p.10 #1 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
Oh one more thing, I still do stand by my disagreement that this camera has a problem in normal light. Do you have the camera? If so what is your opinion on it in average light or bright light? I can personally see the black square in almost complete darkness and can see it in any situation that the camera can achieve focus in anyways. I realize some will have difficulty seeing it in darker places and I probably will find some situations where it will be difficult as I use it some more but in dark conditions you just hit the AF Selection button or move the joystick and it lights up anyways.
p.10 #2 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
BINGO. I came here looking for exactly this. I shot my first job last night with the MkIII and was pretty much flabbergasted to see that there was no initial blip of red to show me where the point is.
I'm going to submit a report to Canon as well on this. Crazy. I'm hopeful they'll be able to change this one--it's definitely broken. Thank you for the thorough writeup.
mtavel wrote:
I've had my 5D3 for 3 days now and have read the manual and played with settings for hours upon hours.
I really think the way focus points are displayed/illuminated on the 5D3 is broken.
Problem (low light):
In low light, the AF point is not visible. It is displayed as a dark square outline in the viewfinder, but in a fairly dark scene, it is impossible to detect. It does not illuminate until it achieves focus on something, and you don't know where on the subject to aim the focus point because you can't see it!
Problem (bright):In bright busy scenes, it can be difficult to see the focus point unless the scene is fairly uniform. The focus point does not blink or illuminate in any way until it achieves focus, so it can be hard to spot until it locks on something. It is easier to see the AF point in bright scenes compared to dark ones, but blinking the AF point when AF starts would be a huge help.
My Settings:
AF Point Display During Focus - Selected (constant) [tried all settings]
VF Display Illumination - Auto [tried all settings]
I submitted a support request to Canon with my issue/concerns.
The reply I received from Canon support:
Dear [Mtavel]:
Thank you for contacting Canon product support. We value you as a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you. I am sorry that you are having difficulty seeing the AF points on the EOS 5D Mark III in certain situations.
Switching the VF Display Illumination to ON would be the recommendation so that when focus is achieved, the AF points and grid would illuminate in red. But you have already tried this setting and it is still not visible enough. Unfortunately, there is no setting on the camera that will make the selected AF point blink before autofocus begins. I will submit your feedback to the proper parties so that our engineers can review this problem. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your EOS 5D Mark III. Thank you for choosing Canon.
I replied to clarify that I'm not looking for the focus points to be on all the time or 'before autofocus begins', but some indication of the selected focus point when autofocus starts would be helpful in low light situations (or challenging daylight scenes).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Their final reply:
Dear [mtavel]:
We appreciate your continued correspondence regarding AF point visibility on your EOS 5D Mark III.
The autofocus points will only illuminate AFTER focus is achieved. I can understand where it would be difficult to see the AF points in low light. Hopefully, with enough feedback from our customers, our engineers may be able to develop some fix or implement an option to better illuminate the AF points prior autofocus is locked.
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your EOS 5D Mark III. Thank you for choosing Canon.
Dear Alfonso Bresciani:
We appreciate your continued correspondence regarding your EOS 5D Mark III.
Although the problem with the VF illumination of AF points is not listed in the advisory, Canon is aware of it and may possibly address the problem in future firmware updates. Canon actively monitors product quality and customer satisfaction with respect to its products. This monitoring includes the regular analysis of repair data and call center inquiries, active monitoring of conversations in online forums and blogs, and frequent surveys to our customer base. Please continue to check the Canon website for news an updates that pertain to your EOS 5D Mark III.
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your EOS 5D Mark III. Thank you for choosing Canon.
p.10 #11 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
I know I'm late to this thread, but I have to say that when I learned that the 5DIII viewfinder design was similar to that of the 7D, I was seriously disappointed.
I really like the fact that the AF points are invisible until they are active (like a 1-series), but the non-illuminated black squares are just terrible, in my opinion.
I guess I'll have to strongly consider the 1D-X, assuming it retains the red AF point illumination and interchangeable screens of prior models.
p.10 #13 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
pompo wrote:
Canon EOS 5D Mark III AI Servo AF Point Annoyance Firmware Fix Coming
MAY 6, 2012CANON 5D MARK IIICOMMENTS OFF
http://www.canonrumors.com/2012/05/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii-ai-servo-af-point-issue/
Any week now, the sooner the better. I don't think the review/magnify controls are even in the same league as the AF point illumination under Servo AF, but that's just my opinion. I'd like a firmware update for the 1DIV to make its review work the way it does on the 5DIII!
p.10 #14 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
Despite Canon's announced efforts to fix this problem will squelch those once and for all that everyone's complaints aren't a result of poor eye sight or a defective product. Kudos to you, Pompo, for leading the charge on here. Perhaps it helped persuade Canon that they made a colossal mistake. And it just might convince a few of the lackeys here that their shooting might actually improve with a change to the AF point illumination.
My fingers are crossed that Canon fixes it right and fixes it soon.
p.10 #16 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
Todd Klassy wrote:
Despite Canon's announced efforts to fix this problem will squelch those once and for all that everyone's complaints aren't a result of poor eye sight or a defective product. Kudos to you, Pompo, for leading the charge on here. Perhaps it helped persuade Canon that they made a colossal mistake. And it just might convince a few of the lackeys here that their shooting might actually improve with a change to the AF point illumination.
My fingers are crossed that Canon fixes it right and fixes it soon.
Lets not make irrational conclusive arguments based on the fact that Canon will offer a fix. If we did that then we would also have to conclude that the light leak was anything but a theoretical annoyance.
A more logical conclusion would be that Canon is under new management who are scared for their jobs and any type of negative press after realizing that Nikon keeps spanking them silly
I welcome a fix for seeing the points in darker situations. It is people who complain they can't see the points in normal/good light that I still think are crazy
p.10 #17 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
I went from the 5D MK II to the 5D MK III and do low light shooting. I cannot tell for sure where the active AF point is, much less keep it on the subject.
It needs to be visible before you autofocus not after.
p.10 #18 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
scalesusa wrote:
I went from the 5D MK II to the 5D MK III and do low light shooting. I cannot tell for sure where the active AF point is, much less keep it on the subject.
It needs to be visible before you autofocus not after.
I believe this will most likely be the type of fix that will happen. This is the issue I agree with.
p.10 #19 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
scalesusa wrote:
I went from the 5D MK II to the 5D MK III and do low light shooting. I cannot tell for sure where the active AF point is, much less keep it on the subject.
It needs to be visible before you autofocus not after.
+1
I shot a stage performance on Friday night. Black costumes on a black background in a black theater. I could not see the selected black dot most of the time. Until they fix the firmware, I need to re-train myself to constantly re-toggle the AF selection point button even when I don't need to change the selected point.
arbitrage wrote:
Canon can fix this if they choose
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was hoping you'd allow Canon to fix this.
p.10 #20 · 5d M III Viewfinder illumination and af points!
clarence3 wrote:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was hoping you'd allow Canon to fix this.
Hmmm, how does me saying that Canon can fix the way the points light up have any logical implication of me "allowing" Canon to do this? Sorry, just don't see the link you made between my statement from a month ago and your sarcastic statement. Please enlighten me. Thanks.
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