It was a mixed day. On the downside the new iPad wasn't delivered as promised but on the upside when I called in to collect my shiny new Canon 5D Mk III with 24-105mm F/4L they had a spare that had not been reserved so I was able to buy one for my wife too. I haven't even taken a still or shot any video yet but I just wanted to let everyone know that they do exist & are shipping.

Wow you lucky thing! Please please please upload some footage ASAP!

We are staying in a hotel the next 3 nights as we are shooting two big Jewish weddings back to back Sunday & Monday. I don't think that I'm going to have time to do anything worthwhile as we will be too busy. I'm not even sure that I will use it for the weddings as there are quite a few changes regarding controls & buttons that have been moved around a bit so I am a little concerned that I might mess up. It's almost but not quite the same as the 5D2. Also I'll be needing to match the footage with a 5D2. I suppose if I give myself a crash course this evening I might be ready. I'll keep you posted.

The new LCD screen is sharper & nicer for focusing. I'm not sure that low light performance is 2 stops better. I'll grab some footage with a 5D2 & compare.

BTW The current firmware is 1.0.7

I'm figuring Nigel could be a little too busy to be posting footage getting thanked for bringing his wife home such a gift! :) Anytime tomorrow would be fine.....

'..There was a spare 5D Mark III...so I bought my wife one too...'

I love that one! :)

Yep. I can only afford one for myself!

Just came across this new video from Japan with the 5DMkIII - lots of night shots etc. but I don't care too much for the aesthetics of the fisheye stuff in the second part of this 5 minuter. It's certainly worth a look in YouTube's 1080p if you're remotely interested in this cam - or happen to own a couple already!

The link is in Japanese so looks odd on the forum (lots of ????) - but I've just tested it and it should work.

Canon 5D Mark III ?????? ?? ?? ?? sogo ???? ?? WB0043 2012 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/w47y-1EU8bE)

And another one here. UK this time!

https://vimeo.com/38658374

'..There was a spare 5D Mark III...so I bought my wife one too...'

I love that one! :)Just to clarify it was not an impulse buy. We had budgeted for two cameras for the business & we already had them on order from another source (orders now cancelled). It was just that it was too good to miss the opportunity to collect from Digital Depot in Stevenage (very nice people & a very good camera store) as we were passing by yesterday.

Hi Nigel, How well does the 24-105 perform in low light with the MK3 compared to the 5DMK2? It's wide enough for me to film the groom and family making thier entrance and gives me enough to zoom with. Only issue is the aperture and I am hoping the 5DMK3 ISO capabilities will take care of that in low light.

Another test video...

https://vimeo.com/38717195

I really want the extra f-stop because of the venues I shoot in, the lights are pretty much always off with just the DJ's strobe lights. So I am looking to purchase the 24-70 my question is regarding IS for video.

Glidecam have said to me that whenever I balance a camera on the Glidecam VC or IS should be turned off, which then brings me onto using IS for when the camera is on a monopod. I will be using the 5DMKIII with a 561BHDV-1 and the Glidecam 2000HD. Will I be kicking myself when I watch the footage back, how bad is footage without IS if on a monopod? I have tried with my Tamron 17-50 and I honestly can't see much difference.

Tariq - If you only have the DJs strobe lights to work in, you are really going to need some form of lighting yourself. An extra 2 stops will certainly help in that level of illumination, but the use of a small light will enable you to lift the colour and detail in any low light situation, it will also help a great deal with focus and colour balancing. We need light to produce good images, just as we need good mics for sound and a good tripod for stable shots. Light is our friend.
BTW. Its common practice to turn off any stabilisation when the camera is mounted in a tripod, slider or any other stable platform. Practice with your set up on a monopod, it should be fine without IS.

This new 5DMkIII test video looks promising in YouTube's 1080p...Canon 24-104mm IS F4 and Canon 15mm F2.8 lenses, all shot at F4. Some significant moire in the opening shot (ceiling tiles, top of frame) but otherwise looks good, albeit lacking a little in the (often false) edge sharpness we've seen with the MkII.

Canon 5D Mark III: Footage (Video Test) - YouTube

Still waiting for mine!

I Had a nightmare with the lens choice 689.95 for the 24-105 with the 5DMK3 or pay the extra £250 for the 24-70 f2.8.

