# 5DII Vs 5DIII for my needs



## Lance James (Apr 13, 2012)

Here's my issue. I've been waiting, as we all have for the 5DIII. Now that its here, I am wondering if the 5DII will meet my needs and I can use the monies saved elsewhere.

I have been shooting my 30D for 5 years now and I am ready to upgrade to a full frame sensor. I have L glass so am in good shape there.

Primary shooting will be in good light either studio or outdoors. I am just starting to shoot for a book project and am wanting better resolution as well as IQ files to work with. I dont shoot anything of super speed so higher FPS isn't a requirement. Since the resolution didn't change much from the 5DII to the 5DIII that doesn't seem significant either. 

I don't shoot weddings or much low light shooting so that's not critical either. No great needs for super high ISO. Am I missing anything else? 

I know there are hundreds of you guys who shoot with the 5D so please let me know what you think.

Thanks for you help.


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## danski0224 (Apr 14, 2012)

If money isn't part of the decision process, I'd get the 5DIII.

Better AF system, better weather sealing and increased high ISO performance.

No focus screens, though. Those may not be needed.


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## Wideopen (Apr 14, 2012)

As the old saying goes "Its better to have something and not need it then to need it and not have it" although you may not need the 5d mark iii upgraded features over the mark ii im sure youll eventually run into situations where the new features will help with those tricky af and hi speed shots. The new af higher fps and weather sealing comes in handy.


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 14, 2012)

The autofocus alone is worth getting the 5D3 over the 5D2. You won't regret getting the newer model!


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## Christian_Stella (Apr 14, 2012)

I shot the 5d2 for many years... I shoot food mostly with lighting. I've noticed better color rendition on the 5d3, especially in the color green. The ISO performance and AF has given me the confidence to take the camera off the tripod and quickly snap alternate angles after I'm happy with my more planned shot. Outside the professional work where I always do a custom white balance to a grey card, I've noticed that the auto white balance is far better on the 5d3. The 5d2's AWB is abysmal. The 3 is pretty good. And although many people have complained of underexposing, I am getting much better metering as well. 

The 3 is at leadt slightly better in every way, no matter what you are shooting.


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## PhilDrinkwater (Apr 15, 2012)

Christian_Stella said:


> The 5d2's AWB is abysmal.


Can't agree with that. I shoot hundreds of AWB shots every week and they take very little tweaking, until you get into a particularly low light tungsten situation. 

Compare that to my friends d3s and it's night and day as the d3s is truly dreadful.


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## PhilDrinkwater (Apr 15, 2012)

OP: I'd get the 5d2 if I was you and spend the extra money on a lens which will give your images something completely new or save it up for something else which will help you more.

For most photographers: Photographer > Lens > Body.

As regards to resolution, do you actually *NEED* more than 21/22mp? In my last 3 years of owning the camera and producing professional work, I've not once - not once - needed more resolution.


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## risc32 (Apr 16, 2012)

i don't know what these guys are talking about, this is pretty clear cut. get a mk2, pocket the difference. I'm starting to wonder about this site...


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## tron (Apr 16, 2012)

Lance James said:


> Here's my issue. I've been waiting, as we all have for the 5DIII.


+1 for 5DIII



Lance James said:


> Now that its here, I am wondering if the 5DII will meet my needs and I can use the monies saved elsewhere.


+1 for 5DII



Lance James said:


> I have been shooting my 30D for 5 years now and I am ready to upgrade to a full frame sensor. I have L glass so am in good shape there.



Stalemate. You have L glass. If you do not need more +1 for 5DIII If you need more +1 for 5DII



Lance James said:


> Primary shooting will be in good light either studio or outdoors. I am just starting to shoot for a book project and am wanting better resolution as well as IQ files to work with. I dont shoot anything of super speed so higher FPS isn't a requirement. Since the resolution didn't change much from the 5DII to the 5DIII that doesn't seem significant either.


Stalemate: both are adequate... 5DII is cheaper 



Lance James said:


> I don't shoot weddings or much low light shooting so that's not critical either. No great needs for super high ISO. Am I missing anything else?


Stalemate: both are adequate... 5DII is cheaper



Lance James said:


> I know there are hundreds of you guys who shoot with the 5D so please let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks for you help.


Sorry, I do not think I helped a lot. 

I am a 5DII owner and amateur who prefers to pay for L glass. Since right now 5DIII is not necessary, it is expensive and has some problems one of which is 100% hardware I would not even think about it.

You on the other side do not have a FF camera and waited a lot for 5DIII. I would suggest to wait a little more to see if the problem is fixed and generally let the real beta testers to do their job...  and proceed accordingly.

If you need a FF camera ASAP then you could do with 5DII since the extra capabilities of 5DIII are not important for you.


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## Bruce Photography (Apr 16, 2012)

I certainly see your point about the 5DMKII, which is a fine camera (I had the 5D prior to that). But I've had it for almost 4 years and I'm tired of it. I was wanting something new. Something revolutionary. I am a landscape guy that does large prints so I do have a D800e on order, but I decided I didn't want to wait on Nikon to deliver. The 5DMK III is a dream at high iso speed and low noise at just about any ISO. The new AF is more like my 7D which I have used for birds in flight. I came from a 10D to a 20D, skipped the 30D, then 40D, then 50D, then 7D, and then 60D to get the articulated screen for low level macro work outside before going to a field monitor using tilt shift lenses.

