p.1 #1 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
Very interesting results!
Any lens older than the 70-200 2.8 IS II did much worse with phase AF consistency than with liveview AF on both bodies, 5D2 and 5D3, no surprise, already well known and expected.
Regardless of lens age they all did much worse with phase precision than contrast focus precision on the 5D2.
But with a 5D3, all of the new lenses, on that body only, focus much more precisely!
The 70-200 2.8 IS II was sort of in between somewhat better but not like with the newest lenses.
They found that the new 24mm 2.8 IS, 28mm 2.8 IS, 300 2.8 IS II and 70-300mm IS L all focused much more precisely when used with the new 5D3 (and likely 1DX) AF system than on the older 5D2 and that the 70-200 2.8 IS II possibly focused somewhat better (although they were not sure in this case). They said those few lenses actually focused almost as precisely with phase AF as with contrast liveview AF. The old 300 2.8 IS did not.
So apparently the new AF system can hook into some secret stuff with the newest lens designs.
I wonder if that means that third party lenses are not likely to be able to match the same AF precision of the new Canon lenses on the 5D3/1DX, at least not for some time, since they won't have the special whatever it is that makes the new Canon lenses focus extra well with the new AF system.
p.1 #4 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
My Sigma 50 f/1.4 + 5D III spot AF combo/setup is now basically spot on. With the 5D II I would always check it with LV since you never were quite sure if it would get it right, but with the 5D III the spot AF is a godsend for ultrafast glass. I can now trust the PDAF rather than use LV.
p.1 #8 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
With the exception of the 70-200L IS II every one of my 11 Canon lenses needed calibration on my previous 5D 2's.
On my two 5D 3's no calibration needed on any lens.
p.1 #9 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
joeisayo wrote:
With the exception of the 70-200L IS II every one of my 11 Canon lenses needed calibration on my previous 5D 2's.
On my two 5D 3's no calibration needed on any lens.
probably luck plus somewhat better avg body tolerance for 5D3, although i have needed less calibration overall with my 5D3 I still need to use it for sure on some lenses
p.1 #10 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
The 5D3 is using a newer high precision dual-cross type AF point, which was first tested on the 7D. The older AF point from the 5D2 was high precision only in 1 axis, but the newer one in the 5D3 is high precision in 2 axes. Perhaps that is the reason for the improved performance.
I wonder if the 7D shows similar improvement over its APS-C predecessors, as the 5D3 does over its full frame predecessor.
p.1 #11 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
stargazer78 wrote:
The 5D3 is using a newer high precision dual-cross type AF point, which was first tested on the 7D. The older AF point from the 5D2 was high precision only in 1 axis, but the newer one in the 5D3 is high precision in 2 axes. Perhaps that is the reason for the improved performance.
I wonder if the 7D shows similar improvement over its APS-C predecessors, as the 5D3 does over its full frame predecessor.
But it didn't give the new ultra performance with the older lens designs only with the very newest lenses starting with the 70-300L release (and perhaps to a lesser extent with the 70-200 2.8 IS II). With old lenses they both did noticeably worse than contrast AF.
Basically yeah only the 5D3 and 1DX have the new ultra precision AF unit although the 1D4 isn't that shabby.
7D, as I've long said, has a LOT more in common with the cheapo AF units than the 1 series, it's just a cheapo unit with more points and some more speed added
the newest lenses have high precision rotation readers that allow for nice closed loop AF, without both the new high precision readers in lenses and the new high precision detectors (1DX,5D3 and to a lesser extent 1D4) you won't get the ultra precision
i think you also need to use the center point or at least the center column other than very top and bottom points of that
p.1 #18 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
RobDickinson wrote:
Why isnt there a clear marketing message from canon on this?
Because it might be interpreted as a tacit admission that phase detect AF has sucked until today. I wonder if they were partly motivated by how well contrast-detect AF works on MFT.
p.1 #19 · Lens Rentals AF test 5D3 vs 5D2 + new vs old lenses!!
RobDickinson wrote:
Why isnt there a clear marketing message from canon on this?
Maybe because they don't want to have to say "* - only with the 70-300L and some $10,000+ super tele and some $800 non-L primes" ).
Maybe once they get the 24-70 and a few more lenses out?
It certainly would seem to be a selling point for the 24-70 II over the Tamron 24-70 VC.
Often marketing and execs are often extremely NON-technical people and may not know up from down too and what claims are real and what are BS and what matter and what don't, perhaps a little of that?
Anyway I'm just glad I switched to the 70-300L and 5D3.
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