Hi all,
Ok, I know that I’m quite crazy these days actually shooting with 5D Mk3. Perhaps I should discuss over and over again about DxO, D800, pixel-peeping etc. Yes, D800 is the elephant in the room and now it is obvious that the only thing which is left to improve the situation is to improve the firmware. Anyway, Canon is working on a new version, isn’t it?
But since there were many more or less good opinions and tests done without being very much in the battlefield with the camera, I chose to lay down my impression AFTER actually using it in rather harsh conditions for a photo reporter – I was in the Holy Mount Athos with the occasion of the Holy Week and the Orthodox Easter and all the celebrations tied with these events.
In technical terms, this means a very broad range of light from the normal daylight till the light of a single candle (yep, I have enough keepers at 25k ISO), a very broad range of movement from fast-paced moments to an endless peace and serenity (very good to find the God, very bad for a moving photographer with a “clack” dSLR). As an aside: IMHO the silent mode of 5DMk3 is definitely a must-have for almost any photo reporter - everyone loses his natural way of being when hears the mirror's sound.
Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions bellow are just thoughts of a photographer from the battlefield which shoot almost 10000 (ten thousand) photos in two weeks – nothing absolute, nothing dogmatic. I know that Canon is preparing a new firmware and I just want to be constructive.
Canon has a big problem now with D800 PR wise and I think that in the situation at hand the most effective way to improve it now is to improve the firmware.
Here we go:
1. 5D Mk3 screen: 418 Images on 16 GB card. Really?
Guys IMHO Canon is way off on this one. My workhorses are two 16 GB cards (one Lexar CF and one Trancend SD). EOS 5D3 says that I can shoot only 418 photos in RAW. However the camera writes on the cards somewhere between 530 – 570 files while shooting RAW mainly in 3200 – 12800 ISO range. And if I shoot in daylight (ie. low ISO) a 16GB card can hold till 590 RAW files.
Proposed solution: There are several variants but I think that the best ones are based on the (moving) average of file sizes actually shoot by the photographer. More details on request.
2. What means “Auto” Min. Shutter Speed on ISO Speed Settings?
Well, I thought that it means that the camera adjusts the ISO and the aperture in order to meet a Shutter Speed equal with the lens’ Focal Length. But it seems that isn’t always the case, and hence there are shoots which are blurred because of this. For ex. having a 50mm lens the camera sets the exposure at 1/40 secs, having lens raked out at 135mm gives us a shutter speed of 1/122 aso. More examples on request.
Proposed solution: Add an option in “ISO Speed Settings” called ‘Enforce Shutter Speed > F. Length’ which when it is set to ‘Enabled’ will ensure (at the cost of a higher ISO) the right shutter speed (iow bigger than the F. Length).
3. Manual AF Pt. Selec. Pattern - …half job
The “Manual AF Point Selection Pattern” (AF5 in camera’s menu) if it is in “Continuous” mode it wraps at the opposite edge. Except if the AF engine is in Zone AF mode. Why? The behavior of this feature isn’t consistent. And it is too bad. One must remember this when the things are happening quickly in front of him. Very frustrating.
4. Super Safety Shift (Fix This!)
Guys, Safety Shift is a nice idea. However I think that it can be dramatically improved. Besides the values already there you can add other 3 values: “C1”, “C1,C2”, “C1,C2,C3” which will work in P, Tv and Av modes. “C1” means that when a correct exposure cannot be obtained with the current settings the camera will switch automatically and temporarily (only for the current shot) to the “C1” custom shooting mode. “C1,C2” means the same as above but if C1 fails also, the camera will try the C2 shooting mode. “C1,C2,C3” means that in order to obtain the correct exposure camera will try all the custom shooting modes in the specified order. Of course, beware of infinite recursion because Safety Shift is also recorded in custom shooting modes. Or perhaps is better to introduce an entirely new menu called “Fallback Shooting Modes” or similar?
5. Not-So-Direct AF Selection with the Joystick
There is a customization called “AF point direct selection” which, during metering, allows the user to choose the AF point with the joystick. Nice feature indeed. But in order to be perfect, I think that it should have an option called “Auto-repeat” with the possible values of “Enabled / Disabled”. In order to change the AF point we must press one for each change. It would be much more convenient to keep the joystick pressed in order to move more quickly the AF point.
HTH & Best regards,
JT.
PS: Does someone know how to forward this text to Canon in order to be really effective and see some firmware improvements based on this?
