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AF might be way better, sensor barely at all, video mode only half fixed(?)

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Apr 19, 2011
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looking at some AF tests on some forums, early tests, rather brief, etc. etc. keep that in mind, hint at a really humungous improvement in AF. In one test a guy focused a fast lens, wide open, barely any DOF on his little girl's eye and the center point 5D2 was dead on sometimes and somewhat off sometimes only truly nailing focus about 50% of the time, the 5D3 was dead on pretty much every frame, considerably better performance; using the left point, the 5D2 was off on by far most frames, looked like 80%+ off, while the 5D3 appeared to be just about dead on on every single frame. :D

So the AF earlier results, at least for non-sports tracking, are showing some very encouraging signs. I also saw one guy post a perfectly focused shot of a backlit shopkeeper with tons of brigher and more contrasty and detailed stuff behind him, a test that canon af has often failed on, certainly below 1 series, so that was looking great too.

OTOH, one of the guys posted a high ISO comparison and yeah the 5D3 was better, but wow it looked closer to only 1/3rd stop better. :( Granted using ACR is NOT the best way to test and maybe at the super duper high iso above ISO6400 the story would be different. But if this result held up then we have basically the same sensor as the 5D2 with just a few minor tweaks while nikon put much process sensors in the D4 and D800, even the D4 a non-exmor, managed to improve 1 stop low ISO DR over a few years, but Canon not a single bit :'(. It seems Canon is investing less in sensor fab while charging a lot more for their equipment now. :-\

So we are facing a new situation, we are like the Nikon of old, body performance may be fantastic but the sensor kinda pales in comparison (although maybe at ISO1600+ it will be top notch current so it may only be behind on one end of the scale, IF it does get to D3s-type leves on the top end that is certainly a nice improvement, no doubt).

Hopefully the more careful tests of DxO will paint a better picture of the High ISO tale though. And we will at least get high ISO up to D3s,D4 standards. This guy's test looked a bit worrisome, looked questionable to even match the D800 at high ISO, but other tests make it seem quite possible. ANd it's all but been established that the D800 will be noticeable better at ISO 100 for scenes having large dynamic range (they really are not that hard to come across, in part, people were so used to thinking them impossible, they don't even see them anymore in their photographic mind's eye and automatically right them off without even thinking about it).

But the early AF tests are looking VERY, VERY good so far. The body performance seems great this time.

ADD: I've since seen reports from a few people who shot a game or two and they said it did better than their 1 series body when it came to AF.

ADD: The video is apparently blurry and not real 1920x1080 again, getting blasted on the video pro blogs apparently, if they couldn't do 3x3 smoothtly since those blocks are too large compared to the AA filter without having to blur down res to stop aliasing then why not offer a second, cropped mode, using 2x2 blocks like the C300? That may have made the video on this totally killer and been better for the wildlife videographers just in general.
 
Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

All I ever wanted was better AF. Really a 7D body with FF. Pity about the price.

Sensors are so good it is unlikely we will see further quantum jumps in quality.
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

have you actually used it or just looking at internet waffle?
This camera is awesome period.
I feel like a veil has been lifted going from the 5D2 to this
I was never unhappy with the IQ from the mk2
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

wickidwombat said:
have you actually used it or just looking at internet waffle?
This camera is awesome period.
I feel like a veil has been lifted going from the 5D2 to this
I was never unhappy with the IQ from the mk2

I was happy until I saw the output side to side with output from the 1ds3. Need to do the same test with the 5DIII to see how it compares (at iso 100 and 200)
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

markd61 said:
All I ever wanted was better AF. Really a 7D body with FF. Pity about the price.

Sensors are so good it is unlikely we will see further quantum jumps in quality.

Well it sounds like you got it then, since the AF seems to be testing well. On that one guys test it easily bested the 5D2 center point (which, IMO, was at least as good, for non-AI Servo, as the 7D center point). Granted AI Servo hasn't been tested yet. But I'd be stunned if it didn't do as well as the 7D and surprised if it didn't do a lot better (only guesses of course).

Well Nikon/Sony sensors are now so good you might not see much better than the D800 sensor, but Canon has a loooong way to go for low ISO dynamic range, like a huge 2-3 stops way to go, and we will see whether they have reached the limit in high iso or not when DxO comes out with their report.
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

LetTheRightLensIn said:
But I'd be stunned if it didn't do as well as the 7D and surprised if it didn't do a lot better (only guesses of course).

