Canon EOS 5D Mark III: The Guide to Understanding and Using Your Camera

Foreword

When Canon introduced the first version of the EOS 5D in 2005, it was a small sensation, considering the price. For the first time, it allowed photo enthusiasts to use a full-frame digital camera. When Canon introduced the 5D Mark II in 2008, another sensation was its capability to shoot HD videos at a quality never before possible with a camera at that price, and a complete new industry grew up: DSLR HD video and all the equipment around this new technique, such as rigs, followfocus systems, etc. Now, four years later, Canon has introduced the EOS 5D Mark III. This new Canon camera enters a market populated with the rival Nikon D800 and D800E, as well as some other manufacturers’ fine and capable cameras, in another round of fierce competition.

I own a 5D Mk II and have loved it, but having started to shoot with my new 5D Mk III, I find that I hardly touch my 5D MK II any longer. I have fallen in love with my 5D Mk III. It has improved on quite a number of features found on the 5D Mk II: it’s faster, it shoots smoother (at least when set to the silent mode), it has new features like the HDR mode and the multi-exposure mode, it provides a better dynamic range, and it allows for higher ISO settings. The 5D Mk III also improved several small details, like the better (more detailed) auto ISO settings or the longer bracketing range (now up to 7 bracketing shots with up to ±3 EV compared with up to 3 shots at ±2 EV). One of the biggest new features is its new auto focus system, using up to 61 AF points and having 41 cross-type AF sensors and 5 dualcross AF sensors. The difference, compared with the 5D MK II, is dramatic! Well, the auto focus setting got a bit more comprehensive and complicated, though more feature rich would be accurate.

The new EOS 5D Mk III is a camera that may be used for portrait, landscape, and sports as well as for studio work. It might not be as fast as the top-of-line EOS 1D X, but for half of the price, it’s a bargain.

As a photographer, there are naturally a number of extensions and improvements I would like to see. Canon might provide a firmware update for some of them; e.g., a better indication of the focus points selected in bright light, a timelapse exposure, and the possibility for focus stacking (moving the focus in small steps while shooting a bracket). However, until Canon provides such a feature—if ever—there is the Magic Lantern firmware set that provides a focus-stacking function (part of a large set of neat enhancements), without invalidating your Canon camera firmware. Check to see if the code has been adapted to accommodate the EOS 5D Mk III.

Though the 5D Mk III is a very convenient camera, it’s not a simple camera. To make full use of its rich feature set, reading the manual is essential, but as the manual is highly technical, a good third-party book like this one will help you get acquainted with the camera and teach you how to use all those fine features while avoiding many of the little glitches.

With 22.3 MP, the resolution of the 5D Mk III is not the highest on the market—e.g., Nikon’s D800 provides 36.3 MP—but according to my experience, it’s sufficient for all kinds of photography and allows for prints well beyond 17 x 24, provided you have a sharp, well-focused image.

From this description, you can see how much I love this camera. Having read this book and practiced with your camera, I do hope you experience the same appreciation for the camera and find that it is a capable tool for improving your shooting.

Juergen Gulbins

Consultant, Author, Photographer

Keltern, Germany

Part One

• The Equipment

• Buttons, Dials, Knobs, and their Purposes

• Managing Dials, Buttons, Switches, and a Joystick

• Finding and Interpreting Image-Related Information

Chapter One: The Equipment

What’s in the New Package?

As of mid-summer 2012, Canon is making the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, referred to as the EOS 5D Mk III, available in two different packages.

Figure 1-1. The contents of the Canon 5260B002 package

The Body-Only Package

The first package, designated by Canon’s item code 5260B002, provides the EOS 5D Mk III body without a lens, plus:

• Eyecup Eg. This is the standard rubber eyecup designed to fit around the viewfinder’s viewing window. As this eyecup physically projects beyond the back of the camera body, it is not installed on the camera so that it’s not distorted during pre-purchase storage. Installation is straightforward. Removal (required only if you wish to install one of the nonstandard eyecups) involves simply pressing the left and right sides of the eyecup, then lifting it straight up.

• Eyepiece Cover. Many Canon camera owners are not aware that this piece exists. It’s a soft rubber rectangle that comes attached to the standard wide camera strap. Its purpose is to completely block ambient light from entering the viewfinder’s eyepiece while you’re capturing an image without having your eye at the viewfinder. Such instances would include any kind of remote triggering, most long-exposure shots, and delayed exposures. Ambient light entering through the viewfinder can influence exposure metering, resulting in underexposed photos. To use this little device, remove the viewfinder’s eyecup and slide the eyepiece cover (still attached to the camera strap) over the now-exposed viewfinder rails. Page 185 of the Instruction Manual describes and illustrates the process.

