5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

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Archive 2012 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

cineski
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p.3 #1 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

DmitriM wrote:
CONS:

1. On the 2nd day my camera got locked up after a shot and a "card is writing" light was illuminated. None of the controls seemed to be working except the shutter button. I had to turn the camera off and on to get that fixed. Last 2 shots that I took while experiencing this issue were not on the cards.scary stuff....

That's scary, never had this problem myself.

2. I did not look at RAWs,but jpegs do seem a bit soft...softer than my usual RAWs from 5DIIs.... Everything at every ISO speed seems a bit washed and has that plasticky look. My NR is set to "Standard",in case that matters. I've yet to find a WOW, this is soooo sharp image

5DII raws had many!! I'll have to look at RAWs later to compare.

In my experience, even at ISO 12,800, the RAW files are very sharp.

3. I was getting about 1050-1100 shots per 32GB card on 5D IIs. Seems like an extra MP brought it down to 850-870, which is a huge for just 1mp increase.

4. AF sometimes takes a 1.5 second to nail a focus even during day light for the first shot. That's VERY long. Seems like it doesn't happen often,but it happens. Same issue is also present during evening scenarios with little light. The camera will focus properly once the focus is achieved,but it takes 1.5-2 seconds. For fast paced situation this is extremely long!!

I haven't had this problem yet in good light. In the very darkest of light when I'm shooting only avail light @ f/1.2 @ ISO 12,800 it may take 1.5-2 seconds.

5.AF has hard time focusing on bright white,low contrast subjects with little contrast. It needs some kind of contrast to nail the focus. So, while in wedding situation it may have no problem achieving focus on a wedding dress,since there are shadows and wrinkles that create contrast, camera does have a bit of an issue focusing on white wall the dress is hung on.

I personally would think this is normal with any camera. AF needs contrast.

6 I am still not sure how CF and SD is handled. My cameras are set to record raws on CF and jpegs on SD cards.
Now what happens if I delete a photo. Which card is image is being deleted from?? I'd want that image to be deleted from both cards!!
I am not sure if that was an issue, but many times I'd delete a photo only to find it later on the card!!! So I am not sure WTF was going on.

That's a great question and I'm guessing it'll delete it from both cards. The only card specific action I've seen so far is when you format CF cards it'll ask you which card to format.

7. HUGE issue!!! HUGE. I am not sure if I have something set wrong,but I can't freakin see the AF point most of the time. I thought VF display illumination set on ON would fix that,but it doesn't. During the day I can't see the AF points and when the focus is nailed. It does show is as a circle at the bottom of the viewfinder screen ,but I WANT and NEED the AF point(center point for example) to be illuminated!!!!
It also isn't illuminated during the night unless the focus is achieved. So can't really see which focus point you are using unless the camera focuses. Did I screw up in the setting or Canon REALLY REALLY REALLY fu$ked this on up

Again, I find this issue really important for me. I am always shooting in really fast paced environments and I really need this feature. I hope there will be some kind of a firmware update in the future.

This is a problem with the 5D3. I have no idea why they thought this (and your #8) was a good idea. This is also not something that can be fixed with firmware. It's a physical issue. The entire screen flashes red in bright light but it's barely visible. Even my wife was like "what the heck is this?!" Have to have the beep on to know if you nailed focus in bright light. This absolutely has to be fixed IMO.

8. Magnify button (up size/dowsize) was stupidly moved to the main dial. It's extremely uncomfortable. It was SOO much easier with 5DII. That wheel is not that easy to scroll so it's a hassle -this is a big WTF were you thinking for me

This is the stupidest design flaw with the 5D3. Why they did this was beyond me. I've emailed Chuck Westfall about this and received feedback. It's a simple firmware fix to move the zoom button back to the upper right. After several days of shooting myself my hand was very fatigued because I had to use the set button to zoom on the image. Dumb dumb dumb.

9. Just now I copied those 2 images and put the SD card back. Now the "card is writing/working" is ON and I don't know WTF is going on!! All the controls seem to be working yet the card was writing or doing something for over 1 minute before it went OFF. What was is doing?? I really want to know!!

PPS. Extra thanks to BH photo for a good discount on these 5Ds and a really fast delivery that arrived 2 hours before my flight

You got a discount on the 5D3 from BH? How much?