I finally decided to go for the 24-105 as the ISO the 5DMKIII should give me enough to play with, there is hardly any difference in the bokeh and I can't find any review where the 24-70 really outshines the 105 in terms of optics. It's light so I can also use it with my glidecam without breaking my arm and I have that extra zoom which is always handy.

I also have the Samyang 35mm 1.4 so I am hoping that the two will work well together.
I will take my unomat lx 301to give me extra lighting once the lights go off!

Hi Peter,

I find the IS on my 17-55mm EF-S (that's on my 7D) and absolutely brilliant feature for video. I'm sure you made the right choice with the 24-105mm IS for the kind of work I imagine you will do with the 5DMkIII. It's the lens I'm narrowing down on.... IF I buy a 5DMkIII. I still really don't understand why Canon launched the new 24-70mm F2.8 without IS (and some new wide primes with it - very strange), and there is a separate thread for that discussion.

I'm waiting for NAB in mid April - in case they announce a "C100" that I might rather have than a 5DMkIII - assuming I can afford it. Sony or Panny might also pull a bunny rabbit out of the hat, who knows? Also, I want to see good in-depth reviews of the video features of the 5DMkIII by people I trust before I'll push the button on one. Just a little worried we might have lost some of the "magic" in the image of the 5DMkII as a trade-off regarding much less aliasing and better low light ability/noise processing. I guess you can never have everything! Certainly there are often times with my 7D where aliasing makes clips completely unuseable, especially in 720p50 mode. So far, I'm please with what I've seen regarding keeping aliasing much more under control with the 5DMkIII videos, albeit just on the web.

Here's a new 5DMkIII video shot in 720p50.

Slow Motion: Canon 5D Mark III (Video Samples) - YouTube


Just seen on Twitter that Philip Bloom now has a new 5DMkIII. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of it when he gets time to test it thoroughly. Let us know how you get on too!

Hi Andy,

Yes Mr Bloom is the man so I guess I may just wait that little longer for his review to. I have spoken to Ian Cruz and he swears by the 24-70 over the 24-105. He has them both and said the weight for the 24-70 helps the glidecam and after a little practice you no longer need IS. He purchased the 24-70 after owning the 24-105 because he was always wanting that extra fstop.

That has really made me think again as he knows his stuff. If I see a C100 I am going to crazy, but looking at how long it's taking for the C300 to roll out I doubt it will be shipping anytime soon.

The general impressions that I'm noticing (from the various 1080p web videos and downloadable clips that are starting to appear) is that the 5DMkIII looks pretty soft, probably somewhere near 700 lines of resolution has been mentioned by some (but I don't know how accurate that claim is). My gut feel is that this figure seems to be "in the ball park" - until we know for sure by those that are good at testing these kind of things. Disappointing if true.

That being said, the low light performance seems truly stunning in some of the web videos I've seen. Amazing. And of course its a great stills camera (which is its primarly role after all).

Hmmn.... roll on NAB.

On the 5D3 given a choice between resolution & low light performance then I would go for high ISO every time. The resolution is good enough for us. We use all 'L' lenses & the images are pretty sharp. I stopped using old manual lenses because the Canon lenses are easier to use but also because the 'L' lenses are sharper. There are so many other new features that anyone who is an experienced 5D2 user will appreciate that this a really worthwhile upgrade.

30 minute recording time is ample for just about any gig we do.
3/4 letter user configurable filename prefix so we can tell which camera the clip is from & don't end up with duplicate filenames.
Improved Live View LCD screen which is much easier to focus with even without using my customary loupe (Zacuto will have a re-designed attachment plate real soon now).
The A+ auto-everything still photo mode is a bit of a WTF? for a professional camera but makes it really easy to flip between shooting video & shooting stills which are pretty damn good. We have never been able to carry off shooting video & stills at the same gig & this just might make it achievable. AF in stills mode is amazingly fast & accurate.
Moire & aliasing are absent.
Two card slots is good although personalIy I would have preferred two CF slots like the 1DX.
Low light performance is fantastic. Where we wouldn't normally shoot over ISO3200 with the 5D2 at the weekend at the two big weddings we filmed we were using ISO6400 & even ISO12800 & the image is clean & noise free. This will make such a difference to our work as instead of having to use F/1.2 or F/1.4 primes in dark receptions & churches we can use an F/2.8 zoom or even the lovely 24-105mm F/4L. It makes keeping stuff in focus easier too.
I couldn't care less about clean HDMI out as I prefer to use a DSLR with as little extra baggage as possible. I don't have a shoulder rig & find a loupe is all that I really want for focusing & extra stability.
We haven't really compared the differences between the high bit rate All I-frame & lower bit rate IPB mode but we used the latter all the time at the weekend & a welcome spin-off was that at about 30Mbps versus the 40+Mbps of the 5D2 that the recording time on the cards is improved by a big chunk.
We haven't even shot anything at 720p yet but with the lack of moire & aliasing & improved CODEC I am expecting it to be far superior to any of the older Canon DSLRs.

