Canon EOS 6D vs 5DIII images

[axeri]

Hi!

I know I'm probably making a silly question, but I have had a doubt for the last weeks and did not find any answer. I'm just an amateur, I had a Canon 5dMKIII and my wife has a 6D, I had mine stolen and have been using her camera for the last months. Apart from missing the AF system in the 5D, the thing is I like the images of the 6D more than the ones of the 5DIII, I somehow find them more pleasing. I know the specs of both cameras have some little differences, but I'm not sure they explain this difference. Could that be related to the type of post-processing I usually do in lightroom? Do any of you have a similar experience?

 

[Marsu42]

Apart from missing the AF system in the 5D, the thing is I like the images of the 6D more than the ones of the 5DIII, I somehow find them more pleasing. I know the specs of both cameras have some little differences, but I'm not sure they explain this difference.

As you recognize yourself, your perception cannot be explained with specs. If you downsample the 5d3 to 6d resolution and account for the little bit softer 6d images (btw 5d2 is even a tiny bit sharper at low iso), it's a wash- they're same generation sensors. Differences only show if you really make use of the bit larger dynamic range of the 6d or raise the shadows a lot and run into the 5d3's larger amount of banding.

Could that be related to the type of post-processing I usually do in lightroom? Do any of you have a similar experience?

My general experience is that good post-processing makes a *vast* amount of difference, esp. if it's interwoven with a shooting style that has post-processing in mind and doesn't go for an ok "straight out of camera" look.

 

[axeri]

Thanks a lot Marsu42 for your answer. I think the difference I notice may be related to two of the factors that you mention: it is possible that I added a little bit too much contrast/clarity to my images and doing the same in the softer 6D images results in overall nicer images. And the small DR advantage of the 6D could also be noticeable in some images.

 

[jeffa4444]

We rent a whole bunch of Canon 5dMKIII cameras and I have a 6d to be honest Ive never noticed any difference between the two cameras in terms of colorimagery or sharpness. Both cameras produce great results in LR and both appear to have slightly soft images on import which is easily corrected.

 

[Marsu42]

and doing the same in the softer 6D images results in overall nicer images.

These differences are academic and can only be seen by pixel-peeping and comparing same scenes by reviews - for real life shooting it's meaningless, as is removing the anti-aliasing filter (see reviews on the Nikon d800e).

I know it's tempting to explain one's impressions with tech specs or scientific data, but photography and the human eye/perception is so subjective and the images are always viewed in a certain setting/light imho it pays to simply improve one's core photography skills. Certainly no harm in *knowing* about technical details, but don't let them get at you

And the small DR advantage of the 6D could also be noticeable in some images.

More dr doesn't magically improve your images unless you've got clipping or visible banding/low resolution in the shadows. It even can be argued that more dr *decreases* iq because you squeeze it into the same 14bit raw file range, preventing you from filling the histogram left to right... that's why high-dr sensors will probably have 16bit res.