Canon EOS 5D Mark III 22.3 MP Full Frame CMOS with 1080p Full-HD Video Mode Digital SLR Camera (Body)

I used a 7D prior to this. I have both bodies now. I'll spare you the technical aspects of the camera, because honestly, I don't think it matters that much. What is important to me is that the camera has the ability to do what you need it to, and it doesn't make it a chore to do so. It needs to remove itself from the process as much as possible so you can make the art not master how to flip switches or earn the high score at The Game of Menus. I'll preface the remainder of the review with some information about my shooting style. 1. I'm a RAW only guy; I just don't think about JPG. 2. I can sometimes be an IQ geek (I try not to be). 3. I only shoot in manual mode... because I don't ever remember that Av and Tv exist (I've long forgotten about P and A). 4. I turn off just about every setting that exists. Highlight priority, Noise reduction, long exposure comp, etc... all off. 5. I usually only shoot in Expanded AF Area or Spot AF. 6. I process everything through LR. Now... here's what I like about the 5D Mark III: - The 5D III has some wonderful ISO response, especially compared to my 7D. I was only marginally content up to ISO 400 on the 7D, but I'm happy with ISO 6400 on the 5D before I feel the need to apply some noise reduction (I shoot with all that off). This lets me shoot in darker places without my own light, which is great. - Handling the camera is a joy, but man does it have menus out the yingyang. Sometimes it is a bit annoying to have to go from one end of the menus to another (e.g., from Mirror Lock up to Format Card). I am glad they took Mirror Lock up out of the Custom functions... of course... there are custom functions. For that mirro lock up bit, just set a "Tripod mode" to one of the C's on the dial and problem solved. Easy. In my hands, I really like the 5D III w/ Grip. It's bulky and heavy. It definitely feels like a tool and not a toy. Then again... I'm one of those people that liked the original O controllers for the Xbox. I held it in a bit of a weird way, though. - The AF system is great (coming from the 7D). Now when I shoot with my 7D, I feel the same as when I used a 5D II from using the 7D's AF system. The viewfinder is oddly... bare on the 7D. - The dial lock is amazing. My 7D is always ending up in Bulb or a Custom mode (it hangs at my hip from a strap). 5D III? Never changes modes, and I surely never want it to... except for tripods, which is so rare anyway. - Images come out great (when I don't suck). This is really more a consequence of the glass on the front (and my own skills holding the camera still), but the 5D III doesn't hinder the process at all. - Very well rounded. Decent FPS (7D is faster, which is why I keep it around), great ISO response, Full Frame, great AF, and wonderful button placement. Naturally, I could go to a 1DX from the 7D, but that's a lot of money, and then I lose the "1.6x crop factor" (which is only a composition/FOV thing; there is no actual magnification... beyond the differences in different size and pixel pitch senors and so forth. That's all really beside the point). All in all, it's a great camera. More MP than you need, well thought out ergonomics, and so many functions. If you are looking for a Full Frame camera that isn't $6,000, this is a wonderful option. There's also the 6D, too, and they're pretty much the same thing minus some choice features. I bought this camera before the 6D came out, and I don't regret it. If you are a professional photographer, I don't really know why you are reading this review. You already know way more than I do. If you are a serious photographer looking for a good FF camera, I give this thing a thumbs up. If you are a serious [money] amateur looking for a great all around camera (or a great FF), sure, I'd wager you won't be disappointed. If you're tight on cash, buy a much cheaper camera and invest the rest in your retirement or in glass. After all, glass matters more than the camera. I've never met anyone who can look at a photo and tell me which camera it was shot with or even which brand. Lens maybe, camera definitely not. Give a photographer a Canon Powershot, and I'm sure he/she can make better stuff than I can with this fancy pants 5D III.

