Canon announces EOS 5D MkIII DSLR

Following hot on the heels of Nikon’s big splash of new products, Canon is trying to keep pace with its rival to the new Nikon D800(E). Whereas the D800 seems a fairly revolutionary successor to the already fine but slightly long in the tooth D700, the message for the 5D MkIII seems to be very much one of evolution. I suspect this is because the 5D MkII was itself revolutionary in terms of its video capabilities.

The sensor has slightly more pixels than the MkII but with ‘gapless’ microlens technology, it will be interesting both how resolution and image quality have improved from the MkII and how it stacks up against the D800s massive 36MP count.

In the areas where the MkII has been weak, major and welcome improvements have been made:

  • The relatively limited autofocus has been significantly improved, with 61 AF points, of which up to 41 can act as cross-type points, along with simpler methods of fine-tuning the AF
  • A sluggish max frame speed of 3.9 per sec has been improved to 6fps
  • There are some genuinely useful and helpful additions, such as multiple exposure stacking and in-camera HDR exposures that will save a lot of time in post-processing.

The price is currently a smidgin under £3000, so I suspect for most current owners of the 5D MkII, an upgrade or initial purchase is a major step to take, especially while the MkII is still available for as little as £1400. The D800 appears to be significantly cheaper at around £2400. However, if you’re already tied in to a system of lenses, flash etc, then the expense doesn’t seem as bad.

The following information courtesy of Canon UK. Thanks!

Simon Yates

Key specifications:

  • 22.3 Megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor
  • 61-point AF with up to 41 cross-type AF points
  • Zone, Spot and AF Point Expansion focusing modes
  • DIGIC 5+ processor
  • Up to 6fps shooting speed
  • ISO 100 to 25,600 as standard, ISO 50 to 102,400 with expansion
  • +/- 5 stops of exposure compensation
  • HDR shooting in-camera
  • Full HD Movie shooting with ALL-I or IPB compression
  • 29mins 59sec clip length in Full HD Movie
  • Timecode setting for HD Movie shooting
  • Headphone port for audio monitoring
  • 59ms shutter lag
  • Transparent LCD viewfinder with 100% coverage
  • 8.11cm (3.2”) 1.04 million-pixel Clear View II LCD Screen
  • EOS Integrated Cleaning System (EICS)
  • CF and SD Card slots
  • Silent control touch-pad area
  • Dual-Axis Electronic Level

Please click on the window above to watch a film showing the key controls of the EOS 5D Mark III.

Image quality, processing and playback

Canon has a long history of designing and building its own CMOS sensors and is unique in the world of photography in that it also designs and produces the machines that make the sensors, providing complete control from the start of the production process. The full-frame sensor found in the EOS 5D Mark III is an evolution of the sensor in the EOS 5D Mark II and it also includes some of the sensor technology that’s in Canon’s flagship EOS-1D X DSLR.

Like the EOS-1D X’s sensor the full-frame CMOS sensor of the EOS 5D Mark III offers increased light sensitivity, image noise reduction at higher ISO speeds, and a wider dynamic range.

CMOS sensors make use of microlenses to direct the light into each pixel well. Canon’s first full-frame sensor with a gap-less microlens design is found in the EOS-1D X and the sensor in the EOS 5D Mark III features the same technology for improved light gathering ability. Gap-less microlenses mean that no matter what angle the light arrives at the sensor from it is directed into a pixel well where it can be used most effectively. In essence it means that no light that gets to the sensor is wasted by not making it into a pixel.

Just like the EOS-1D X, the sensor in the EOS 5D Mark III has been developed to excel at shooting stills and also at capturing 1080p Full HD movie footage. Compared to the sensor in the EOS 5D Mark II both the sensor and the associated image processing have been developed to show reduced moiré patterning and false colour; offering greater detail and improved image quality for shooting movies.

Image processing

The EOS 5D Mark III’s CMOS sensor uses gap-less microlenses located above each photodiode to maximise the light gathering capability, no matter what angle the light arrives at the sensor from.

Equipped with a single DIGIC 5+ image processor, the EOS 5D Mark III is able to deal with large data streams quickly and efficiently. A DIGIC 5+ processor is 17 times faster than the DIGIC 4 processor found in the EOS 5D Mark II. This increased processing power has enabled a variety of advances, both in image quality and camera functionality.

ISO performance

The ISO performance on the EOS 5D Mark III is around two stops better then the EOS 5D Mark II – this means better, smoother, images with more detail and less noise when shooting in low light. This improved performance has enabled the top standard ISO speed to be increased from 6400 on the EOS 5D Mark II to ISO 25,600 on the EOS 5D Mark III. This standard ISO setting is the same as the EOS 5D Mark II with ISO expansion set. Equally, the increased processing power allows you to use the High ISO Noise Reduction Custom Function set to ‘High’ without a reduction in the number of continuous shots you can capture in a burst.

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