1DX III vs R5 AF

[Kayaker72]

Ok. Just played with this on my 5DIV and R5. If I have done the math correctly, your image was -4.67 EV.

Even borrowing our cat for good comparison:
5DIV PDAF would not AF. Not a chance.
5DIV DPAF (live view). Some hunting, but would AF.
R5 Spot AF (DPAF). Definitely struggled, but I did get occasionally AF.
R5 Single Point AF. Some hunting, but fairly good.

I should have tried expanded point AF. Next time.

Next, I tried even darker with the R5, somewhere around -5.5 EV. Spot AF, no go. Single point AF would work. It was slow, needed some contrast, but it would work.

So, my takeaway is more that the PDAF on the 1DX III has impressive low light abilities. Actually outperforming it’s spec. Considering how incredibly dark these rooms were, I am absolutely fine with the R5’s performance.


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[Fast Glass]

So, my takeaway is more that the PDAF on the 1DX III has impressive low light abilities. Actually outperforming it’s spec. Considering how incredibly dark these rooms were, I am absolutely fine with the R5’s performance. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Indeed, and it is possible I did something wrong or there are some setting I could have done differently.

But as you said these are incredibly extreme examples and hardly can be considered poor performance if it can't focus. Although I do shoot sometimes in very dark situations. So having this low light capability is actually pretty handy for me.

What was impressive to me was how easy it was to focus. It had no issues whatsoever and it was like another day at the office for the 1DX III. It just blew me away. My 1D III wouldn't even dream of focusing at such low light levels. So the fact it didn't focus in live view didn't disappoint me, but it sure as hell shocked me when in PDAF it just locked on with no issues.

But it is good to know the R5 seems to do better at least in the low light department.

Funny how our pets becomes our test subjects.