5d3 2 day experience coming from a 7D - Canon responses included...

[Sycotek]

And yes it's going back - might try another body and see how that goes

 

[Drizzt321]

-For the record the 7D is my tie over camera when I sold off all my 1 Series gear (as we were all expecting the 1Dx to be out last Feb, tried to get a better price for my 1 Series before everyone starts the sell-off...) I think part problem being my expectations coming from 1Ds3's and 1D4's.

Ah, well, maybe there's part of your problem. You're expecting this to be a 1D camera. It may have the new 1D class focusing system, but it's still a 5D level camera even though it does have lots of small tweaks and improvements over the 5d2.

I will say, I haven't really gotten the noise quite as bad as yours, and LR 4.1RC[1|2] cleared it right up most of the time at ISO 6400 & 8000 the time I shot at that high. It's definitely a big improvement over the 5d2@3200, that's for sure! Talk about banding!

 

[krjc]

I have had my 5D3 for 24 hours now and it is just so much better then my 7D that I love so much. High ISO is so much better and so much better then the 7D that there is no comparison. I have pushed the exposure to see how it handles it and it is looks good to me. Photos at 25,600 looking better then 1,600 on my 7D. Only thing I will miss on the 5D3 compared to the 7D is the reach. If a 7D2 comes out I will upgrade and have that as my second camera for that reason. Also the transition from the 7D has been effortless and the main reason I didn't even consider the D800, that along with my Canon glass. Frankly I don't care what others have, if what I have gets the job done 100% for my needs.

 

[Sycotek]

I have had my 5D3 for 24 hours now and it is just so much better then my 7D that I love so much. High ISO is so much better and so much better then the 7D that there is no comparison. I have pushed the exposure to see how it handles it and it is looks good to me. Photos at 25,600 looking better then 1,600 on my 7D. Only thing I will miss on the 5D3 compared to the 7D is the reach. If a 7D2 comes out I will upgrade and have that as my second camera for that reason. Also the transition from the 7D has been effortless and the main reason I didn't even consider the D800, that along with my Canon glass. Frankly I don't care what others have, if what I have gets the job done 100% for my needs.

It is really a seamless change!

And banding aside i was impressed with the jpeg engine - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33440790/Jpegzoom.png for example 12.8K, 1/20, f4, 105mm (a little PP but it picked up the texture on the leather at 12.8K which to me is impressive)

 

[Sycotek]

In direct comparison with it's big brother - pre-production 1DX - I'm sure people have seen this image before but I've blown-up parts for my own analysis f5, 1/125, 24mm, iso12.8K:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33440790/EOS1dX--0063.jpg - ACR convert to jpeg, no PP although it looks like there was NR inbody enabled.

Banding specifically in the greys isn't visible - does inherit the colour bleed which i noticed on the 5d3 at high isos - maybe that's what they have been fixing over the last few months? Look at the red to black transition, i had that issue with a teal (shorts) to skintone transition on the 5d3.

 

[altenae]

Ah, well, maybe there's part of your problem. You're expecting this to be a 1D camera

?

What are you saying ?
The 5D is not good enough for IQ , etc. and you need a 1D for this ?!

Strange remark.
Also strange topic.
Still waiting for his noisy and banding example from the 5D mark III.

 

[Drizzt321]

Ah, well, maybe there's part of your problem. You're expecting this to be a 1D camera

?

What are you saying ?
The 5D is not good enough for IQ , etc. and you need a 1D for this ?!

Strange remark.
Also strange topic.
Still waiting for his noisy and banding example from the 5D mark III.

I was referring to the FPS and such, not the IQ. I've never used a 1D camera, but from what I've seen people post there are distinct differences above and beyond just the hardware that distinguishes a 1D from any other camera in Canon's lineup. If that's what he's used to, even the 5d3 will have various points that he might consider to be of significantly lesser quality.

 

[Sycotek]

There was a banding image up for a few days sorry I pulled it down. If you're interested I can try and get a variety of cropped isos put together for you if i get the time over the weekend

In the end:

When went back to the store to return the unit and the canon dealer was intrigued (as you can see the banding on the back lcd as clear as day) He then got out the loaner unit and whilst it is still visible on the back lcd screen it wasn't anywhere near as bad as mine and the are sending that one back as a lemon.

We put both bodies through a battery of tests, shooting with the same then different lenses - all L's for the record - both units exhibited near same banding.It's very easy to replicate shoot dark grey to mid grey target or shoot a scene where there is shadows and it is visible in the shadows/dark greys. I never tried i but if my process holds true, shooting the night sky would yield the same result even more-so around dusk.

I am waiting to hear from Canon if there is actually a known issue with the processing engine/noise profile. It would explain why there is colour-bleeds visible in the raws on both the 1DX and 5D3, (and more then likely the real reason for the delay of the 1DX).

As previously noted - if you are using LR4, it automatically removes banding that occurs iso 100-3200 as the NR color slider is locked at 25 to begin with. cr2->dng->LR4 yields better results overall then cr2->dpp->tiff in my experience.

the latest dpp seems to ruin the image with unsharpen mask added by default ? (im not really a heavy user of dpp so im not the best when it comes to understanding why) artifacts are present in the image that aren't seen when converted to DNG.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

From my experience, Even with ISO 100, on most cameras, it's possible to recreate banding... I shoot product photography and metalized materials on a reflective surface gives me strong banding at ISO 100. Other materials aren't noticeable and looks flawless... what surface is the banding occurring on? a highly reflective surface? Skin tones should be porous enough to break the banding... As for the slow FPS, if you have the camera on focus first/speed second it will only fire when it's "sure" it's got focus... Also remember the 7d has a separate processor JUST FOR AF... the 5d3 doesn't. Its processor is faster than the digic 4's, supposedly, but it isn't a miracle worker, and is suspect in less challenging situations, it should be able to get 6FPS if set to do so. The AF point illumination is a problem but is easily fixable via firmware.

For $3500, with AF being the main upgrade, it sure as heck should track in AI Servo at 6fps, I sure hope the 7D doesn't leave it in the dust.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

7d has a separate processor JUST FOR AF... the 5d3 doesn't.

Not true.

The 5D Mark III has a dedicated processor for the AF:

From the Canon site (and many many other sites)

Both the 1D X and the 5D Mark III use dedicated AF microprocessors; these AF microprocessors are not DIGIC chips. The increased sensitivity of the focus system has also allowed for faster predictive focus measurements. Increased processing power is another factor to the 5D III's excellent AF performance - "The dedicated AF processor is four times faster than the one found in the EOS-1D Mark IV.


Also my 5D mark III is very close to 6 FPS.
Not sure why his 5D mark III is slow !! , make sure noise reduction is also off and battery fully charged.

Noisy images at 100 ISO !!!! , please post sample images so that we can see what is wrong.
If your 7D output is less noisy then for sure something is wrong.

Fair enough that the 5d3 has a microprocessor, although unspecified by canon, it is unknown what the power that processor is compared to a full digic. As far as it was explained to me, the 7d's drive was aided by 2 digic 4 processors, much like the 1d4's 2 processors helped that AF system and drive. The 1dx also has 2 digic 5+ processors to help that drive and buffer. The 5d3 has 1 digic 5+ processor in comparison to the 7d and 1d4 and 1dx 2 digic processors. It has been hinted that the 5d3's 1 processor should be (in af terms) be as good if not better than the 1d4 although it lacks in FPS and buffer, it is what it is.

7D does NOT use the 2 digic iv for AF it has a dedicated AF chip. 1DX also has a dedicated AF chip, the digic iv in the 1DX is only used to do the special color metering AF stuff.