• Battery Pack LP-E6. This is the same lithium-ion battery used in the EOS 5D Mark II (but not the EOS 5D), EOS 60D, EOS 60Da, the recently announced 6D, and the EOS 7D. That can be a real advantage if you’re using one of those models as a second camera: With three batteries, you have a battery in each camera body and another ready to go in either body as needed. The downside is that multiple-body compatibility makes this battery a popular purchase, and it seems every shyster, using every imaginable means of deception and misrepresentation, has a Genuine Canon LP-E6 battery on the Internet market. Note that this is a battery Canon lists for $100, so when you find it on the Internet for $14.95 plus $11.00 for shipping and handling, you may want to leave that web page and seek your battery elsewhere. You certainly can find better deals than the Canon list price online, but expect to pay $60 or so for a real Canon battery.

• Body Cap RF-3. This item is generally removed from a new camera, replaced a lens, and relegated to a forgotten drawer or shoebox. The body cap’s role in life actually extends well beyond protecting the hole in the front of the camera during the sales process. Today’s DSLRs are complex electromechanical wonders that require protection from dust, moisture, shock, and extreme temperatures. The body cap assists greatly in the dust-protection case, some in moisture protection, and even a bit in extreme temperature protection. A DSLR’s strongest feature—the wide selection of sophisticated lenses that can be easily interchanged—is also its weakest point. Changing lenses provides a significant opportunity for particle intrusion. A particle inside your camera may simply be a nuisance, such as a speck of dust on the image sensor that creates a gray spot you have to remove from your photo during post-processing. But it can also be as disastrous as a hard granule of sand that scratches whatever internal components it comes into contact with, or totally binds some of the mechanical operations, rendering the camera useless and needing professional repair.

- There will always be a degree of risk that we simply accept in order to make lens changes. But it’s still prudent to eliminate as many risk factors as possible, including reducing the amount of time in which the camera’s internal parts are exposed to an absolute minimum. For any period longer than a few seconds, use of the body cap is highly recommended. Certainly, those of you who have multiple DSLR bodies that you take out for serious shoots should never simply stuff an open DSLR body into your camera bag. If there’s not a lens on the camera, there should be a body cap.

• Battery Charger LC-E6. Canon makes two versions of the battery charger for the LP-E6 battery: one called the LC-E6E that has a four-foot long power cord attached, and the standard LC-E6, which has no power cord but uses a swiveling male plug that folds into the body of the charger. It’s this second one that is provided with the camera. Personally, I prefer it. It’s designed to plug directly into a wall outlet or power strip, with no associated power cord to trip over. In my case, I keep a four-foot single-ended extension cord on my desk that can provide temporary service to any number of short-term-use devices, including this charger.

• Wide Strap EW-EOS5DMKIII. This neck strap is reasonably comfortable, with good high-friction rubber on the underside to keep the strap on your shoulder. Note, though, that the rubber doesn’t give any softness or elasticity to the strap. It seems capable of supporting the camera and lenses up to about 300mm in focal length. Of course, any lens is going to add weight to the camera body, so the ability of the body’s strap mounts must also be considered when you’re determining how much weight can be suspended by any strap.

- Aside from being capable, the red, black, and silver strap is embroidered with a readily recognized Canon logo and camera identifier, which has to be considered an asset: anyone who spends this kind of money on a camera is entitled to brag a bit.

- My greatest frustration with this strap is that it doesn’t provide any form of quick-disconnect couplers. When I shoot tripod-mounted macro images of wild flowers, the attached strap is too often in the way and frequently gets entangled in the greenery surrounding my subject. To address that problem, I’m evaluating an UPstrap SLR-QR-V and an OP/TECH Pro Loop Strap 1501372. The UPstrap seems to have a superior grip from the pad, which many users claim simply prevents the strap from slipping off your shoulder. The OP/TECH has a shaped, wide pad that better distributes the suspended weight of the camera, lens, battery grip, flash, and whatever else you assemble as a luggable unit.

• Stereo AV Cable AVC-DC400ST. Though Canon put an HDMI-out port on the camera body, the camera doesn’t come with an HDMI cable. Apparently Canon determined that most of today’s TV sets are still not high definition, so this cable lets you connect the EOS 5D Mk III to a television’s RCA inputs. On one end of the cable, there’s a USB Mini-B connector that plugs into the camera’s A/V OUT/DIGITAL terminal, and on the other end there are three RCA plugs: red and white plugs for the right and left audio channels, respectively, and a yellow plug for the video-in signal. If at all possible, buy an HDMI cable and use an HDTV; it will give you a far superior viewing experience.

