From the 5DII experts - what are the real functional improvements in the 5dIII?

[HDNitehawk]

ok since you guys are on AF points of the 5D series......

Can somebody please tell me how the AF points [60 something i think] on the 5dIII can help me??? I use a 5DII and the only AF point I ever use is the CENTER AF. I seldom if ever shoot sports basically parties and get togethers is what i use my 5dII for....

I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out if the 5diii is worth the upgrade from my 5dii for my shooting needs......
thanks...

To me it is overkill. Sure you can use them to select areas to focus on, you can probably do single points or single areas to use to focus. I can do that all on my 1D IV, but 99% of the time it set on AI center point with the surrounding points used as assist. To me that is not the important factor of the AF system the 5D III is getting.

Since I only have the 1D IV and not the 1D X, I can only base what I know off the 1D IV. But I think it should be safe to assume the 1D X AF will be superior and if this is the AF system the 5D III is getting I think I can make the 1D IV comparison and we should see comparable improvement in the 5D III.

One of the big differences I see with the 1D IV compared to the 5D II is that if I am shooting the 5D II in AI mode the focus is not as accurate if you are shooting still life in single shot mode. With the 1D IV I can put it in AI mode, and it is just as accurate in AI mode as it is in one shot mode. The 5D II is just not consistently as accurate as the 1D.

Then there are the lensalign tests that I did, when calibrating my lenses I did 1000's of shots to fine tune each lens to each body, what I found in side by side tests is that the 1D IV's AF system was nearly accurate 100% of the time. Both the 5D II and the 7D would loose 1 to 2 shots in every set. If I remember correctly their accuracy was closer to 90%. (Edit: I would also point out that the grouping and tightness of the 1D IV was much better than the other two bodies. The 7D and 5D II would back focus and front focus slightly more than the 1D IV in any given sample.)

What I believe is this. If the 5D III does have the same AF system as the 1D X (not just additional points), then the accuracy of the 5D III should improve conciderably. With the faster frame rate, coupled with the improved AF system and throw in a few of the other improvements, you're keeper rate should increase a fair amount.

What we have to hope for with the 5D III, and this really would be different from what Canon has done in the past, is that Canon will not dumb down the AF system of the new 5D III so much that it will not be comparable or close to the 1D X. We have to hope that Canon marketing didn't have a say in the design of the AF system.