A former Nikon user's thoughts on his first 24 hours with the 5D Mark III

[brattymesler]

It's funny, I never saw myself going to Canon after shooting Nikon for the last (and my first) five years. I got noticed enough to be published in several magazines and newspapers around the world and be asked to partake in a few gallery shows focused on burlesque. I love my D300, but this year came the time to upgrade with the idea of continuing the performance photography that I do, the head shots and portraits I take, and also getting into weddings (wish me luck on that one).

Oh, and I got married last year and hired a photographer who shoots Canon. As I vacillated back and forth between the D800 and 5DIII, one thing stuck out in my head: the way Canon renders color and skin tones versus my Nikon. I was capital A-amazed. All of his photos looked incredibly rich (he gave me the raw files so I knew what I was looking at) without editing.

I've been shooting with the 5DIII for just over 24 hours now including a christening today and I have some initial thoughts.

1) Holy cow this thing is amazing! It is at least as clean at ISO 12800 as my d300 at 1600 or maybe even 800!
2) Gorgeous color rendition. Out of camera, the raw files from my d300 were life like, but nowhere near as rich as these seem to be so far. The screen on the camera has damn near perfect color reproduction so that I can pretty much hold it up to a tree or a dress and see very little difference. The files on my computer have a vibrance my nikon is missing.
3) Detail is excellent and I must give props to the 24-105L and 85 1.8 on that one as part of it. It is definitely nice having f/4 have the DOF of f/4 and not f/5.6 like APS-C, but the detail in the files is astounding. I neither want nor need 50-75MB files. The detail and dynamic range I see at is an impressive step forward from both 12mp to 22mp and for 5 years development.
4) Wickedly fast autofocus. My D300 is no slouch, but my 5dIII is making it look that way. The zone autofocus is nice and I find myself enjoying the way zone AF is implemented. With that, the choice of single point and single point spot is nice. Getting used to using the wheels to choose my autofocus point more quickly is a pain, but again, it's part of learning a new system.
5) I REALLY MISS SPOT METERING LINKED TO MY AUTOFOCUS POINT. It's going to take me a while to figure out how best to meter even when just shooting basic portraits. Also the fuller coverage of a system this size on an APS-C sensor, but then I knew what I was getting myself into regardless of the company I ended up going with.
6) It feels like my D300- perfect in my hand. A solid weight, a good size, similar button placement
7) Quiet mode and live view are excellent, need to experiment more with LV because it is so much crisper than on the D300

Additionally, I have to say the 85 1.8 is an AMAZING LENS. It really has the feel of the Nikon 1.4d, and that is a hell of a compliment. I must say it is lovely having that field of view of an 85 with the actual magnification of an 85 and not a 50 (and yes I know on nikon's crop it is technically the fov of a 75mm lens). The 24-105L is great at f/4 and gets better from there, but I still feel the need to pick up a 35mm down the line.

Overall, this is a great camera! So far I am incredibly satisfied and can't wait to master the system and regain the ability to easily make the shots I see in my head without thinking about what my hands are doing.

Thank you for indulging my initial thoughts.

 

[PhilDrinkwater]

Well, it's nice to hear the positive news

I've said several times that the two things that would mean I would stay with Canon are how it renders skin tones and the 50mm 1.2 (which is just *beautiful*).

Graphs and numbers don't give you enough information to emotionally attach to a photo and all of the "tech heads" (on both sides) who discuss just numbers really miss the point IMO. I'm not saying they're not important - they can be - but the way my photo looks on screen at screen resolution is actually more important than the details of how the photo looks when it's scaled up or cropped down or pushed by 5 stops.

I guess everyone has their own view on this - and that's down to their personality or business needs - but for me I get actually bookings (see my work below) because of how my colours are. I know this because my customers tell me.

All that said, I think both Nikon and Canon have done a fantastic job with their latest cameras and I think the difference between them is actually very slight *for the majority of photographers*.

