After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

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trale
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p.1 #1 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

Around the launch period, there were lots of varied impressions on the high-iso capabilities of the 5DIII. I'll list some things I remembered off the top of my head (I'm only concerned with raws)

- 1/2 stop better than the 5DII in controlled tests (this is the most conservative assessment I've seen)
- More than 1 stop better than the 5DII in "real" situations.
- 5DIII raws "clean up better" than 5DII raws in PP
- Much less banding than 5DII when shadows lifted
- Better than D800 starting at ISO3200

After 6 months, are there any more refined assessments of the the 5DIII's high iso performance? Compared to 5DII, D800, 1D4, etc? What is your assessment?

Sep 20, 2012 at 11:04 PM

tjpenton
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p.1 #2 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

I read somewhere that downsized to MarkIII resolution the D800 noise is cleaner....but I've been known to be wrong before. And I can't remember the exact member who said it.

this post isn't of much help now is it :P

Sep 20, 2012 at 11:26 PM

skibum5
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p.1 #3 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

trale wrote:
Around the launch period, there were lots of varied impressions on the high-iso capabilities of the 5DIII. I'll list some things I remembered off the top of my head (I'm only concerned with raws)

- 1/2 stop better than the 5DII in controlled tests (this is the most conservative assessment I've seen)

I think it holds up, maybe a bit closer to 2/3rds of a stop, but you need to keep in mind that rates ISOs about 1/3 stop more conservatively. So comparing at the same ISO it might be closer to only 1/3 stop better, but that's not quite fair since the two cameras don't apply the same gain for the same ISO number.

- More than 1 stop better than the 5DII in "real" situations.

In many real situations, no. In some yes. At very high ISOs when the image has large portions in the really darker and shadowy near black regions the 5D2 images might get ruined but the 5D3 still look OK so in certain cases maybe it is 1-2 stops more usable at very, very high ISO even if the mid tones, bright tones and bright shadows might only look 1/2 to 2/3rds stops better. So it depends, in real situations many times I would say no, but then again it's not that hard to find real situations where I'd have to say yes.

- 5DIII raws "clean up better" than 5DII raws in PP

still deciding, but probably

- Much less banding than 5DII when shadows lifted

sadly no unless you are talking about high iso, but happily you are

(as for low iso, yeah the got rid of all the horiz banding so no cross hatching but the vertical is still there in full force so now I absolutely would not say that at all

i would say it's still among the worser set of canon cameras for low iso shadow banding, 1DX, 40D, 1D3, 1Ds3 etc all have lots less)

but yeah at high iso i would say it has less banding for pulled shadows than the 5D2 for sure

- Better than D800 starting at ISO3200

maybe closer to starting at ISO6400

After 6 months, are there any more refined assessments of the the 5DIII's high iso performance? Compared to 5DII, D800, 1D4, etc? What is your assessment?

worse DR at high ISO than D4,1DX but better than 5D2, similar to D800 until you go reallly high and then 5D3 better
a trace worse SNR than the D4, maybe 1/3 stop, maybe same vs 1DX but hard to say some 1DX samples made the performance seem similar to 1/3 stop better but others made it seem a big 2/34ds stop better

it seems

Edited on Sep 21, 2012 at 12:37 AM · View previous versions

Sep 20, 2012 at 11:40 PM

Invertalon
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p.1 #4 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

I limited my shooting to around 6400 with the 5D2... I now limit it at 25,600... It looks that good.

I personally find two stop improvement in high ISO performance. Lower noise, less blotchy, finer grain... Completely usable at 25,600 if exposed correctly.

Sep 20, 2012 at 11:41 PM

trale
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p.1 #5 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

Thanks skibum5! Looks like those initial reports are fairly accurate.

Wonder how close are we getting to the limit of high iso sensor performance.

Sep 21, 2012 at 05:02 AM

alexdi
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p.1 #6 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

The answer might depend how much you're bothered by blue shadow noise and whether you shoot JPEG. In raw, I felt a half-stop to a full-stop relative to the 5D II was about right.

