Canon 5D Mark 3 + EF 24mm f/1.4 = Awesome!

We had this 5D Mark III for about a month now which we borrowed from Canon Philippines. It came along with the EF 24mm f/1.4L lens and,frankly, we didn’t even want to give it back.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III was announced back in March and then released in the Philippines the following month. It replaces the highly popular 5D Mark II. It has been around the market for some time but the high-end profile and the price tag still makes it an elusive camera to many folks.

The dSLR uses the new DIGIC 5+ image processor (which is said to be 17x faster than DIGIC 4 of the Mark II). The 5D Mark III is capable of incredible ISO speeds of up to 25600 (expandable to L:50, H1: 51200, H2: 102400).

A newly expanded 61-point Auto-Focus (AF) system makes it easier to track subjects with higher levels of precision and speed. You will definitely notice this once you grab a hold of the camera and start shooting.

I’ve had the Canon 7D for about two years now and the 5D Mark III looks just the same but you will definitely see and feel the solid body, the heft and premium build of the latter.

The design is very familiar if you’ve been using a Canon dSLR for some time now. There are a few noticeable differences though — like the settings knob which requires you to press a small lock button at the center before you can dial to a setting, the slightly larger LCD display, the headphone out to monitor audio, and the dual-card slot (supports CF cards and SD cards at the same time).

Our friend and Geeky Nights co-host, Victor Basa, volunteered to take most of the shots we posted on the gallery below (some of the local shots are mine but the others were taken in Paris).

[fancygallery ID=”5dmark3″]
(Some of the shots were taken with the EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM and EF 24mm f/1.4L)

One of the most impressive capabilities of the 5D Mark III is its high-ISO quality. Both stills and video clips looked more refined and has much less noise (you don’t even see it in our sample clip below).

Canon EOS 5D Mark III – High ISO Test Footage from v.basa on Vimeo.

The footage above as shot at ISO 12800. Looks pretty clean, right?

Canon 5D Mark III specs:
22.3MP full-size CMOS sensor
DIGIC 5+ processor
up to 6fps shooting speed
61-point autofocusing system (up to 41 cross-type points)
ISO 100 to 25,600 (expandable to 102,400)
1/8000sec. to 30sec., bulb shutter speed
1080p video recording
3.2â€³ LCD display @ 1MP
CF card (Type I, UDMA mode 7-compatible), SD memory card, SDHC memory card, SDXC memory card
RAW Burst 13fps, JPEG 65fps, RAW+JPEG 7fps

The 5D Mark 3 won the TIPA Best Video dSLR category this year.

The suggested retail price of the Canon EOS 5D Mark III is Php169,998USD 2,897INR 245,579EUR 2,759CNY 21,097 for the body only and goes up to Php219,998USD 3,749INR 317,809EUR 3,571CNY 27,302 with the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM kit lens. The EF 24mm f/1.4L we used has a suggested retail price of Php89,998USD 1,534INR 130,011EUR 1,461CNY 11,169.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

7 Comments

epol says:

12 years ago

lol.. i rather choose nikon d7000
- Reply
indian kakana kana says:

12 years ago

im a canonite since HS (80s), and i am also amazed with other brands like nikon, pentax, leica etc, if i have the moola then ill get them all pero limited nga ang funds ko. Pero naniniwala ako na nasa indian pa rin yan, wala sa pana. I wonder if epol up there is a good indian. patingin nga ng gallery mo using your d7000? at gumamit ka rin ng low end point and shoot or nokia cam phone na low end and a film camera and show off your photos…………………
- Reply
Dark says:

12 years ago

OK na sana I rather choose nikon d7000 di ko lang gets bakit kailangan mo pa mag lol. Ang weird. Sa tingin mo pangit yan camera na yan ? lol sayo epol.
- Reply
Glenn says:

12 years ago

Since this is a camera review, may I suggest that you post bigger sample images?
- Reply
Wimle says:

12 years ago

The Canon 5D Mark III is a beautiful camera… they’re all beautiful. They were all made for a purpose. Canon is known for crisp images because of their high-speed ISO both in photos and videos. Personally, I use the Nikon D90 with a few lenses. I use it for both photos and videos. There are differences between the cameras but it’s really about how to use them, not the cameras themselves. If I were to take photos of sports events and have a Canon, I’d use it. But if I just needed to take photos of still or slow-moving subjects, I’ll use anything I have… even the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000; which I use a lot with the Camera 360 app. I even use my older SONY Cybershot W320 for both photos and videos sometimes. Indian kakana kana is right… it’s about who’s behind the camera and how to use it.
- Reply
Wimle says:

12 years ago

The Canon 5D Mark III is a beautiful camera… they’re all beautiful. They were all made for a purpose. Canon is known for crisp images because of their high-speed ISO both in photos and videos. Personally, I use the Nikon D90 with a few lenses. I use it for both photos and videos. There are differences between the cameras but it’s really about how to use them, not the cameras themselves. If I were to take photos of sports events and have a Canon, I’d use it. But if I just needed to take photos of still or slow-moving subjects, I’ll use anything I have… even the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000; which I use a lot with the Camera 360 app. I even use my older SONY Cybershot W320 for both photos and videos sometimes. Indian kakana kana is right… it’s about who’s behind the camera and how to use it.
- Reply