By ISO 51,200 it hit 1910 lines, and at ISO 102,400 it resolved just 1500 lines. At ISO 12,800, the Canon 5D Mark III showed 2520 lines of resolution, but it dropped signicantly to 2150 lines at ISO 25,600. Even at ISO 102,400, the noise score is only 4.4-compared with 4.9 at ISO 25,600 on the Mark II.īut this noise performance is thanks in part to a heavy dose of noise reduction at higher ISOs-which comes at the price of resolution. It doesn’t become Unacceptable, and then only barely so, at ISO 51,200. The camera earned an Extremely Low rating from ISO 50 through 400, stepping up to Very Low from ISO 800 through 3200, and Low at ISO 6400 and 12,800. Looking for clean images in very low light? Welcome to Mark III country. Still, both earned an Excellent rating in this test, and we doubt that anyone will be able to see a difference between the accuracy of their color reproduction. Likewise, the Canon 5D Mark III’s average Delta E at ISO 50, our measure for color accuracy, was 6.9 compared to the Mark II’s slightly better score of 6.3. While that’s a little less than the 2830 lines than the 5D Mark II delivered in this test, given the Mark III’s noise performance (and considering that it has enough resolution for the vast majority of photographers), we don’t see this as a real problem.
That’s a seriously admirable achievement.ĭespite the Mark III having about one-third fewer pixels than the Nikon D800, it still easily scored an Excellent rating in our resolution test, with 2750 lines per picture height at its lowest (expanded) sensitivity of ISO 50. Let’s pause for just a moment to realize what that means: The Canon Mark III delivers color images with a Low noise rating on our stringent scale up to a sensitivity beyond that which was, not too long ago, relegated to very coarse-grained black-and-white film. It delivers low-noise, high-resolution images with manageable file sizes.Ī perfect blend of accurate color rendering, high resolving power, and low noise comes together to earn Canon’s EOS 5D Mark III an Excellent rating in overall image quality from ISO 50 all the way through ISO 12,800.
But look deeper and you’ll see new metering and autofocus systems, an increase to 6 fps bursts (from 3.9), a top sensitivity of ISO 102,400 (up from ISO 25,600), plus several other convenient new features.Īfter running it through the Popular Photography Test Lab and experiencing it in the field, we can say that the Canon 5D Mark III ($3,500, street, body only) is every bit the imaging machine the Mark II was-and more. The pixel count hasn’t gone up much-a mere 1.2MP bump from the Mark II’s 21.1MP. If our tests are a guide, get ready for an even bigger hit. And now Canon has brought us the EOS 5D Mark III. After all, it’s a very close second to Apple’s iPhone 4 for the most-used camera on the image-sharing website Flickr. There’s no questioning the popularity of Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II. _How does the Canon 5D Mark III stack up against its competition the Nikon D800? Check out our in-depth comparison in the Buying Guide.