The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Canon 5D Mark III announced, your thoughts

ustein

Contributing Editor
The Canon 5D Mark II is a good camera. To get the best out of it you need good lenses (zooms) and they cost and are big/heavy. The same holds true for the Mark III.

What lenses would be your choice?

Mine are:

100mm f/2.8 IS Macro (top notch)
70-200mm f/4 IS (very good)
which primes would you add to the list.
 

bensonga

Well-known member
22mp and $3,500.......it's not for me. The price should have been more in line with the 5D2. IMHO, their pricing of new cameras and lenses is way out of line.

That said.....any lens that worked well with the 5D2 should be fine with the 5D3, right? It's not like Canon has upped their game to D800/36mp resolution with this camera.

I sure hope Canon got the autofocus right this time around......if not, they are in big trouble.

Frankly, I'm much more interested in a used 1D Mark IV at this point.

Gary
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Any of the ZE Zeiss lenses—I know you have the Canon 100/2.8, but the Zeiss 100/2 is stellar, as is the revised 21/2.8 Distagon (but I have no personal experience with this model, but owned and loved the older one). I have owned the 35/2, the 25/2.8, 50/2 as well (all ZFs). You can't go wrong with any of them. They are quite heavy, but truly excellent mechanically and optically.
 
J

jcoffin

Guest
The resolution is close enough to the same as the 5DII/1DsIII that I'd be a bit surprised if it made much difference in lens selection.
 

gDallasK

New member
Disappointed and relieved

I had hoped that the 5D3 would mark a step forward for Canon. Despite the fact that there are so many small changes - for me - it doesn't add up to much. It certainly doesn't add up to the UK asking price of £3,000.

I have a lot of money invested in Canon "L" primes which is putting a brake on any temptation I may now feel to jump ship to a Nikon D800.

And, really, I'm perfectly happy with my 5D2. It meets my DSLR needs in almost every way.

So I'm relieved that I won't be needing to find that £3,000 anytime soon.
 

pophoto

New member
I think them drawing in the same MP count as before but with new sensor and improved higher ISO is great news.

Firstly it is higher MPs than the Canon 1DX (18MP) and Nikon D4 (16MP), but yes it is lower than the D800 (36).
I find that Canon decision to do this is better balance of MPs, it might be the sweetspot. Secondly the camera now has faster frame rates, as far as I understand it, the 5D Mark II was the choice of many wedding photographers around the world, and 36MP would be a tad too much!

One lens that I have glued to my camera is the 50mm f/1.2L, it has a lot of criticism on the internet, but in my books it is a stellar performer.
 

gDallasK

New member
Forgot to mention - favourite primes!

35, 50, 85, 135 "L".

Aside from my Leica glass, the 35 and 85 are two of the best lenses I've ever owned.

The fact that I don't see anything equivalent in Nikon's lens lineup is what will keep me with Canon a while longer as it falls further behind the competition in terms of camera design and features.
 

pophoto

New member
The 35L is amazing, I don't think they need to update this lens, although please do :p
(some rumors about an update are floating around)

The 85LII, they don't even call this glass, probably in the same class as diamonds and gems, personally I find it slow focusing, but perfectly fine for portraits. I do feel that focal lengths beyond 85mm do need stabilization though, although that means extra weight to already heavy primes. Again I go to my 50L every single time.

The 24mm LII and the TSE are both great! Nikons recent refresh of their primes is great, not quite 1.2 but 1.4 isn't far off.

I also dislike the price increase, but sadly you gotta pay to play! Also a term I dislike!
If they had never released another camera ever again, I think I can still be happy with the 5D Mark II.
 

s.agar

Member
Although coming from the manual focus era, my eyes are no longer able to cope with MF on 24 MP DSLR resolution.
On the other hand I like using MF lenses all the time.
For that reason, I started using the NEX cameras with adaptors, because the NEX has a very nice color peak system in yellow (in my case) that really works.

Therefore, I hope that Canon can add a similar system to their cameras, and if they can do it, I will probably use the Zeiss ZE wide angle lenses. Now I have to stay with my very inferior 24/2.8, or the cery difficult to use TS 24mm (being MF). I hope my dreams may come true.

