asimsoofi wrote:
Can we keep this thread relevant to postings that Jeff requested
C'mon people...
Sorry. To me, how I handle the files from the mark III are part of my experience with it, but I understand if people only want to hear about the camera itself.
I just got mine a few days ago, and everything about it lives up to the hype. This is my first 1 series camera, and I find the transition from a 5D pretty easy, The controls and menu and pretty intuitive, and I have no hesitation about using it for a big shoot I have this weekend.
A few of my favorite things about it:
1. Clean high ISO images.
2. Fast autofocus.
3. Comfortable handling and controls.
4. ISO safety shift combined with minimum shutter speed. I find this very useful as one of my custom settings.
5. Lots of options for customization.
I got my MK III two days ago and love it. There is not enough space to list all the Pros of this camera. I am still playing with it like a little child with a new toy. I must say the navigation is much nicer than previous 1 series cameras. Although they claim the MK III is lighter it still should be registered as a lethal weapon. The IQ is fantastic I have not experimented with high ISO as of yet but ISO 100 is incredible almost three dimensional.
I can now report on workflow into computer, as I've been able to, with the help of ACR 4.1 and Breezebroweser Pro/Downloader Pro, to suck in about 150 images and process a couple.
Breezebrowser Pro will recognise the embedded jpeg in the RAW files and display the image in correct orientation after Downloader gets done. It can also deal with RAW+jpeg the way it deals with the Canon 20D say.
One problem: if importing RAW+ jpeg, it has to think about the vertical orientation images jpeg ONLY. If you import just RAW, Downloader with my Extreme III CF 4 GB and older Sandisk reader goes at 12.5 mb/sec. This is top speed for my reader so I'm not surprised by this, I need to get a newer one. BUT if downloading RAW+jpeg with verticals, the rotation process on jpeg *only* slows this average to 2.5 MB/sec.
DownloaderPro recognises the camera model as "EOS 1D Mark III" and will write it as a subfolder if you have the {T} option set.
BreezebrowserPro comes up with camera EXIF data just fine, histogram, etc. The "extract embeded jpeg" command works, you'll wind up with a 1936x1288 jpeg (exact same size as the "S" jpeg camera can generate). And to get this to work you don't need to shoot RAW+jpeg. Just RAW. So the RAW file does have a jpeg embedded, if anyone was wondering.
Lightroom will not import as yet, it goes off and makes the card reader blink for a minute or two and then returns an error something to the tune of "unrecognised format" and a nice list of all the images on your card.
However I was able to get a reasonable view in Breezebrowser, not color perfect or anything but enough to throw out the rejects. I don't believe BB can as yet do RAW conversions for the 1 D3 but I never use it for that anyway.
I found myself in a college garden on Monday, and bees were swarming all over some flowers. My wife wanted me to try to grab some shots of bees. I had my 100 macro and my 70-200 f4 IS with me and I did get a few that 10fps and AF servo on the center point seemed to get but it was hit or miss handholding esp with macro and those gals were really moving all over. With about 35 shots or so, I've got three pix with a bee stopped in mid-air approaching a flower, and maybe 6 shots with a bee visible enough and in focus both.
Anyway Adobe Bridge CS3 was able to display the images RAW or jpeg just fine, no problem. The magnifier even works. I can open in ACR 4.1 and do all the adjustments, open as Smart Object or regular image. Some odd things I noted though:
1) There's yet another slider added! I'm sure I haven't seen it before. It's called "Clarity" and is in the grouping with vibrance and saturation, and appears as the first slider in that group just above vibrance. It seems to go from 0-100. I'm not quite sure what it's doing, but it seemd to make the bee/flower pop out more as I dragged it to the right...sort of like less DOF, although I think only color or contrast changed not blurriness. At "100" something about the flower looked artificial, but 15-50 roughly looked okay.
2) On my 2 year old Windows computer, ACR 4.1 is suddenly SLOW vs my 20D files. If I check the "preview" box I have to wait maybe 20 sec or thereabouts for an update. Pulling some of the sliders is dificult; it's easier for me now to just type in numbers for "fill", "contrast" etc. Photoshop CS3 is just a little slower.
