Canon 5D Mark III or 1D Mark IV

[widbays]

Hello…,

In addition to the announcement of the Canon 5D MK III lately, I’m thinking about upgrading my camera body. Hence, I need your opinion whether or not my upgrading plan is worth of investment. I currently using 5D MK II and BG-E6 grip, and have overall satisfaction of using it, but since my nine year old son is joining a junior local soccer league, I need a high rate of continues shooting camera and good-fast AF system.

I am thinking about 5D MK III and 1D MK IV. I realized that the 1D MK IV has lack of AF point compare to 5D MK III (45 vs 61 points) but on the other hand 1D MK IV has higher continue shooting rates compare to 5D MK III (10 vs 6 fps) , full-frame vs APS-H, single new tech processor vs dual old tech processors. Moreover, with 5D MK III I am keep up with the latest technology (just my feeling… ).

Once again, in determine me to choose which camera that will suit to my needs, which camera that you suggest I should go with?

Thank you.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Bayu,

They're vastly different cameras; one is a high-end prosumer camera, but the other is professional quality. The 5D3 has a single CPU - the 1D4 not only has dual Digic processors, but also an additional CPU to assist with autofocus operations (I'd be VERY surprised if the 5D3 AF could get anywhere close to the 1D4 in real-world shooting). The 1D4 will have vastly superior ruggedness, weather sealing, & build quality to the 5D3. The 1.3x crop sensor gives a psudo increase in lens focal length (usually a good thing for sports photography), but the increased pixel count of the 5D3 will probably mean that the resolving poser of both sensors is very close (no idea which one would be ahead, but for all intents and purposes, call it a draw).

It's a difficult thing to describe with words, but I can guarantee that once you shoot with a 1D series, others will seem like cheap toys and you won't like them one little bit

Have a read of the White paper if you'd like to know more about the 1D4 http://downloads.canon.com/CDLC/EOS1D_MarkIV-WP1.pdf

[UKDivemaster]

Hi Colin,

I tried to download the paper but I got an access denied message..... Could be my ip address or I'm just not sufficiently professional enough to get access. Is there another way of getting to the paper?

Mark

[FrankMi]

FWIW, Mark, I get the same message on my PC for Colin's link.

[Colin Southern]

Works for me

But here's another link to it on my area on MediaFire.

[malmac]

Good Morning

We are using both the 5D2 and 1DMk4's in our business.

Have not seen the 5D3 and certainly welcome the upgrade with the focus system.

Re the 1D4 - just love using this camera - the focus system is great.
The question for the 5D3 revolves around other questions as well.
The 1D4 has a fantastic function access process - press one button say for Mode and then scroll for the mode you want. Same for ISO, exposure, flash comp etc. Rather than the setting screen on the 5D2 which I now find slow and painful.
Also the 1D4 allows you to have three custom settings - I use these all the time because it allows me to set limits on min / max shutter speeds / min max Av values and also min / max ISO settings.
So I can quickly apply parameters which means I dont end up shooting AV and having a shutter speed to slow - or I can leave my ISO set to auto but it wont go beyond a max that I find acceptable for the given situation.

Before I bought a 5D3 I would make sure you didnt want a 1D4 - it is a really beautiful bit of gear.
Now what about a 1DX????


cheers


mal

[cesjr86]

I'm not sure if this will make sense for what you do or not but if you sell your 5D mk II which you are satisified with you may get $1800 for it if you are lucky and it is in excellent condition you will have to double that to get the 5D mk III!

For the same price maybe even less you could KEEP your 5D mk II(which is a great camera depending on what your shooting) and buy a 1D mk III which is by the way more than excellent! I am almost willing to bet that the AF in real life shooting is better on the 1D mk III then the 5D mk III same 45 AF points as the 1D mk IV (but it is Digic 3 vs 4) same 10FPS of shooting speed. Only thing that you may see as potential problem is the 1D mk III is 10MP but if you not making something bigger that a poster you don't need a more than 8MP(I have a 1D mk II which is 8MP and I crop photos and still print 8X10's no problem). The screen on the 1D IV is alot better but the mk III's screen but other things like the metering and ISO are comparible with the mark IV being slightly better of course.