upgrade to 5d mk iii

[Knysa]

A bit late in the day to ask advice after the fact I know, but I have recently upgraded from a 7D mki to a 5D mkiii (the MKiv being a bit pricey!!)

Was this a good idea?

I should say that I shoot mainly land/cityscapes and occaisional portrait and very little video although I have used it on the golf course!

[RobertTheFat · Accepted solution]

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Knysa wrote:

A bit late in the day to ask advice after the fact I know, but I have recently upgraded from a 7D mki to a 5D mkiii (the MKiv being a bit pricey!!)

Was this a good idea?

I should say that I shoot mainly land/cityscapes and occaisional portrait and very little video although I have used it on the golf course!

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The Mk IV has a lot of nifty improvements and new features that you would probably like if you had them. But the Mk III is also a fine camera; and at about $1000 less, it's arguably a better buy. The only significant argument against the Mk III is that it's late in its life cycle, opening the possibility that you'll still be using it after Canon has stopped servicing it. But that's a hypothetical that's unlikely to have affected your decision, even if you'd thought of it. So yeah, I think buying it was probably a good idea.

[Knysa]

Thanks Bob

I had thought about the liklihood of end of cycle but didn't really think it should be much of drawback as I'm expecting it to last a good few years. Time will tell I suppose but first impressions that it's way better than my 7D which I was also delighted with.

[TCampbell]

Based on the description of your primary shooting style and price consideration, yes... it was a good decision.

You didn't mention anything about lenses.  The 5D series are "full frame" bodies and use Canon "EF" lenses.  The 7D would have been able to use "EF-S" or "EF" lenses.  Any "EF-S" lenses you might own can't be attached to the 5D III.

The 5D III is going to give you a better focusing system, better ISO performance (ability to shoot in lower light, use higher ISO and have less noise than your 7D) and full-frame sensors increase the angle of view of all of your lenses.  

The change to angle-of-view resulting from a physically larger sensor means that if you compose your subjects similarly to how you would have composed them on your 7D, you'll get a shallower depth of field.  This is often a desireable attribute for portraits.

The "normal" angle of view for a 7D would have been around 27mm.  The "normal" angle of view for the 5D III is about 44mm. "Normal" meaning that this is the focal length at which images do not seem to be either "narrow" angle (telephoto) nor "wide" angle.

"Full Frame" camera bodies from Canon do not have pop-up flashes (the viewfinder is much larger create a space limitation where a pop-up flash would need to fold-into ... and most photographers who use a full-frame camera body would probably never use a pop-up flash anyway).  This means if you ever used flash on your 7D then you may want to invest in a Canon (or Canon compatible) E-TTL speedlite flash.

[Knysa]

Hi Tim

Yip. Hold my hands up to that one!

I use

70-200mm F4 L

16-35mm F4 L

50mm ef1.8

I used it for the first time last week at St Monans in Fife Scotalnd and what you say is spot on.

Focusing was very fast and appears to be accurate and shallow depth of field with the two portraits I took was impressive.

With regards to pop up flash I very rarely used it but had invested in a couple of YN 550 MKiv and while I've dabbled with them I am not so confident when using them but hope to remedy that soon.

Thanks for the advice.

Sandy

[diverhank]

If you love the 7D images, the 5DIII will blow you away...it will be a major improvement in terms of ISO performance (low noise).  You will most likely appreciate the much wider field of view for land/cityscapes the 5DIII will give you.

[Waddizzle]

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@diverhank wrote:

If you love the 7D images, the 5DIII will blow you away...it will be a major improvement in terms of ISO performance (low noise).  You will most likely appreciate the much wider field of view for land/cityscapes the 5DIII will give you.

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Yup, hold on to your camera straps.  You’re about to be blown away.

I see nothing wrong with owning a crop body, and a full frame body. I typically carry one of each when I am “exploring”.

[RobertTheFat]

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@diverhank wrote:

If you love the 7D images, the 5DIII will blow you away...it will be a major improvement in terms of ISO performance (low noise).  You will most likely appreciate the much wider field of view for land/cityscapes the 5DIII will give you.

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I wouldn't go quite that far overboard. The low-light performance of the 5D Mk III is noticeably better than that of the 7D, and the larger frame size stands up better to cropping. But otherwise the cameras are very similar. One nice manifestation of that is that the controls are nearly identical, which lessens the learning curve. I believe I've mentioned in the forum an incident that happened a couple of summers ago. We were out on my cousin's sailboat; and while I was taking a turn at the wheel, my wife picked up my 5D Mk III, thinking it was her 7D Mk II. She used it for an hour or so, and didn't realize her mistake until I pointed it out afterwards.

[Waddizzle]

"But otherwise the cameras are very similar. One nice manifestation of that is that the controls are nearly identical, which lessens the learning curve."

I dislike having a line buttons along the left edge of the body. I think that it is terrible ergonomcs.  They get in the way of my left thumb on the 7D2 with smaller lenses, and forces me to adjust my grip on the body. None of the buttons serve any useful purpose when you are taking pictures.  So, why put them there? 

I think the only reason that Canon keeps them there is that their inital DSLRs had buttons there, and they have retained the design to appease long time users who would loudly complain if they were moved, or even removed.  The line of buttons give the body a "classic" look, and that's about it.  Bad ergonomics, IMHO.  

One thing that I like about using the 1D Mark IV, and the entire 1D series, is that it does not have a line of buttonns along the left edge.  The line of buttons on the left edge is what keeps me away from the 5D series, and why I picked up the 1D Mark IV.

[ebiggs1]

"Was this a good idea?"

Was?  Sounds like it is a little late to be considering if it was a good idea!  Here's the skinny, everybody has the opinion that as soon as a new model comes out, the old one is trash.  That is far from true.  It still works as well as it ever did.  The 5D Mk III is a fantastic camera.  It made me a lot of money.  I even used it along side a 7D just like you.  Each model offers some strong points that are what you want to take advantage of.  Neither camera is stuck in a niche, though.  That is inner web non-sense.

Your best course now is to learn how to best use each.  It will be a fantastic journey.