There are changes from the 5D2 that as a long time user irritate me. Moving recording start/stop from the Set button in the middle of the rear wheel up to a dedicated video button like the 7D is particularly annoying & several times I caught myself hitting Set to start recording. Many functions can be custom configured on various buttons but sadly start/stop on Set is not one of them.

Most of the comments around at the moment regarding the new 5D3 are ill-informed as there are so few of us who have actually had hands-on experience. Resolution could be higher but really is perfectly good enough. Our brides don't want every zit & wrinkle exposed anyway. The colour, look & Canon full frame aesthetic are still all there & it's easer to handle plus stripy shirts & brickwork are no longer terror objects they once were. Those who expected an Epic or a C300 at this price point are bound to be disappointed but that doesn't stop them mouthing off in forums. It's expensive compared to a GH2 but so much better in so many ways (I speak from experience). It's not expensive as a professional tool & we will quickly & easily recoup the purchase price. It's a lot cheaper than buying a new car.

Great info. Thanks Nigel.

...Many functions can be custom configured on various buttons but sadly start/stop on Set is not one of them...



That is a big disappointment for me, because the stop/start button is now too far away from my thumb when the camera is inside my Scuba housing. Hopefully I can rig up an underwater remote cord that will perfom the same function.

That is a big disappointment for me, because the stop/start button is now too far away from my thumb when the camera is inside my Scuba housing. Hopefully I can rig up an underwater remote cord that will perfom the same function.I am not sure if this will help your situation but you can now set up the camera so that you can use any Canon remote to start/stop video. It was an old gripe with the 5D2 that you could use a cheap wireless remote to take stills but not to start/stop video recording. This is of great importance if you have a locked off unattended camera. You could with the 5D2 use the £700+ Canon WFT-E4A Wireless Transmitter & operate the camera from an iPhone but now a £10 device that can restart video recording from across the room is probably all that many of us need although with 30 minute record time there is less need to restart than with a 12 minute limit.

Hi Nigel.

Would you say the SanDisk Secure Digital High Capacity Card Extreme Video HD 16GB are good enough to use with the 5DMKIII For video? I have a ton of these and hope they won't fail me.

Hi Nigel.

Would you say the SanDisk Secure Digital High Capacity Card Extreme Video HD 16GB are good enough to use with the 5DMKIII For video? I have a ton of these and hope they won't fail me.As far as I know they should be fine. There is no list of blessed cards like there is for the Canon XF cameras so any that are a decent named brand & meet the specs should be fine. The 5D2 certainly has never been picky about what cards it works with. If I start using the all i-frame high bit rate mode I may even be converted to using SD cards as I see that the Transcend 64GB Class 10 SDXC cards are only £64 while the equivalent CF cards are nearly double the price.

I am not sure if this will help your situation but you can now set up the camera so that you can use any Canon remote to start/stop video. It was an old gripe with the 5D2 that you could use a cheap wireless remote to take stills but not to start/stop video recording. This is of great importance if you have a locked off unattended camera. You could with the 5D2 use the £700+ Canon WFT-E4A Wireless Transmitter & operate the camera from an iPhone but now a £10 device that can restart video recording from across the room is probably all that many of us need although with 30 minute record time there is less need to restart than with a 12 minute limit.