My experience so far with the 5D3 is positive with a few glaring issues like the focus illumination and zoom button placement. I really hope Canon fixes the zoom button placement soon so my motor memory doesn't get screwed up. It's hard enough moving to this camera from a a 5D because of so many more buttons and controls. I really wish Canon had put illuminated buttons on this like the D4. When it's dark enough to shoot ISO 12,800 it's dark enough to not see anything on the camera. Otherwise AF, high ISO and overall handling of this camera are fantastic.

Edited on Mar 29, 2012 at 03:07 PM · View previous versions

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:04 PM

arbitrage
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p.3 #2 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

pookipichu wrote:
Instead of speculating someone should test this. Press material is one thing, (e.g. this sensor is 2 stops better), but actual production model testing is another.

On DPreview there are no 1DSIII samples to compare the 5D3 to and it would be helpful if someone could post some comparisons, comparing AF as well. At first glance, the layout of the 1D series AF seems to be more spread out and the 1DSIII can lock focus in candle-light/low light situations.

PetKal wrote:
arbitrage wrote:
Oh one more thing. The slow AF times I have seen but only in really dark conditions. Last evening I tried a dark room challenge to my 5D3. Sometimes I would just hold down the AF-On button (I use back button focus) and it would take 2 seconds and then lock with the beep and lighting up the AF point (the red flash that some on here seem really scared of for some reason). I never seen any delays in even marginal light. This was such low light that I had to shoot at ISO 12800, 1/10 f/2.8 with my 100L.

That fits what I would expect from the AF system which is designed to operate down to -2 EV. The older camera models which go to -1 EV probably couldn't focus in such conditions at all.

In very low light the camera AF just needs extra time to accumulate sufficient phase detect signal sample required for the control of lens AF. Now, if you mounted 50 f/1.2 or 85 f/1.2 on the camera instead of 100 f/2.8, the camera AF response would have probably been much better.

The 5D3 locks in extremely low light. As I said earlier it was exposure of 1/10 f/2.8 and ISO 12800 and it was locking in about 2 seconds initially and then just moving left or right would re-lock instantly. This was with focus search set to off and full AF range on the 100L Macro. The AF layout on the 5D3/1DX is the exact same height but it is wider than the 1Ds3. The 1Ds3 probably has its far corner points a little further out to the corners though because the arrangement is almost a square. The 5D3 is a longer rectangle with equal height only for the central 21 points so that its corner points are probably a little less high than the 1Ds3/1D4.

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:16 PM

gvg45
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p.3 #3 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

DmitriM wrote:
8. Magnify button (up size/dowsize) was stupidly moved to the main dial. It's extremely uncomfortable. It was SOO much easier with 5DII. That wheel is not that easy to scroll so it's a hassle -this is a big WTF were you thinking for me

Have you tried setting up the SET button for magnification? I just got my camera last night and found these settings which make magnification easy for me. Maybe see what you think and if it helps you...

In custom controls: Change the SET button to the magnifying glass. Then go to Play3 settings and adjust Magnificatn (apx) to your default desired magnification.

When you review your images, you can press the SET button to zoom in/out quickly to check for critical focus.

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:19 PM

cineski
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p.3 #4 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

gvg45-

This is almost worse than using the left placed button for zoom. You really have to reposition your hand to hit the set button during shooting. Add to this that if you're in live view you have to keep the camera steady and then reposition your hand to hit the set button. This is a no go. Even after an few hours your hand gets fatigued from this. Then you try shooting for a few days straight. Nope, this is something that needs a firmware fix now. You should not have to move your hand for this function. On top of that, the upper 2 buttons that used to be zoom don't have any control during live view or review mode.

I'll also add that (as brought up many times before) there's no exposure compensation in auto ISO mode which is a problem.

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:25 PM

Dawei Ye
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p.3 #5 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

RichardLavigne wrote:
my advice... read your manual.

Many of the issues you seem to have are results of you not understanding how the camera works, particularly 6 and 7... I'd venture to guess that some of the AF issue might be a result of the AF values you have set as well.

