| Customer Reviews Collected from usa.canon.com |
Canon - EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Camera (Body Only) - Black
Average Customer Rating:
4.6
Rating breakdown 167 reviews
5 Stars
129
4 Stars
22
3 Stars
8
2 Stars
4
1 Star
4
91%of customers recommend this product.
(
126 out of
139)
Customer Reviews for Canon - EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Camera (Body Only) - Black
Customer Rating
5
After a week with the 5D Mark III
on March 26, 2012
Posted by: Best Exposures
from Chicago, IL
The camera feels fantastic in your hand, fits like a glove. The 5D Mark II was easy to use, but the Mark III is even easier. There are a few new buttons to get used to, but other than that you will be ready to use this camera right out of the box. The sensor, although only one megapixel greater in resolution than the infamous Mark 2 seems to be light years ahead of its predecessor, which we all know is a huge statement given the Mark 2's reputation. I went for a few walks in the forest preserve and took some shots of the wildlife and scenery. I used a monopod and shot some HDR photos, which I was very impressed with. Usually HDR images look fake, or tacky, but the Mark III lets you control the HDR image, to ensure its not used in a bad way, all in camera! In low light shooting I was told the sensor was two stops better than the Mark 2, but I found it to be a full 3 stops better. Very little noise. The video shooting was fantastic, and the new button setup like th 7D is a great upgrade. I love the audio level indicators on screen. I am glad this camera came out when it did, I feel like my short films will come out better with this new body. The Mark III's capabilities are so fantastic you cant really fully appreciate it from these reviews. You need to head to the store and play with it for 5 minutes. I guarantee you that if you do, you will gladly invest in this camera. And while it may sound like I work for Canon, I don't... I'm a wedding photographer! I am very pleased with this camera - and I am sure you will be too.
Cons: lens detached from body on its own
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
Superb Image Quality but..
on June 3, 2012
Posted by: Revup67
from Southern Cal.
Overall this is an excellent camera. Coming from a well oiled EOS 7D this camera truly exceeds the latter. If you are a 7D owner and worried about losing your .6 multiplier (ex. the 400mm with the 1.6 added crop making it a 640) fear not. I doubled the crop at 3.2 off the 5D Mark III (meaning I cropped a 5760 native mode (JPG) not even a RAW, to a 1768 cropped mode)(5760 / 1768 = 3.25) and the IQ was incredibly crisp and mind you this was down sampled to a second compression on the 1768 JPG. No break up of any type whatsoever.
However if you slightly underexpose and / or try to correct beware of the banding. It's unacceptable especially for a camera this expensive. It's known for not having a very good dynamic range on the low end. One thing you might miss coming off a 7D is when pressing the Q button now located below the multi controller, there's no access to Select AF. it's only accessible through the AF Select button in the upper right corner of the camera. Instead we have an all too little used feature within the Q menu called WB Shift. This feature is typically a set it once and forget it. Why Canon opted to place this within Q menu instead of the AF Select is simply mind boggling. The AF Select for most is used daily, not once. For some the magnifying glass on the left (no longer on the right) is an issue but I am OK with it. You can now configure the Magnifying to 2x, 4x, 8x or 10x. I placed this in the My Menu so I have quick access to changing the strength almost on the fly. Mirror lock up is now on the first menu and no longer buried. The video quality off this is truly impressive especially in Manual Mode. I put the camera on 1/80 shutter, selected my F stop and then Auto ISO did the rest. It was pristine. The built in HDR is handy but when comparing to 3rd party software such as Photmatix 4.2 it beats it hands down as the 5D crops a bit more than I would like to see when it aligns all 3 images. Photmatix 4.2 saves almost all of the pixels with your bracketed images. Shooting at ISO 3200 indoors truly blew me away. I didn't have a flash and the IQ was truly incredible. Some users have complained about the capping of the Minimum Shutter speed at 1/250. I'd have to agree - The limit here should be able to go much higher or offer full control In all if you've got the cash you won't be disappointed.
However if you slightly underexpose and / or try to correct beware of the banding. It's unacceptable especially for a camera this expensive. It's known for not having a very good dynamic range on the low end. One thing you might miss coming off a 7D is when pressing the Q button now located below the multi controller, there's no access to Select AF. it's only accessible through the AF Select button in the upper right corner of the camera. Instead we have an all too little used feature within the Q menu called WB Shift. This feature is typically a set it once and forget it. Why Canon opted to place this within Q menu instead of the AF Select is simply mind boggling. The AF Select for most is used daily, not once. For some the magnifying glass on the left (no longer on the right) is an issue but I am OK with it. You can now configure the Magnifying to 2x, 4x, 8x or 10x. I placed this in the My Menu so I have quick access to changing the strength almost on the fly. Mirror lock up is now on the first menu and no longer buried. The video quality off this is truly impressive especially in Manual Mode. I put the camera on 1/80 shutter, selected my F stop and then Auto ISO did the rest. It was pristine. The built in HDR is handy but when comparing to 3rd party software such as Photmatix 4.2 it beats it hands down as the 5D crops a bit more than I would like to see when it aligns all 3 images. Photmatix 4.2 saves almost all of the pixels with your bracketed images. Shooting at ISO 3200 indoors truly blew me away. I didn't have a flash and the IQ was truly incredible. Some users have complained about the capping of the Minimum Shutter speed at 1/250. I'd have to agree - The limit here should be able to go much higher or offer full control In all if you've got the cash you won't be disappointed.
