Day 1: email to my canon staff member I normally rant too
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I got impatient and bought a 5D3 – whilst it’s not one series, it’s not too bad.
However there is some serious banding issues – I can’t be the only one that it effects.
Sample here – (yes I am aware I twitched and locked ev -1/3 under but wouldn’t have this effect)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33440790/1D5A8210.JPG (20MB warning)
I removed all in body processing as I wanted to see what the sensor is capable of.
DPP seems to have a mind of it’s own but I removed the unsharpen mask (which kills the image btw) and sharpening and all NR – except for Luminance noise (which is appalling without it)
There is serious banding in the skys? – red/green/purple – and I am using the camera how you would expect f2.2, 1/50, iso 12.8K
Thoughts? Solutions?
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No response so then continued with my day 2 experiences:
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AF test, Jpeg shooting:
Positive notes:
- AF – spot on to the fact of lunacy, and I have only just started to fine tune it as the default case 2 switches a bit too much. I managed to grab a cyclist come up a hill back lit when in a moving car travelling at 60KM/hr with only a 0.2-0.5s acquisition time pre fire on an F4 lens – to me that is insane.
- Jpeg image sooc is gorgeous – I wanted to see what it renders like with HS NR, ALO, Landscape Profile on and tbh SOOC images are near flaweless (bar the read noise).
Negatives:
- Dunno what Canons smoking but 6FPS is a joke – this is a 3.5-4fps at best camera when tracking (painfully slow but at least its accurate) – 7D smashes out frames in the same light using the same lens.
- Magnify to point is great (but nothing new after shooting 1 series for a few generations), but the moron that moved the magnify button should be shot.
- The af point is so small it’s hard to see at times (never had that issue with the 7D as the af points larger and brighter when you put the af point brightness mode to max – and at least you are given that option!!!)
Major Disappointment’s:
Read noise at iso 100 (and up) is noticeable in the shadows and anything remotely grey.
LR’s Colour NR does remove most of it but at higher iso’s it doesn’t do as good a job.
On a side note: I’d love to use DPP but it seems it’s the same people coding that program as the guy that moved the magnify button – it’s clunky and feel like it came from the windows 95 era.
For now however there is no alternative to DPP -> TiFF -> LR edit (in effect you are better off shooting jpeg)
For a RRP of $4299 I wouldn’t expect to have to be processing NR at iso 100. At best this body is worth $2K and should be sold as Canons entry level FF camera – if you pull the AF out, that’s all it is - an entry level FF with a noisy sensor.
I’m not sure if the upcoming firmware address this?
"local rep name" I’m going to take it into the studio and try and reclaim some love for it – from everything I have seen so far I am expecting to see some banding in the shadows of the skin tones – if my expectations prove to be true, then the camera is a complete and utter failure and will have to go back – sorry :/ (that was to my local rep)
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Response!!!
---
Hi,
I passed on your previous feedback to our technical team for their evaluation.
Unfortunately due to restrictions in our internet access regarding file sharing we were unable to download the image you sent; however they mentioned that to accurately test whether the camera was functioning within specification or not it would need to be tested here at North Ryde.
As per below however I can see the 5DMkiii has not met your expectations. I cannot comment on the technical performance of the camera as this is all managed via Canon Inc, I can only hope that when the 1DX is launched it is the camera that you have been waiting for.
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---
I got impatient and bought a 5D3 – whilst it’s not one series, it’s not too bad.
However there is some serious banding issues – I can’t be the only one that it effects.
Sample here – (yes I am aware I twitched and locked ev -1/3 under but wouldn’t have this effect)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33440790/1D5A8210.JPG (20MB warning)
I removed all in body processing as I wanted to see what the sensor is capable of.
DPP seems to have a mind of it’s own but I removed the unsharpen mask (which kills the image btw) and sharpening and all NR – except for Luminance noise (which is appalling without it)
There is serious banding in the skys? – red/green/purple – and I am using the camera how you would expect f2.2, 1/50, iso 12.8K
Thoughts? Solutions?
---
No response so then continued with my day 2 experiences:
---
AF test, Jpeg shooting:
Positive notes:
- AF – spot on to the fact of lunacy, and I have only just started to fine tune it as the default case 2 switches a bit too much. I managed to grab a cyclist come up a hill back lit when in a moving car travelling at 60KM/hr with only a 0.2-0.5s acquisition time pre fire on an F4 lens – to me that is insane.
- Jpeg image sooc is gorgeous – I wanted to see what it renders like with HS NR, ALO, Landscape Profile on and tbh SOOC images are near flaweless (bar the read noise).
Negatives:
- Dunno what Canons smoking but 6FPS is a joke – this is a 3.5-4fps at best camera when tracking (painfully slow but at least its accurate) – 7D smashes out frames in the same light using the same lens.
- Magnify to point is great (but nothing new after shooting 1 series for a few generations), but the moron that moved the magnify button should be shot.
- The af point is so small it’s hard to see at times (never had that issue with the 7D as the af points larger and brighter when you put the af point brightness mode to max – and at least you are given that option!!!)
Major Disappointment’s:
Read noise at iso 100 (and up) is noticeable in the shadows and anything remotely grey.
LR’s Colour NR does remove most of it but at higher iso’s it doesn’t do as good a job.
On a side note: I’d love to use DPP but it seems it’s the same people coding that program as the guy that moved the magnify button – it’s clunky and feel like it came from the windows 95 era.
For now however there is no alternative to DPP -> TiFF -> LR edit (in effect you are better off shooting jpeg)
For a RRP of $4299 I wouldn’t expect to have to be processing NR at iso 100. At best this body is worth $2K and should be sold as Canons entry level FF camera – if you pull the AF out, that’s all it is - an entry level FF with a noisy sensor.
I’m not sure if the upcoming firmware address this?
"local rep name" I’m going to take it into the studio and try and reclaim some love for it – from everything I have seen so far I am expecting to see some banding in the shadows of the skin tones – if my expectations prove to be true, then the camera is a complete and utter failure and will have to go back – sorry :/ (that was to my local rep)
---
Response!!!
---
Hi,
I passed on your previous feedback to our technical team for their evaluation.
Unfortunately due to restrictions in our internet access regarding file sharing we were unable to download the image you sent; however they mentioned that to accurately test whether the camera was functioning within specification or not it would need to be tested here at North Ryde.
As per below however I can see the 5DMkiii has not met your expectations. I cannot comment on the technical performance of the camera as this is all managed via Canon Inc, I can only hope that when the 1DX is launched it is the camera that you have been waiting for.
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