5D Mk III vs D800/E, is the 5D3 better at anything?

[unfocused]

I think Ken Rockwell also published a head-on comparison and the 5D3 won it based on useability alone.

(Apologies if this was already mentioned, didn't feel like reading all 26 pages of replies. )

Great. Now we are going to get 26 pages of Ken Rockwell wars.

 

[TTMartin]

I think Ken Rockwell also published a head-on comparison and the 5D3 won it based on useability alone.

(Apologies if this was already mentioned, didn't feel like reading all 26 pages of replies. )

Great. Now we are going to get 26 pages of Ken Rockwell wars.

Why? Because he bounces around like ping pong ball in a lotto machine?

 

[paul13walnut5]

It's at moments like these I seek some perspective from Marvin Gaye's 'What's going on?'.

 

[briansquibb]

Ken Rockwell is a genius : : :

 

[FunkyCamera]

I think Ken Rockwell also published a head-on comparison and the 5D3 won it based on useability alone.

(Apologies if this was already mentioned, didn't feel like reading all 26 pages of replies. )

Great. Now we are going to get 26 pages of Ken Rockwell wars.

Why? Because he bounces around like ping pong ball in a lotto machine?

He recognises that the 5Dmk3 is 500x the camera that the D800 will ever be, so he can't be that stupid.

 

[K3nt]

I think Ken Rockwell also published a head-on comparison and the 5D3 won it based on useability alone.

(Apologies if this was already mentioned, didn't feel like reading all 26 pages of replies. )

Great. Now we are going to get 26 pages of Ken Rockwell wars.

Why? Because he bounces around like ping pong ball in a lotto machine?

He recognises that the 5Dmk3 is 500x the camera that the D800 will ever be, so he can't be that stupid.

The man did state quite clearly that for that test and his use, the 5D3 was the better machine but that that might change in the future, which to me sounds like a very healthy approach. Use whatever tool is best for the job. In the end, it doesn't really matter what 'brand' it is. :

 

[commercialshooter]

Funny that Ken Rockwell is a Nikon guy and he flat out thought the 5D3 was a better camera then the Nikon D800. Basically if you read his article he states that there are better cameras out there for any one thing. The beauty of the 5D3 is that it does everything well. If you are after a camera that you can have with you and it will do any type of shooting well then there is no better option then the 5D3. That's what he is saying. You want higher res and dynamic range for landscapes then there are better options...but those options will not be better at almost anything else. He also said that ease of use and the ability of the camera to get the job done efficiently were more important then pixel peeping. I agree.

The 5D3 is a great camera that takes amazing pictures. All of the people whining that Canon is losing the battle to Nikon are wasting their time. Canon is not going away and they will not change their pricing because Nikon wants to low-ball them. Personally I find these discussions laughable because the people that are all complaining about how the 5D3 has terrible dynamic range probably don't do anything with a camera that would justify more dynamic range. Go ahead and print a 24" x 36" poster print of a 5D3 image and a D800 image and see if you could blindly tell the difference. I bet you couldn't. How many of you actually EVER print bigger than that?

You don't like the direction Canon is going? Go buy a Nikon. I DON'T CARE. Have fun. I'll be doing my job and getting paid for shooting with my Canon. Oh..and by the way...not one client has ever said, "You might want to think about changing cameras. That one seems to have poor dynamic range." I went from a 1DS2 to the 5D3 and no one knows the difference except me.

 

[D_Rochat]

Funny that Ken Rockwell is a Nikon guy and he flat out thought the 5D3 was a better camera then the Nikon D800. Basically if you read his article he states that there are better cameras out there for any one thing. The beauty of the 5D3 is that it does everything well. If you are after a camera that you can have with you and it will do any type of shooting well then there is no better option then the 5D3. That's what he is saying. You want higher res and dynamic range for landscapes then there are better options...but those options will not be better at almost anything else. He also said that ease of use and the ability of the camera to get the job done efficiently were more important then pixel peeping. I agree.

The 5D3 is a great camera that takes amazing pictures. All of the people whining that Canon is losing the battle to Nikon are wasting their time. Canon is not going away and they will not change their pricing because Nikon wants to low-ball them. Personally I find these discussions laughable because the people that are all complaining about how the 5D3 has terrible dynamic range probably don't do anything with a camera that would justify more dynamic range. Go ahead and print a 24" x 36" poster print of a 5D3 image and a D800 image and see if you could blindly tell the difference. I bet you couldn't. How many of you actually EVER print bigger than that?

You don't like the direction Canon is going? Go buy a Nikon. I DON'T CARE. Have fun. I'll be doing my job and getting paid for shooting with my Canon. Oh..and by the way...not one client has ever said, "You might want to think about changing cameras. That one seems to have poor dynamic range." I went from a 1DS2 to the 5D3 and no one knows the difference except me.

It's better to just save your breath. The complainers just want to complain no matter what sort of logic you throw at them. Besides most of the ones that are bitching have never even touched a 5D Mark III or D800.

 

[paul13walnut5]

It is like what's better an s class or a 7 series. A few of us might have an opinion, some might even base it on having driven an E class or a 3 series. But how many of us will actually buy a brand new s class or 7 series?

It's more fun going for a drive than talking about hypothetical cars, it's also more fun taking photos than talking about hypothetical cameras.

Canon have lost it. Finished. Blah blah blah. How come the same voices keep coming back? If you're going to Nikon, begone, and give us all peace.

