Got to take the Canon 5Diii out for a test drive this afternoon with one of my favorite models here on the Maui (some of you will recognize her from the Lighting Crash Course, which, by the way if you are wondering how I did the light set up in the first few images, it will more than explain).

I tried to get a few different sets using different techniques, lighting, apertures, ISOs, etc and am these first few are my favorites of the 5Diii. All images are SOC (straight out of the camera), only resizing to fit here. All images are JPEG Smooth, Standard Picture Style, Standard ISO Noise reduction. I am not playing with RAW files now simply because they are kind of a pain to process (neither LR, Nor PS Camera RAW can do it right now, though there are work arounds).

In the second set, I compare the 5Diii with the 5Dii side, by side- if you are willing to play along, try to guess which camera was used to take which image and I will give the answers at the very end. While conditions can change quickly, I tried to be as consistent as possible between both images.

FIrst, my fav 5Diii images- (As always, camera settings are below each image) Canon 5Diii , Canon 24mm 1.4 L , 1/200, f3.2, ISO 50 Canon 5Diii , Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L , 1/200, f3.2, ISO 160 Canon 5Diii , Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L 1/100, f2.8, ISO 125 Canon 5Diii , Canon 50mm 1.2 L 1/80, f2.8, ISO 100 Canon 5Diii , Canon 24-70 2.8L , 1/250, f2.8, ISO 400 Canon 5Diii , Canon 50mm 1.2 L , 1/160, f1.8, ISO 100

On these next images below, pick which camera took which picture. Settings are listed below each image and answers are at the end. Heavy Back Light Test– Canon 24mm 1.4 L , 1/200, 3.2, ISO 160Profile Color Test (Check out the grass and color sampling). – Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L , 1/200, f 3.2, ISO 160Close Up Test (in Shade) w higher ISO – Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L , 1/400, f3.2, ISO 800Wide Aperture Test Canon 50mm 1.2 L , 1/400, f1.4, ISO 1005. High ISO Test, Canon 50mm 1.2 L f2.0, 1/4000, ISO 3200 (notice color sampling)

Answers:
1. Heavy Backlight Test – Left 5D2, Right 5D3
2. Profile Color Test – Left 5D3, Right 5D2
3. Up Close Test – Top 5D3, Bottom 5D2
4. Wide Aperture Test – Left 5D2, Right 5D3
5. High ISO Test – Left 5D3, Right 5D2

A few quick notes:

– The 5Dii is still an AWESOME camera. Maybe its because I feel completely at home with it.

– I think the colors in the 5Diii look better, not always, just more often.

– The more I use the 5Diii, them more I am VERY impressed with the focusing systems. Compared with the 5Dii, it is really night and day, I mean it would be silly to even do a test. The 5Diii’s focusing system also destroys the 7D’s focusing system, though a test here would be closer. Because the focusing systems are better, the 5Diii’s images are more consistently sharper, especially at wider apertures.

– The 5Diii has a very snappy feel to it, more so than the 7D. The 5Dii feels “laggy”, but still takes awesome images.

– Im not too crazy about the “Zoom” button. In fact, it is driving me CRAZY. After 10 years of using the upper right thumb buttons to zoom in on images, this is quite uncomfortable to have to use my left hand to zoom in. Same is true when trying to focus in Live View.

– When shooting at very shallow apertures, the 5Diii is nailing most of the shots. HUGE improvement over the 5Dii.

– Unless I am mistaken, it almost seems that the 5Dii is actually better on one level: overall sensitivity of the sensor. It seems that in the lower ISO ranges, the 5Dii images were significantly brighter, maybe as much as a 1/3 stop. I saw this a few times when comparing, and you should also be able to see it above, however, in the very shallow DOF test, the opposite was true, where the 5Diii seemed to be a little better. These are just quick tests in conditions that can change so I can’t really say for sure.

-There are definitely some custom settings that I will be making as soon as I post this.