Pros: good battery life, Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Superior build quality, Bright LCD, Solid Operation, Simple controls/menu, amazing af system
Cons: Missing features/settings, weak dynamic range/dark areas, manual mode lacks exp. comp. adjustment, min. shutter speed
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
Good but not perfect
on October 30, 2012
Posted by: CARedHair
from Anaheim, CA
I am a professional photographer shooting wedding and other events. I have always used Canon and upgraded to the Mark III from the Mark II and also on the 7D. I have problems with noise: the camera seems noisier between ISO200-ISO800 than at higher ISOs and the noise is not always possible to remove nicely. I am disappointed since this camera was supposed to resolve the noise issue. I love the focus areas albeit I wish the metering was connected to each focus point just like the 1D series. I love the speed of the camera and also love that the batteries actually last longer than I expected. Over all it is a great camera and I would buy it again. I did have it die on mt in the middle of my last weekend's wedding but I was able to have that part of the wedding repeated... still .. canon has never ever had such error with me before. A definite first! I hope Canon will fix some of these (all of these) issues with the next update. At the moment I don't find the camera as reliable as I wish it were...
Pros: good battery life, quiet, Nice features/settings, Quick Start-up time, Superior build quality, Bright LCD, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
Cons: Poor image quality, noisy, Heavy/Bulky, unreliable
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
4
Great Support??
on April 23, 2013
Posted by: jjacob
from San Francisco Bay Area, Ca
Love everything about the 5D MkIII aside firmware support. Body built like a tank, great bells and whistles and very importantly low light capability is unrivaled with the right lens. I bought in on all the above and on the promise of HDMI Raw and view capability in the near future. My one frustration is the later which has still not materialized. Promised on or before the end of April (6mo) from time of purchase, now committed to 4/30 (the last possible day promise), I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about the promise of HDMI Raw.
Pros: good battery life, Nice features/settings, Quick Start-up time, excellent image quality, Superior build quality, Solid Operation, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
Cons: Missing features/settings
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Fantastic Upgrade!
on May 22, 2012
Posted by: Brett
from Shelby, OH
The Canon 5D Mark III is a fantastic upgrade to the 5D Mark II. In fact, I'd highly recommend it over the 1D Mark IV. It is full frame just like the Mark II, but the autofocus system is much, much faster and much more accurate. The image quality is just as good, so the upgrade makes sense and is likely worth the cost premium over the Mark II.
Pros: Nice features/settings, excellent image quality, Solid Operation
Cons: price
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Superb
on February 8, 2013
Posted by: Humble Hounds
from Twentynine Palms, CA
I've had a couple Rebels (most recently the T4i), and decided to go full frame. This camera certainly is living up to my expectations! Can't say enough good things about it. If you're not making money in photography, the 1D line is probably not necessary. This baby delivers all the goods that any level of amateur will need. Beautiful screen, excellent low light capabilities (seriously, ISO 16,000 works like 6400 on my T4i).
I'd have liked a pop-up flash to control Speedlights, and an internal radio setup would have been fantastic (4 stars for features). This is older than the 6D and T4i, so I can't deduct points for lack of touch screen, GPS, and WiFi, and I don't see a vari-angle screen coming to the top level cameras in the near future.
It is a bit pricey compared to its competition (4 stars for price).
Overall, this is a 5-star camera that I will have for years to come... until the 5D Mk IV becomes available :-)
I'd have liked a pop-up flash to control Speedlights, and an internal radio setup would have been fantastic (4 stars for features). This is older than the 6D and T4i, so I can't deduct points for lack of touch screen, GPS, and WiFi, and I don't see a vari-angle screen coming to the top level cameras in the near future.
It is a bit pricey compared to its competition (4 stars for price).
Overall, this is a 5-star camera that I will have for years to come... until the 5D Mk IV becomes available :-)
Pros: good battery life, quiet, Nice features/settings, Quick Start-up time, excellent image quality, Superior build quality, Bright LCD, Solid Operation, Simple controls/menu
Cons: Missing features/settings
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
3
Still Shooters Abandoned
on November 10, 2013
Posted by: Twisel
from Rust Belt
I wish Canon would produce a camera without all the video features. It would be nice to purchase a camera that just takes pictures. Leave out all the video stuff that goes unused and give the photographer, "the photographer" something they can benefit from. How about a dedicated mirror lockup button. Include a voice memo function like the 1D series. Better low light focus accuracy. Include a focus assist light on the pro cameras. Wifi on the pro cameras. Put some R&D into a faster sync speed. How about camera based image stabilization?
Cons: Missing features/settings
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Nice stepup from the 5DMK2
on August 7, 2012
Posted by: BC
from Washington State
This body rocks with low light and nighttime photography! It is very nice performing body, although I think features like HDR in body is a waste of my money. Also...would have loved to have it without the video!!! Not all people use this feature and it is a waste of my money...come on Canon...give us a camera without the video.
Pros: good battery life, quiet, Nice features/settings, Quick Start-up time, excellent image quality, Superior build quality, Bright LCD, Simple controls/menu, easy to use
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com