Before last saturday, I had never touched a 5D MK III. I had seen all the posts by my facebook friends and all the Canon ads and commercials but never touched the camera until last saturday when I bought it. It was quite a nice feeling because I had been waiting for this camera for a long time, so finally holding it in my hands felt quite good.
Anyway, I am going to give a quick review of the new features of this camera and my opinion of it, so here we go!!
Firstly this camera gives me a very solid and sure feel, the grip feels thicker and fits in my hand better than the MK II.
Some of the buttons and switches have moved positions, the ON/OFF switch has now moved to the top left part of the camera and one of the features that I like now is that the switch where you change the modes has got a lock button.
A: Lock button
B: New location of ON/OFF switch
I used to have a problem of accidentally switching modes while shooting, I’m glad that problem was noticed by Canon and they have fixed it.
A “LOCK” button is now in the position of where the ON/OFF switch used to be on the MK II. When you have adjusted exposure compensation, all you have to do is turn the Lock on and you won’t accidentally change your exposure compensation.
My favourite feature of the new camera is the addition of another memory card slot, I always have this fear of my memory card crashing and me losing all the images. If you are on an assignment, you really can’t afford that to happen. Now I am able to record to two cards simultaneously and if one crashes, I still have the images recorded on another.
This is one of the best additions to the new camera, I had always wondered why there was only one card slot on the MK II. Now there is one CF card slot and one SD card slot and you can record different formats to each card, meaning you can record RAW to one and Jpeg to another. Just Awesome!! The cover for the memory card slots is also now rubber lined and feels more secure when you close it than the in the previous camera.
The biggest problem of the MK II was it’s autofocus system, under low light it was almost terrible. It couldn’t focus if you begged it to but that problem is fixed in the MK III. It is sharp and accurate in the new camera. Upgraders from the MK II will notice the difference.
The new camera has a fantastic 61 autofocus points. It has quite a few focusing modes as well, from spot to zone to auto, good enough for any feature loving person but it is a little too much for me. I only use the single spot auto focus mode and turn the rest off. It all depends on what you are shooting and if you shoot portraits, single spot is really all that you will be using. Don’t get me wrong though
I will be using all 61 points but only in single spot focus mode.
In the autofocus mode, you can now tweak the sensitivity for “Al Servo” mode to best serve your needs when tracking moving subjects. This is also one of the coolest features I see on this camera.
Another awesome new feature is the “Silent shooting” mode. I don’t really know how it works but it is just awesome and if you are a wedding photographer shooting a church wedding, this will be one of your most used features. The normal click sound will become a soft “chup”sound. To completely go “silent” remember to turn the focus “beep” off and anyone nearby who is not aware of the camera would probably not notice or hear it. Just perfect for me!!
Megapixels have not increased much but it doesn’t matter as it is more than I need at the moment. SO I wouldn’t write much on that part.
Built in now is also a “Level” meter which helps with landscape photography. This was already built into the Nikon D700 so I’m glad Canon has included it into this camera. I am not sure if I will use it but I’m sure the feature lovers will like it.
The Level meter
Coming to ISO performance, I would like to quote tests by independent parties and it has been found that the MK III is better performing at high ISOs that the D800 from Nikon. That says alot about this camera. Nikon has always been the leader in ISO performance and for the MK III to win this contest says alot about this camera’s quality at high ISO numbers.
From my own pictures now, I can say that the ISO performance on this camera is superb.
Picture taken at ISO25600
These are the main features of the MK III which I like very much. Other new features include the HDR function and the RAW file processing features which are built into the camera. I have to say though, that I will probably not be using these two functions and they are aimed more towards the enthusiast.
Bad points of this camera? At the moment I can’t think of any. It is still new in my hands and I am sure I can find some shortcomings in the next few months but at the moment, it is all that I need.
All in, I think this is one solid camera and I look forward to using it at work. If you have any questions about this camera, just drop me a note and I will be happy to answer them
by Jerome