Seyhun
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Re: Disappointed and relieved

I no longer shoot Canon, but quite frankly the 5D-III represents what more camera companies should be doing ... continually perfecting of a proven platform to better serve the category of user most likely to depend on it.

The images I've seen so far are spectacular, especially the higher ISO shots. No where as dismal as the D800 images published to date IMO. Kudos to Canon for not engaging in the meg race for a work-horse camera such as this. IMO, this range of resolution is what the D800 should have been as a successor to the D700.

Very well respected shooters have already worked with the 5D-III and claim the AF is on par with the EOS Pro bodies. That is a huge step for this camera over its predecessor.

Canon has added dual card slots ... about time. New processing engine. Improved dynamic range. Bigger, higher res LCD. etc. etc.

Small and large incremental improvements in almost every area of practical use to the working photographer and advanced enthusiasts all add up to one terrific advancement for real world photography ...IMHO.

Pretty cool that Canon now has speed-lights with radio built in. About time. Probably not great news for Pocket Wizard and Radio Poppers.

Price certainly feels steep ... whether that holds after the initial rush to buy remains to be seen.

Lenses? Fast L primes and the new 24-70/2.8-II would be my choice ... Yummy.

Congrats to Canon users! :thumbs:

(No, I am not swapping my Sony A900 stuff for Canon, I'm just fine where I am ... for now.)

-Marc
 

pophoto

New member
Re: Disappointed and relieved

I no longer shoot Canon, but quite frankly the 5D-III represents what more camera companies should be doing ... continually perfecting of a proven platform to better serve the category of user most likely to depend on it.

The images I've seen so far are spectacular, especially the higher ISO shots. No where as dismal as the D800 images published to date IMO. Kudos to Canon for not engaging in the meg race for a work-horse camera such as this. IMO, this range of resolution is what the D800 should have been as a successor to the D700.

Very well respected shooters have already worked with the 5D-III and claim the AF is on par with the EOS Pro bodies. That is a huge step for this camera over its predecessor.

Canon has added dual card slots ... about time. New processing engine. Improved dynamic range. Bigger, higher res LCD. etc. etc.

Small and large incremental improvements in almost every area of practical use to the working photographer and advanced enthusiasts all add up to one terrific advancement for real world photography ...IMHO.

Pretty cool that Canon now has speed-lights with radio built in. About time. Probably not great news for Pocket Wizard and Radio Poppers.

Price certainly feels steep ... whether that holds after the initial rush to buy remains to be seen.

Lenses? Fast L primes and the new 24-70/2.8-II would be my choice ... Yummy.

Congrats to Canon users! :thumbs:

(No, I am not swapping my Sony A900 stuff for Canon, I'm just fine where I am ... for now.)

-Marc
Wanna swap your S2 by any chance? Ahh forgetabout it :p
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Looks like the perfect Canon body, especially for a wedding shooter. As usual Canon have left out pro features like weather proofing, spot metering at anything but the center point, their new metering system, all that Nikon have included at a price point that is in the UK $1100 cheaper! That price difference would buy some nice new ram sticks and an extra hard drive to hold the bigger images which when downrezzed to 22 megapixels would probably equal the canon anyway.

Canon's new flashgun also has a heart stopping price, it's more than a 580II with a radiopopper PX but with about 700m less range and no ability to trigger strobes, I was worried about whether or not I would want to spring for the new flashguns and retire my RP's but not with that short a wireless range, at 30m it's the same range as their IR system!

All in all, very nice new stuff, in this economy though, I ain't upgrading with those prices...
 

pophoto

New member
Looks like the perfect Canon body, especially for a wedding shooter. As usual Canon have left out pro features like weather proofing, spot metering at anything but the center point, their new metering system, all that Nikon have included at a price point that is in the UK $1100 cheaper! That price difference would buy some nice new ram sticks and an extra hard drive to hold the bigger images which when downrezzed to 22 megapixels would probably equal the canon anyway.

Canon's new flashgun also has a heart stopping price, it's more than a 580II with a radiopopper PX but with about 700m less range and no ability to trigger strobes, I was worried about whether or not I would want to spring for the new flashguns and retire my RP's but not with that short a wireless range, at 30m it's the same range as their IR system!

