twistedlim
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 p.6 #12 · 5D III Review: Wedding: Lots of issues!!! | |
Now that I have had some time to play around with the camera (love it) I feel somewhat able to address some of the issues. Sorry if these answers have been hit on before.
DmitriM wrote:
I just finished photographing a wedding. Over 39 hours of fast paced shooting
I've been shooting RAW on CF cards+jpegs on SD card.
Temperature: 20C-37C of fast paced shooting in different conditions and lighting scenarios.Sun,fog,rain,humidity,etc
From still and fast moving objects. Most shots were taken with 1-shot mode,but I also tried AI Servo a few times with outer points and they worked great. Way better than 5dII could even dream.
Just general observation with a lot of CONs-that's why Canon would not let me test their cameras  )
I am aint no ambassador or sponsored by them to bull shit with fairy tales about a perfect product. This camera is NOT perfect. Lots of issues so far(and questions from me)
Lenses used: 24L II 1.4 and 70-200L II IS
PROs:
1. AF is way better than 5DII as it was said before. Over 95% of the shots are in focus. It's beyond impressive and I think I can partially take the blame on the other 5%!!
With 5DII it was extremely hard to shoot a subject against a white wall or in front of a window using a wide angle lens. 24mm 1.4 shots would end up at least 6/10 out of focus @ anything faster than 2.8. In fact, half of the shots with 5DII at 1.4 would turn up to be somewhat backfocused or focused on infinity.
Now I had no issues with it. 5D III was nailing white dresses against white walls without back focusing. Most(9 out of 10) images at 1.4 are in focus. Outer focus points work really nice.
Basically, 5D III has the best AF I've used with Canon cameras.
2.RAW images are sharp(unlike jpegs) and ISO performance is pretty good. It's not 2-5 stops as it was claimed by certain individuals(well, they only used jpegs...). I'd say maybe 1 stop. HOWEVER, the noise has no binding and is very uniform. Neat Image or LR deals with it really good and it can actually give you an extra stop over 5D II files,which didn't have a nice grain,especially past ISO 2500. With 5DIII, I had no issues shooting at ISO4000 and if images had proper expsure, they looked fantastic.
3.Well,lots of other small improvements as well, like the locking mechanism for the dial and good placement of the OFF/ON button.A few more which were mentioned many times by others. I just bought these cameras for their ISO and AF performance.
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....
I would bet it is a card problem. Did you format on your PC before formatting in the camera?
2.Jpegs do seem a bit soft...softer than 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
As Stan said it will only show you what you have your camera settings to. You want it sharper crank up the sharpness, drop the noise reduction from standard to none
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(this is not an issue,but an observation...)
Were you shooting a higher ISO, more noise more memory taken
4. AF sometimes takes a 1.5 second to nail a focus even during day light for the first shot. Other times the camera would nail the focus, give me the beep and then there would be about 1.5 seconds delay until the shutter fires.
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!!
Same situation with the series one bodies I had. They will not lock on until they are 100%. Contrast and lighting has to be right. Old 5d's would lock on but not necessarily accurate
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.D4 had no problems so I expected 5DIII to do the same. Not a big issue, I understand the limitations...
[i]See above answer
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.
Read the manual, you can choose which card you are using when you review. You can delete from only the card you are reviewing. Under the "wrench' the first option is "record func+card/folder select" In that function you can control what goes to each card and what card is visable on playback. The card visable is the one you can delete from.
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 have mine set on ON and have no issues seeing the AP points. It is different from other canon auto focus illumination but I do not have an issue with it.
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.
Agreed, a hassle but one we can get used to. Heck it is easier than changing systems.
9. Just now I copied 2 images from the card to my laptop and put the SD card back in the cameras. Now the "card is writing/working" light 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!!
It takes much longer to write to the sd card. You are counting on you computer being able to transfer at the same rate as the camera, Won't happen.
10. Subjects who are being photographed see the lens "light up in red" every time the focus is achieved. While not a major issue, it's still is if you are using camera for journalism and just un -needed feature. I would guess that it won't be a camera of choice for journalists in war zones where you'd be the target. You can turn this "feature" off,but if you forget it- you are dead...
Have not noticed that yet
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
Oh, that's what I was shooting
These are jpegs and not at 100% crop so they have no real value....
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...I thought I read it earlier but couldnt remember where with so many 5D3 threads. 