[NT73]

Canon EOS 5D Mk111

http://dpnow.com/8591.html

[matthew]

DPreview has the press release, hands-on preview, and high-iso samples (respectively):

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/03/02/...D-Mark-III
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos5dmarkiii/
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/03/02/...-isoseries

Their description of the 5DmkIII as a 'full frame 7D' sounds about right. I've always liked that camera.

[matthew]

And as usual, 1001 Noisy Cameras has a running tally of the reports and opinions, plus some worthy commentary of their own: http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2012/03/...k-iii.html

[Zig]

I'll just hang on a year or two...funny, I've never even held a 5DMk2 yet(not right bothered, mind). Thing is, my biological clock might tempt me to switch systems again by then...
Naw, more than happy with my present one I guess.
Wouldn't mind a Nikon D800E as a p+s, in fact. If I personally were able to spend a chunk on a camera right now(ignoring the Canon 1DX), I'd keep my present Canon and add the Nikon.

[shuttertalk]

Their description of the 5DmkIII as a 'full frame 7D' sounds about right. I've always liked that camera.

Wow, that just about sells it for me. I have always wanted to go FF but have been spoilt by the superb handling and AF performance of the 7D. The 5D mark II always seemed like a step down in that department and there are quite a few reports of users getting frustrated when making that transition.

Ok time to reorganise the budget... Haha

[lcburns]

I wonder if Mastercard will give me another card...

[thistledoo]

Hard as it's going to be, I'm going to wait until next year… I'm sure my 7D will see me through .

[shuttertalk]

No doubt that it was a solid camera Matthew but as you say the electronics was probably a bit long in the tooth when compared to the newer 7D, in particular the AF.

Nevertheless the mark III looks like the bees knees - they've taken the 7D and added a lot of components from the 1DX.

I wonder how it compares to the Nikon D800...

[shuttertalk]

Thistledoo - I'm probably in the same boat as you... I've already earmarked a Fuji X10 to replace our ageing IXUS in the next couple of months.

[shuttertalk]

Apparently Canon aren't getting rid of the 5D Mark II, but will sell it at a lower price point.

http://m.gizmodo.com/5889860/canon-will-...it-cheaper

[Toad]

I wonder how it compares to the Nikon D800...

Go with the line that supports the lenses you own. Both the D800 and the new Canon are far more camera than any of us *needs*. Camera bodies are a loss leader that wil be obsolete in a few years. Its the lenses that last.

[matthew]

Apparently Canon aren't getting rid of the 5D Mark II, but will sell it at a lower price point.

That's what Nikon says about the D700 as well – that's what Nikon always says – and I don't believe either one of them. I can see the 7D surviving in the lineup, and maybe even having a replacement model eventually, but the only way to lower the price-per-unit of a new camera and sensor is to make lots and lots of them. I'd be shocked if the 5DmkII is still around ten months from now.

Go with the line that supports the lenses you own. Both the D800 and the new Canon are far more camera than any of us *needs*.

Don't forget, Julian has jumped ship once before. He's susceptible to this kind of thing.


(and I'm loving the multi-quote reply option with this forum software.)

[shuttertalk]

That's what Nikon says about the D700 as well – that's what Nikon always says – and I don't believe either one of them.

Although they're still selling the D90 right? Which the D7000 was supposed to replace but somehow they've managed to invent another spot in their lineup to sell the two side by side?

Don't forget, Julian has jumped ship once before. He's susceptible to this kind of thing.

Hah, you know me too well...

I was thinking more of a newcomer's perspective - for instance there was someone debating between a D7000 and a 7D last week...

[NT73]

I debated about a cheap carpet or a fancy expensive one. My wife won.

It all depends on what you wish to do with it. I shall walk in luxury in my bare feet.
I may get a new lens. There again do I need it.

[Wedding Shooter]

I am tossing up between this and the 1Dx. Hard to justify the extra $3000 for the 1Dx. My current combo for weddings is the 5D2 and the 1D4. I have put through about 100 weddings on the 5D2 and about 70 on the 1D4 so they have well and truly paid for themselves.

[shuttertalk]

Apparently the 5D Mark III hits the stores today, and if you needed some convincing to buy one, here's a field test from Engadget. Some really nice high ISO night shots there - where they overlay a 100% crop over the image so you can pixel peep easily.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/22/canon...ii-review/

Naturally, frames shot at ISO 800 and below were flawless -- tack-sharp, with excellent color reproduction and spot-on white balance. Jumping into the four-digit ISOs did add some noise to the equation, but it remained nearly indistinguishable through ISO 6400.

