Ziff Photography: March 2012

Got my 5D Mark III last night from a good local camera store! I think I am one of handful people in metro Detroit area actually put my hands on this hot thing.

In the past days, I was seriously thinking about jumping ship back to Nikon. I started with Nikon 20 years ago but jumped to Canon when 5D came out. I was a happy man since then. Right now I am using 5D Mark II. I do weddings, seniors and in-studio portraits. I also do stage dancing photos (mainly ballet) and some hockey games. High ISO performance and good focus system plus fast frame rate are the essential things for me in those situations. I am very happy with my 5D Mark II for weddings, seniors and studio portraits. But not satisfied with its performance in theater and sport arena. I tried 1D Mark III, love it but I hate the size and weight so I sold it. I was hoping the 5D Mark III will bring me what I needed though the price tag is a bit higher than the Nikon’s counterpart D800.

On Tuesday, I attended DPPA meeting and met a local camera store owner George, a very nice gentleman. He said he could get couple of 5D Mark III’s within a week if I can put a deposit. I know B&H and Adorama and other large on-line stores are still taking pre-orders and no guarantee when you will get it. So I put my deposit without hesitation. I have wedding session and ballet performances coming this summer so I need to test this camera as soon as I can to determine which way I will go. Next day, I got call from George, the camera is in his store. I went to his store and opened the box. Immediately, it attracted several people in the store. Everyone wanted to have a look. One guy kindly offered me a lens from his camera which is a 35mm f1.4. Perfect! George found a card for me to test. I put the battery in which still had some power. I started take some random shots in the store. The store is well lid but still dark for camera. The camera’s default setting for ISO was on AUTO. I adjusted the shutter speed and aperture and the ISO jumped to 25600. Took a shot and looked at the LCD, which is bright by the way, I was stunned. The image was so clean. The skin tone of the person in the photos was so nice. I started getting excited. Without further testing I drove home and put my 70-200 f2.8 IS II on and started to shoot. But it was already a bit late. I have a meeting next morning so I could not stay too late. But here are my first impressions about 5D Mark III (not a formal review or anything). Hope this helps people whole are on the same boat as I was.

First of all, as I mentioned, the High ISO performance is stunning. It may not that important to the most of photographers but it is so critical to me.

Secondly, the focus is a huge improvement from 5D II. I usually use the center spot which works well. But sometime I do need to switch to other spots and they are not as accurate as the center one. With the 5D mark III, it seems all the spot works very well.

The frame rate 6 is not as fast as 1D Mark III or other pro model, but it is a good improvement over 5D Mark II and it is enough for me as a casual sport/stage shooter.

The interface changed a lot compare to 5D Mark II. It took me a while to figure out the most buttons.

I like the new power on/off switch. It is still not as convenient as Nikon’s but it is much better than the original one which does not make any sense. The old design rear power switch lever used to knock itself to OFF all the time and it need your left had in a very awkward position to turn it on and off.

I also like the lock slider. It’ll lock your setting to prevent the accidental changes during shooting.

The good thing about the mode knob is the center lock button. It cannot turn without push the center button. This is a great addition. So many times, my camera secretly switched from “M” to other positions during the session and it was a little bit late when I noticed it.

I like the shutter which comes with the silent mode. I tried it with single and multiple and it sounds very nice. I am sure the ballet audiences will appreciate this when I shoot around them

The famous 3 custom preset buttons C1, C2, C3 are still there which I used a lot on my 5D II. Good job Canon.

It uses LP-E6 battery which is very nice. I can share the batteries with my 5D Mark II if I decide to keep it (I think I will).

The camera body is similar to 5D which I like it a lot. It is very light for carrying around and you will appreciate more when you travel or hiking.

I haven’t tried the video yet. Not a video. I even haven’t tried the video of my 5D II yet. But I will do more test later and share my experience with you.

I think Canon makes me happy again as they did when they first introduced the 5D. I am going to cancel my Nikon D800 preorder at B&H.

I’ll post more testing results tonight.