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 p.1 #1 · 5D3 VS 1DS3 Hands-On Comparison | |
Hi, I just got my 5D mark III yesterday. I am currently shooting with a 1Ds mark III which I have had for about 4 years.
First thoughts with the cameras in hand.
Wow, the 5D3 is a HUGE improvement over the 5Dc (which I had for many years) and the 5D2 (which I have used a few times) in build quality and feel. It really feels like a small 1 series. The plastic has a matte, more rough finish that is quite slip resistant and the rubber also has a higher quality feel that is grippy. The CF compartment door is much more solid and feels more secure (and has some sealing). All buttons and controls feel better, specially the rear control wheel since it has more damping. The view finder is basically just like the one in my 1DS3, nice!
I still prefer how the 1DS3 feels in my hand since the grip gets to the bottom of my palm and the one on the 5D3 ends at a point above and the corner of the camera pushes against it. The 5D3 also feels chunkier.
The Shutter:
Snapping a few images I noticed that the shutter on the 5D3 sounds clankier and sounds like more moving parts, the 1DS3 shutter sounds more authoritative, smoother but solid, nice. BUT, the Silent mode on the 5D3 is AMAZING, super quiet and smooth, much quieter than the Silent mode on the 1DS3, WOW. It is a huge difference. Some of you might not care BUT I shoot a lot in film and comercial production sets, so its a big plus.
AF performance:
I took out my 50mm1.4 and 35mm1.4L and used both lenses on both cameras in EV light levels of about 3-6 (most common indoor situations). WOW, the 5D3 AF was faster to acquire focus (not a huge difference) and more authoritative and hit perfect focus with both lenses even though I did not do any microadjustment. Overall I felt without a doubt that the AF in the 5D3 is better. Wow, on a 5D? Really? Yes it is. The lower light there is, the bigger the difference from previous Canons. amazing.
LCD screen:
The 5D3 screen is great, bright and very sharp. The one in the 1DS3 is not bad but I welcome the extra resolution and brightness, color seems smoother also. The 5D3 however produced some aliasing when using live view in high magnification (10x, for manual focusing) but I was able to critically focus the image perfectly and easily. Also, at it has been said, the wider aspect ratio of the screen on the 5D3 allows the images to fill it completely.
Image quality:
I will post images later but I put my 70-200 on a tripod and took images at iso 50-100-200-400-800-1600-3200 on the 1DS3 and at iso 50-25600 on the 5D3 (with all High iso noise reduction, lon-exp noise red., highlight tone priority etc, turned off on both cameras). I shot both JPG and RAW, on standard (default) picture profile and preset tungsten white balance. I used a single lowel totta light at about 3ft from a white tabletop ciclorama and 2 books and a dust-off bottle as subjects. (Exposure value (EV) of 8 at point of focus)
General observations of the JPGs. The 1DS3 is still VERY good. Usable for critical work up to ISO 3200 in those light levels (barely), at lower light levels than EV8 then id say 1600 is the max. The 5D3 JPGs were a tad smoother but usable critically up to iso 6400. BUT, the preset white balance on the 5D3 seemed more accurate and color was better overall even at high ISOs. The noise looked more monocromatic on the 5D3. Overall the 5D3 wins in high ISOs but the 1DS3 holds its own at 1600 and below and at low ISO (50-200) I see no reason to upgrade other than the improved white balance. General impression is that the 5D3 has more color depth / dynamic range at ISOs of 1600 and above. It is a very noticeable difference. At least with tungsten light and light levels of EV8 and below (which is the most commonly encountered type of light and light levels whenever one is most likely to use high ISO in the first place!, I find it useless to test high ISO outdoors in good light).
But, of course, the 5D3 keeps going up in ISO! I was amazed that 25600 is very usable. The 5D3 owns the night.
I do have to test the cameras with black or dark backgrounds to better see the noise and shadow detail.
To be continued...
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