I have taken several thousands of images using my 5D Mark III in the last 4 months. Not a single time have I noticed any banding issues. I truly enjoy that camera more so than anything else, including my already sold 1D Mark IV and 1Ds Mark III.
On the 5DII there is NO BANDING AT ALL if you don't play silly buggers with the shadows. I have shot thousands and thousands of shots and never seen it at all. But then I can expose properly. Can't speak for the 5DIII
Warranties are not transferable. If you buy used you will have no warranty from Canon.
talk about utterly wrong
both your points
1. is utterly wrong, the 5D2 has a lot of banding and if you actually know anything about photography you know all the talk about just expose properly is a red herring
2. while it is not guaranteed, they often honor it
caad4rep wrote:
I'm not trying to start or anything but I guess my photography would be limited. I grew up on film and always tried to get a good exposure straight out of the camera. If that wasn't possible I guess I'd have to try again in better lighting.
I'm not asking about worst case scenerio or how to maximize dynamic range. Is banding a problem straight out of the camera or only when heavily post processed?
straight out of the camera if the scene has a lot of dynamic range, it's not bad lighting just because a camera can't handle it, some truly amazing lighting can be beyond what some cameras can handle, but it still awesome lighting and might handled by certain cameras or film
1. is utterly wrong, the 5D2 has a lot of banding and if you actually know anything about photography you know all the talk about just expose properly is a red herring
2. while it is not guaranteed, they often honor it
Just jump on the bandwagon. Don't learn to do it properly, I really don't care.
Canon warranties are not transferable, if you want to take the chance, that's up to you.
caad4rep wrote:
I'm a long time Nikon shooter am seriously considering a switch to the 5d3. I've been contemplating a switch to Canon for the past 5 years and am getting closer to pulling the trigger each year. I feel that Canon has a stronger lens line up and ergonomics which make more sense to me.
I also think the lens line up is better and like the controls better. Also, Canon now has built in RF control in their flashes which is a big issue for me.
A couple questions though. Can I make the viewfinder clear except for the active focus point? Nothing in the view finder except for one little box that I can move around with the joystick? Is that possible? To my understanding, that box is black and stays black though, correct?
Yes you can set it to only see the active point. The aft point stays black, but as the light goes down it is appears reddish as the red tinged backlight comes on.
On various blogs and forums I see people complaining about low ISO banding, especially at ISO 100. Is this a real issue or do you only run into it if you are really try to pull stuff out of shadows and dark areas?
I have only experienced this when I have pushed an area 2+ stops as even then only when the area is nearly black.
Are Canon warranties transferrable if I buy used?
The T&C of the warranty says it for the original purchaser only. But I have never had any issue getting service if I had a receipt for used equipment.
dhphoto wrote:
This whole discussion is and always was about what a user expects from their gear. I have used every type of large, medium and small format film camera (with B&W and transparency and colour neg film) and used digital since 2003.
I know what my cameras can and can't do. I know how to expose and to use contrast lowering techniques to bring the contrast of a scene within a range the camera can handle. Any good photographer knows how to do this. It's part of the job.
A poor photographer expects the camera to do it all, surprise surprise, they can't. They blame the gear.
It's a perfect example of poor workmen blaming their tools.
If you know what you're doing there is no banding on the 5DII. None....Show more →
utter BS
I'm hardly saying the low DR ruins every shot. I would have already switched sides if it did,as would many. Plenty of shots, a clear majority for sure, it won't even matter at all (although it's not THAT hard to find plenty of shots where better DR and less banding would help). But it is total BS to say it's all due to lack of knowledge and under exposure and it's never an issue if you know how to shoot, etc. etc. give us a break. And if you don't want "breathless statements" about DR and banding them how about the ostrich crowd not always posting such patronizing talk about it all.
I do prefer the Canon UI though as you mention and Nikon doesn't have anything to answer the 70-300L at all or even the 70-200 f/4 IS which can be extremely useful general purpose lenses. And their T&S isn't as good as the 24 T&S II.
The upcoming 24-70 II will also likely and hopefully be the best 24-70mm ever.
High ISO is fairly similar between Canon and Nikon with D3s/D4/1DX the best DR up there and 5D3 the next best and SNR reasonably close between D800/5D3 and D4/1DX likely just ahead.
The big difference is at low ISO where D800 has way more MP/reach for FF and D800 and many other recent Nikons have considerably better DR, if you need it.
I hope Canon gets back on track with their sensors since, as you say, they do have nice lenses and, for me at least, a much nicer UI and somewhat better video (although the 5D3 video seems only half finished that said in terms of how much more it could have easily delivered) and they seem to have gotten AF back on track.
garyvot wrote:
I'm not denying that the Sony Exmor sensors are better in this regard, but you will see a lot of breathless posts here that make it sound like Canon cameras are basically unusable at low ISO. I think most intelligent people can discern that the truth is more nuanced than that.
I saw a recent image taken with the D800 where the shadows have been lifted and I can't say that I like that image. Maybe it was overdone and for sure, I wouldn't lift that much shadow on any of my images. Period. On paper, the Exmor sensor is great and seems to have the advantage of the CMOS sensor but photographically, the difference is not that dramatic as some portrayed it to be. Don't get me wrong, it still has an MP adavantage over Canon's best at this point and this should not be considered a fanboy post. Nothing against Nikon or the D800 but to me, it shows that shadow lifting is not my cup of tea, especially if done excessively.
OP: one thing I would recommend in this and any thread: look at the posters' work, and do not take any equipment advice from anyone whose photography is not up to your standards.
