Originally Posted by Nikolai Wife got new lights for our backyard, I thought I'd take a long exposure, see how the noise is. Well, it ain't ;-) 5D3 + 16-35MkII, ISO 8000, f/11, 25"

Nice shot of Orion in the BG

Originally Posted by Andy Dark nasty day on the soccer field today. Thankfully, 5D3 and ISO 3200 to the rescue. Love the AF, love it. Did I say I love it?

IS3200

Originally Posted by bloomphotog I don't know...I think ALO could be the culprit here. The "light leak" fuss is over metering, not light hitting the actual sensor. The Av exposure should have been different between your two shots if the "light leak" was affecting metering. Identical exposures and a VERY minimal shift in the histogram points to a scene change or in-camera wizardry. I think there may in fact be a "light leak" that affects metering in situations where a manual exposure is more appropriate(astrophotography, etc), but it definitely has no perceptible affect on normal, everyday professional use. I don't shoot lens caps, lens targets, or any such voodoo...after 4 professional shoots with the 5D3 I can say it has the best and most reliable Canon metering to date(particularly when used with high ALO and DPP).

The fuss might be a non-issue considering how we use our cameras. Some interesting test results from Canonrumors, but we still don't have a definite explanation of the cause.

Cuong

shot a College Lacrosse game on Friday night about two hours after receiving the camera. AF absolutely rocks.
It is FAR better than what my copy of the 7D was doing and I haven't even learned it yet.

This is going to be a fun process.

Took my 5D3 out on a ski touring trip today. Despite the crushing flaw of the "light leak" issue I managed to get some okay looking shots.

Lot's more photos here: http://smu.gs/Hz2WOl

All in-camera JPEG, S1. No post-production. Peek exif above.

Originally Posted by pmaxwell shot a College Lacrosse game on Friday night about two hours after receiving the camera. AF absolutely rocks. It is FAR better than what my copy of the 7D was doing and I haven't even learned it yet. This is going to be a fun process.

the 5DmkIII AF is FAR better than the 7D ? that's surprising

Originally Posted by Brett1000 the 5DmkIII AF is FAR better than the 7D ? that's surprising

I'm seeing that basic premise of AF improvement over most previous Canon prosumer bodies. The 5D MKIII appears to be especially improved over previous 5D MKII and 7D in lower light. (The Canon 7D is still rated pretty good in good light. The 5D MKII is "conditionally" OK in good light, and it benefits greatly from a flash with AF Assist using One Shot mode in lower light, from my own testing.)

This is all very good news for 5D MKIII owners and prospects.

I'm still looking for a consensus from professional sports photographers, but it's pretty early in the life of the 5D MKIII.

Originally Posted by bloomphotog Took my 5D3 out on a ski touring trip today. Despite the crushing flaw of the "light leak" issue I managed to get some okay looking shots. Lot's more photos here: http://smu.gs/Hz2WOl All in-camera JPEG, S1. No post-production. Peek exif above.

Maybe it's situational (reflections off the snow, and a +2/3 EV compensation), but I'm impressed that with such strong backlighting, their faces are well exposed, skies are blue, etc.

What lens? 16-35mm?

Originally Posted by Brett1000 the 5DmkIII AF is FAR better than the 7D ? that's surprising

Yes. 61 points + better CPU vs 9point + older CPU.

Originally Posted by ziggy53 I'm seeing that basic premise of AF improvement over most previous Canon prosumer bodies. The 5D MKIII appears to be especially improved over previous 5D MKII and 7D in lower light. (The Canon 7D is still rated pretty good in good light. The 5D MKII is "conditionally" OK in good light, and it benefits greatly from a flash with AF Assist using One Shot mode in lower light, from my own testing.) This is all very good news for 5D MKIII owners and prospects. I'm still looking for a consensus from professional sports photographers, but it's pretty early in the life of the 5D MKIII.

I shot youth sports professionally on the side for 3 years with a 1DIIN and 40D, then a 7D and 5D2. My opinion of all that AF is that the 7D in practical use was about as good as the 1DIIN, and that the center point of the 5D2 was very good, maybe just 10-15% behind the others, and better than the 40D. But only using the center point was not optimal. From my experience with the 5D3 so far on my personal time, shooting some skiing and my kids running around, the AF seems noticeably and pleasingly better than any of my previous cameras, in every regard. It is very accurate and confidence inspiring. I'm very satisfied with it. I no longer lust for a 1DIV.

