Canon 5D Mark III Review | Canon EOS 5d Mark III

Canon 5D Mark III Review | Canon EOS 5d Mark III Video Transcript:

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It's the Canon EOS 5D Mark III review. All righty then. Here at first base

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we're going to talk about the Mark III's design. Now the most exciting

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thing on the Mark III is its new dual card slots. Here we can house an

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SD and CF card just like the Nikon D800. Now you notice an all-purpose lock

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where the live view switch used to be. There's a new live view switch at the top

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next to the viewfinder. This is for photo and video recording with the stop start button

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embedded in the middle. Another welcome addition to the Mark III was its headphone jack.

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Now I could actually listen to the audio that I was monitoring in conjunction

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with the mic jack which allowed for an external microphone.

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Now compared to the Mark II and the Nikon D800 which have 921K displays,

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the Mark III has a nice 3.2 inch 1,040,000 pixel display.

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We have a nice 100% coverage optical viewfinder and

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it's a new intelligent viewfinder according to Canon. We can now see grid lines

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and AF points on the viewfinder. However I noticed one thing.

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The vertical horizontal meter that can be viewed on the LCD screen

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cannot be viewed on the viewfinder, and you can actually do that on a Nikon D800.

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The Canon EOS 5D Mark III also lacks a popup flash

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which is something offered by the D800. Another new addition

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right next to the shutter button is a function button.

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This actually dictates the focus area selection points,

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but it can be customized to other things as well.

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Now you notice that Canon got rid of the creative auto mode

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which is fine because nobody really ever used it. And for navigation,

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we have the same quick control dial, main dial, and 8-way multi controller.

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I love the dials on the Mark III just like I did on the Mark II.

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However, I really would have taken Nikon's 8-way directional pad

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found on the D700 and D800 over Canon's multi controller any day.

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Now back to terminals. We have your typical flashed sync.

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We have your remote. We've got a USB. However, we have HDMI out.

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Its HDMI out is not clean like the D800. So that's a big factor

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if you're a video guy or girl. Now the Mark III really hasn't put much weight on.

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It's about the same weight as the Mark II. It's just a few ounces lighter than the D800.

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However, it's still a cinder block when you put a giant lens on.

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Now there's one last thing to talk about, and that's the Mark III's battery.

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It uses the same battery as the Mark II and that's huge because

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the Nikon D800 uses a brand new pack when compared to the D700.

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That means you can take old Mark II batteries and throw them into Mark III.

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So overall the EOS 5D Mark III has an improved design.

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Here we are at second base talking about the Canon EOS 5D Mark III's features,

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and we're going to start with focus. Usually with new models,

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camera makers take a few extra focus features to the tool belt.

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But not Canon. They went gang busters on the Mark III's AF options.

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In fact, the autofocus features are so extensive on the Mark III

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I could do an entirely separate review on just that alone.

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So I'm going to be really brief in this review.

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Go to the full review on TechnoBuffalo.com

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for all of my AF findings. As you can see,

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AF has its own dedicated tab in the Mark III menu,

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and it's five pages long. We'll start with the Mark III's cases or presets.

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These are for things like subjects entering the frame or

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erratically moving subjects. They can all be fine-tuned

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by different levels of tracking sensitivity, accelerating, decelerating

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sensitivity, and AF point auto switch. I used the versatile multipurpose

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for most scenarios and that really did the trick.

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However, we did do a go-carting shoot and I used the subjects entering preset.

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That worked pretty well. But that's not all. You could also adjust the release

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versus shutter priority which is basically speed versus accuracy.

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The camera will not take a picture unless it's focused when you have focus priority,

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and it will just snap away if it's in release priority just to get the shot off.

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Now the Mark III has 61 AF points compared to the D800's 51 points.

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There are up to 41 cross type sensors depending on which aperture you're in,

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and for the most part this camera did an amazing job autofocusing.

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Now video mode is a different story on a 5D Mark III.

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Unlike the D800 which has full time autofocus in video mode,

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the Mark III doesn’t have that. In fact, you can't even refocus by

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pressing the shutter button halfway while you're recording a video.

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You have to focus first then record. So for pretty much every focusing application

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in video mode, stick with manual. Thanks to its new sensor,

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the 5D Mark III can reach an ISO ceiling of 102,400 which is just astronomically high.