(P.S I love the silent shutter too - that really sold me the 5d3 over the 1dx)

 

[ksuweh]

It is great to hear such complements from a former Nikonian! Thanks for sharing that. You had mentioned that you would like to pickup a 35 down the road. I have a 5D III as well as the 35 L. That lens is STUNNING! Very sharp even wide open. Its one of my favorite lenses. You will be impressed!!

 

[stakx]

4) Wickedly fast autofocus. My D300 is no slouch, but my 5dIII is making it look that way. The zone autofocus is nice and I find myself enjoying the way zone AF is implemented. With that, the choice of single point and single point spot is nice. Getting used to using the wheels to choose my autofocus point more quickly is a pain, but again, it's part of learning a new system.

For choosing autofocus points, I'd recommend using the "joystick"/multi-controller. It's intuitive and fast to choose points (even more so if you're using zone AF).

5) I REALLY MISS SPOT METERING LINKED TO MY AUTOFOCUS POINT. It's going to take me a while to figure out how best to meter even when just shooting basic portraits. Also the fuller coverage of a system this size on an APS-C sensor, but then I knew what I was getting myself into regardless of the company I ended up going with.

The "work around" is to use AE lock from the center spot meter and then recomposing. It took me a bit of practice to get used to it (on a 7D).

 

[brattymesler]

For choosing autofocus points, I'd recommend using the "joystick"/multi-controller. It's intuitive and fast to choose points (even more so if you're using zone AF).

yep, working with it. I finally figured out how to set the joystick so I don't need to press the autofocus select button first.

The "work around" is to use AE lock from the center spot meter and then recomposing. It took me a bit of practice to get used to it (on a 7D).

I'm working on it. Can't say I'm thrilled, but I'm working on it.

 

[psolberg]

Overall, this is a great camera! So far I am incredibly satisfied and can't wait to master the system and regain the ability to easily make the shots I see in my head without thinking about what my hands are doing.

Thank you for indulging my initial thoughts.

congrats. I'm going the other direction from the red team to the yellow team
I'm sure we'll both enjoy our new systems. I'm excited about the switch to Nikon.

 

[PhilDrinkwater]

The "work around" is to use AE lock from the center spot meter and then recomposing. It took me a bit of practice to get used to it (on a 7D).

I'm working on it. Can't say I'm thrilled, but I'm working on it.

I would say that's a little disappointing. Sad that Canon felt the need to not allow this. I don't think it would have hurt sales of the 1 series

I never used the option so it doesn't affect me, but I understand it's not great for others

 

[brattymesler]

congrats. I'm going the other direction from the red team to the yellow team
I'm sure we'll both enjoy our new systems. I'm excited about the switch to Nikon.

You'll love it. If they had released what I wanted, it would have been a lot harder to make up my mind, but, unfortunately, they didn't. so it goes...

 

[psolberg]

congrats. I'm going the other direction from the red team to the yellow team
I'm sure we'll both enjoy our new systems. I'm excited about the switch to Nikon.

You'll love it. If they had released what I wanted, it would have been a lot harder to make up my mind, but, unfortunately, they didn't. so it goes...

yeah, they are just tools, not wife swapping or changing religions. If only most people saw it that way we wouldn't have to put up with the endless system wars.

 

[V8Beast]

Glad you're enjoying the 5DIII and putting it to good use. I was actually tempted to get a D700 over a 5DII several years ago, but fortunately Canon and Nikon decided to switch philosophies. I applaud Canon for building the 5DIII, the true successor to the D700 I'm sure former Canon shooters switching to D800 are applauding Nikon for building the true successor the 5DII

 

[Renzokuken]

resolution had nothing to do with it for me

The fact that the D800's dynamic range is almost 2 EVs better than the 5D3 YET at the same time having more than 10 mega-pixels squeeze into it is very very commendable on Nikon's part.

I wouldn't be guilty of thinking that the grass is greener on the other side if the 2 stops Noise improvement on 5DIII's part is more prevalent in RAW files.

Canon themselves stated that the 2 stop improvement in noise performance that they've mentioned is from jpegs. Which mean that the improvement might come from better in-camera PP rather than a more advance or superior sensor, hence I'm not impressed.

