Is The New Canon 5D Mark III Worth The Upgrade?
Is The New Canon 5D Mark III Worth The Upgrade?
canon 5d mark III short film - When the Canon 5D Mark II was initially released, it was groundbreaking. Never before could we shoot full 1080p video in the handheld SLR camera. Three and a half years later, Canon has released the objective III. Is it 3 . 5 years evolution around the camera? Yes and no. I want to explain.
Let's start using the good. The sound features on the Mark III are drastically improved. About the previous version, you're left having to monitor audio blindly, that is a terrible way to do things. Now with the addition of the headphone out jack built-in, we are able to listen to what's being recorded. Thank heavens! The addition of manual audio levels is amazing, and seeing the meters on screen while recording is even better! While recording, you may also change the audio levels using the touch wheel, therefore the audio is riding a tad too high, you can change on the fly! Sweet!
In regards to picture styles, there isn't any more moire or aliasing will be able to see. This is a fantastic improvement. Before with the Mark II, I almost never sharpened the footage in postproduction, however with a clean image directly from camera, I can sharpen without seeing nasty artifacts appear. In regards to sharpening, I do find the 5D Mark III footage a bit flat. I don't see the crisp image found in my c300, and I would not use the in camera sharpening styles. To add one extra step, I'm sharpening all my Mark III footage in postproduction. It really brings the footage to life, and doesn't look muddy as the straight from camera clips do. Around the downside, rolling-shutter is still there (and probably always will with SLR cameras).
The camera recording time is greatly improved this visit. Now you can record clips continuously approximately 29 minutes 59 seconds. Apparently a camera that records over Thirty minutes continuously classifies being a full video camera in some countries, so that's the reason for the maximum clip length allowed. And also the addition of 60FPS at 720p is a fairly improvement, but not groundbreaking because this feature has been included on Canon cameras for some time now.
The low light capabilities inside the Mark III really are a huge improvement. Around the Mark II, I discovered that 1250 ISO was bad. Canon's noise is ugly, and I found the noise inside the shadows at 1250 pretty gross. With my low light tests, I used to be amazed at 6400 ISO on the Mark III. You can observe noise, but it's not horrendous. 3200 is completely useable, and of course anything below that is very clean! Canon 70-200 F4 L
Now to the "bad." The resolution and detail of the image isn't really an enormous improvement from the earlier release. Side by side, both cameras output very similar looking footage, and also the specs are pretty much identical. Like I mentioned, rolling shutter artifacts are still there (and just slightly improved, if any).
On the Mark II, the output was rather pitiful at 480p. On the Mark III, no clean output can be obtained at 1080p. This is a huge disappointment as each of Nikon's new releases (the D800 and D4) have this selection. It could be possible using a firmware update, but I'm not holding my breath. Canon definitely missed the mark on this one.
If I'm getting picky, I'd love a chance to "punch in" and see focus while I'm recording, but alas which include isn't available. They've also moved the punch in button top to the left hand side. It's an unnecessary move, but could be changed from the menu settings.
So, ultimately, what's my final conclusion? Could it be worth selling your Mark II and upgrade for the new, big brother? I think, yes! The headphone out jack may be worth the price upgrade alone. If you're a documentary filmmaker, the reduced light capabilities really are a huge plus, and highly recommended. Sure, there's nothing truly groundbreaking, but when comparing it for the Mark II, that was, it's hard to compete. The potential II was the initial of it's kind, however the Mark III is constant the tradition.
