Canon 5D Mark III Conclusion

Canon 5D Mark III Conclusion

As one of the true superstar digital SLRs retailing for a medium-high starting price, the Canon 5D Mark III deserves close scrutiny, and it's lived up to our expectations. Replete with new features, the Canon 5D Mark III's most important one is its full-frame sensor, whose resolution Canon kept to a conservative 22.3 megapixels. The image quality we see is good enough that we can say Canon's covered the right base first, so one needn't worry too much about image quality, even as ISO rises. There are issues, as with any system, including more limited dynamic range by comparison, and default settings for noise reduction and sharpening are a bit extreme in JPEGs, but most of that can be worked around or avoided by shooting raw.

Those who handled the camera consistently remarked about the viewfinder experience, particularly the improved autofocus coverage area. The myriad options for adjusting autofocus concentration and emphasis also got high marks.

The Canon 5D Mark III caters to a split market, on the one hand admirably serving still photographers, while on the other serving as the benchmark camera for digital SLR videography. Canon tuned the 5D Mark III's video capability to include more frame rates and they removed the 4GB file size limit seen in the 5D Mark II. Our tests show that the 5D Mark III makes significant strides in removing moiré effects, some of which we saw in the 5D Mark II, and more recently in the Nikon D800 and Sony A99. As a result the 5D Mark III's video is improved overall, though perhaps with a slight bias toward noise suppression, and avoiding moiré also means slightly softer-looking videos overall. Mic and headphone jacks add to the party, along with live audio levels control, and the ability to adjust ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, and aperture during capture. Audio quality is quite good, with very little hiss, and rolling shutter is quite well controlled at 1080p 30fps and almost non-existent at 720p 60fps. (Visit the video page for details and sample videos.)

We wish the 5D Mark III included a pop-up flash, given the well-heeled superset of customers who will buy the camera because it's "the best one." Nikon uniquely understands this, including a pop-up flash even on the competing D800. The good news is the Canon 5D Mark III's low light performance is stunning, so shooting in ambient light is easier than ever. The 5D Mark III is unique in the market in that it's a safe buy regardless of how you'll use it, so it's easy to recommend.

Ultimately the Canon 5D Mark III really is a true superstar camera, an easy choice for a Dave's Pick.