Originally Posted by Nikolai Yes. 61 points + better CPU vs 9point + older CPU.

7D = 19 points, all cross type. It was very good. Here's a supporting test:

http://www.prophotohome.com/news/201...kon-d3s-added/

But I agree the 5D3's is better.

Originally Posted by jmphotocraft 7D = 19 points, all cross type. It was very good.

yeah, sorry, my bad, missed "one" :-P
My point stays though ;-)

"7D = 19 points, all cross type. It was very good"

Awww c'mon, the poor ole' 7d hasn't died a death or been discontinued yet!!

Fascinating site/tests - thanks for the link

Did couple 100 shots with the 5D2 today... it was in Manual mode all day, IS off, manual focus and every shot (with multiple wireless speedlites) was magnificent. Under these controlled conditions I can't believe it can be beat, so I'll "never" replace it It's the 7D that might get replaced when I find out what to do with loss of crop factor...

Originally Posted by DeVerm Did couple 100 shots with the 5D2 today... it was in Manual mode all day, IS off, manual focus and every shot (with multiple wireless speedlites) was magnificent. Under these controlled conditions I can't believe it can be beat, so I'll "never" replace it It's the 7D that might get replaced when I find out what to do with loss of crop factor...

Yes, below ISO 1600, there is no IQ advantage to the 5D3 over the 5D2 if AF and FPS are not a major concern.

http://jmphotocraft.smugmug.com/Other/5DII-vs-5DIII-ISO

Yeah diva, 7D is not dead, sorry! It is the best APS-C camera ever, if action is concerned. (and/or an investment in Canon lenses) And no way a $3500 cam replaces a $1700 cam for value. I will probably get my just deserts when it comes time to shoot field sports with my 5D3 and 70-200, now that I have sold my 7D. I guess I will first try adjusting my shooting strategy, and failing that, buy a 1.4x TC Mk III.

Alright, after a decent amount of testing, I have something to put forth for your consideration / discussion:

Scenario - 5D mk3 vs 5D mk2, 70-200 L IS mk1 and 24-70 L, One-Shot AF

Hypothesis - AF on the 5D mk3 seems to take a split second extra to confirm and lock focus, especially on darker subjects

Obviously the 5D mk3 has a WAY higher keeper rate no matter what, in any light. I'd say the 5D mk2's keeper rate, when shooting hand-held at fast apertures and medium-close distances, was 50-75% at best. The 5D mk3 takes that to 90-95%.

The 5D mk3 hunts less, and knows where to "start" when it comes to focusing. Focus always snaps RIGHT to the subject, however then it seems to take a split second longer than the 5D mk2 to confirm / beep, to LOCK. Maybe this is just the cost of far greater accuracy? Maybe the 5D mk2 is "confirming" focus so quickly simply because it's not being as precise, and often mis-focusing?

I'd love to know if anyone else can do a similar test and let me know what they think.

Again I'm shooting in One-Shot AF, (Beep-and-stop) in indoor / poor light. In bright sun the 5D mk3 seems to snap to focus confirmation just as fast as the 5D mk2. But say indoors in ISO ~3200 light, try focusing on something that is black but still has lots of texture. (Black camera bag?)

I've tried fiddling around with all the different focus points, including spot, point, 5/9 clusters, etc. That doesn't seem to increase the snappiness, although the most likely candidate to make me THINK it might be faste would be 5-point cluster AF. Need to do more testing though.

I'm about to add my D700 + 24-70 to the experiment; I'll report back later...

=Matt=

Originally Posted by Matthew Saville Alright, after a decent amount of testing, I have something to put forth for your consideration / discussion: Scenario - 5D mk3 vs 5D mk2, 70-200 L IS mk1 and 24-70 L, One-Shot AF Hypothesis - AF on the 5D mk3 seems to take a split second extra to confirm and lock focus, especially on darker subjects =Matt=

Did you read page 97 of the manual yet? It might help but I don't know. And the 70-200 F4 doesn't get cross type AF... although I think you have the 2.8.