3) I don't know if this is endemic to the 1D3 files, but if I import as a Smart Object, and rasterize, I can't run PK Sharpener. But if I just import as a regular image PK works just fine.
For those who are lucky enough to have a copy of the 1D3, don't forget to post your reviews over on the 1D Mk III review section which currently has no reviews:
Question for those of you using the 1 series already. I am going from the 20D to the MKIII and there is much difference in how it feels in the hand, larger, heavier... What has been your experience with a hand/wrist strap? I was wondering if that would help. Also, brand, style, etc. Thanks.
Steve
Regarding RAW images and High ISO Noise Reduction (Cfn II-2)
I shot comparison images from ISO 400-3200 with and without this function enabled in order to compare.
When viewed in DPP or ACR 4.1, there is no visible difference between the images shot with NR on and those with NR off. Both show same noise.
Should I conclude that this function of the 1DIII does not apply to RAW? Is it strictly for JPG? (the manual does not include or exclude either format).
Steve Gibson wrote:
Question for those of you using the 1 series already. I am going from the 20D to the MKIII and there is much difference in how it feels in the hand, larger, heavier... What has been your experience with a hand/wrist strap? I was wondering if that would help. Also, brand, style, etc. Thanks.
Steve
I think I'll answer one more today, since you're reading my mind with the hand strap thing, and I'm going from 20D as well.
I have an old cheap no-name (Hakuba?) hand strap I bought some years ago which attaches to the tripod socket with a plastic thing that gives you a bottom anchor for the strap. I simply removed the ugly plastic thingy and it fits perfectly, but I ordered the Canon strap to try it out. I have to leave it just a tad loose so I can still reach the ISO button.
I found I did want to try a strap since it does seem heavier. Strangely, the extra bulk I don't notice that much. And for the most part it gives a great grip in horizontal position without strap, better than the 20D IMHO. The hand strap works for me tho, feels solid in my hand. Except, strap can't be used with the vertical buttons, but you can still get to them easily by pushing the strap a bit forward. Or just use the horizontal buttons for a vertical shot and keep using the strap.
Only annoying thing about the ergo of this camera is that resting on a table any moderate lens longer than a 50mm, I mean something like the 16-35 f2.8L and it tips forward, off it's base. Never had the 20D do that.
Holding the vertical orientation is not as nice, you're grabbing a bulbous ridge running along bottom of camera. But I can still get to the vertical buttons almost as easily as horizontal buttons. So far I think the vertical shutter button is just a tiny bit less sensitive than the main shutter button. I say this because I can usally interupt a 5 fps frame rate with main shutter button, but sometimes I take an extra shot with vertical shutter button. Maybe just me. It's a very slight diff.
One really nice thing: the right strap eyelet near the shutter button is bigger than the left strap eyelet. I found I could thread both the no-name hand strap in the right eyelet AND a Tamrac quick release camera strap end. So I can have a neck and hand strap at once.
This thing is really a joy in your hand. Strap just makes it a bit more solid. You can tell my enthusiasim by the length of my recent posts on this baby.
slsman100 wrote:
Regarding RAW images and High ISO Noise Reduction (Cfn II-2)
I shot comparison images from ISO 400-3200 with and without this function enabled in order to compare.
When viewed in DPP or ACR 4.1, there is no visible difference between the images shot with NR on and those with NR off. Both show same noise.
Should I conclude that this function of the 1DIII does not apply to RAW? Is it strictly for JPG? (the manual does not include or exclude either format).
Stephen
Stephen, I did the same comparison at ISO 3200. I found that lighter coloured objects in shade show some chroma noise with C.fn II-2 OFF. With it ON, the chroma noise disappears but the luminance noise is still apparent. This is for both RAW and JPEG. I don't have time now, but I'll post the images later today.
Jim, try attaching the right end of your shoulder strap to the bottom of the right side of the camera (where the lower end of the hand strap attaches) instead of the top. It stays out of the way in vertical orientation better that way, and it also makes it hang with the lens straight down, out of harm's way.
Nill Toulme wrote:
Jim, try attaching the right end of your shoulder strap to the bottom of the right side of the camera (where the lower end of the hand strap attaches) instead of the top. It stays out of the way in vertical orientation better that way, and it also makes it hang with the lens straight down, out of harm's way.