I've been using the RM-40 to remotely start & stop video recording on the Mk2 for the past few years and it works fine. It also works on the Nikon and Pentax cameras. The RM-40 is however, difficult to use inside of a housing with the Mk2.
I use three different remote controls for the Mk2 in varied situations to fire off stills:
1) Shoot delay-Timer Remote
2) JYC Remote
3) Phottix Hector Live-View Remote Phottix Hector Live-view remote (http://www.phottix.com/en/phottix-hector-live-view-remote.html).

It is possible any of these could be set up inside the Scubacam to control underwater video start/stop function. If that doesn't work, then the only other option would be to buy a completely new UW housing for the Canon Mark III...an extremely expensive road to take!

Just picked up my 5DMKIII and 24-70! Woo Woo! So excited!

I see it was mentioned earlier in this thread that you wanted to use it in dimly lit situations where the DJ will use strobes...

Strobes are TERRIBLE with DSLRs... I shot some band stuff at night clubs and asked them to turn the strobes off... They didn't. And half of the DSLR footage was ruined. Thankfully the HM700s were doing just fine.

If worst comes to worst I will use my XHA1.

Hi All.

Anybody had any luck trying to get the focus check button working in the top right instead of the left? Is it possible? I am so used to using my thumb to check focus and now it just feels wrong.

From what I have read you can reassign the SET button for Focus Assist so that you can use your thumb for that (much used!) requirement with video. This should be a lot better than the 5DMkIII default button to the left of the LCD which requires a second hand to activate. Whoever thought that was a good idea to position this button there should be shot!

It's amazing how that was cleared by canon.

If you were going to mix 550D, T3i footage and 5DMK3 footage in 1 timeline does the compression method for the 5DMK3 have any impact when editiing? I am not to sure if I should be choosing IPB or ALL-I.

You may want to test the codecs in your editing system Tariq.

Final Cut Pro 7 struggled with the All-I when I tired it. Switched to FCPX and it's a breeze to edit ALL-I with - you shouldn't have to worry about mixing this with footage from the other cameras. Just ensure the timeline is set to render to something decent like ProRes and it will all be conformed.

And yes, Andy is right, you can assign the Set button to focus magnification.

And yes, Andy is right, you can assign the Set button to focus magnification.but you cannot assign the Set button to start/stop video recording. As this is the how you shoot video on the 5D2 it is really irritating me as even after a week I am still automatically hitting the big Set button with my thumb to start/stop rather than the little button at the top of the camera. I suppose it's OK for those who are used to the 7D but as a long time 5D2 user it's going to take quite a while to retrain my muscle memory never mind the hassle of when I switch between a 5D2 & 5D3. Why couldn't they have left things as they were? By default the Set button isn't even allocated a function in video mode.

Thanks Josh/Nigel

Looking at the manual it reads

IPB 1hr 4 mins with a 16GB Card@235 MB/min
ALL-I 22mins with a 16GB Card@685 MB/mins

I don't fancy carrying 22 memory cards and changing them every 22mins on a 8 hour wedding shoot. Even I were to go ahead and buy 15 32GB SD Cards it seems like a lot of money. I think you need SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDHC Card which writes over 90Mbps and they are over £75 each!

Has anybody tested the two codec’s and found a massive difference in quality between them?

Me again with my reading. Please test this yourselves as you have cameras but there are reports that the All I codec is flawed with a mosquito type noise in some situations and that the other codec is actually giving better results. Tests are needed! At least the IPB is more gentle on card usage.

but you cannot assign the Set button to start/stop video recording. As this is the how you shoot video on the 5D2 it is really irritating me as even after a week I am still automatically hitting the big Set button with my thumb to start/stop rather than the little button at the top of the camera. I suppose it's OK for those who are used to the 7D but as a long time 5D2 user it's going to take quite a while to retrain my muscle memory never mind the hassle of when I switch between a 5D2 & 5D3. Why couldn't they have left things as they were? By default the Set button isn't even allocated a function in video mode.

That is also a big problem for me in many ways Nigel, especially for underwater filming. Even for topside filming I've got used to using the rear "Set" button.

Another problem is when the normal shutter button on the front grip of the Mark 3 is in operation for Start /Stop video function, it locks the ability to shoot stills using either the finger button shutter release or any cord remotes and wireless remotes that are attached.

I sold one of my 5D2s a couple of weeks ago to create some budget for the 5D3, but now having watched quite a lot of example footage out there and reading some reviews, I'm getting cold feet about investing in it.