 

[RLPhoto]

Funny that Ken Rockwell is a Nikon guy and he flat out thought the 5D3 was a better camera then the Nikon D800. Basically if you read his article he states that there are better cameras out there for any one thing. The beauty of the 5D3 is that it does everything well. If you are after a camera that you can have with you and it will do any type of shooting well then there is no better option then the 5D3. That's what he is saying. You want higher res and dynamic range for landscapes then there are better options...but those options will not be better at almost anything else. He also said that ease of use and the ability of the camera to get the job done efficiently were more important then pixel peeping. I agree.

The 5D3 is a great camera that takes amazing pictures. All of the people whining that Canon is losing the battle to Nikon are wasting their time. Canon is not going away and they will not change their pricing because Nikon wants to low-ball them. Personally I find these discussions laughable because the people that are all complaining about how the 5D3 has terrible dynamic range probably don't do anything with a camera that would justify more dynamic range. Go ahead and print a 24" x 36" poster print of a 5D3 image and a D800 image and see if you could blindly tell the difference. I bet you couldn't. How many of you actually EVER print bigger than that?

You don't like the direction Canon is going? Go buy a Nikon. I DON'T CARE. Have fun. I'll be doing my job and getting paid for shooting with my Canon. Oh..and by the way...not one client has ever said, "You might want to think about changing cameras. That one seems to have poor dynamic range." I went from a 1DS2 to the 5D3 and no one knows the difference except me.

I like reading Ken's stuff. Its good information but like all things, You have to sift thru the crap to get the good information.

 

[D_Rochat]

I like reading Ken's stuff. Its good information but like all things, You have to sift thru the crap to get the good information.

Better bring a big a** sifter! ;D

 

[paul13walnut5]

Go ahead and print a 24" x 36" poster print of a 5D3 image and a D800 image and see if you could blindly tell the difference. I bet you couldn't. How many of you actually EVER print bigger than that?

How many even print that big? I think I got a canvas done at 30x40" (entirely different resolution ball game) but even 15x10" is big for me these days.

 

[commercialshooter]

I'm sure there are plenty of people who have made big prints before. The point is unless you do it all the time why are you sitting here complaining that Nikon has a 36 mp camera and the Canon equivalent is only 22 mp. Really? You can make a VERY large print from a 22mp camera and have it hold up quite well. Unless you are Peter Lik and sell wall sized images for $10,000.00 each you don't need 36 mp. and frankly the extra resolution will do you virtually no good at all.

That's my problem with the complainers. These are the same people that just want specs. For the most part they don't actually shoot images that need those specs anyway.

Two other points...Do the Nikon lenses even have the resolving power to give you36 MP worth of data? I don't think so. I think I read that the average pro level SLR lens maxes out at about 25 mp anyway.

My other point...people are all up in arms about Dynamic range...excuse me but aren't contrasty images much more pleasing to the eye in general? By definition you can't really have a contrasty image and high dynamic range. You get clipping but that is okay. The images have punch. HDR is either fake looking or flat for the most part because there is not enough contrast. Just my 2 cents...worth about 1 cent probably...lol.

 

[Chuck Alaimo]

got my mk3 in on tuesday, and the word WOW has popped out of my mouth several times as I have used it. after following all these posts as i considered the purchase, its now even fuinnier to read all this stuff. In an hour, off to go shoot a wedding with the mk3, and I am very glad I didn't have to buy several more CF cards like I would have had to with a d800 (sRAW on the mk3 is pretty freaking nice, IQ wise, sRAW looks like it could stand against a full RAW from my 7D.) With the d800, have fun losing the FF capabilities so save some space.

In my local photographers community, the whole d800 thing has come up, and the nikon guys say this ---- for weddings, the d800 would be in the bag 90% of the time, only popping out for the few key moments ----because the file sizes are just way to big for wedding work. In regard, do the math to see which is more worthwhile -- $3000 for a camera that will just be extra weight in your bag 90% of the time, or $3500 on a cam you will use 95% of the time (this only applies to wedding/event shooters - again, if landscapes are your bread and butter the size of d800 would be more manageable).

The d800 really seems to be a niche camera. If I were making my living shooting landscapes, then yeah its a fine choice, but if you work in a variety of settings, you really can't beat the mk3. It's just such a versatile camera.

 

[Razor2012]

commercial shooter you're preaching to the choir here.

 

[RLPhoto]

I like reading Ken's stuff. Its good information but like all things, You have to sift thru the crap to get the good information.

Better bring a big a** sifter! ;D

Lolz. ;D

 

[briansquibb]

Go ahead and print a 24" x 36" poster print of a 5D3 image and a D800 image and see if you could blindly tell the difference. I bet you couldn't. How many of you actually EVER print bigger than that?

How many even print that big? I think I got a canvas done at 30x40" (entirely different resolution ball game) but even 15x10" is big for me these days.

I regularly print in A2 and have some commercial images on A0 - off 21mp

 

[commercialshooter]

Glad I'm not the only one that isn't living in la la land!

 

[briansquibb]

Glad I'm not the only one that isn't living in la la land!

and I am only a happy snapper ;D ;D ;D

 

[Guru]

Complaining about file sizes? How is that an issue really? Canon shooter here, doing event photography, and i sure as heck not shooting in RAW all the time.
If i had a 36Mp camera, i doubt i will be shooting at full res outside studio work - even for a wedding.
Both cameras are the same price as a second hand car - its a lot to be tossing unless you really need it.