Back to the 1DMKIII. So far I have been very impressed with the improvement with this upgrade. Even more so than from the 1D to 1DMKII. I can definitely see a difference in picture quality from my 1DMKIIn and I'm still comparing it to the 1DsMKII.
I'm looking forward to testing the high ISO performance with wildlife shots early in the morning and late in the evening. I believe the auto ISO function will be a nice aide in the varying lighting conditions associated with wildlife and bird photography.
Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have had a better chance of testing the abilities of this camera shooting wildlife and birds. I'm very interested in seeing how feather detail holds up to the 1DsMKII files.
All in all a very nice additon to my bag that I'm looking forward to getting to know better.
OK, I received one of my Mark III cameras today and have not had a lot of time to use it so far, but did try out the higher ISO settings this evening around dusk. I've posted four images from ISO 800 to 6400 here: http://www.pbase.com/scheffler/1diii
Initial impressions are that the camera does feel lighter. Putting it and a 1DIIN on a baking scale indicates the III is about 210g lighter (both with batteries installed). The difference is noticeable when handling both cameras.
The Mark III viewfinder is definitely bigger looking than the IIN. It actually surprised me how easy it is to manually focus compared to the N. I've installed the Ec-S screens in my Ns and the initial impression with the III is that the new standard focusing screen is very nice, even with very fast f/1.2 lenses, which I've always found difficult to MF on the N before I installed the S screens. I'll eventually compare this more closely.
Live view is cool. I can see this being a very useful feature.
AF seems very responsive. No chance yet to try it on challenging subject matter, but it's looking promising on the moving subjects photographed so far.
I've been a 1 series user since the original EOS-1 and am having some issues with the placement of the AF On button, at least the one for landscape mode. Naturally my habit is to hit the AE lock button. This habit will take some time to break.
Of the images I've made so far, most have been to try out the high ISO settings. As others have stated, my guess is around a one stop advantage over the Mark II N. 800 is excellent. 1600 is very good and chrominance noise is easily eliminated. 3200 is good and very usable but it's getting to the point here where accurate exposure is very important. Chrominance noise also clears well. 6400 is usable, especially after noise reduction and probably better than 3200 on the N, though I haven't made a direct comparison. One thing I noticed in DPP is that it appears to exaggerate noise in preview images. At 3200 and 6400 I noticed a lot of splotchiness, especially a lot of red spots. However, once the files were processed (without NR), the splotchiness was much less evident.
At ISO 400, there is still a touch of chrominance noise, but you have to zoom in to 100% and look for it in out of focus areas. In my opinion, it is irrelevant, at least for my applications.
DPP converted images also appear a touch sharper with no sharpening applied than files from the Mark II N. And as has been mentioned at robgalbraith.com, the Mark III generated jpegs are much nicer than from the Mark II N. Much better fine detail. Color rendition is also very nice.
the 3" monitor is nice, but images seem a bit soft to me. It's not quite like the original 1Ds, but also not as crisp looking as it maybe should be.
The near total UI redesign is a mixed bag IMO. The easy summary might be the previous 1D interface worked well for me, but that's all I've ever used going back to the Kodak 520/Canon D2000... In general the single button press is fine. I'm having issues with the individual image erase procedure. It's not nearly as fast as the previous method. I'm also having issues with the preview zoom function. While the joystick controller is OK, it scrolls/pans too slowly. Using the dials on the Mark II to scroll around the image was faster. Naturally, by habit I'm doing this on the III and instead scrolling through images. I suppose it will only be a matter of time until I get used to the new UI. Hopefully this is the new standard that Canon will implement across all future cameras, as it would make mixing bodies much easier.
I'm not sure there is much more to add since the Mark III preview over at robgalbraith.com is so accurate and comprehensive.
rscheffler wrote:
...I've been a 1 series user since the original EOS-1 and am having some issues with the placement of the AF On button, at least the one for landscape mode. Naturally my habit is to hit the AE lock button. This habit will take some time to break.
...
Can't you swap the function of those two buttons so that it works more or less as we're accustomed to?
