Canon 5D MK III help required

Hi all,

I've been asked to do photography for a few gigs coming up such as ballroom dancing and as a second photographer for a wedding. So, stupid me went out and sold my 6D (which I was comfortable with) and bought a 5D MK III. Now, the camera is great. In the store I was taking some test shots with their demo model and noticed when you focused on something it would show a "map" of the AF points and where it was focusing. I've tried on my camera and all that shows up is the centre point then when it achieves focus it flashes red?? How do I turn on the previous setting where it shows where it's focusing?

I know how to manually select the focus point, it's basically the same as the 6D with far more options, but how do I turn that setting back on?

Also, does anyone know of a good online manual on how to use settings in a practical sense? I've got the manual but it has no practical examples here but the first gig is in a few days and I need to get good at this asap :(

Hi Squidy,

I am not entirely sure what you are refer, but I haven't had my morning coffee yet. But, to select your AF style, first select the mode using the mode dial. Then hit the top right button on the back of the 5DIII (just about the thumb rest, nearest to where the strap connects). Then, use the "M-Fn" button to scroll through different options for your AF point set up.

As for a good book, I do find the actual manual to be useful.

The M-Fn button is that tiny little dot of a button next to the shutter button.

I would also suggest that you select the focus area of the center 9 boxes.

Best of luck.

Mike

The pocket guide has the quick way of picking the center point using the joystick.

Just a note that the paper manual is a subset of the actual manual (at least it was for the 7D2). The PDF version of the manual included on your install DVDs is a much more detailed manual that actually covers all the features.

You probably need to go into the menus for custom controls, and change/add behavior to the joystick so it becomes the 8-way joystick for choosing focus points. But honestly, you need to sit down with a manual to learn the AF system, as I call it "multi-dimensional":

You can pick One Shot or AI Servo (focus and lock vs. keep focusing).
You can use the point(s) six ways: single point spot, single point (normal-size), single point plus four helpers in a "+", single point plus eight helpers in a box, zone, or "you pick the starting point and it tracks the subject thereafter".
You can of course pick which point/zone to use within the six modes above.
You can tweak three sliders to influence the behavior of the focus tracking and point selection tracking. There are 75 possibilities across the three sliders, but there are six "Cases" that are assumed to be ideal uses of these sliders.

Sounds like the camera in the store was set to automatic AF point selection (IMO, it's a Bad Idea to let your camera pick your subject for you, it's just not that smart). The default is single point selection at the center point, which you can move around with the joystick (by pressing the AF point seelction button first, unless you set the custom controls for direct selection which I highly recommend).

But most importantly, as peety3 states you need to spend time with the manual and with the camera and get completely comfrotable before you use it for real gigs.

Thanks all. Well, I'm at work now and sitting here with the camera and manual so hopefully I can work it out. If not I can just hire the 6D for a day and go that way. I have no doubt I'll be able to learn this camera, but damn is it a step up from my other camera I've owned. Going from the 650D to 6D was easy as it was very similar, but 6d to 5d is a massive jump in complexity.

Google the 1Dx af setting guidebook, download it, and LEARN IT. It's one of the best presentations of how the system interacts with the camera out there, way more intuitive than the manual.

Well, did the shoot today and it went pretty well. My flash died half way through though but I still ended up getting some pretty good shots :) ... hopefully

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Originally Posted by Squidy

Well, did the shoot today and it went pretty well. My flash died half way through though but I still ended up getting some pretty good shots :) ... hopefully

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Glad to hear it went well. Sorry to hear about the flash. Would love to see some of the shots!

I'm no pro so they're likely pretty crap. I also learned that the 5D doesn't focus so well sometimes :(

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Originally Posted by Squidy

I'm no pro so they're likely pretty crap. I also learned that the 5D doesn't focus so well sometimes :(

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Your "old" 6D does have a surprising benefit: ability to focus in lower light than a 5D3/5Ds/1Dx (and probably the rest of the line...I don't know how the spec measures up across the line). However, in sufficient light for the system to operate, I wouldn't call it a speed demon, but it's a well-proven system and I suspect there's a combination of settings that conspired to make your life less focused.

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Originally Posted by peety3

Your "old" 6D does have a surprising benefit: ability to focus in lower light than a 5D3/5Ds/1Dx (and probably the rest of the line...I don't know how the spec measures up across the line)

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The 6D spec is -3 EV, it's -2 EV for the 5DIII/1D X. One example of -2 vs. -3 EV is 1/15 s, f/2.8, ISO 51200 vs. ISO 102400. Personally, I don't think there's a meaningful benefit of that extra stop of sensitivity for typical shooting.

I couldn't work out if it was the camera or lens, or maybe a setting I had wrong. In the viewfinder it looked sharp but on the computer screen it was a different story altogether.

"it was a different story"