[dcstep]

I was referring to the structural soundness of the MkIII vs. the MkII, where I see no difference. I love the new, locking mode dial. I periodically hit mine on my MkII and was shooting in M or Tv and didn't know it.

The card door was something that worried me with my MkII and now seems stronger. Mine lasted almost 4-years.

Dave

[dcstep]

Ok, I've had a couple of more hours of shooting now and have taken 500 images, mostly of junk subjects, but practicing my technique. 90% of the shots are in focus and around 70% are what I consider super-critical focus, meaning an eye is still sharp at 400%. That's includes a bunch of shots taken with multi-point enabled with 5, 9 and all AF points enabled, as well as single-point AF.

As good as it is, you can't simply turn on all the points and fire away. I think that I'll be using single-point AF most of the time.

Here's a hand held shot with the 500mm and the 1.4x TC, yielding 700mm:


Untitled by dcstep, on Flickr

Click on the image to go to Flickr to see the Original size, which I'll enable for a couple of days.

It's a big, big improvement, but there's still room for the photographer to make a difference by using good technique.

Dave

[M_Six]

Can't get to the full sized image, Dave. Keeps telling me it's a private page.

I'm really beginning to hate flickr. Now you have to jump through hoops and "sign up" just to see pics. More privacy lost.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Can't get to the full sized image, Dave. Keeps telling me it's a private page.

I'm really beginning to hate flickr. Now you have to jump through hoops and "sign up" just to see pics. More privacy lost.

Hmm, I've got it set for anyone to see the original size. Oh, my bad, I hadn't set it properly. See if you can see now.

Dave

[M_Six]

Yep, works now. Did you crop that or are the images really that wide?

[Chewy734]

It has to be cropped. Normally it's a 3:2 aspect ratio (5760 x 3840 pixels).

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

It has to be cropped. Normally it's a 3:2 aspect ratio (5760 x 3840 pixels).

Yes, I think that I did 2:1 and kept the width almost unchanged to emphasize the wakes of the jet skies.

Dave

[dcstep]

Ok, I got a chance to shoot a few hundred more shots, but this time with the 1.4X TC attached to the 500/f4. The AF slows down a good bit, making it very hard for birds in flight. It was hunky dory for perched birds, prairie dogs and such, but I didn't really get in stellar flying bird shots.

I'm looking forward to trying a new Series II super-tele combined with a Series III TC. Canon says that both have faster micro chips and the Series III TC will not slow the AF as much. I'll have to wait for a big bonus or sell my E92 M3, because we're talking over $13,000 for that kit.

Still, despite the slow AF, my keeper ratio went up substantially. It was much harder for me to chose which images to post to Flickr. Here's one that shows great action and if you click on it and go to Flickr, it'll show you several more images from a series:


Owlets at play by dcstep, on Flickr

If you click on this guy, then you can see his whisker and eye details in a full-screen mode:


Prairie dog wants me to leave and stop photographing owls by dcstep, on Flickr

I'm very, very pleased. The AF is clearly a big improvement over my 7D and a HUGE improvement over my 5D2. It's still requires anticipation, work and using the single-point when using super-tele focal lengths.

Dave

[rodi]

update: low-light dinner, AF was not doing well at all for me. I needed to be fast because of PJ style shooting, so it would have been fine if I was posing people.

[Chewy734]

I like those photos Dave. The prairie dog one is definitely sharper.

what's PJ style shooting, rodi?

[spacemonkey1112]

Originally Posted by dcstep

I received my MkIII yesterday and I'm blown away by the improvement in the AF system vs. my 7D and MkII. I only shot around an hour yesterday and didn't find any great subjects, but the improved AF speed and accuracy was readily apparent when shooting with my bare 500mm/f4.

The control layout is way superior to the MkII and a step forward from the 7D, which it seems to be modeled after. I love the big new DOF preview button on my right hand side. I could never find the old button when I needed it.

I've read some say that the build quality is superior to the MkII. I don't see that. I had both bodies on my desk yesterday and tried to flex them with the lenses off and they're both really solid. The grip on the MkIII is a little more beefy, leading to an impression of more substance, but I think it's just larger. Peeps with larger hands will prefer it and those with small hands will regret the change. I have medium hands, so I'm "just right" with either.

After I've taken a few thousand clicks and processed some subjects that I really want to look good, I'll post a follow up. I think that my keeper rate is going to go up substantially, thanks to the quicker and more accurate AF, but you only know for sure after you completed your processing. I suspect that I'll do a lot of shooting with the 1.4x TC attached to get out to 700mm in reach. (I'll carry the 7D around my neck with the 70-200mm attached).

If critical AF is important to your photography, then the MkIII seems to be well worth the extra money.

Dave

Originally Posted by Chewy734

Apparently you didn't look close enough. I felt the toggle switches were a little better in the 5D3 (on/off). Now when you change shooting modes you have to press down on a button. Also, the way the CF compartment opens feels much better. Did you see that the CF compartment lid is also rubberized?

Thanks for your review. I read a lot of wildlife photogs have increased their "keeper photos" percentage significantly. The AF system alone is worth the upgrade, imo. By the way, I think the price came down about $150 recently too. So, Dave, if you bought it for $3500, call B&H for a price adjustment.

If you were really to compare both the 5DII and 5D III the weather sealing is actually much better.
Below is Canon's Diagram of the 5DII sealing


This is the 5DIII' sealing -



From the above diagram's you can see that there is an improvement in the sealing around the scroll wheel, shutter wheel, and the other knob where you change from M, Av, Tv, etc... those are the major area they hit that really keep the interior parts of the camera dry. The grip yes is must more pronounce on the 5dIII than the previous generation due to that thumb indentation. I just assisted at a wedding this past weekend and even the shutter mechanism is vastly improved. the shutter sounds much more stable and in place in comparision when bursting with a 5DII. I will not say its durability is the same as the 1D, but the primary photographer of the wedding uses a 1DMkIV and even he says that the shutter mechanism sounds much more durable than the MkII.

