Is The New Canon 5D Mark III Worth The Upgrade?
When the Canon 5D Mark II was released, it was groundbreaking. Nothing you’ve seen prior could we shoot full 1080p video in a handheld SLR camera. Three and a half years later, Canon has released the potential III. Is it 3 . 5 years evolution about the camera? Yes and no. I
want to explain.
canon 5d mark III raw video
Let’s start with all the good. The sound features around the Mark III are drastically improved. About the previous version, you were 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 goodness! The addition of manual audio levels is amazing, to see the meters on screen while recording is even better! While recording, you can even change the audio levels utilizing the touch wheel, therefore if 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 see. This is a fantastic improvement. Before with all the Mark II, I seldom sharpened the footage in postproduction, but now with a clean image straight from camera, I can sharpen without seeing nasty artifacts appear. When it comes to sharpening, I do discover the 5D Mark III footage a little flat. I don’t begin to see the crisp image found in my c300, and I would not use the in camera sharpening styles. So to add one extra step, I’m sharpening my Mark III footage in postproduction. It really brings the footage to life, and doesn’t look muddy since the straight from camera clips do. Around the downside, rolling-shutter is still there (and in all likelihood always will with SLR cameras).
Your camera recording time is greatly improved this go around. Now you can record clips continuously as much as 29 minutes 59 seconds. Apparently a camera that records over Half an hour continuously classifies as a full video camera in some countries, so for this reason for the maximum clip length allowed. Also the addition of 60FPS at 720p is a nice improvement, but not groundbreaking because this feature has been included on Canon cameras for some time now.
The low light capabilities in the Mark III certainly are a huge improvement. On the Mark II, I discovered that 1250 ISO was bad. Canon’s noise is ugly, and i also found the noise within the shadows at 1250 pretty gross. With my low light tests, I was amazed at 6400 ISO on the Mark III. You can observe noise, but it’s not horrendous. 3200 is entirely useable, and of course anything below which is very clean!
Now to the “bad.” The resolution and detail of the image isn’t really a huge improvement from the earlier release. Side-by-side, both cameras output much the same looking footage, and the specs are virtually identical. Like I mentioned, rolling shutter artifacts remain (and just slightly improved, if any). Canon 5d Mark III Video
On the Mark II, the output was rather pitiful at 480p. On the Mark III, no clean output is accessible at 1080p. This is a huge disappointment as both Nikon’s new releases (the D800 and D4) have this selection. It could be possible using a firmware update, but I’m not really holding my breath. Canon definitely missed the objective on this one.
If I’m getting picky, I’d love the opportunity to “punch in” and see focus while I’m recording, but alas that come with isn’t available. They’ve also moved the punch in button top directly to the left hand side. This is an unnecessary move, but can be changed from your menu settings.
So, in the long run, what’s my final conclusion? Can it be worth selling your Mark II and upgrade towards the new, big brother? I think, yes! The headphone out jack will probably 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, however, if comparing it towards the Mark II, that has been, it’s hard to compete. The objective II was the initial of it’s kind, nevertheless the Mark III continues the tradition.
Canon 5d Mark III Video 