The switch from Nikon: After being with nikon for 16+ years, I recently threw in the towel. As a wedding shooter, I count on my equipment and need things to work correctly. I had purchased two nikon d600's 1 year apart and both had the horrible dust/debris issue. After repeat cleanings and 20,000+ shots, both cameras still had the issue. I got tired of wet cleaning the sensors and got tired of nikons poor customer service. Nikon decided that the D600 owners just had to either deal with repeat sensor cleanings or send in the camera to "possibly" have the issue resolved. Nikon had no proven fix besides switching out the shutter and praying that the issue went away. Nikon released the d610 and left the rest of the people hanging. Leaving nikon was extremely difficult for me because I had a big investment in the bodies, accessories and glass. I made the move at a huge loss but am extremely happy that I did. The differences: I purchased both a 6D and the 5D mark III from amazon. The immediate thing that I have noticed is that all my canon glass has been good with focus right out of the box. With almost every nikon lens/camera combo, I had to pull out a focus chart and focus tune software and apply fine tuning. I also noticed that the focus system on my canons do not have the tendency to act up under tungsten lighting like my nikons did. My d600's and d7000 had a tendency to back-focus under heavy tungsten lighting. The canon DPP software is a pleasure to use. I hated Nikon capture NX2. It was slow and the user interface was horrible. Canon DPP loads quickly and applying batch changes is amazing. I do miss the Nik software selection point feature of CNX2. The one thing I don't like is the fact that canon makes you purchase your lens hoods separately and at a premium. I do like the fact that the canon equipment is made in japan and has a quality feel to it compared to cameras like the d600 that are made in Thailand. The 5D mark iii vs D800: Prior to leaving nikon, I also spent a week with the nikon D800. I found that the d800 produced a lot of noise in the raw files when pushed to higher iso's. This alone was enough to turn me off. I did test my sample of the d800 for left focus issues. I did not have the left AF issue of older d800's but the camera I got had some focus issues that required fine tuning all my glass to the body. In some cases the fine tune was at +20. The D800 files did have a lot of detail and dynamic range but the file size was huge. If you shoot a lot of landscape and want lots of dynamic range, the d800 is a good option. But the dynamic range comes at the cost of nikons lack of quality control. If dynamic range is not your main goal but want a great reliable camera with a killer AF system (better in my testing) and smaller files, the canon 5D mark III is amazing. I suggest not to get caught up in the megapixel game unless you do some very heavy cropping like birds in flight for which the d800 may be a better choice. The 5D mark III files are great and have plenty of latitude for most users. 5D mark III: Focus: Focus Focus Focus. The 5D mark III has a killer focus system. The best that I have used. The focus system is lighting fast, accurate and very very customizable. It is a pleasure to be able to customize my focus system like this. I recently shot an event and out of 700+ images, I scrapped maybe 10 shots because of focus. The ones I did delete because of focus was do to me not placing the focus point on the right area of the image. No back/front focus like my nikons had. No focus shift under tungsten lighting like some nikons. The hit rate on focus is amazing. You want to know why canon can charge a premium for this camera? Because of its pure amazing focus system! If you absolutely need the best focus system on any camera, this is it. Customization: You can assign buttons to do certain functions and to your own shooting style. This is a god send compared to nikons lack of customization. Body: The camera is solid with a good feel in the hand. The buttons are easy to operate and cleverly located. Coming from nikon is an adjustment because the camera buttons are in a different layout. It will become easy to use after some time and practice. I did not like the fact that canon has no built in removable screen protector like the nikon. This is a minor gripe but one that I resolved by buying the vello stick on glass protectors. I know the nikon plastic screen protectors are not fancy but they did a good job of protecting the screen from bumps. Images: The 5D makr III images are fantastic. The auto white balance works much better compared to my nikons I had owned. The 5D mark III is not able to pull details from the shadows like the D800 or D600 so it is a sacrifice in dynamic range if that is the most important thing to you. Nikon still has canon beat in dynamic range. I will personally will take a in focus, sharp, good out of camera white balance and dust free image out of a canon any day vs a hit and miss focus and dusty d600 image with dynamic range. An out of focus image with dirt is useless to me. Conclusion: If you shoot anything that requires this focus system, this reliability and this customization, BUY THIS CAMERA. I found the 5d and 6d is a perfect combo. I use the 6D with the wifi feature when working in a studio paired to an ipad and use the 5D when shooting a wedding or anything that moves at a fast pace. The 5d mark III continues to sell even at the higher price because it is a proven camera and you cant go wrong with it. I love it and will update this review as I use it more. I am glad I left nikon and I hope they learn one day that customer loyalty is earned.

The 5d Mark III has great specs as we all know, but is the build quality sufficient for professional use? Short answer - no. It's the little bits and pieces that simply cannot stand up to extended use. The two big issues that everybody is talking about are the joystick and the mode dial. The cover to my mode dial fell off after light use (no drop, no water damage, just regular use). The cover is a thin piece of metal that has the modes on it (Av, Tv, M, etc.). It is not essential for the camera to function but without it it is difficult to tell which mode you are in. When I sent my camera into Canon I was expecting the cost of repair to reflect the nature of the piece that fell off. When I got word from Canon that it would cost $250 to have the cover replaced, I was shocked. When I expressed my disappointment to them, they began negotiating the price and eventually told me they could do it for around $200 so I told them to send the camera back unrepaired. Several of my friends and colleagues have also had their mode dial covers fall off so this is evidently a common issue. None of them have been willing to pay the cost of repair and have decided to simply tape a piece of paper to the mode dial so they can know which mode is which. It is a shame that customers who spent over $3,000 on their cameras must take this route, lest they spend hundreds of dollars on a little metal cap. I have found that the build quality has drastically decreased from the Mark II to the Mark III. I did not previously see myself switching brands but have some serious thinking to do.

Envió ok y rápido, unos 5 días laborables, la cámara va espectacular, por poner una pega, no trae libro de instrucciones en español y el tema de la garantía no lo tengo claro, si la cubre Canon España, por lo demás todo bien.

Was a gift and she loves the camera.....

Moi qui viens de passer d'un vieux 40D à un 5D Mark III quel changement ! les images sont d'une qualité incroyable même en basse lumière, rapidité de la mise au point, monté des ISO... Bref du pur plaisir surtout couplé avec un 50mm F1.4.

Canon 5d best camera going, however sold as new uk camera....arrived with language set to japanese, and a charger plug showing this is a grey import....took two days to get into English so I could use it and then found the lens was on lock down so wouldn't take pics. Finally got it working and it is good. Reported faults to seller, got no reply, and spoke to amazon who also e.mailed seller...got no reply. Great camera but not as it was described.

Très content de mon choix! Merci pour la livraison rapide. La caméra vaut de l'argent.