My take. I would like to have one, but cannot justify purchase unless it would make me money, nor could I afford it right now, I haven't got the gigs to support it, but maybe that would change soon and even if it did I don't think I'd be in a mad rush. It has almost everything I would have liked to see included in it. Weather sealing, decent FPS, improved ISO/dynamic range or does it (seems very nice so far, need to see more)? Wished it had 4k or at least a bit larger than 1080p capture for some safe-frame margins for re-framing/cropping editing leeway, etc. Wished the video looked even better, but to be honest it's more than I'll ever need anytime soon, so is the 5DII and the 7D, etc.. I like the dual card slots a lot, nice to have that in a non-1D sized body, would be a very nice thing to include in the 7DII which is used by some pro's. Wish it had an extra top or front scrollwheel on the right side. Wish it had a better video codec/would have really liked to be able to record RAW video even if it required plugging in an external HDD. I hope it's easily hack-able, if they managed to add even RAW video out as a hack I think that would be amazing enough on it's own, and I hope cool things get done with it. As it is, it looks like it would save day in and day out pro's a bit of work and ad some welcome functionality/pay for itself and would be worth it the upgrade. I think in the long run, the camera is going to be well received. It's not perfect, and I really think Canon could have included the features I listed above and some other's I'm forgetting and kept the price the same, but at the same time I think the forums are over-reacting about the device and often for completely different reasons than I'm listing here, but to each their own.
I'd buy one if I had more money, but I do think it's priced too highly. The nice thing about it being priced higher, is that it helped not to crash the price of 5D Mark II's which is nice for those who already own a II and I can't get too upset about the price for that reason alone. It's nice to not have your expensive equipment not just crash in value overnight more than it has to. Overall I'd give it a B or a B- and that could improve if the firmware is hacked or improved by Canon to extend extra features. Oh, one more thing, for the price, I think Canon should have payed for the European/Video camera tax so it could be without limitation for recording length, although to be fair I don't know how much that tax would be, and at least it's better than the 5DII clips (or did I get that wrong?). I don't like the mode dial lock at all, would like an option to get it with a regular 5DII/7D mode dial, probably not that hard to hack myself but would void warranty if they don't do it. Nice to see the pretty darn fast FPS for stills included, very welcome feature and with what they did ultimately include, it makes it an even better, pro-viable body in the non-1D size and I like that a lot.
I did ask for the moon, but I didn't quite get it. This was my original list when someone asked what do we want out of it before it was announced, they got a lot of it right (according to me), and some of my wish list they didn't put in.
"In order.
-Better high ISO performance (1DX esque)
-Awesome Auto-Focus (1DX/7D esque.)
-Solid weatherproofing (at least as much so it can handle getting snowed and showered on a decent bit)
-Improved video capture performance (aka, clean up rolling shutter problems, etc., even further)
-Uncompressed /Raw Video Capture or Clean HDMI out (I don't mind hooking up a separate adapter when shooting video)
-Over resolution, aka. more than 1080p (not necessarily 4k) to allow for re-cropping/panning/zooming/breathing room in editing
-Ability to capture in 60-120fps frame-rates even if it requires using Clean HDMI out and an external capture unit
-Usable auto-focus in video (this is not a pro-video feature, but there are casual times when a reasonably good version of this could come in great handy at barbeques and whatnot.) And if it is put in, I would also suggest some ability to manually over-ride it/flip it on/off, while still in shot.
-Remove Video Time-Limits (even if a fee has to be paid to digitally unlock it in the regions where that licensing matters)
-Consideration for digital adapter accessory that would allow smooth manual aperture control during shooting. (at the bottom of my list for a reason but it makes more sense than new lenses to me, though for all I know (and I don't) it may require new lenses anyways but it may not, and even still it makes more sense)
-If it's not there already and buried, a recorded measurement that tells the distance of the subject focus point from the camera. This is useful to approximately calculate the scale of a subject which is in turn helpful in roughly estimating the scale of textures for texture artists in 3D animation projects.
So basically, an amazing, 5DII sizish body with the latest stills improvements and nothing we've come to expect missing, as well as updated generation 2 DSLR video upgrades. Hit that mark and I'll grab one near launch. "
.. is this true, and is it a sign that while the 5d3 has the same af as the 1dx the 5d3 is "under-powered" when it comes to af processing and needs more time to make up its mind than the 1dx will?