All in all, very nice new stuff, in this economy though, I ain't upgrading with those prices...
They have upgraded the weather proofing, although not to 1DX standards, and although that is nice, I don't really need it. Since I prefer the lighter weight of my 5D2 and it has done well without the proofing, but surely it nice for those of you who shoot in more adverse weather conditions!
 

ceh

Active member
Ben Rubinstein wrote:spot metering at anything but the center point,

Ben,
where have you read it?
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Looks like the perfect Canon body, especially for a wedding shooter. As usual Canon have left out pro features like weather proofing, spot metering at anything but the center point, their new metering system, all that Nikon have included at a price point that is in the UK $1100 cheaper! That price difference would buy some nice new ram sticks and an extra hard drive to hold the bigger images which when downrezzed to 22 megapixels would probably equal the canon anyway.

Canon's new flashgun also has a heart stopping price, it's more than a 580II with a radiopopper PX but with about 700m less range and no ability to trigger strobes, I was worried about whether or not I would want to spring for the new flashguns and retire my RP's but not with that short a wireless range, at 30m it's the same range as their IR system!

All in all, very nice new stuff, in this economy though, I ain't upgrading with those prices...
I don't know Ben, seems they weather proofed this pretty well (as well as the new speed-light). Perhaps they backed off the descriptive language to avoid diminishing the Pro body specs?

... Probably equal the Canon anyway." ... not at high ISO capture it won't. With all the choices available today, and the way things stand now, if a 35mm DSLR isn't really good at high ISO, then it is all but worthless IMHO. If I move off the Sony it'll be for this reason alone ... but I'm waiting until Sony drops the other shoe with the A99 before making that decision. If Nikon had made the D800 a 18 or 22 meg FF with great high ISO, it would have gone on the shopping list.

Didn't notice the distance specs on the new radio speed-light. 93' ... sure is anemic, however, the new transmitter sure beats the line of site STE-2. For most it'll be fine ...would be interesting if it included a relay ability. Should have been at least solid 200'.

However, as you mention, all of it is moot in this economy ... the commercial work that can be made with a 35mm DSLR is dismal and getting worse by the day. Almost every dime I'm making now is with MFD.

-Marc
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Ben Rubinstein wrote:spot metering at anything but the center point,

Ben,
where have you read it?
Can't remember sorry but I read that the 5D3 still can only spot meter at center point, unlike the 1 series. One of the things that has almost pushed me off to Nikon many times.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
... Probably equal the Canon anyway." ... not at high ISO capture it won't. With all the choices available today, and the way things stand now, if a 35mm DSLR isn't really good at high ISO, then it is all but worthless IMHO.
-Marc
I had always dismissed the talk of downrezzing to reduce noise but it was when I was dispairing of working out how to make the Nex7 files look less noisy until I downrezzed to about 16 megapixels (just crop using specific pixel ratio in LR) and hey presto! I tried it on my 1Ds3 files whose iso 1600 i've always found to be very noisy compared to my 5D benchmark and when downrezzed to the 5D's 12.8 megapixels it wasn't just significantly sharper but also less noisy! I'd be willing to bet that the D800's files downrezzed to 22 megapixels will be a significant competitor for the 5D3 at high iso.
 

jonoslack

Active member
I had always dismissed the talk of downrezzing to reduce noise but it was when I was dispairing of working out how to make the Nex7 files look less noisy until I downrezzed to about 16 megapixels (just crop using specific pixel ratio in LR) and hey presto! I tried it on my 1Ds3 files whose iso 1600 i've always found to be very noisy compared to my 5D benchmark and when downrezzed to the 5D's 12.8 megapixels it wasn't just significantly sharper but also less noisy! I'd be willing to bet that the D800's files downrezzed to 22 megapixels will be a significant competitor for the 5D3 at high iso.
I agree with you here - MR at LULA showed this clearly with the NEX7 and NEX5 files - downsizing the A900 files to the 12mp equivalent of the D700 did the same for me. I'm also pretty sure that downsizing the D800 files to 22mp will make them as good as the 5D3. . . . . However I suspect that Marc will disagree!

Generally speaking this seems to be a very expensive upgrade - as you say, I'm not sure how many people will think that it's worth £600 more than the D800. Which is weather sealed as well . . . the big difference between saying it's weather sealed and not saying so is comeback if it gets water damage.
 
Top