Because I only really use these for video, I can't see *enough* improvement over the 5D2 to really warrant that extra £1,500 spend (maybe for the photographers out there). It's really great that they've improved on the moiré and aliasing, and that was definitely one of the features I was shouting for. But let's not forget that Canon have had 3 years R&D on this machine. Perhaps its highly anticipated announcement has left a lot of people feeling somewhat shortchanged (myself included).

I think 1080/60p would have won me over, I'm really so surprised we haven't got there yet with these cameras. Mind you, even the C300 doesn't do that? But the Panny AF100/101 can? I just don't get that.

I'm afraid I will be one of those that waits it out a bit longer to see if we have any announcements on the 4K Canon. I am disappointed, truth be told - But I'm not ready to desert Canon just yet - Not with all these lenses anyway! ;-)

NAB is just a few weeks away, so I guess it makes sense to wait until at least then if you are unsure of the 5D3. However, my gut tells me that there will be no new announcements that will change your mind. I believe that the next significant announcement will be for a crop camera without moire and maybe some other camera in the cinema line (eventually, anyway.)

Back in November, Canon said that the 4K DSLR would be introduced near the end of 2012. I can't imagine them accelerating the schedule to April. Engineering schedules tend to go long, not short.

To me, aliasing has always been the worst part about DSLR video with 8-bit contouring holding second place. For 35mm DSLRs that leaves the 5D3 and the 5d2 with VAF. But the VAF has some funny side effects and can't go ultra wide. Add in the two stop improvement of the 5D3, and it's a pretty clear winner... for now.

Jon, I think I could wait until end of 2012, but I'd prefer not to go beyond another year for an upgrade!

Would be fantastic for filmmakers if Canon could fill that gaping hole between the 5D2/3 and the C300. I can't think of any camera suitable to take its place in there.

I would think that there are some features on the C300 that could be stripped to make a C200(?). HD-SDI comes to mind. And of course, the sky is the limit on the high end.

We can predict that there will be crop cams below the 5D3 without aliasing. We just don't know the timing or details.

And then there's the 4K DSLR that takes the hybrid role: DSLR form factor but movie-centric features. Given that RED is bragging on shooting for Vanity Fair, I think Canon has some additional motivation to deliver this product.

The last piece of the puzzle would be mirrorless cameras with EF mounts - or a new mount with a 100% compatible EF adapter. This is the "EVIL" camera that has been theorized for years, but has never really been hinted by Canon. It remains a possibility, but no more than that.

With the C300 as the anchor point for the "C" line and the 5D3 as the anchor for new alias-free DSLRs, there are a number of good possibilities down the road.

The future is bright. :)

I sold one of my 5D2s a couple of weeks ago to create some budget for the 5D3, but now having watched quite a lot of example footage out there and reading some reviews, I'm getting cold feet about investing in it.My wife & I are delighted with our 5D3s. I just met another new owner today who is using it almost exclusively for video & he is really pleased with the new model. Low light performance is exceptional which is far more useful to us than 1080/60p. Lack of moire & aliasing is as we all wanted. There are many other nice features that any 5D2 owner will really appreciate like the customisable file name prefix or locking pin on the mode wheel so it cannot accidentally get moved to P or AV when set on M.

I don't get all this anguish. The 5D3 really is a significant improvement over the 5D2 both for video & stills.

Hi,

I am a little concerned, I took my new 5DMKIII out today and filmed my nieces playing in the garden. I have just copied the MOV files back and I was expecting to be Blown away considering I just spent 4k on the MKIII and Canon 24-70. The grass looks pretty bad and was wondering why this has happened.

The profile was set to standard, Camera was set to 1080p, IBP, 25p with shutter at 50, F22@ISO 100

Lens 24mm set to manual.

Not sure what other settings I could have used to increase the quality but the video of the grass and leaves looks better on my friends Samsung Galaxy SII HD mobile.

I have just seen this video and the quality is amazing https://vimeo.com/38763637 what am I doing wrong?

Tariq, I am just wondering why you are using the lens aperture at f/22?

Setting your ISO in good light to 100 or 160 is a good idea to maintain quality in bright light conditions, but unless you are filming wide landscapes, or macro, or scenes that require foreground to background DOF...then it would better to open up the aperture to f/8 or f/5.6...or even f/4 and f/2.8.

