Canon EOS 5D Mark III
MSRP: $3495.00
http://www.usa.canon.com
The 5D Mark III was introduced to a rapt crowd at Rule / Boston Camera’s popular Pub Night on Wednesday, March 28th; emceed by Boston Creative Pro User Group’s chairman Dan Berube, who with cinematographer brother Don, is also Canon reps in New England. The presenter of the new camera was Canon’s Carl Peer, who gave a very detailed visual tour and discussed with us the ins and outs of operation and behavior.
The 5D Mark II was the camera that started the DSLR revolution, released in 2008, developed by Canon after they observed journalists on assignment were taking short movies to go along with photo stories and audio notes. It was instantly adopted by filmmakers from network TV like Fox’s “24” to indie features and has spawned a robust industry in accessory supports and rigs. Since then the 7D, a more robust HD-only model of the same still camera form factor was released. And now the latest sequel to the 5D has arrived with a few 7D controls morphed in. Weighing a little over 2 pounds, with Canon EF lens mount, it’s a tight package with some tasty enhancements.
The imager of the Mark III is a 22.3 megapixel Digic 5+ CMOS 24mm X 36mm sensor, two stops better than Mark II, with 14-bit internal A/D signal processing for smoother tone transition. 61-point autofocus looks at color and luminance, and additional AF controls are available.
The Mark III offers improved video quality, decreased moiré during downsampling through sensor and software secret sauce. It has decreased noise, too, even at higher ISO rates. That ISO range has increased, by the way: Mark II offered ISO 100 – 6400; the Mark III offers 100 – 25,600. The movie range is automatically set within 100 – 12,800. At 12,800, the image noise level is “serviceable,” according to Carl Peer.
It sports a crisp 3.2” million-dot LCD with a 170-degree viewing angle.
This is not a swivel screen—Canon reports that the highest repair demand was on broken swivels. The menu has changed from the Mark II: you’ll encounter less scrolling down. The layout of command groups is lateral.
Overall durability is improved; better body seal against elements like water, dust and sand. The Mark III will take 2.5 inches of rain per hour without issues; just wipe it down afterwards. It has greater tolerance to heat buildup, and when it does get too hot, you won’t see a degraded image as it goes south. It simply shuts down after a viewfinder warning.
Camera codec give you a choice of MPEG 4 AVC / H264 IBP recording or All I-frame. All-I is a perfect intraframe editing codec, although storage requirement triples—figure 11 minutes per 8GB card. At 1080P All-I, the variable bitrate averages 105 MB. Frame rates at 1080P are 30/25/24 fps; this camera also records 1280 (720P) at 60 (59.94) or 50 fps; at standard definition 640 X 480 30 (29.97) and 25 fps.
Maximum clip length is 29:59. Apparently this arbitrary figure conforms to European tax codes which define a video camera as anything recording more than 30 minutes of video. The camera would cost 12% more with longer files!
Timecode is now supported and reduces post issues like synching to external audio. Like tape decks of old; TC can be Free Run or Record Run.
The Mark III provides improved 48K PCM audio: you can control the recording volume manually with a silent LCD screen touch control to reduce noise transmission through the camera body. Several physical controls on back of the camera are dampened with this in mind. Still no XLR inputs—serious filmmakers must continue to use double-system recording and synch-up.
Zoom focus function appears by default along the left side, but can be moved to the assignable Set key along the right. Start-stop function, default location on camera back, can be set to use shutter button. There are 13 customizable functions in all.
The Mark III supports dual memory cards—Compact Flash UDMA-7 compatible plus SDXC. Internal to each card, files are divided into maximum 4GB limits, but this is transparent to user. Card recording auto-switches from one to the other but unfortunately no clip spanning. You’ll need to manually start the new clip after the switch. Processing overhead required for auto-spanning as in P2 and XDCAM configs would make the camera too large.
HDMI output doesn’t send out pre-processor uncompressed signal; it’s optimized for consumer monitors; and signal to other outputs cut out when one is engaged. Other ports: standard USB 2.0, flash sync, remote terminal, mic, and – finally – a standard headphone jack.
Still camera functions are beefed up as well, including HDR 3-shot bracketing for high contrast range photography, with internal shot integration to shorten post time. Still images record at up to 6 frames per second. No intervalometer for time lapse is offered but a remote control accessory is available.
Other accessories include a GPS Receiver and Wireless File Transmitter for tracking and logging.
The optional camera grip holds 2 LP-E6 batteries or an included AA battery magazine, and is useful in counter-balancing large lenses.
A major new cool tool from Canon!
For more information visit Canon.com.
Loren Miller is a filmmaker, longform editor, and designer.
Reach him anytime at techpress@mindspring.com.