Rant about 5DIII (and my oversight)

[sagittariansrock]

Never thought I'd be writing this, but I want to write it and get it out of my system so I don't have any more ill-feeling left about this little guy:
1. Truly surprised about the difference between 8fps and 6fps. I was shooting a commencement ceremony and trying to get the 'toss the mortarboards' shot. Boy, was it getting frustrating catching the mortarboard while still within the frame (and yes, I started clicking even before it was being tossed). Nothing like this with my 7D. Could the frame rate be restricted under certain conditions?
2. The lack of AF point illumination in Servo mode is very annoying. With dimly lit subjects in a mostly dark background, I kept losing them. And I had to stick with f/2.8 because I was using 200mm (so at least 1/250) and ISO 1600. I know pros would be fine with these, but I was terrified I shall miss the moments by focusing somewhere else...
Ok, I'm done. It was all right eventually. Just too nerve-wracking at the time.

 

[Dylan777]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Sounds like you ready for 1DX... ;D

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

I don't use the machine gun technique, just one click and its fine. This was in a poorly lit church, so I used a flash and my 24-70L at 24mm. Its a home school group, and they have fun! About 1/3 of them also receive a junior college diploma at the same time.

I've another grandchild graduating on the 13th, so I'll get to do it again.

 

[Menace]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Sounds like you ready for 1DX... ;D

Ha ha - so true esp the difference between 8 and 12 FPS

 

[East Wind Photography]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Never thought I'd be writing this, but I want to write it and get it out of my system so I don't have any more ill-feeling left about this little guy:
1. Truly surprised about the difference between 8fps and 6fps. I was shooting a commencement ceremony and trying to get the 'toss the mortarboards' shot. Boy, was it getting frustrating catching the mortarboard while still within the frame (and yes, I started clicking even before it was being tossed). Nothing like this with my 7D. Could the frame rate be restricted under certain conditions?
2. The lack of AF point illumination in Servo mode is very annoying. With dimly lit subjects in a mostly dark background, I kept losing them. And I had to stick with f/2.8 because I was using 200mm (so at least 1/250) and ISO 1600. I know pros would be fine with these, but I was terrified I shall miss the moments by focusing somewhere else...
Ok, I'm done. It was all right eventually. Just too nerve-wracking at the time.

So yes there are other conditions that can affect frame rates. Many of the settings can slow it down, particularly those that wait for focus before firing the shutter. In low light the af can slow down and hunt more often. Also ive noticed a condition at least when using a grip that if the battery is less than 50% drive mode slows way down. Dont know if thats the case without the grip as i always use one.

So a couple of things that can help you out. I comfigre the depth of field preview button (the one in front by your grip fingers) to toggle between servo and one shot. When im in a situation where servo is not cutting it either with af hunt or inability to see af points, i just push to toggle one shot and get the shot. You can release it fast enough to go right into drive mode once you have your af point where you want it.

Not ideal but it does help quite a bit.

 

[jdramirez]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

How was your battery? I'm sure you know this, but at a half full battery the fps slow. As for the ai servo... I probably would have use ai focus and an ir beam to lock focus.

Also... I remember going from my 60d to the mkiii and the .8 additional fps felt like a big upgrade. I can imagine losing 2 fps is huge.

 

[sagittariansrock]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Sounds like you ready for 1DX... ;D

Ha ha - so true esp the difference between 8 and 12 FPS

LOL! Even if I could afford it I don't have the muscles to carry a 1D body around!


Thanks for the DoF configuration tip, EWP. I knew about it, but just didn't get around to doing it. Will do it now.
Battery was full, but the light wasn't great of course.

 

[sagittariansrock]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

 

[drmikeinpdx]

Hey, you are saying mean things about the love of my life! LOL

 

[jdramirez]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

My favorite mistake to constantly repeat is when I have it set for 2 or 10 second delay... and it takes me 3 or 4 shots before I figure out what the hell I did wrong... every time.

 

[sagittariansrock]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

My favorite mistake to constantly repeat is when I have it set for 2 or 10 second delay... and it takes me 3 or 4 shots before I figure out what the hell I did wrong... every time.

I have done that too, until I got the Phottix remote trigger.

DrMike, it was mostly my own error as I have found out (and edited the post). Still hate those non-blinky AF points though.
Funny thing is, I watched a video from 2012 where Chuck Westfall volunteers to Mitch of Planet5D that Canon is aware the customers want the AF illumination and trying to resolve that issue. He brings up the topic himself!
And yet nothing. Very odd. Must have been impossible to implement in the next firmware update, definitely doesn't look like an oversight.

Around 8 minutes (this was posted in CR as a thread):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EIdV4mAcpo

 

[Dylan777]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

I don't use the machine gun technique, just one click and its fine. This was in a poorly lit church, so I used a flash and my 24-70L at 24mm. Its a home school group, and they have fun! About 1/3 of them also receive a junior college diploma at the same time.

I've another grandchild graduating on the 13th, so I'll get to do it again.

+1, my 5yrs will graduate from kindergarten this coming June 5th. I'll carry my all time fav. combo 24-70 II and 70-200 f2.8 IS II. Plus 400mm f2.8 IS II, just incase... ;D

 

[Dylan777]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

;D ;D

My favorite mistake to constantly repeat is when I have it set for 2 or 10 second delay... and it takes me 3 or 4 shots before I figure out what the hell I did wrong... every time.

LOL......... ;D

Happened to me couple times....... ;D ;D and I thought I was the only one... ;D ;D ;D

 

[Roo]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

I've configured my C1-C3 as sports, landscape and portrait settings. So now I just flick the dial and don't have to make too many adjustments.

 

[TexPhoto]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

Anytime you are coming up on the "once in a lifetime" shot, check your settings, fire a test shot or burst, look at the result.. It's a tough lesson to learn, but our cameras have sooooo many settings, most of which you can't even see. How many of us have shot in broad daylight at ISO 12000+ because that is the way set up last night?

 

[sagittariansrock]

Re: Rant about 5DIII

Ok, totally my noob mistake.
I should have caught it, no idea why I didn't- excitement and adrenaline, etc. maybe.
I was on low speed continuous- here's why:
Turning my main wheel didn't bring up the high speed continuous. It didn't even now, skipping straight from single shot to the low speed cont., until I went into the Q menu and brought it up. Weird.
At the event I didn't notice the H icon wasn't there, just was puzzled about the slow speed.

Oops

Anytime you are coming up on the "once in a lifetime" shot, check your settings, fire a test shot or burst, look at the result.. It's a tough lesson to learn, but our cameras have sooooo many settings, most of which you can't even see. How many of us have shot in broad daylight at ISO 12000+ because that is the way set up last night?

Very true.
Fortunately in this case, I made the new doctorate toss his mortarboard over and over until I got the shot