Ok, I know that I’m quite crazy these days actually shooting with 5D Mk3. Perhaps I should discuss over and over again about DxO, D800, pixel-peeping etc. Yes, D800 is the elephant in the room and now it is obvious that the only thing which is left to improve the situation is to improve the firmware. Anyway, Canon is working on a new version, isn’t it?
But since there were many more or less good opinions and tests done without being very much in the battlefield with the camera, I chose to lay down my impression AFTER actually using it in rather harsh conditions for a photo reporter – I was in the Holy Mount Athos with the occasion of the Holy Week and the Orthodox Easter and all the celebrations tied with these events.
In technical terms, this means a very broad range of light from the normal daylight till the light of a single candle (yep, I have enough keepers at 25k ISO), a very broad range of movement from fast-paced moments to an endless peace and serenity (very good to find the God, very bad for a moving photographer with a “clack” dSLR). As an aside: IMHO the silent mode of 5DMk3 is definitely a must-have for almost any photo reporter - everyone loses his natural way of being when hears the mirror's sound.
Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions bellow are just thoughts of a photographer from the battlefield which shoot almost 10000 (ten thousand) photos in two weeks – nothing absolute, nothing dogmatic. I know that Canon is preparing a new firmware and I just want to be constructive.
Canon has a big problem now with D800 PR wise and I think that in the situation at hand the most effective way to improve it now is to improve the firmware.
Here we go:
1. 5D Mk3 screen: 418 Images on 16 GB card. Really?
Guys IMHO Canon is way off on this one. My workhorses are two 16 GB cards (one Lexar CF and one Trancend SD). EOS 5D3 says that I can shoot only 418 photos in RAW. However the camera writes on the cards somewhere between 530 – 570 files while shooting RAW mainly in 3200 – 12800 ISO range. And if I shoot in daylight (ie. low ISO) a 16GB card can hold till 590 RAW files.
Proposed solution: There are several variants but I think that the best ones are based on the (moving) average of file sizes actually shoot by the photographer. More details on request.
2. What means “Auto” Min. Shutter Speed on ISO Speed Settings?
Well, I thought that it means that the camera adjusts the ISO and the aperture in order to meet a Shutter Speed equal with the lens’ Focal Length. But it seems that isn’t always the case, and hence there are shoots which are blurred because of this. For ex. having a 50mm lens the camera sets the exposure at 1/40 secs, having lens raked out at 135mm gives us a shutter speed of 1/122 aso. More examples on request.
Proposed solution: Add an option in “ISO Speed Settings” called ‘Enforce Shutter Speed > F. Length’ which when it is set to ‘Enabled’ will ensure (at the cost of a higher ISO) the right shutter speed (iow bigger than the F. Length).
3. Manual AF Pt. Selec. Pattern - …half job
The “Manual AF Point Selection Pattern” (AF5 in camera’s menu) if it is in “Continuous” mode it wraps at the opposite edge. Except if the AF engine is in Zone AF mode. Why? The behavior of this feature isn’t consistent. And it is too bad. One must remember this when the things are happening quickly in front of him. Very frustrating.
4. Super Safety Shift (Fix This!)
Guys, Safety Shift is a nice idea. However I think that it can be dramatically improved. Besides the values already there you can add other 3 values: “C1”, “C1,C2”, “C1,C2,C3” which will work in P, Tv and Av modes. “C1” means that when a correct exposure cannot be obtained with the current settings the camera will switch automatically and temporarily (only for the current shot) to the “C1” custom shooting mode. “C1,C2” means the same as above but if C1 fails also, the camera will try the C2 shooting mode. “C1,C2,C3” means that in order to obtain the correct exposure camera will try all the custom shooting modes in the specified order. Of course, beware of infinite recursion because Safety Shift is also recorded in custom shooting modes. Or perhaps is better to introduce an entirely new menu called “Fallback Shooting Modes” or similar?
5. Not-So-Direct AF Selection with the Joystick
There is a customization called “AF point direct selection” which, during metering, allows the user to choose the AF point with the joystick. Nice feature indeed. But in order to be perfect, I think that it should have an option called “Auto-repeat” with the possible values of “Enabled / Disabled”. In order to change the AF point we must press one for each change. It would be much more convenient to keep the joystick pressed in order to move more quickly the AF point.
HTH & Best regards,
JT.
PS: Does someone know how to forward this text to Canon in order to be really effective and see some firmware improvements based on this?