[dcstep]

I'll simply say again, my 5D MkIII doesn't feel any structurally stiffer or beefier than my MkII. Of course you can't feel a little bit of weather sealing.

All the extra money seems to have gone into the new sensor and the AF system. The Digic 5+ probably costs no more than the MkII's processor, given Moore's Law.

I love my MkIII, but I'd suggest staying with the MkII unless you really need the superior AF system and shoot above ISO 3200.

Dave

[rodi]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

I like those photos Dave. The prairie dog one is definitely sharper.

what's PJ style shooting, rodi?

photojournalism

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

I like those photos Dave. The prairie dog one is definitely sharper.
..?

I think that they're equally sharp (look at the eye of the owl flying in), the problem with the first one is the shallow DOF of shooting with 700mm from 30-feet with three subjects. Even at f/8, the DOF is only a few inches.

Dave

[Chewy734]

ahh yeah. I didn't realize you made that your focus point. I assume you cropped that photo too?

[Ali.K_BMW]

I took over 2000 pictures on my 5D in June and the photos came out great. little to no editing, just adjust the in camera settings and boom! The low light is amazing.

[Chewy734]

that's great!

post some

[dcstep]

Yesterday I went out for two or three hours with one lens (the 500mm with the 1.4X TC mounted) and two bodies (the 5D3 and the 7D). I did a lot of experimenting with the 5D3 AF patterns and the reaction speed of both systems when going from close focus to long focus or vice versa. If anything moved, I shot it, including cars and motorcycles passing on a nearby road, planes passing over and birds and mammals.


The 61-point AF pattern is VERY useful and can be used in lots of situations. Following a car, with some bushes blocking part of the car was very accurate at 150 to 200 yards. (Remember, I had 700mm attached). I could watch which AF points were activated and move the camera up or down slightly to avoid catching focus on the closer bushes or fence. If you've got a fairly large subject in the frame, the 61-points works well, just pay attention to which AF points are firing and move the lens to get them on the subject and then the camera locks pretty well.

For birds flying low, filling only a few percent of the screen, with bushes and trees in the background, you'll need a single AF point, or the expanded point. For a larger bird, you can use the box of nine points. Against a sky with little contrast, then the 61-points works fine, so long as the bird is not close. If the bird is close, then you'll get focus on a wing and not the eye and ruin the image. For fast, small birds where you can't get on the eye, just take lots of shots and pray. (With the 7D I used to do that on almost any subject). With planes, the 61-bit is hunky dory, because they're far enough away that f/8 will get the whole plane in focus.

I took some static images of a couple of small rocks with both bodies and then blew the 5D3 image up to the same size as the 7D image and viewed them at 200%. Those were shot on the tripod for consistent shots and I focused with live view. These were at ISO 200 and my intent was really to compare the level of detail. It was VERY close. I do think that the 7D slightly edged out the 5D3. Maybe I'll do this again, but at ISO 400, 800 and 1600, which is where I shoot most of my hand held 500mm and 700mm shots. I think that the 5D3 will catch up and pass the 7D at these higher ISOs.

I'm thinking about disabling several of the 5D3's AF patterns so that I can toggle through them more quickly. I'll have single-point, expanded single-point and 61-point. I may even go to just two, so that I can change even quicker.

Also, it's very easy to move the single-point AF around in the frame. You hit the far right button on the back and then move the point with the Star button (I call it the joy stick). So, if you're using single point on a close subject, then you MUST get the AF point on the eye. It's easy to do with the joy stick.

Realize that using 700mm in lenses really challenges any AF system. When the subjects are close, any missed focus can easily be seen. At 20-feet and f/5.6, the DOF is only mm.

With a 70-200mm and relatively large subjects, then the 61-point AF pattern might be the way to go. I may experiment with that someday soon.

BTW, I used AF program No. 5 for all this testing. (I guess that I need to play with some other modes). There are so many possible combinations that it gets pretty overwhelming.

I also messed around with the metering patterns a bit. I'd warn most away from the spot meter. All the other modes compensated for whole scene. I could hardly tell any difference between the Evaluative Mode and the Center Weighted mode. I probably didn't have the right subjects.

Here's the problem that you might have with the Spot mode. If you meter on a white bird, the camera will try to make it look medium grey and underexpose it by a stop or so. You can fix this with +1EV, but if you expose to the right, you'll want to add another 1/3 to +3/3EV. Metering on black, the meter will try to bring it up to grey and over expose. The way that you adjust EV with the Spot mode will be backwards from all the other modes. IF you know what you're doing, then you can use it, but I think it's better for working in the Manual mode. Then you'd take a reading off a medium grey shadow on a white bird, to get a perfect exposure (before applying ETTR).

Dave

[dcstep]

B&H Photo has the following CF cards on sale:

Lexar 32GB CompactFlash Memory Card Professional 1000x UDMA

I put one in my 5D MkII and it sped up the fps and increased the time required to fill the buffer substantially. Not all cameras need this fast a card, but the 1D X and the 5D3 really benefit substantially from a fast card.

They're back ordered, but the price is almost $100 less than last week.

Dave

[Ali.K_BMW]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

that's great!

post some

Check out my site - under profile - click Goldrush

Www.Afocusphotography.com

[boymonkey]

Does anyone know if there's a way to view memory card capacity (or how many shots left) without going through the Format menu?

[Chewy734]

The top LCD should show you how many photos you have left when the camera is on.