5D Mk III

[Toby]

Yeah I'd imagine the price will settle quite a bit in the first couple of months. That's the sort of time-frame I'm looking at anyway

[Mondo]

Originally Posted by Toby

Yeah I'd imagine the price will settle quite a bit in the first couple of months. That's the sort of time-frame I'm looking at anyway

Hopefully it will drop to around £2,500 by the summer so save me £1k. I would ideally need 2 as the way I work, I shoot with 2 simultaneously. I put a different prime lens on each and when I change lenses I don't need to think about which body I am using. Also the files at the end of it will be the same so I don't need to worry about which one has more latitude in low light etc.

[Toby]

When I did the wedding with Dee last year it was the first time I'd actually used two bodies simultaneously. Whilst I found it very handy having two different lenses on each rather than swapping them around all the time, if I was doing it professionally I can definitely see why you'd ideally want two identical bodies.

[Mondo]

2 bodies is VERY handy. It is more than back up (which is vital), Jessica Claire has three 5D bodies!

When you have 2 bodies, vital that they are both the same crop factor first, and ideally same if possible. You don't need to think about the settings, learn the dials controls and adjust. In the heat of the moment during a wedding, the last thing you want is an extra factor you want to think about. You want to be able to pick it up and shoot.

[Toby]

Interesting point on the crop factor. Given my plans to tote a 7D and 5D2 at some future point, I'd have imagined it'd be quite flexible to have one crop and one full frame body, possibly keeping the 24-70 on the FF whilst using something like a 10-22 or 70-200 on the crop for wide or candids respectively.

In your situation though, I guess you think more about what lens you want for a shot and almost forget about the body, as in "need the 35L for this one", or "time to get the 85L out" and don't want to be worrying about matching focal lengths to crop factors between two bodies.

[Mondo]

Two different crop factor messes things up greatly. For example you are shooting zooms and ideally with 2 lenses you want to cover as much focal length you want without changing lens and you want fast lens so 2.8 and as I said, in the heat of the moment things can get confusing, you do not want to put a EF-S lens on a EF body...and break the mirror.

Sooo, with that mind mind, it creates a lot of problems, 24-70 and 70-200 combo now becomes either 24-70/112-320 or 38-112/70-200.

Or do you put on a 16-35 with the 70-200? Which the 16-35 becomes 25-56. Now there is a gap.

You could get a 17-55 but I just worry accident will happen if I do that and end up breaking a 5D in the middle of a wedding.

Not to mention that when you get used to a crop factor, your spatial awareness knows what distance is 35mm, what is 85mm. By being in the scene I know what prime lens I need and how far I need to step back to frame it. If you have 2 crop factors you always have to switching over between the crop factors, how 17mm is 24 on the other.

You end up introducing more chances of making mistakes during the working day.

[Toby]

Hmm, see what you mean. Will be interesting to see how I get on if and when I swap the 40D out for a 5D2, although as I'm only going to be 'assistant' shooting for the forseeable future, there's no pressure on me not to screw up unlike your good self

(btw that Nikon fanboy over on TP is comedy gold )

[Toby]

In the CPS booth at Focus playing with the 5D3. I think I'm in love

[Toby]

Back from Focus. Good show overall but the highlight was definitely the hands-on session in the CPS booth - eight people per session with a gripped 5D3 & 24-70 (mk1) there to play around with together with a 5D2 for comparison, plus the new 600EX flash. Was about an hour long although I think we over-ran quite a bit.

The 5D3 is awesome! Feels so nice in the hand and to use - the perfect blend of the 7D and 5D2 which is exactly what we all thought it'd be. From the brief play we had the high-ISO noise performance looks amazing, although this was obviously only zooming in on the rear display. Some nifty improvements over the 5D2 aswell, such as limits to the Auto ISO mode so it doesn't go beserk and the silent shutter mode was incredibly impressive and probably a boon to wedding 'togs during ceremonies etc.

I want one sooo much!

[Steeps]

I really want one but for the price no chance, very happy with the performance of the II apart from the focussing could do with a little boost, but not 2x the cost of a II

Unless I could get regular shooting sessions or the rentals to take off it will be a long time.