02.03.12
Canon launches the 5D Mark 3
The Friday morning before focus and I get in to the office, as I normally do, for about 7am. On goes my computer to check my emails, my bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes at hand. Now, we all new it was coming, and today was meant to be the day, so the three emails I had in my Inbox we no surprise. What a way to launch a camera – by email.
I remember the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II well, I was invited to the Canon HQ and sat in their offices doing a piece to camera – the resulting video got well over 250,000 hits on YouTube. My point being, it was exciting, new and quite a leap up from the old 5D.
Scanning the spec of the new 5D Mark III and I can’t help, purely based on this spec, to be a wee bit disappointed. It’s ‘only’ got 22.3-megapixels in the newly-developed full frame sensor, it can ‘only’ shoot 6fps, the native ISO range ‘only’ goes from 100-25,600, though is expandable to 102,400.
In my head I can visualise one of Canon’s engineers in a lab somewhere attacking one of the new 1-DXs and grabbing the 61-point AF system, the new DIGIC 5+ processor and a host of other bits, cramming them into the old 5D II body, taking a marker pen to it and with a “Ta-daaah” proclaiming the 5D Mark III… I jest of course.
One thing is very clear is Canon’s complete belief in movies in DSLRs. They have certainly been leading the way; the 5D Mark II has become legendary in Hollywood, with many a movie and TV series being shot on them. So as you’d expect, the video on the new model also gets a boost. Options include variable frame rates from 24fps to 60fps, they claim improved image quality from the new DIGIC 5+ processor “virtually eradicating the presence of moiré, false colour and artefacts.” You get full manual control, a choice of high bit-rate compression options, now supporting (ALL-I) intraframe and (IPB) interframe, SMTP timecoding and audio can be visually monitored and adjusted – and there is basic movie editing functionality too.
So as not to loose all of the core clients, attention is given to the body which still offers a weatherproof construction and a chassis made of lightweight magnesium alloy; the shutter cycles have been tested to 150,000 and they have used the Intelligent Viewfinder from the 7D, with some enhancements. From the EOS-1D X’s parts bin comes the 3.2-inch, 1,040,000 dot screen. As seems to be a growing standard, Canon has made card slots for both SD and CF, with variable options for storage: simultaneous shooting, card copying etc.
So when you start to look at the camera in detail, you can actually see that just about every element has been changed or improved in some way – it’s that Porsche 911 argument. For 40 years the 911 hasn’t really changed that much between models, but over time it has dramatically. It’s easy to be cynical, especially with Nikon launching the far cheaper, better specified and higher pixelled D800 just a few weeks ago. From comments I have been reading on Twitter and Facebook, people are generally happy but think it’s overpriced. £3000 seems a lot of cash compared to £2400 for the Nikon D800, which may make some think twice or, as is customary, wait for the next one. But who knows how long that will be.
Typical, as with Nikon, wait for one overdue camera and two come along at once! The first we’ll get to see of it is as at Focus on the Canon stand, if we can get close that is. We’ll live tweet and video when we can, so keep looking at our pages over the Focus days. Other than that, we’ll wait for the dust to settle and get our hands on one to test in the magazines as soon as we can.
Specificaltions at a glance:
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
RRP £2999 (Inc VAT)
Available: end of March 2012
22.3 megapixel full-frame sensor
63-zone, dual layer iFCL meter
61-point autofocus – 41 cross-type, 5 double cross-type
Up to 6fps continuous shooting
Native ISO 100-25,600 sensitivity
Full HD video with manual control
14-bit DIGIC 5+ processor
Enhanced Weather sealing
8.11cm (3.2-inch) 1,040,000-dot Clear View II screen
Dual CF and SDHC/XC (UDMA 7 and Eye-Fi)
HDR mode with presets
www.canon.co.uk
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Resources
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This is a smaple image from the new Canon EOS 5D Mark 3
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This is a smaple image from the new Canon EOS 5D Mark 3
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This is a smaple movie from the new Canon EOS 5D Mark 3
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