Resolution have nothing to do with this
But it was an added bonus

 

[Marsu42]

Canon themselves stated that the 2 stop improvement in noise performance that they've mentioned is from jpegs. Which mean that the improvement might come from better in-camera PP rather than a more advance or superior sensor, hence I'm not impressed.

But surely this just means that the raw converters (Adobe raw, Canon dpp) are not yet up for the 5d3 job? I cannot imagine that it's just in-camera postprocessing like noise reduction and dr compression.

 

[LostArk]

The "work around" is to use AE lock from the center spot meter and then recomposing. It took me a bit of practice to get used to it (on a 7D).

I'm working on it. Can't say I'm thrilled, but I'm working on it.

I would say that's a little disappointing. Sad that Canon felt the need to not allow this. I don't think it would have hurt sales of the 1 series

I never used the option so it doesn't affect me, but I understand it's not great for others

I like to do concert photography, and I usually use M mode. To get a spot exposure reading, recompose, and focus takes too long; by the time you do, the subject has moved or the lighting has changed. The fact that the D7000 doesn't have an AF-ON button is the only thing keeping me from switching back to Nikon.

 

[birtembuk]

Canon themselves stated that the 2 stop improvement in noise performance that they've mentioned is from jpegs. Which mean that the improvement might come from better in-camera PP rather than a more advance or superior sensor, hence I'm not impressed.

But surely this just means that the raw converters (Adobe raw, Canon dpp) are not yet up for the 5d3 job? I cannot imagine that it's just in-camera postprocessing like noise reduction and dr compression.

Yes, a little bewildering. What's done in camera should be doable in post-processing. Let's see how the updated converters do that.

 

[nesarajah]

made my day .

 

[the-ninth]

5) I REALLY MISS SPOT METERING LINKED TO MY AUTOFOCUS POINT. It's going to take me a while to figure out how best to meter even when just shooting basic portraits.

Yeah, if I'd had one wish in regard to my 5D3 it would also be the addition of spot-metering linked to the AF point.

Cheers, Robert

 

[brattymesler]

Just an update with photos! Still loving it except for the lack of AF linked spot metering.

So these is from a show I shot last night. The strong man (Adam the First Real Man) is at iso 6400 85mmf/1.8 at f/2, the dancer (Ivory fox) is at iso 12800 24-104f/4L at 55mm and f/4, and Sasha Firegypsy is at iso 3200 with the 35mmf/1.4L at f/2.

 

[friedmud]

One thing you might try is _not_ using spot metering.

I used spot metering and center weighted average + AE Lock and recompose almost exclusively on my XSi because evaluative metering was _terrible_. This is not true on my 7D though... and I bet the 5DIII is better.

Here is the bit from the 7D manual:

"To complement the iFCL metering sensor, the EOS 7D also features a newly designed metering algorithm. The EOS 7D always measures focus with all AF points regardless of the selected AF mode. During the exposure reading the EOS 7D looks to see which points, in addition to the selected point, have achieved or almost achieved focus. This information lets the camera know which part of the image is the subject. It then takes metering readings from the zones corresponding to the AF points that have achieved (or almost achieved) focus and combines them with readings from all the other zones. This allows for consistent shot-to-shot exposure, even in complex situations – where there are reflections from a model’s glasses for example. "

In practice, this is working really well for me. I haven't felt the need to go back to spot + AE Lock since I got the 7D.

BTW - On the 7D I've found that spot _AF_ seems to not work as well with the evaluative metering mode (it probably gives less info to the algorithm). So in cases where I'm really needing the metering to be good I just use one of the other AF modes (even Single-point works fine).

 

[ScottyP]

Welcome to the side of goodness.

By the way, your subject matter is certainly more interesting than average! Guys tearing phone books, a brass pole kind of thing, and someone nwho looks serious about playing with fire!

 

[AdamJ]

If anyone queries the noise on the pole dancer's legs, just tell them it's cellulite.