction are less noticeable on full frame, because of the larger pixels and how they interact with physical characteristics introduced by lenses, so you are able to use narrower apertures with less softening due to diffraction. I believe the generally accepted differences in DoF when using the same field of view is around 1 stop, which is made up for (and probably more so, based on my anecdotal experience, not measured scientifically) by the differences in the diffraction limited aperture between full frame and crop sensors.

I'm going to have to re-read this when I'm not tired. Thanks for responding...

 

[Skulker]

Welcome to CR, and congratulations on a great camera, hope you have as much fun with yours as I do with mine.

Congrats on the new toy!

Congratulations on your new camera. The 5D Mark III is the best DSRL today.

I love my MKIII as much as the next guy, but it's only the best DSLR today for people - like me - who can't afford a 1DX.

Don't be too sure. I am really lucky I have both and I think I probably use the 5D3 more. The 1Dx is fantastic and can do what the 5D3 can and more, except the number of pixels but either have plenty for me. BUT the 5D3 is a lot lighter and smaller that has its benefits. I bought the 5D3 after the 1Dx because I saw the improvement in IQ over the 7D and found I was never using the 7D that I had kept as a backup. The loss of the crop factor is completely offset by the better IQ and the improved focus accuracy, being FF etc etc all help. But its the IQ that gets me every time and there's not much wrong with the 5D3.