The lens will perform far better at those apertures, because at f/22 the lens will be quite soft, especially on subjects like the blades of grass at frame corners. You should rarely need to stop a lens down beyond f/16.

If you need to maintain that ISO 100 in bright conditions, it is better to use a PL filter or ND filters to lower the amount of light hitting the sensor while keeping the aperture at a wider f/stop. Yes, you'll need to be more accurate in your focussing the wider the aperture is, but it will make the subjects pop-out from the background more.

Looking at the Wedding Highlight Vimeo clip, I have no doubts that most of it was filmed with lens set at widest aperture or a few stops down from open aperture, with none of the video filmed anwhere near f/22.

Also, I'd avoid the Standard picture style. Try Neutral with sharpening at the minimum, then add some sharpening in post.

Tariq, I am just wondering why you are using the lens aperture at f/22?

Setting your ISO in good light to 100 or 160 is a good idea to maintain quality in bright light conditions, but unless you are filming wide landscapes, or macro, or scenes that require foreground to background DOF...then it would better to open up the aperture to f/8 or f/5.6...or even f/4 and f/2.8.

The lens will perform far better at those apertures, because at f/22 the lens will be quite soft, especially on subjects like the blades of grass at frame corners. You should rarely need to stop a lens down beyond f/16.

If you need to maintain that ISO 100 in bright conditions, it is better to use a PL filter or ND filters to lower the amount of light hitting the sensor while keeping the aperture at a wider f/stop. Yes, you'll need to be more accurate in your focussing the wider the aperture is, but it will make the subjects pop-out from the background more.
If you don't have PL or ND filters with you, then I would suggest dialling up the ISO slightly rather than closing the lens down to f/22.

Looking at the Wedding Highlight Vimeo clip, I have no doubts that most of it was filmed with lens set at widest aperture or a few stops down from open aperture, with none of the video filmed anwhere near f/22.

The sun was so bright even at f8 I was way over exposed and I did not have an ND filter, my only option was to go to f22. I also wanted to capture everything and do away with any kind of DOF but I did not know that the quality would be this bad. If I were to dial the ISO up wouldn't that just increase the light as anything over 100 was over exposing? The picture was only correctly exposed at F22.

I could hardly see the LCD screen because of the sun, I thought best to be safe and make sure the children were in focus. I cranked up the aperture, used the only ISO available which was not over exposing the image which was 100.

Also, I'd avoid the Standard picture style. Try Neutral with sharpening at the minimum, then add some sharpening in post.

I have just downloaded and installed Technicolor CineStyle and the settings it gives are
Sharpness: 0 Contrast: -4 Saturation: -2 Color Tone: 0

Have you tried this and would you suggest I take the Sharpness down to -4?

I've been using minimum sharpness forever on the 5D2. I've read that the sharpening on the 5D3 is not very good as it leaves halos. It's best to turn it down and sharpen in post.

Note that Cinestyle requires that contrast be added in post. The footage from the camera will likely be very flat with high black levels. This allows the maximum adjustments in post as neither the whites or blacks are likely to clip.

The Standard picture style has high contrast, which likely to contributed to you needing f/22 to keep the whites from clipping. Standard tends to crush the blacks while over-boosting the whites. Cinestyle is the exact opposite, using very low contrast. Normal picture style is somewhere between the two.

I have just watched Philip Blooms review, he suggests exactly what you say

Sharpness at 0
Contrast at 0
Saturation -2

Canon 5Dmk3 video review on Vimeo

I'll try again tomorrow :) Thank you

The sun was so bright even at f8 I was way over exposed and I did not have an ND filter, my only option was to go to f22.

Invest in a vari ND filter by Lightcraft. I never leave home without mine. I set the aperture and ISO to whatever I like and 'dial' my light in using the vari ND.

Buy the size that fits your largest diameter lens and buy cheap step down rings so that you can use the filter aross all your lenses.

If you do go that route, ensure you buy genuine Lighcraft and not cheap Chinese varis. As with all glass you're putting in front of a lens, it's worth paying a bit more for quality.

Yes, sorry Tariq, my mistake...I didn't mean to write "dial ISO up" in this situation! :)