There are tons of people on the web willing to give free advice and complain about equipment. Problem is many of them have either a) never used it, or b) are not skilled photographers and blame equipment for things which they should not.
Again, the 5D cameras would not have been such a smash success if they were riddled with banding. You mess up the exposure by a long shot, you might have issues though. Miss it by a stop or two, and you will be fine.
Try it for yourself. And like I said, research those you are taking equipment advice from. My personal feeling is if someone can't take a picture, then I don't want to hear what they have to say about cameras. ;-)
OP: one thing I would recommend in this and any thread: look at the posters' work, and do not take any equipment advice from anyone whose photography is not up to your standards.
There are tons of people on the web willing to give free advice and complain about equipment. Problem is many of them have either a) never used it, or b) are not skilled photographers and blame equipment for things which they should not.
Again, the 5D cameras would not have been such a smash success if they were riddled with banding. You mess up the exposure by a long shot, you might have issues though. Miss it by a stop or two, and you will be fine.
Try it for yourself. And like I said, research those you are taking equipment advice from. My personal feeling is if someone can't take a picture, then I don't want to hear what they have to say about cameras. ;-)...Show more →
funny you mention that since some who have noted that it has lower DR than the D800 also have some of the more extensive galleries, including Fred himself....
just saying....
now maybe the DR doesn't matter for everyone and even if it does it's not the end of the world there are other aspects but enough with the veiled insults and nonsense already
and for the 100th time it is NOT about proper exposure, that is, duh, a given, it's when a proper exposure still leaves you stuck that more DR helps (well it helps with a messed up exposure too and who wouldn't want to rescue something that went wrong)
garyvot wrote:
I think most intelligent people can discern that the truth is more nuanced than that.
Gary is right, but unfortunately there is a serious shortage of intelligent people on some of these forums, and that tends to skew some of these threads...
AGeoJO wrote:
I have taken several thousands of images using my 5D Mark III in the last 4 months. Not a single time have I noticed any banding issues. I truly enjoy that camera more so than anything else, including my already sold 1D Mark IV and 1Ds Mark III.
Then you're not using your camera properly!
As it was explained to me on the Nikon forum, the proper way to use these cameras is to underexpose the image by 5 stops, and then "lift the shadows" using tone mapping/HDR to "correct" the exposure... and when the 5D Mark II and Mark III are used in this fashion, you may see more banding than you will on some of the Nikon cameras...
molson wrote:
Then you're not using your camera properly!
As it was explained to me on the Nikon forum, the proper way to use these cameras is to underexpose the image by 5 stops, and then "lift the shadows" using tone mapping/HDR to "correct" the exposure... and when the 5D Mark II and Mark III are used in this fashion, you may see more banding than you will on some of the Nikon cameras...
Aah, now I know what I have been doing wrong then; I have been exposing my images properly. No wonder I didn't notice any banding !
As a working photographer who didn't always have the time to nail perfect exposures during weddings, I have found banding an unpleasantly high number of times in my 5d2 images. I don't know about the 5d3 from personal experience, but all roads suggest about 50% of the banding is still present...
5d2 all focus points are visible at all times, not sure about 5d3....
Canon lens lineup is more desirable, but all of the units I have tried show inconsistent AF (20D, 40D, 1ds II, 3x 5d2, plus fast L primes 24-35-50-85-135, 70-200 and 16-35). The problem is...you can have the coolest, sharpest lenses and nicest focal lengths in the world, but if you can't nail focus every time you mean to, that just isn't quite good enough...
Rickuz wrote:
Oh spare me the bs about exposing properly. Everybody knows that the 5D2 suffers from banding, and so does the 5D3. And yes it comes out when you try to push the shadows. The banding is a noise pattern exclusive to Canon, and the worst part is that it is impossible to remove in PP.
If you think that theres always a way to get proper exposure in a single shot, and if you never have the need to push shadows, then your area of photography must be very limited.
About the warranty part, I have personally bought used gear that still had warranty, and it worked just fine when I sent it in for calibration.
Well then, that explains it. Canon has always honored the warranty on my used purchases. (Canon Thailand and Canon Sweden).
I am using a 5D II the 4rth year now. I never had banding issues in "normal" situations (without pushing). Visible banding starts to occure in fiew cases at ISO 6.400 in dark image parts and is growing above. That is why my use of ISO 12.800 is seldom. Usually those high ISO settings are necessary for images in real darkness.
I think the warranty question is different from country to country. Here in germany so far I know warranty is connected to the product, not to the buyer (what imo makes sense). If I buy a 1 year old used camera that has a two year warranty I still have another year, no matter if the camera had one or twenty-five preowners. I just need the warranty card and the reciete from the original (first) purchase to get the service.
AGeoJO wrote:
Aah, now I know what I have been doing wrong then; I have been exposing my images properly. No wonder I didn't notice any banding !
+100
all the banding/DR crowd know NOTHING about a proper exposure and if they learned how to shoot they would never, NEVER have any issues under any circumstances, what sad bunch of posers
once again NOBODY will EVER see any banding or shadow noise, EVER, so long as they learn how to shoot with a camera and pick the proper exposure (not that they are capable )
anyone with half a brain would realize that a scene with 15 stops can be captured perfectly IF you use a proper exposure and know how to shoot but the same fools pretend like it is not possible just to cover for the fact that they have never, likely, taken a single photo in the real world in their life!!!! maybe some OOF cats ! I wonder if any of them even have earned their HS diploma .
)
! 