Not sure how any of the points can be fixed by reading the manual

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:32 PM

bobbytan
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p.3 #6 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

Wow #7 is a deal breaker for me. I will be equally frustrated if I am having to struggle with the AF point when you have to shoot quickly. I am glad I made the decision to not be an early adopter this time. I hope Canon fixes the problem and drops the price before too long .... or give us the "real" 3D this Fall.

Mar 29, 2012 at 02:37 PM

Yohan Pamudji
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p.3 #7 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

arbitrage wrote:If you are writing Raws to one card and jpegs to the other then you have to select which card is displaying on the LCD and that is what card you are deleting from. You have to switch to the other card in the menu to delete from it. This is for using the trash button while in playback. If you go into the playback menu then delete from there you can select the card at that time and then check off the images to delete in one batch or erase the whole card.

That is a really stupid implementation. If I'm writing RAW to one card and JPEG to another, shouldn't the default behavior be to delete from both? At least give us the option to do so through a menu setting. Just gotta shake my head at Canon sometimes. Auto ISO in M exposure mode with no way to apply exposure compensation, having to delete from both cards separately--it's like they throw features on there without thinking about how they'll be used.

Mar 29, 2012 at 03:05 PM

cheem
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p.3 #8 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

DmitriM wrote:

2. Unfortunately, it's not not what I am talking about. I need the dial. First I need to look at the image to see if it's properly exposed and then zoom in to see if it's in focus. The other way around(zoomed in fist using "Actual Size") setting isn't working that well. If you have multiple in focus object it fill zoom in on one of them and not necessary the one I need and since you are at 100%, you don't know where you are and have to zoom out quite a bit. I tried it. What would be great is to change the main dial zoom in/out to the same buttons 5DII has. It was really comfortable and easy

I agree - I find this a bit cumbersome. One click to view, one click to start the zoom process and the wheel to magnify.

DmitriM wrote:
7. HUGE issue!!! HUGE. I am not sure if I have something set wrong,but I can't freakin see the AF point most of the time. I thought VF display illumination set on ON would fix that,but it doesn't. During the day I can't see the AF points and when the focus is nailed. It does show is as a circle at the bottom of the viewfinder screen ,but I WANT and NEED the AF point(center point for example) to be illuminated!!!!
It also isn't illuminated during the night unless the focus is achieved. So can't really see which focus point you are using unless the camera focuses. Did I screw up in the setting or Canon REALLY REALLY REALLY fu$ked this on up Again, I find this issue really important for me. I am always shooting in really fast paced environments and I really need this feature. I hope there will be some kind of a firmware update in the future.
I am coming from the 40D and much preferred the focus confirmation - same as you with the 5D2. I played with the illumination mentioned above and changed it from auto (which only confirms when it is dark) to Enabled and I also changed the 'AF point display during focus' (p.102) from all (constant) to Selected (pre-focus, focused). It is better but as soon as focus locks on the focus point disappears.

Mar 29, 2012 at 04:25 PM

Ziffl3
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p.3 #9 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

stanj wrote:
Ziffl3 wrote:
And no they(AF points) are not harder to see than a 1D .... sorry stanj.

Well then I guess I wasn't using my five or six 1D-class bodies correctly over the last decade.

Fact: The 1D can illuminate a single AF point. Or two. And keep it illuminated constantly for me to more easily see. Can not be done on the 5D3. On the 5D3, everything lights up. The friggin' grid flashes red at me. On the 1D....1D4, not so much.

On the 5D3 (and D4 and I can only assume the 1DX) the outline of the AF point is way fatter (relative to the size of the viewfinder image) than on the 1D...1D4. When on the 5D3 I turn on the display of all 61 points, it's more black than transparent. If you turn it off (or use any of the other options), it's much harder and slower to switch from say the upper left to the lower right AF point with the dinky joystick than it was with the back dial on the 1D....1D4, at least via the "ring of fire" mode which was present on the 1N/A2E .... D30 ... 1D4, including the 5-series. On the 5D3, I either need to do it "blind", relying on me remembering exactly how far I can go with the joystick in each direction (because I don't see the available points), or I do have the AF points constantly superimposed and then I am back on square one with a hopelessly overloaded viewfinder with a ton of black crap in it. On the 1Ds3 it took me exactly 4 clicks with the back dial. I didn't even have to look. A fraction of a second, done while I was turning the camera from landscape to portrait.

