Some 'real' shots with the 5dmkIII and impressions

[Dylan & Marianne]

Today, I put the 5dmkIII through some tentative testing at a wedding
I don't feel qualified to give a full technical review so instead, I might just give you a few gut feel thoughts about how it felt.

- The ergonomics are great - as silly as it sounds, the dial turns, button pushes all feel much 'softer' than the 5dmkII
- It feels and handles like a 7D which is not a bad thing
- You can literally customise the sh@#$t out of this camera for C1 C2 C3 mode - I set C1 to auto iso, set AF parameters, set AF drive to continuous shooting, set minimum shutter at 1/80, -1/3EV exposure bias and when stepping out from the dark church into bright sunlight following the groom, managed to get some half decent shots before going back to full manual
- The mode lock button is awesome - I don't start shooting and wonder why I'm all of a sudden shooting in TV mode instead of manual
- The LCD seems an improvement over the mkII
- High iso shooting - well , I'm sitting here very chuffed at the moment - I was worried that the reports of great iso performance were all due to the algorithms for noise reduction in camera for jpegs but the RAWs at 3200 look pretty damned good! I didn't push 6400 today but will definitely do so next time (ie. when I've owned the camera for more than 1 day lol)
- PS. this isn't a compare with nikon thread - I'm just giving an impression that for the camera I was replacing it to shoot weddings with (7d) it is a huge improvement - Marianne shot the entire day with the 5dmkII and had no issues of course. I'll take it out over the next few weeks for landscapes but I honestly don't expect much difference from the mkII except for star shots

here's a couple of examples without editing from the RAWs out of lightroom to jpeg unsharpened
1600 iso
87033

3200 iso
87032

[agb]

Impressive.

[I @ M]

Now that is a proper test. :th3:
When you see real world images such as these it becomes very obvious that Canon have done an excellent job with this model.

Looks like the photographer did a good job as well. :D

[Epicaricacy]

Just so I can compare with my 550d and general feeling of being unimpressed with the noise, can you post a couple of sections of 100% crops from these, just regular pics taken under regular conditions as opposed to the test shots I have seen elsewhere

Cheers

[Dylan & Marianne]

Epicracy- I'm never sure exactly how to resize 100% crops for the web -happy to do it but can you tell me what settings you'd like me to zoom into and pixel size of image etc? I've just realised that I have always just assumed I know what 100% crop means lol

[I @ M]

Different people seem to have varying ideas on that subject Dylan but I have always assumed that it means to bring the image to 100% resolution on the screen. That way you are seeing the image at full native size and then to crop it to the viewable screen area.
Maybe I have it wrong as well. :confused013

[Bennymiata]

The look fantastic!
Maybe you'll hardly ever need a flash again!

[aussie girl]

Love the sharp focus on the first picture. It makes the subjects really stand out from the background.
I bet I could still take a crap shot with your new camera Dylan:th3:

[Dylan & Marianne]

thanks everyone - I think so far the results speak for themselves - aussie girl - you give yourself a hard time ! I think the camera helps everyone at every level and I have yet to explore probably more than half of the new functions like in camera HDR for instance

[iwkyb]

I guess I will contribute my share - Adobe Camera Raw - DNG conversion then imported to Lightroom 4 with level adjustments


Along the river - ver 2012 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiukang/7016077571/) by Chiu Kang (http://www.flickr.com/people/chiukang/), on Flickr


Along the river - ver 2012 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiukang/7017588179/) by Chiu Kang (http://www.flickr.com/people/chiukang/), on Flickr

I don't have a 5D2 before so I can only compare to my 60D
- Biggest change obviously is FF vs APS-C - 16mm!!
- Low light performance - very usable output from 6400ISO
- Crazy auto focus system - no longer have centre point set 99% of the time
- Great ergonomics with well positioned controls

[Tommo1965]

* this is not a critique forum, please discuss the technical aspects of the high ISO only - admin*

[ricktas]

I guess I will contribute my share - Adobe Camera Raw - DNG conversion then imported to Lightroom 4 with level adjustments


Along the river - ver 2012 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiukang/7016077571/) by Chiu Kang (http://www.flickr.com/people/chiukang/), on Flickr


Along the river - ver 2012 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiukang/7017588179/) by Chiu Kang (http://www.flickr.com/people/chiukang/), on Flickr

I don't have a 5D2 before so I can only compare to my 60D
- Biggest change obviously is FF vs APS-C - 16mm!!
- Low light performance - very usable output from 6400ISO
- Crazy auto focus system - no longer have centre point set 99% of the time
- Great ergonomics with well positioned controls

According to your EXIF, these were both taken at ISO 400, which is not really testing the high ISO capabality of the camera. Both taken at the same ISO, and therefore no real comparision between say 100 and 6400 (which you state is a very usable output) but have not demonstrated. Please use this thread in accordance with its intention.

I have removed the photos, and left the links as your photos are not displaying anything related to high ISO ability of the Mk III, and you reference to ISO 6400 is blatantly misleading, in the context of this thread!

[Dylan & Marianne]

I didn't see tommo's comments but thanks for moderating rick - tommo , I've nearly done the edits for that wedding, will put them up for critique in the weddings forum if you like later! I'll get round to the 100% crops too once I'm done with work!

[Tommo1965]

Dylan

my comment were about the night river shots that IWKBY put up.."I called them good night shots " I want critiquing them more trying to refer to the DR of the camera..I didn't put that in...so rick read it as critique rather than referring to the the cameras capabilities....I even went straight from this page to imaging zone to check the old comparo meter with the D800....it made sad that Im not a canon shooter..LOL..the 5DIII is looking like a great body.

I look forward to seeing your wedding shots later in the critique forums I always like viewing your work..cheers mate

not sure why IWKBY got moderated so harshly..the title thread says nothing about High ISO.... neither did he say the river shots were high ISO..only went on to say the body had very usable 6400 ISO..I certainly didn't interpret his shoots as high ISO images..rather just showing what the body can do !!

[Dylan & Marianne]

I quickly did some '100%' crops (by that I viewed actual pixels and took a sample to fit AP size restrictions)
no editing apart from an export from lightroom
I guess if you're pixel peeping, you can still see noise at that distance
1600
87193
3200
87194

[Epicaricacy]

thanks for the 100% crops dtoh.

Have a look at http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?101772-Struggling-with-High-ISO-and-horrible-light&highlight=high+iso

Shows the 550D at 6400

[mikew09]

Holy cow, for 100% at 1600 ISO that is pretty dammed impressive but I suppose as I am comparing it to my 50D you it would be. Noise is a pet hate of mine on the 50D and I am glad to hear that promotion of the noise control in the Mk III is proving to be accurate. Looking to be my next body in the next yr or so.

Thanks for the post Dylan