Canon EOS 5D Mark III | First Thoughts

[shizam1]

What were you seeing?

Well, my wife and I were shooting a wedding, and I had two 5DII's and 1 5DIII, so I thought I would stick to the old reliable technology until we got to the reception and then bring out the 5DIII since it's supposed to be better at low light and AF.

So at this reception, which was inside a restaurant and pretty dimly lit, we had a 5DII and 5DIII, and we were swapping lenses back and forth for some testing. We had an 85 f/1.2L II, 50 f/1.4 and 35 f/1.4L at the reception area.

After reviewing the wedding photos, and since I had accidentally shot one on aperture priority, I know the lighting was around ISO 1600, f/2.2 and 1/30 shutter speed (from memory, not in front of photo right now ).

At some points, it was taking 2-3 seconds to achieve focus on the 5DIII! So yeah, I missed some shots of the bride hugging guests. So I took up the 5DII, and was getting exactly the same result, or maybe (gasp) even faster. I didn't have any duplicate lenses, so couldn't do a simultaneous shot, but I was swapping lenses back and forth and trying different lenses and getting the same result.

I was just a bit dissapointed that I wasn't getting faster than 5DII results in that low light scenario!

Others have mentioned, and I noticed this in some subsequent basement low light tests, that focus seems to be achieved, but then it pauses for .5-1 seconds before giving confirmation.

At the wedding, I was using one-shot mode, with center point selected, and the AF-Expansion with 4 points. In my basement tests I switched back and forth between that and just center point, but didn't notice much of a change.

Anyway, I'm curious if he sees anything similar, and if there's some mysterious AF setting I'm not doing correctly or what not.

[Mark Elberson]

Well, my wife and I were shooting a wedding, and I had two 5DII's and 1 5DIII, so I thought I would stick to the old reliable technology until we got to the reception and then bring out the 5DIII since it's supposed to be better at low light and AF.

So at this reception, which was inside a restaurant and pretty dimly lit, we had a 5DII and 5DIII, and we were swapping lenses back and forth for some testing. We had an 85 f/1.2L II, 50 f/1.4 and 35 f/1.4L at the reception area.

After reviewing the wedding photos, and since I had accidentally shot one on aperture priority, I know the lighting was around ISO 1600, f/2.2 and 1/30 shutter speed (from memory, not in front of photo right now ).

At some points, it was taking 2-3 seconds to achieve focus on the 5DIII! So yeah, I missed some shots of the bride hugging guests. So I took up the 5DII, and was getting exactly the same result, or maybe (gasp) even faster. I didn't have any duplicate lenses, so couldn't do a simultaneous shot, but I was swapping lenses back and forth and trying different lenses and getting the same result.

I was just a bit dissapointed that I wasn't getting faster than 5DII results in that low light scenario!

Others have mentioned, and I noticed this in some subsequent basement low light tests, that focus seems to be achieved, but then it pauses for .5-1 seconds before giving confirmation.

At the wedding, I was using one-shot mode, with center point selected, and the AF-Expansion with 4 points. In my basement tests I switched back and forth between that and just center point, but didn't notice much of a change.

Anyway, I'm curious if he sees anything similar, and if there's some mysterious AF setting I'm not doing correctly or what not.

Thanks for the heads up. I am shooting a wedding in a week and will report back with my observations. I was also hoping that for the reception I could lean on the Mark III with its increased AF sensitivity. We shall see what happens. I'll probably shoot one Mark II with flash and the Mark III with some fast glass.

Side note:

Just playing around in a very dimly lit room I noticed that the AF would lock faster when using Single-point vs. Single-point Spot.

[shizam1]

Thanks for the heads up. I am shooting a wedding in a week and will report back with my observations. I was also hoping that for the reception I could lean on the Mark III with its increased AF sensitivity. We shall see what happens. I'll probably shoot one Mark II with flash and the Mark III with some fast glass.

Side note:

Just playing around in a very dimly lit room I noticed that the AF would lock faster when using Single-point vs. Single-point Spot.

Great, looking forward to it! Also be warned, you may have trouble with the AF, just because of the viewfinder in the 5DIII There doesn't seem to be an option to show the AF point you're using, it only will turn red when focus is achieved. So in a dark area, if you're using center point AF, you are kind of just aiming the camera and hoping you have the center spot aligned with what you want to focus on, it's difficult to see! For some reason I never had this problem with the 5DII, so I need to go look at that camera again to see what it is doing differently.

[Mark Elberson]

Great, looking forward to it! Also be warned, you may have trouble with the AF, just because of the viewfinder in the 5DIII There doesn't seem to be an option to show the AF point you're using, it only will turn red when focus is achieved. So in a dark area, if you're using center point AF, you are kind of just aiming the camera and hoping you have the center spot aligned with what you want to focus on, it's difficult to see! For some reason I never had this problem with the 5DII, so I need to go look at that camera again to see what it is doing differently.

Did you try this? I like the "All (constant)" setting.

[shizam1]

Did you try this? I like the "All (constant)" setting.

I modified it somewhat, but now reading it again, I think I want to change it to "selected constant". But even with that, unless they're glowing red, I feel they are harder to see than on the 5DII. I think the 5DII had a darker border around the points.