But maybe I just remember all of this wrong, and the half dozen 1-series cameras with hundreds of thousands of clicks don't matter.

maybe we just leave it that our eyes are different.
I have no problem running around with the joy stick.

Your choice is the wheel ...cool.

You maybe a great image maker - my hat is off to you .... cool. but it does not mean you are also fabulous with equipment.

The 2 do not go hand in hand. just sayin'....

Mar 29, 2012 at 04:29 PM

SeverianTL
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p.3 #10 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

stanj wrote:

On the 5D3 (and D4 and I can only assume the 1DX) the outline of the AF point is way fatter (relative to the size of the viewfinder image) than on the 1D...1D4. When on the 5D3 I turn on the display of all 61 points, it's more black than transparent. But why would you do that? Wouldn't a better option be: in AF5 set "AF point display during focus" to Selected (constant)? If you turn it off (or use any of the other options), it's much harder and slower to switch from say the upper left to the lower right AF point with the dinky joystick than it was with the back dial on the 1D....1D4, at least via the "ring of fire" mode which was present on the 1N/A2E .... D30 ... 1D4, including the 5-series. Set AF5 "Manual AF pt. selec. pattern" to Continuous. On the 5D3, I either need to do it "blind", relying on me remembering exactly how far I can go with the joystick in each direction (because I don't see the available points), or I do have the AF points constantly superimposed and then I am back on square one with a hopelessly overloaded viewfinder with a ton of black crap in it. On the 1Ds3 it took me exactly 4 clicks with the back dial. I didn't even have to look. A fraction of a second, done while I was turning the camera from landscape to portrait.

But maybe I just remember all of this wrong, and the half dozen 1-series cameras with hundreds of thousands of clicks don't matter.

Mar 29, 2012 at 04:53 PM

Breitling65
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p.3 #11 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

#3 is very intersting point, how large raws?

Mar 29, 2012 at 05:12 PM

arbitrage
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p.3 #12 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

cheem wrote:
DmitriM wrote:

2. Unfortunately, it's not not what I am talking about. I need the dial. First I need to look at the image to see if it's properly exposed and then zoom in to see if it's in focus. The other way around(zoomed in fist using "Actual Size") setting isn't working that well. If you have multiple in focus object it fill zoom in on one of them and not necessary the one I need and since you are at 100%, you don't know where you are and have to zoom out quite a bit. I tried it. What would be great is to change the main dial zoom in/out to the same buttons 5DII has. It was really comfortable and easy

I agree - I find this a bit cumbersome. One click to view, one click to start the zoom process and the wheel to magnify.

DmitriM wrote:
7. HUGE issue!!! HUGE. I am not sure if I have something set wrong,but I can't freakin see the AF point most of the time. I thought VF display illumination set on ON would fix that,but it doesn't. During the day I can't see the AF points and when the focus is nailed. It does show is as a circle at the bottom of the viewfinder screen ,but I WANT and NEED the AF point(center point for example) to be illuminated!!!!
It also isn't illuminated during the night unless the focus is achieved. So can't really see which focus point you are using unless the camera focuses. Did I screw up in the setting or Canon REALLY REALLY REALLY fu$ked this on up Again, I find this issue really important for me. I am always shooting in really fast paced environments and I really need this feature. I hope there will be some kind of a firmware update in the future.
I am coming from the 40D and much preferred the focus confirmation - same as you with the 5D2. I played with the illumination mentioned above and changed it from auto (which only confirms when it is dark) to Enabled and I also changed the 'AF point display during focus' (p.102) from all (constant) to Selected (pre-focus, focused). It is better but as soon as focus locks on the focus point disappears.

You don't have to click playback button if the 2 sec review is still showing after the shot then just click the mag lens and it goes straight to your preset mag and is then in playback mode.

It is true that after lock the point disappears but personally I really like how it works compared to the 5D2. I guess I'm used to it as the 7D was my primary camera for 1.5 years after moving from a rebel T1i.

Mar 29, 2012 at 05:36 PM

RichardLavigne
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p.3 #13 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

arbitrage wrote:
It is true that after lock the point disappears but personally I really like how it works compared to the 5D2. I guess I'm used to it as the 7D was my primary camera for 1.5 years after moving from a rebel T1i.