Otherwise I can't confirm anything mine is in the mail still :) Either way, the MKII would have a decent chance that it wouldn't get the shot anyway in the situation, lol

Originally Posted by Overfocused Did you read page 97 of the manual yet? It might help but I don't know. And the 70-200 F4 doesn't get cross type AF... although I think you have the 2.8. Otherwise I can't confirm anything mine is in the mail still :) Either way, the MKII would have a decent chance that it wouldn't get the shot anyway in the situation, lol

I hadn't read that part of the manual yet, but yep I'm familiar with "release priority" and I think that if it is anything like the "release priority" that I've been accustomed to on Nikon, it will not help speed up the camera, it will just allow me to click a shot before focus is fully confirmed. :-(

=Matt=

Do any of you mkIII'ers miss the red LED focus point indicator (confo blink) in the viewfinder? Does anything at all show up in there as you take a shot?

Originally Posted by David_S85 Do any of you mkIII'ers miss the red LED focus point indicator (confo blink) in the viewfinder? Does anything at all show up in there as you take a shot?

Yeah, that was another one of the first things we noticed. It only turns red on focus CONFIRMATION, not every time you hit the shutter half-way, like before. NOT cool, dunno why Canon changed that.

Originally Posted by Matthew Saville Alright, after a decent amount of testing, I have something to put forth for your consideration / discussion: Scenario - 5D mk3 vs 5D mk2, 70-200 L IS mk1 and 24-70 L, One-Shot AF Hypothesis - AF on the 5D mk3 seems to take a split second extra to confirm and lock focus, especially on darker subjects Obviously the 5D mk3 has a WAY higher keeper rate no matter what, in any light. I'd say the 5D mk2's keeper rate, when shooting hand-held at fast apertures and medium-close distances, was 50-75% at best. The 5D mk3 takes that to 90-95%. The 5D mk3 hunts less, and knows where to "start" when it comes to focusing. Focus always snaps RIGHT to the subject, however then it seems to take a split second longer than the 5D mk2 to confirm / beep, to LOCK. Maybe this is just the cost of far greater accuracy? Maybe the 5D mk2 is "confirming" focus so quickly simply because it's not being as precise, and often mis-focusing? I'd love to know if anyone else can do a similar test and let me know what they think. Again I'm shooting in One-Shot AF, (Beep-and-stop) in indoor / poor light. In bright sun the 5D mk3 seems to snap to focus confirmation just as fast as the 5D mk2. But say indoors in ISO ~3200 light, try focusing on something that is black but still has lots of texture. (Black camera bag?) I've tried fiddling around with all the different focus points, including spot, point, 5/9 clusters, etc. That doesn't seem to increase the snappiness, although the most likely candidate to make me THINK it might be faste would be 5-point cluster AF. Need to do more testing though. I'm about to add my D700 + 24-70 to the experiment; I'll report back later... =Matt=

It didn't take more than a few seconds to notice that the D700 doesn't have this problem with focus confirmation, at least not with the Nikon 24-70 2.8. Even when focusing on light-sponge, near-black objects in the shadowy corners of a dimly lit room, it still snaps and beeps without that slight hesitation. The 5D mk3 would still focus accurately in these situations, but it would definitely hesitate a little before confirming focus. I will take my D700 + 24-70 into the studio tomorrow for more testing...


I'm starting to worry that maybe Canon has done what Nikon did with their new AFS-G f/1.4 primes - sacrifice a tiny bit of speed in favor of extreme accuracy. I don't want to start an all-out flame war, but one thing that does come to mind is that the 1DX could be delayed for autofocus-related reasons. Yikes!

Again, if anyone else can test this and confirm that they notice any difference at all in what I would call "a slight hesitation in confirming / locking focus" when shooting in One-Shot AF on a decent L lens. (The 24-70 seems to be the snappiest sample, snappier than the 70-200 2.8 L IS mk1) It didn't seem to matter whether I used spot, point, or cluster point AF, and from what I hear the "Case 1 / Case 2" AF options are only for AI-Servo. The test I performed was simply racking focus between a nearby, (~6 ft) brightly lit object to a further away, (~15 ft) dark and shaded object that still contained significant texture patterns. Not too bad at 70mm on the 24-70 L, a little worse on the 70-200 at 70mm, and downright "hesitant" at 200mm. (But again I must stress, VERY accurate and consistent)

=Matt=