• USB Interface Cable IFC-200U. Be careful with this term. Personally, I feel this is correct, but find that Canon uses the term primarily online and in printed promotional material. The Instruction Manual calls it the Interface Cable, and the camera port it plugs into is identified as the A/V OUT/DIGITAL terminal. The purpose of the cable is to allow the camera to be connected directly to a computer under the control of the EOS Utility (one of the software products on the EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk), or to a PictBridge-compliant printer. This type of connection is useful for moving photos and movies from the camera to a computer without using an external memory card reader, and for copying firmware-update code to a memory card in the camera. However, I recommend using an external card reader, which is a safer approach since you’re less likely to lose power during a transfer, and the amount of battery charge required is significantly reduced.

• EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk. This disk contains the Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility, ImageBrowser EX, PhotoStitch, and Picture Style Editor software products. Before spending a significant amount of money on additional software, you might want to use these programs to get familiar with the concepts. You’ll gain a better understanding of which features you want in your editing software and utilities. Many folks never use any other software. However, it seems that most of us eventually bite the bullet and spend some real money for the extended capabilities available in Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom or, for Mac users, Apple’s Aperture photo editing and management software.

• Software INSTRUCTION MANUAL Disk. The EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk provides comprehensive and sophisticated programs. To derive maximum benefit, you’ll probably want to copy the instruction manuals to your computer for fast and easy access.

• Canon EOS 5D Mark III Instruction Manual. This may present one of the most challenging aspects of exploiting the camera’s extensive list of features. The manual is provided in English and Spanish versions, both of which are printed in 403-page, 4 1/8 x 5 7/8 booklets. If you’re over 40 years of age, you may need a magnifying glass.

• Pocket Guide (EOS 5D Mark III). The Pocket Guide is a small eight-panel fanfolded document that provides 15 pages of quick-reference information. Though not nearly as comprehensive as the Instruction Manual, it is—as the name implies—designed to be small enough to carry, especially during your early experiences with the camera.

Figure 1-2. The contents of the Canon 5260B009 package

The Body and Lens Kit

The second package, designated by Canon’s item code 5260B009, contains all the components of the body-only package (5260B002) plus the Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM lens and its accompanying accessories.

This lens is a high-quality product, one of many from Canon’s extensive and comprehensive line of high-quality lenses. The L in the lens name indicates that this lens is a member of the Luxury group of Canon lenses (notice that bright red ring around the lens barrel, close to the front end). Unlike many zoom lenses, this one maintains the same maximum aperture (f/4) throughout its entire zoom range. It’s also equipped with image stabilization (IS) to compensate for camera shake and Canon’s Ultrasonic Motor (USM) for fast, silent autofocusing. Combined, its features make it a good general-purpose lens.

Along with the lens comes:

• Lens Cap E-77U. The sole purpose of a lens cap is to protect the front lens element, that glass surface you see when you remove the cap. The integrity of the lens is compromised whenever that front element accumulates fingerprints, rain drops, mud spatters, or wind-blown detritus. Even worse, the lens can be rendered useless if the front element is cracked or broken. The lens cap can go a long way in reducing or eliminating those kinds of problems if it is in place on the front of the lens.

• Rear Lens Cap. While the front lens cap is extremely important, the rear lens cap is no less so. In addition to protecting the rearmost lens element, the rear lens cap covers the gold contacts and the lens-mounting lugs. The gold contacts are the means by which the camera and the lens communicate—whether it’s the lens telling the camera the current focal length, the Image Stabilizer switch settings, or the focus mode switch settings—or it’s the camera instructing the lens to rotate the internal focusing mechanism. Obviously, if the contacts are dirty or damaged, a part of that communication will be seriously compromised. The sharp, precisely cut mounting lugs are used to securely attach the lens to the camera body, and maintain a consistent position. The rear lens cap protects from damage as well.

• Lens Hood EW-83H. Any lens hood serves at least three purposes:

1. To help reduce lens flare in those cases in which the lens is pointed close to the sun.

2. To provide a degree of impact protection for the front lens element, especially when the lens cap has been removed.

3. To help identify the photographer as a true (well, at least a wanna-be) photographer.

- Being a Canon product, this lens hood is durable, fits snugly, and does not intrude on the lens image or cause vignetting. If you need to replace this lens hood, consider that there are many less expensive options available, all claiming to be either a Canon product or for Canon lenses, but too often may be badly designed, badly manufactured, or both.

• Lens Case LP1219. This soft bag won’t provide much in the way of impact protection for the lens, but it is a good first level of protection from dust and other forms of external contamination, and will certainly reduce any damage or deterioration caused by abrasion from neighboring camera parts in your camera bag.

What Else Do I Need?

Memory Cards

There was a time when digital cameras, including DSLRs, came with a memory card. The included card had a limited capacity, but it was enough to let you check out the camera somewhat thoroughly.