At 12,800 and 25,600, noise became easily visible in brighter areas at a 25-percent view, but both settings are quite usable. In fact, if we're shooting strictly for the web, we wouldn't hesitate to leave the camera tuned to 12,800, or even 25,600 if absolutely necessary. ISO 51,200 and 102,400 are noisy as all hell, to be frank, and while you may find these settings to be usable, especially for the web, use extreme caution to avoid venturing this high whenever possible.

Wow, looks like the 25,600 mark is still pretty usable.

[shuttertalk]

From what I'm reading - demand for the D800 has far outstripped supply, with lots more preorders than the Canon 5d mark III which is mostly in stock.

I wonder whether the pricing vs perceived benefits has anything to do with enticing the upgraders. D800 = 3k vs 5d3 = 3.5k?

[Pavel]

Last year I told people that the Canon 5DmkII was a better all-around camera than the D700. It just struck a better balance, while the D700 was more specialized. That still hasn't changed. The 5DmkIII is quicker than the D800, offers as-good-or-better sensor performance at an ample resolution, and it finally looks like the build quality is on par as well. The Nikon remains more specialized, and harder to recommend as a general-purpose machine. But then, at this price point a lot of people don't want a general-purpose camera.

I do not disagree - I just do not get what you are saying. D800 does not strike me as a specialised camera. It may be just a bit slower at full res which may make it a less ideal for sport/wildlife photography, but otherwise it strikes me as an unusually versatile camera. Is the speed issue the reason you consider D800 as more specialised?

[shuttertalk]

I'm interested in Matthew's comment as well - the only major areas which it loses out on is the 2 FPS slower and the lack of ultra high ISO shooting...

I suppose everything is relative...

[shuttertalk]

One other quick thought on the 5D mk III - the shutter sound is quiet but tinny. It's my least-favourite shutter sound at the moment, and I'm really hoping that the D800 is better.

I thought the same thing when I moved from the D80 to the 7D. The Nikon sounded like a solid thwack while the Canon sounds like a muted flick.

[NT73]

Wish my 350D sounded like a muted flick. Sounds more like a donkey kicking a bucket, and I'm deaf.

[Zig]

Clear homespun and logical stuff from NT and Toad in terms of needs being met...and surely the curve must flatten in terms of most people's possible needs being not only met but saturated: but I guess that is the point when camera manufacturers attempt to think laterally and include gadgetry that we don't need but then they tell us we do.
I'd love to record the shutter noise of the Pentax 67 and import as a sound file to play from the actuation of a digital SLR: like a badly-supressed howitzer; with the mirror up it goes off like a blunderbuss.
You know, I find the 5D2 thang a bit hard to understand: I'm told that many of them sold, yet have still to find an actual person I know who actually bought one over the Mark 1. I can see though that the Mark 3 now trawls in the faster fps that has been the remit of the sub full-frame 1D series...and thus presumably hopes to win over Nikonites. I just hope that the AF bugbear(or its rumour and report) with Canon has been sorted.
Matthew has of course spotted something behind the Emperor's New Clothes here: ya canna have lower detail sensing and resolving with crystalline rendition of poor light/high ISO situations...in other words, it's like turning down from 24 to 16 bit on an audio-capture device just when you want to record a blackbird 100 yards away.

[shuttertalk]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm keen to see the state of things for sales of 5D Mk III vs D800 - just wondering if Matthew or others could chime in.

- How are the sales of D800 vs 5D3 now? Is there still more demand for the D800?
- On launch, everyone was protesting that the RRP of the 5D3 was about $500 more than the D800 but just looking online now, it seems that the D800 is still holding prices sky high, whereas the street value of the 5D3 has dropped.

For example I can see the 5D3 plus 24-105 L kit for around $3700 whereas the D800 body only is around $4000.

Hmmm... is there so much demand for tue D800 that Nikon can afford to charge a premium?

[Pavel]

My take:
1) If you have some lenses already and you really need/want to upgrade, buy a matching body. I doubt anybody in this forum is good enough or specialized enough to really need Nikon but not Canon or vice versa. I have no doubt that both are great cameras, although DXO gives slightly higher score to Nikon and that may affect some sales. Canon may be slightly better choice for sport shooters, Nikon for landscapers but both can undoubtedly produce superb photos either way.
2) The price reflects supply and demand. My sense from reading Thom Hogan's Blog is that production capacity of Nikon is fairly limited and has been aggravated by the Tsunami. My sense is that Canon was less affected by natural disasters and as a much larger and versatile company it may have better capability to tailor production to demand.

My sense is that it is pointless to discuss which is better Nikon or Canon or similar debates. Looking at photos, I generally can not tell the difference between the brands/models of a camera used, but I sure can tell the difference in the craftsmanship and creativity of the photographer. Having a fancier camera gives us a flexibility to take photos differently and sometimes to take different photos. But it is not about DXO score

[shuttertalk]

Thanks for the insight guys. Maybe it's the lack of supply that's keeping the D800 prices inflated around here.