Close to home in daylight

[singingsnapper]

I managed to grab a good deal on a Canon 5D mkIII and sold my mkII to ease the pain of purchase. Focussing is quicker and more precise, but the menu system is very different from the MKII

Decided to take it for a trial run up the mountain behind our house today before I cooked Mother's Day lunch:

Canon 5D mk III EF 24 - 70 @ f/16 and 59mm 1/30


another-view-down-the-M4 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

24 - 70 L @ 43mm f/16 1/50


View-down-the-M4 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

24 - 70 L @40mm f/14 1/80


Afan-Valley by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Tamron 200 - 500 at 209mm f/16 1/6


Looking-at-evening-sky-from-the-roof by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[singingsnapper]

Had meetings in Cardiff today so took the new Canon with me (waiting for my Pentax to be picked up as several things are wrong with it after a bit of a knock in the Lakes) It's a while since I have been to the Bay area:

Canon 5D mk III EF 24 - 70 f/13 28mm 1/100 ISO 100


Wales-Millenium-centre,-Cardiff by singingsnapper, on Flickr

I wandered into the centre of Cardiff following my meetings and grabbed some shots along the river Taff as the sun set:

Canon 5D mk III EF 24 - 70 28mm @ f/16 7 shots combined in photomatix


Cardiff-River-Terrace-at-Sunset by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Canon 5D mkIII EF 24 - 70 L f/16 24mm 30 secs ISO 200


looking-down-the-taff by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Troy]

Some nice images here Paul, especially the reflections.

Now how does the MKIII compare to the II? I always found the MKII an absolute chore to use, so would be interesting to see how useable the MKIII is in comparison.

[singingsnapper]

Some nice images here Paul, especially the reflections.

Now how does the MKIII compare to the II? I always found the MKII an absolute chore to use, so would be interesting to see how useable the MKIII is in comparison.

It's all the more interesting for me as I have been using the Pentax most of the time. The menu system is very different from the mkII. I don't like the fact that when I remove the SD card that I have to go back in to the menu to reselect it if I have a compact flash card in the slot. It would be good if I could record RAW on one and JPG on the other like I can with the Pentax which I used to check focus on an ipad. This could be particularly useful with the eyepad wifi SD cards. I'm sure this could be solved on a future firmware update as it seems like a lost opportunity. The biggest bugbear is that Lightroom can't read the new RAW files and the DPP software is missing the .pkg files that are required to install the canon software to a mac. I have the ACR 6.7 beta which allows me to view and select individual or multiple images and process them in CS5, and I was misled by Adobe's live chat saying that LR 4 would be able to read the files. I bought the upgrade and nothing changed.

One thing that does annoy me about Adobe is what they do with VAT when you choose to download the software. With VAT rates of 20% in the UK, Adobe charge 23% VAT. They have been charging between 3% and 7% more than the then current rate for VAT on my purchases of LR 2,3, 4 and CS4, 5 and Creative suite. When VAT was at 15% they charged 22%. On postal transactions they charge the correct amount. I have emailed them 10 times with no answer, which is frustrating.

Off the soapbox, Paul! Overall I like the mkIII. I've realised how much I miss live view for focussing, and part of my reason for buying the camera was that I wanted to go wider than the 27mm equivalent I have with the Pentax. There is a 25mm (19mm 35 mm equiv) out next month which is highly thought of, but this will be close to £4k, and for less than 3K I have really good 1st back up camera and I still have all my Canon lenses that are weathersealed. The low light performance is the best I've seen from a Canon (on flickr I have a set of shots taken with ISO at 3200, 6400, 8000, 10,000 and 12800 without any noise reduction and with sensible amounts of noise reduction using LR, Dfine or other plug ins these will be very useable) and it handles well.

This is the 12800:


5D3-at-12800 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

The inbuilt HDR is also pretty handy and easy to use:


cardiff-tollhouse by singingsnapper, on Flickr


wales-Millenium-Centre by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Troy]

So your new 5D MKIII is your backup camera.

Not fair, Paul. Not fair.

I'm surprised there are issues with the memory cards like that. I'm sure Nikon has been doing that for years, so would see like a simple thing to incorporate. Like you say, a future firmware upgrade will surely solve that. Using an iPad to check focus is a great idea, and something i've done a few times, but not with an EyeFi card yet.

Have you contacted anyone else with a 5D MKIII to see if they are having issues with the files too? You'd have thought with LR4 being so new it would have been prepared for this new camera.

[singingsnapper]

I went for a wander with the Canon and took some shots under the M4 overpass and it was very dark so was forced to use high ISO. Am very impressed with the low light performance here:

Canon 5D Mark III EF 24 - 70 @ f/8 and 25mm 1/5 ISO 6400 (handheld resting against a pillar) No Noise reduction on this and sharpened using Nik Pro sharpener


Under-the-motorway-with-no-noise-reduction by singingsnapper, on Flickr

with NR in Define:


Under-the-M4-with-NR by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[singingsnapper]

Took a bike ride to Mumbles this evening and took my Canon in my Pannier with a couple of lenses.

This is Mumbles Lifeboat station and the end of the pier:

Canon 5D mkIII 70 - 200 IS f/2.8 at 200mm and f/6.3 1/250 ISO 100


Mumbles-Lifeboat by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Just as I headed back towards Swansea, the sun was setting and Oystermouth Castle's floodlights lit the castle:

Canon 5D mk III 70 - 200 at 200mm f/5.6 and 1/100 (and I just remembered that the IS was turned off as was last using it on a tripod!) and ISO 800


Oystermouth-Castle-in-Mumbles-at-Dusk by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[photographyxfactor]

I am really intrigued by these shots. I am now motivated to try something similar. Thanks!

[singingsnapper]

Cycled again from Swansea's new SA1 development to Mumbles and back on another fine evening.

This is the lifeboat station again slightly different light and a different lens:

Canon 5D mk III EF 28 - 300L at 300mm and f/8 1/250 ISO 100


Mumbles-Lifeboat-station by singingsnapper, on Flickr

On the way back I knew I would like to take a picture of the new bridge linking one part of the waterfront to the other over the river Tawe:

Canon 5D Mk III EF 28 - 300L at 28mm f/11 1/40 ISO 100


bridge-over-the-Tawe by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[hunterstella]

[quote="singingsnapper"]

View-down-the-M4 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

24 - 70 L @40mm f/14 1/80

I've got to say, the view behind your house is perfect! There's a lot to capture. It's like having the best of both worlds.