Today, there is such a wide array of memory card types, and an even larger spread of specifications within memory card types, that most camera manufacturers leave the selection of the memory card to the photographer. The EOS 5D Mk III both complicates and eases that concern by accepting a CF (CompactFlash) memory card as well as an SD (Secure Digital) memory card. First, that means there are potentially twice as many variables to learn about and manage, and second, you can choose one or the other and ignore the one not chosen. It’s also true that the EOS 5D Mk III will allow you to use both; we’ll cover that option later in the book.

Among memory cards, the major variables to consider are memory capacity, data-transfer rates, and cross-camera compatibility. It’s becoming difficult to find new memory cards smaller than 4 Gigabytes (GB), but there are some as large as 128 GB. The real question, though, is how large a memory card you should buy. Most of us would like to have a memory card large enough to contain a day’s shooting, but there’s another school of thought that says, Why put all those eggs in one basket? Wouldn’t it be better to use four 4 GB memory cards than a single 16 GB memory card? A failure on any one memory card would result in losing all 16 GB of photos in the one case, but only a maximum of 4 GB of photos in the other. There is merit to that argument.

Fortunately, the quality of today’s memory cards is sufficiently high that it’s increasingly rare that anyone suffers such a hardware failure. So you drove 2,000 miles to get to your site; spent who knows how much on gas, food, and lodging; and took over 900 outstanding photos before your memory card suffered a catastrophic failure? The risks and benefits of choosing a single memory card versus multiple smaller ones are worth considering.

Select the capacity of your memory cards according to which image quality settings you select, which file types you choose for saving photos, how many photos you typically shoot in a session, and how often you transfer your photos from the camera to a computer. Regardless of your choice of memory card type, an image captured by the EOS 5D Mk III will require the same amount of space. When you select the highest quality option, an image saved as a JPEG file will require about 7 Megabytes (MB) of memory card space, giving you the ability to store just over 1,000 photos on an 8 GB memory card. If you save images as RAW files, each image will require just over 27 MB of memory card space, reducing the number of photos you can store on an 8 GB memory card to about 260. If you want to save each image as both a JPEG and a RAW file, saving an image as both file types will require just over 34 (7 + 27) MB of memory card space, allowing you to store only 210 photos on that 8 GB memory card. Movies can consume huge quantities of space on a memory card. Shooting at the highest resolution in ALL-I mode requires 685 MB of memory card space per minute of recorded video. That rate allows 11 minutes of video to be recorded on an 8 GB memory card. Hopefully, this information will help you determine the storage capacity you need, regardless of how many memory cards you spread it over.

The other major consideration in choosing a memory card is its data-transfer rate. If you take a single photo at a time, and your shots are spaced a minute apart, the slowest memory card you can find will serve you well. But if you take a number of photos in a short time, use multiple-image bracketing, play with HDR photos, or simply use the high-speed drive mode, you’ll find that you need fast data-transfer rates to get your images out of the camera’s internal systems and onto the memory card. The camera’s internal systems are able to handle anything the camera was designed to do; the hitch in the git-along is generally the low data-transfer rate of the photographer’s memory card. Data-transfer rates, and the factors to consider, vary between CF and SD memory cards, so we’ll discuss those considerations with respect to each memory card technology separately.

A note on data-transfer speeds: Both the CF and the SD memory cards utilize some form of the numeric-X designation. Strangely, this data-transfer rate designation started with CDs. In their first manifestation, CD drives could read as fast as 150 Kilobytes (KB) per second. Subsequent generations of CD drives, rather than stating an absolute data-transfer speed, simply provided an integer-multiple of that original CD data-transfer speed. Thus, an 8X CD drive was capable of 8 x 150 KB/s, or 1,200 KB/s. Exactly the same calculation is used in specifying memory card data-transfer rates. The CF memory card in figure 1-3 is rated at 80x, which equates to 12 MB/s.

Memory card technologies continue to evolve, giving us larger memory cards with faster data transfer rates, but requiring new hardware or firmware to fully utilize them, (an example being that the EOS 5D Mk III will support true UDMA 7 CF memory cards).

Finally, some photographers may be concerned with cross-camera compatibility. For example, in terms of CF memory card support:

• The Canon 20D, 30D, 40D, and the 5D do not recognize any UDMA CF memory cards as UDMA, but may process them as ‘older’ non-UDMA memory cards

• The Canon 50D, 7D, 1D Mk IV, and 5D Mk II support up to UDMA 6 CF memory cards; some models have firmware upgrades to allow them to support even UDMA 7

• The Canon 60D and 6D recently announced do not support any CF memory cards

• The Canon 1D X, and 5D Mk III support up to UDMA 7

Most manufacturers of CF memory cards claim that their newer memory cards are backward compatible with the older CF technologies. Their UDMA 7 cards, for example, should work with equipment that only recognizes UDMA 6 or even non-UDMA CF memory cards, but only to the capability of that older technology. However, there have been reports of photographers calling tech support complaining that their camera (in