Okay so I have only had a few hours to play with the new  Canon 5D Mark III . I’m not going to get in the video aspect of the camera because someone with better knowage then I on the subject should be writing that …that being said here is what I think so far.

Right out the box the feel of the 5DM3 is very different than Mark II. The 5DM3 feels like a 1D series with the vertical grip sawed off. It’s bulky and bold with a larger eye cup and I love it.  When I switch from 1D over to the 5D Mark II I really missed that ” I could protect you from a bullet to the face” type of feel the 1D had. The 5D Mark II always felt a little too toy like in my hand.

The 5d Mark  III now has introduced a dual CF/ SD card slot component.  This huge upgrade the lack of one in the pervious model was one of my biggest knocks on the old camera.

major upgrades in feel and technology

The layout of the control buttons have changed slightly. Anyone that has handled a 7d will notice the similarities between it and the new 5DM3 layout. The 5DM3 now has an independent photo/ video switch button near the view finder which I like and is very convenient . The camera on/ off switch has moved to the top of the body. I had never had a problem with the old location of the on/off switch but I suppose this is an upgrade, seeing as I have switched off my camera on occasion while scrolling through images with the control dial on the pervious model.  There is a new “rate” button on the back of the camera that I’m sure will cause some chatter on the message boards. I’m really not sure of the practical use of the button but I suppose its not terrible to have if it doesn’t get in the way. I could  see a wedding shooter that maybe producing slideshows at events quickly “ratting” and image on the run to speed up the at event edit.

The menu system is completely revamped and takes a little getting used to but overall I think it’s a better design then the previous model and looks cooler.

No major upgrades in overall design, I like the switch of the on/off switch but rating button is bit of a miss for me.

Okay, Okay so I hate to hold off on reviewing the major of all major changes to the 5D line but I haven’t fully tested the new 61 point AF system that the 5DM3 boasts. From my limited play with the the 5DM3 all signs are that this is a major step forward in lowlight and continuos focussing but I haven’t taken this camera into the field yet so I’ll have to hold up on my full review. Canon must think its a major upgrade seeing as they dedicated and entire section of their in camera menu to it and 45 pages of their camera manual as well.

AF system now works while filming video which is a nice touch but its loud and a little clunky.

This is going to have to be field tested before I can make a firm decision on if it a huge break through or a huge bust

At first glance I was disappointed. Not really paying attention I cranked the camera up the iso to “1600″  and shot off a few frames the I zoomed into the image on the LCD and saw a little noise. I was extremely disappointed seeing as this was an iso that my old 5DM2 had handled quite well. So I decide to bring the iso down a bit in hopes that I could at lest shoot at 800 without getting any noise. At second glance I noticed that  I had not set the camera at  1600 iso as I had perviously thought and I had rather set it at 16,000 !!!! Big difference  after realizing my mistake I can tell you  that the camera is very solid up to 12,800 iso with limited noise. Which works just fine for my use.

very limited noise in high iso modes

B to B+ I would like to give it an A but I can’t just yet I need to see how the AF works day to day before I hand out that type of grade