I've had my 5DIII for a couple of weeks, but haven't posted about it on the forums. Now I've had the opportunity to use it in anger and feel I can say something other than "cool new toy".
One of the reasons I've kept my head down is that there is no quantum leap in camera technology to sing praises of and nothing bad to moan about.
IMHO the reviews that say it is like a blueprinted 5DII are spot on.
Everything has been subtly improved, and while there is no single change you can point at and go "Wow", the overall impression is that is is a much more capable camera and it is a joy to use.
I love the quiet shutter. It would have been a huge asset at the last festival I covered and will get much use.
The quiet shutter also seems to significantly reduce vibration, so it seems like a good idea to use silent shutter for general shooting. Landscapes are defeated somewhat by IR release only available on the loud shutter. A firmware tweak would be nice
I turned on the viewfinder grid - lush!
I think I'm going to get far less wonky horizons with the 5DIII.
I'm experimenting with setting M-Fn to viewfinder artificial horizon. I've never got on with the one on the rear screen, so this may actually be useful to me!
Aargh - where did my red focus confirmation dots go!
I'd expected some sort of problem from theading this thread, but not this bad!
Fixed by changing the settings; no idea why it isn't the default setting.
Something very wierd; I was taking a portrait shot with the 50mm f1.4 and the subject commented they could see the focus confimation red flash - what! They are right; there is a bright red flash seen through the lens!
On Screen Zooming - aaargh!
Another problem I was prepared for from reading this thread.
Playback I guess I can retrain myself, but what I didn't expect was how crap it is in Live View.
Setting up the TSE is a dance where the right hand zooms and pans to check focus in Live View and the left hand tweaks the focus ring. On the 5DII zooming and panning needs both hands - rubbish!
Luckily, the workaround proposed earlier in this thread solves the problem; assign zoom to the Set button.
I also set default zoom to 'actual size' on the focus point, so I can quickly evaluate sharpness.
Auto Update Custom Function - excellent new feature which means I may actually use custom functions on the 5DIII !!!
I found I could change the configuration so the Lock switch protects both wheels - I often accidentally change aperture pulling 5DII out the bag, this will fix my problem.
Also, the lock switch is far easier to operate without taking eye away from the viewfinder.
In terms of IQ...
Definitely comparable with the 5DII; which means it is excellent.
However - I've had a couple of shots where I've had bad banding visible in the shadows when I've tried lifting them. One on a pre-dawn landscape, one on a BIF. IMHO neither instance was excessive abuse of the sliders.
I haven't changed my working practice from the 5dII and I find this a little worrying as I'm not convinced the 5dII would have been as bad.
This is not enough for me to throw my toys around, but it emphasises how important it is to get the exposure right in contrasty scenes. I had hoped the 5DIII would be an improvement in this area.
As for the focussing....
For me, the most significant change is that I can set separate focus points depending on camera orientation.
Honestly, I'm struggling to work out how to get any significant benefit!
Every time I tried using fancy focus modes using the 135mm f2 I got loads of portrait headshots with sharp noses, but out of focus eyes. I've gone back to using the most basic AF and the only improvement is that the non-centred focus points seem a bit better than the 5DII.
I've also had a go at BIF at a Red Kite centre; I was sure the 5DIII would excel. In the sky the results very impressive, but as soon as there was a background it struggled. I got an awful lot of sharp shots of distant trees with OOF brown blobs in the foreground. I thought it was supposed to be easier than this! I think I need to pin down a tame 7D birder for their opinion on what AF approaches work best.
If anyone has 2p to add to the above - fire away!