Sep 21, 2012 at 05:16 AM

snapsy
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p.1 #7 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

Here:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1124157/0

Sep 21, 2012 at 05:20 AM

Massimo Foti
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p.1 #8 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

With 5DII I would limit my shooting to 3200/4000, with 5DIII I push the limit to 6400. That's pretty much aligned with the 2/3rds of a stop margin others mentioned already.

I am not in a position to contribute more than this to the discussion. Hope it may help anyway.

Sep 21, 2012 at 08:45 AM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #9 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

I haven't ha much time to review and honestly shooting my salt and pepper shaker in the kitchen at varying iso isn't fun.

I shot my 5d3 yesterday at iso 100 up to 3200.

I find that lighting level and type both play a part in the quality. My "test" would be as scientific as taking the photo, looking at it then looking at another. It appears that my 1div's at 3200 have similar noise levels. I will have some direct comparisons on assignment this weekend but out of camera raw images aren't 2-3 stops better.

This says nothing for dynamic range, recovery, color, et cetera as I simply have no clue yet.

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:27 AM

kodakeos
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p.1 #10 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

Im still annoyed that my 1DsII has better shadow detail and less banding than the 5d3 does :/
That was a real shocker to me. I figured they would be about equal. Guess thats why the 1 series costs so much more

Sep 21, 2012 at 12:42 PM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #11 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

Sep 21, 2012 at 02:33 PM

skibum5
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p.1 #12 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

RobertLynn wrote:
kodakeos wrote:
Im still annoyed that my 1DsII has better shadow detail and less banding than the 5d3 does :/
That was a real shocker to me. I figured they would be about equal. Guess thats why the 1 series costs so much more

I thought banding was fixed on this model?

only at high iso where it does seem to band less but not even remotely at low iso (well they did remove all horizontal low iso banding but since the vertical is there and that alone catches your eye it doesn't really make too much difference that the horiz is gone)

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:30 PM

skibum5
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p.1 #13 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

kodakeos wrote:
Im still annoyed that my 1DsII has better shadow detail and less banding than the 5d3 does :/
That was a real shocker to me. I figured they would be about equal. Guess thats why the 1 series costs so much more

actually the 40D has among the lower amounts of low iso shadow banding and that's hardly 1 series cost
that whole generation: 1Ds3, 40D, and I think 1D3 all had about the least low iso banding of all the canon bodies, the earlier ones were all worse and then the next gen the 50D/5D2 had much worse, the 1DX is finally better again but still not as good as the 1Ds3

one funny thing is the 5D3 has like zero horiz banding at low ISO and the 1Ds3 has about zero vertical so why can't they make a body that solves both at once

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:32 PM

trale
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p.1 #14 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

skibum5 wrote:

one funny thing is the 5D3 has like zero horiz banding at low ISO and the 1Ds3 has about zero vertical so why can't they make a body that solves both at once

Canon being Canon. Withhold certain features, giving some features while taking away others, allowing more incremental upgrades in the future to get more sales.

Case-in-point: their G15. Gives you a better lens, takes away the swivel screen. Will make you pay for a G16 with the swivel screen in the future.

Sep 22, 2012 at 09:56 AM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #15 · After 1/2 yr, how does 5DIII high-ISO stack up?

skibum5 wrote:
RobertLynn wrote:
kodakeos wrote:
Im still annoyed that my 1DsII has better shadow detail and less banding than the 5d3 does :/
That was a real shocker to me. I figured they would be about equal. Guess thats why the 1 series costs so much more

I thought banding was fixed on this model?

only at high iso where it does seem to band less but not even remotely at low iso (well they did remove all horizontal low iso banding but since the vertical is there and that alone catches your eye it doesn't really make too much difference that the horiz is gone)

I took a photo that had deep black shadows at iso 100, pushed it 5 stops and was able to see it.

Sep 22, 2012 at 01:14 PM

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