I would be stunned if a 7D was as good as a 1D4 - and the 1DX is an upgrade from the 1D4 ......
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

briansquibb said:
wickidwombat said:
have you actually used it or just looking at internet waffle?
This camera is awesome period.
I feel like a veil has been lifted going from the 5D2 to this
I was never unhappy with the IQ from the mk2

I was happy until I saw the output side to side with output from the 1ds3. Need to do the same test with the 5DIII to see how it compares (at iso 100 and 200)

how did you get the 1Ds3 to shoot at 25600!? ;) :P
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

wickidwombat said:
briansquibb said:
wickidwombat said:
have you actually used it or just looking at internet waffle?
This camera is awesome period.
I feel like a veil has been lifted going from the 5D2 to this
I was never unhappy with the IQ from the mk2

I was happy until I saw the output side to side with output from the 1ds3. Need to do the same test with the 5DIII to see how it compares (at iso 100 and 200)

how did you get the 1Ds3 to shoot at 25600!? ;) :P

with the help of 2 x 580EXII and 4 x 580EX I never need more than iso200 :D I even have a Flash X-Tender for the 400 :D
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

I'm considering the upgrade, but it's looking less likely.

Stil waiting for in-depth reviews, but it seems to be as sugested above - super new AF, great body, but the sensor probably delivering most of its performance improvments in the high ISO range.

IQ is pretty great in the MkII, so, for me, the imperitive to upgrade seems minimal.

Will make a lot of other people happy though. :)
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

I occasionally use natural light as well - like this from Wednesday - this is Jenny Tinmouth, the only female competitor in the British Superbikes

I was also using the 1D4 as I was waving a long one at the track as well :) I had a 7D as well - it seemed so slow to lock on with the 400 f/2.8 - missed more shots than the 1D4 which has excellent AF even on the 600. The 5DIII has the same AF as the 1DX which is meant to be better than the 1D4 - it must be stonking

This picture was with the 70-200 f/2.8II on the 1D4
 

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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

Pretty stoked on mine.. Feels more substantial, and the AF is pretty crazy. That said, I'm not seeing a huge amount of IQ difference except at high ISO, above 3200. Going to test it at a shoot tomorrow night "for real". At the end of the day though, it doesn't seem like a massive jump from the 5d2. I also mainly shoot full manual, even focus, so maybe the finer points are being lost on me. Can't tell if I have the "new gear afterglow" or if I really feel like I got my $3400 worth (compared to what I already have).
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

LetTheRightLensIn said:
... and yeah the 5D3 was better, but wow it looked closer to only 1/3rd stop better. :(

Yes, ISO performance is indeed 1/3rd stop better at ISO-6400.
Maybe be more at higher ISOs but I don't care about these, as the noise at ISO-6400 is already at my personal usability limit (YMMV).
The 5DIII also has a bit better color accuracy than the 5DII.

Overall, my subjective evaluation is that the sensor improvement is maybe 15% and the AF is maybe 3x better.
Again, these are subjective measurements that I've attached to this camera based on what I've seen so far.

These definitely do not warrant the price increase.
So, for now the 5DIII gets a firm "hold" recommendation from me ;) 8).

When the 5DIII drops to $2500, it would be a fantastic buy, though.
Patience, padawan, patience.
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

Shooting the camera all day today, IMO the 5D3 has superior IQ and that is just JPEG comparing now... I assume it will get even better with LR4 RAW processing.

AF is WAY better no doubt. Tracking is dead on. No contest.

ISO performance also clearly better, even the RAW files. The ISO 12,800 RAW file looks better then the 5D2 6400 file. The noise is nicer, cleaner looking with more detail. ISO 25,600 RAW is not shabby either. No blotchy RAW noise, just nice grain. No banding, amp glow, etc...

To ME, clear improvement with high ISO. YMMV.
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

briansquibb said:
Anyone compared it at iso 100-400 against the 5DII??
I haven't done any side by side yet just took the 5D3 out last night over the weekend i'll do some decent side by side shooting

actually the closer i look at the raws in bridge and ACR PS the less impressed i am with the 5D3
sharpness seems better in DPP but I hate using DPP :(
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

4jphotography said:
Pretty stoked on mine.. Feels more substantial, and the AF is pretty crazy. That said, I'm not seeing a huge amount of IQ difference except at high ISO, above 3200. Going to test it at a shoot tomorrow night "for real". At the end of the day though, it doesn't seem like a massive jump from the 5d2. I also mainly shoot full manual, even focus, so maybe the finer points are being lost on me. Can't tell if I have the "new gear afterglow" or if I really feel like I got my $3400 worth (compared to what I already have).

How is the Fully MF going without a focusing screen? Is the new VF better in that respect than the MkII one?

WIckedW, good luck with the review comparisons - much appreciated!
 
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Re: AF might be way better, sensor barely at all

wickidwombat said:
briansquibb said:
Anyone compared it at iso 100-400 against the 5DII??
I haven't done any side by side yet just took the 5D3 out last night over the weekend i'll do some decent side by side shooting

actually the closer i look at the raws in bridge and ACR PS the less impressed i am with the 5D3
sharpness seems better in DPP but I hate using DPP :(

I am not a supporter of LR or CS but <3 DPP. Why not use the software that was designed to process RAW - and it is free :D
 
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