It doesn't have to disappear, you can adjust in AF menu 5 set "AF Point during focus" to All Constant.

Mar 29, 2012 at 05:56 PM

Gavilan
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p.3 #14 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

DmitriM wrote:
Yohan Pamudji wrote:

- Can any camera focus on white objects with low contrast?

- You can change magnify behavior to where pressing the magnify button gets you to 100% magnification at the active AF point. That way you don't have to use the dial to zoom in/out. Pg. 252 in manual.

1. tried D4 last week and it was able to focus a bit better(I think) on a white wall in a somewhat similar scenario

2. Unfortunately, it's not not what I am talking about. I need the dial. First I need to look at the image to see if it's properly exposed and then zoom in to see if it's in focus. The other way around(zoomed in fist using "Actual Size") setting isn't working that well. If you have multiple in focus object it fill zoom in on one of them and not necessary the one I need and since you are at 100%, you don't know where you are and have to zoom out quite a bit. I tried it. What would be great is to change the main dial zoom in/out to the same buttons 5DII has. It was really comfortable and easy

I agree with this. Don't know why they changed the zoom buttons?

Mar 29, 2012 at 06:09 PM

James Cripps
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p.3 #15 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

"... though I have the last row of points to the left and right blinking and not available for my 24L and 70-200L 2.8. A bit sad about that...Sometimes when you go fast, your selection goes there and then you have to go back. Waste of time and a bit frustrating."

Sorry if this has been addressed. I'm just wondering what this is about? Why would any AF points be unavailable for the 24L and 70-200 f/2.8? I thought you would only lose AF at or beyond f/8 like an f/5 lens with an extender, etc.

Mar 29, 2012 at 07:36 PM

James Cripps
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p.3 #16 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

Aren't the blinking points just the single-axis AF points? (non cross-type). So they should still be available?

Mar 29, 2012 at 07:38 PM

teebat
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p.3 #17 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

robsuh wrote:
Thanks for the mini-review. Always good to hear from pros. Someone else mentioned the issue with the focus points being nearly invisible during the daylight (your issue 7.) So it isn't just you.

There is a c.fn you can enable to brighten the focus point. This has been discussed.

Do you delete files while while working? I am always afraid to delete just in case.

Mar 29, 2012 at 07:46 PM

Arun Gupta
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p.3 #18 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

James Cripps wrote:
"... though I have the last row of points to the left and right blinking and not available for my 24L and 70-200L 2.8. A bit sad about that...Sometimes when you go fast, your selection goes there and then you have to go back. Waste of time and a bit frustrating."

Sorry if this has been addressed. I'm just wondering what this is about? Why would any AF points be unavailable for the 24L and 70-200 f/2.8? I thought you would only lose AF at or beyond f/8 like an f/5 lens with an extender, etc.

While there should be no issue for the 24L v1 & 2, and the 70-200 f/2.8L, L IS, L IS II, pages 79 onward of the 5d3 manual divide lenses into groups A to H.

In group A, all the AF points work, including all the dual cross-type AF points. The lenses above belong to group A.

In group B, all the AF points work, but only the central dual cross-type AF point works as such. This includes the 14L, 15mm f/2.8 fisheye, the 24-70 f/2.8L.

In group C, all the AF points work but none work as dual cross-type AF points (yoiu still have a healthy array of cross-type AF points). There is a whole slew of lenses here including the 100mm f/2.8 L and non-L macros, the 500mm, 600 mm, 17-40 f/4, and various telephotos with extenders.

In group D, some of the outer cross-type AF points become horizontal AF points only, and so on.

Mar 29, 2012 at 08:01 PM

stanj
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p.3 #19 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

deepbluejh wrote:
Sounds like to me there is one legit issue here and a whole bunch of "issues" caused by unfamiliarity with the camera and not reading the manual.

Sounds to me like this is an example of someone who doesn't have the camera passing judgement on those who do.

Mar 29, 2012 at 08:32 PM

M Lucca
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p.3 #20 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!!

The lady in the 2nd pic looks like she might fall over.

Mar 29, 2012 at 08:48 PM

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