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This trumps the Nikon D800 and the 5D Mark II which have 25,600 caps.

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Like the Mark II, the Mark III has a 32nd to one-eight-thousandths second shutter speed

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with a bold mode. It has a 63 zone metering system that measures the luminosity

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around AF points, and I was highly impressed with the results and the exposure I got

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with shooting in program auto mode. This camera exposes wonderfully.

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It's not afraid to shoot up the ISO because the sensitivity is so great.

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Now another cool thing on the Mark III is its HDR mode.

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Not only could you shoot HDR images with this camera,

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you could apply artistic filters like bold, vivid, embossed, things like that.

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And the results are amazing because you're shooting with a full frame camera

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and there's really no need to go into Photoshop. The art effects also translated

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over to multiple exposures. You could take up to nine images and blend them

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together with artistic effects and we have exposure bracketing

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up to seven images at a time. But the Nikon D800 can do 9 images,

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so that’s something to consider. The 5D Mark III is an exceedingly fast camera.

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This camera can do a six frames per second burst rate.

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That doesn't seem as fast but when you compare it to the

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Nikon D800's 4 frames per second, it does factor in.

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The reason for the Mark III's speed is its new processing.

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Not only was I able to rifle through menu options

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but I could scroll through pictures like it was a flip book it was that fast.

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Also there was no need to wait for the recording time

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after I took a long exposure shot. After 30 seconds,

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the camera immediately displayed the image. In most cases

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I have to wait another 30 seconds for the image to store and process.

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So this camera is so fast. For video mode, our ISO cap was 25,600.

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Audio level fine-tuning was excellent. I had 64 different points

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that I can adjust the decibel level to and I could use time code.

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So the Canon EOS 5D Mark III is excellent when it comes to features.

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Here at third base were going to talk about the Canon EOS 5D Mark III's image quality.

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Canon equipped the Mark III with a new 22.3 mega pixel full frame CMOS sensor

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with the company's new digic five plus image processing.

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Now let's consider one thing right now, the D800 has 36 mega pixels of full frame fury,

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which means the Mark III only has 2/3 of that resolution. Therefore,

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if you're considering a medium format camera, the D800

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might be a viable alternative. Canon jazzed up the video on the Mark III.

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This camera now records 1080p 30 and 24 frames per second and 720p 60

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to name a few. We can also record now in all I or IPB compression

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similar to pro camcorders. All I means less compression, bigger file sizes.

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IPB, smaller file sizes, more compression. Files are recorded as H.264 mpeg4s

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in the AVC codec. Now for still image quality. I shot in a myriad of environments

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including fast action, go carting, late night miniature golfing, and a full wedding.

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What I found with the 5D Mark III is that it's a magic maker.

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Its high ISO performance is astounding. I was comfortable at 12,800

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and even 25,600 in certain instances. However, I would stay away from 51,200

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and 102,400 because those images are pretty noisy. Now when it came to

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raw verses JPEG quality, it was the classic tale. The colors and the clarity

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with the raw images were much better. When it came down to still image quality,

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it really was all about brand preference. Canon versus Nikon, you know who you are.

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Now in video mode I got the same excellent high ISO performance

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that I got in still image mode. I preferred the high ISO performance

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and the low light sensitivity to the Nikon D800's.

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I was able to illuminate a lot more dark places with this camera in my hand.

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So in video mode, the Mark III was better than the D800 in low light.

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However, I noticed that Nikon videos had better dynamic range than the Canon did,

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and one thing that both cameras shared that I'm really not excited about talking about 00:08:44.7 was the gelatinous blob on the go rolling shutter. In terms of the Mark III's audio

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it has a built in stereo microphone. It was OK so I recommend using something like

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a road stereo video mic via the 3.5 MM audio jack. Now when you do that

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you'll notice that unfortunately DSLRs hype the blanket noise in the background.

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The Nikon D800 did the same thing so there's no real difference.

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If you're serious about audio with the Mark III, get a Beachtech XLR grip.

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But overall video, I would actually give the edge to the Mark III over the D800.

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Now it's time to slide into home with the Buffalo call on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

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Undoubtedly this is one of the best full frame DSLRs on the market.

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But the big question comes down to the difference between the D800

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and the 5D Mark III, and I think the answer is brand loyalty.