Now that is me, but what about you. Do you shoot raw or JPG? Are you up to speed on the latest photoshop or lightroom? What type of L glass? What are your subjects? Do you do macro, tele, wide angle, low light, or wide angle - how wide? City, people, or scenery? 

I hope you see where I'm going. Without knowing more about what you shoot and how you shoot, I'm feeling like saying that a jump to a full frame anything will be quite a change. Not to mention that you will lose your 1.6x crop factor so lenses that had worked fine on a 30D, may not fill the right focal length using a full frame camera. Lenses that look pretty good using a crop camera can take a real quality hit on the edges of the frame on a full frame camera.

This is my guess and suggestion, buy new tech if you can afford it. It may take Canon another 4 years to deliver the next generation of 5D. In another four years, do you really want to end up being 8 years behind the tech if you bought the 5DMKII now? Just for messing around shooting people at events I take my 60D because it is new, it is fun, and I'm not risking as much investment should it get banged up or stolen. I like all my Canons but the 5D MK II will not be getting much use anymore except as a backup camera for the 5D MK III. I'm really enjoying the new auto iso for interior shots. Better color and cleaner images and better auto white balance. It is a blast.


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## cpsico (Apr 16, 2012)

There is nothing the 5dIII is going to do for you over the 5dII, I say save the 1400 dollars and get the 5d Mark II. I have one and it performs wonderfully in the conditions you have described. Mate it with a 24-70 and be amazed


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## Lance James (Apr 16, 2012)

Bruce Photography said:


> Do you shoot raw or JPG? *RAW mostly, a few jpgs here and there but all serious work is in RAW*
> 
> Are you up to speed on the latest photoshop or lightroom? *Yes, current CS Suite for all software*
> 
> ...


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## helpful (Apr 16, 2012)

I was reading through and about to reply that you really just need the 5DII and that there is nothing the 5D3 has that you need. For good light, nothing fast, etc., like your original post said, you don't need any features that the 5D3 does better than the 5D2.

However, as soon as you mentioned cars and racing, that answers your questions right there. The 5D3 can do that. As mentioned before, the 5D2 has an autofocus system that is simply incapable of photographing racing. I have owned both cameras and tried them almost in every extent of their capabilities.

So for the subjects you need to photograph you need the 5D3. Which is the opposite of what I was going to tell you up until I heard the word racing.


By the way, in your original post, why did state that you did not photograph anything of "super speed?" Car racing, especially drag racing is definitely super speed for a camera.


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## takoman46 (Apr 16, 2012)

cpsico said:


> There is nothing the 5dIII is going to do for you over the 5dII, I say save the 1400 dollars and get the 5d Mark II. I have one and it performs wonderfully in the conditions you have described. Mate it with a 24-70 and be amazed



I agree that if you do not need the additional capabilities of the 5D mkIII, then you'll be very happy with the 5D mkII. I've been using the mkII for 3 years and now added a mkIII. In short, the mkIII is everything I have been wanting but I still use my mkII in situations where I don't need the AF and ISO performance of the mkIII. On that note, I also agree with an earlier post that the 5D mkIII jpegs retain color a lot better than the mkII. But then again, I always shoot in the Faithful color setting 0,0,0,0 to ensure color consistency and edit in post. For what it's worth, I for one don't believe in investing in old technology so I'd say just go with the mkIII to future proof yourself for the next 4 years or so.


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 16, 2012)

PhilDrinkwater said:


> Christian_Stella said:
> 
> 
> > The 5d2's AWB is abysmal.
> ...




Who cares about white balance.... You guys should be shooting raw, the quality of the WB from the camera is totally irrelevant.


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## Lance James (Apr 16, 2012)

helpful said:


> By the way, in your original post, why did state that you did not photograph anything of "super speed?" Car racing, especially drag racing is definitely super speed for a camera.



My 30D is okay at shooting the drags, not perfect but okay. I would hope the 5D II would be better than my 30D.


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## helpful (Apr 16, 2012)

Lance James said:


> helpful said:
> 
> 
> > By the way, in your original post, why did state that you did not photograph anything of "super speed?" Car racing, especially drag racing is definitely super speed for a camera.
> ...



That's what I hoped, too. The 5D II is not better. Sometimes it seemed even worse.


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## Lance James (Apr 16, 2012)

helpful said:


> Lance James said:
> 
> 
> > helpful said:
> ...



Wow, really, thats significant information.


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## Ryant (Apr 16, 2012)

Lance, I would go with the Mark iii. I have owned the 5d, 5d ii and the 5d iii. Some of those expressing their opinions are telling you to not get it based on the price but they have not owned one. Having owned both the 5d ii and the 5d iii here is my opinion.

I found that the 5d ii was extremely frustrating sometimes with its focus system. Your only option for focus with the 5d ii is the center it does not track well even in the center because the focus points around it are poor. All of the other focus points just dont work if you move your focus point. I tried doing something that would be simple with my 5d iii like take a picture of my wife and kid while they were walking and I would get miss focused shots if I used a low f stop.

The 5d iii has a great autofocus system. You can set the joystick to in the menus to let you move the focus points around on the fly while shooting. All of them just seem to work. If you set your focus to a zone the focus tracking will do a darn good job at staying on focus by tracking between the points. I found that the servo only tracks between points while in zone mode for some reason. The sensor is just better in general if you shoot anything other than 100 ISO you will notice a slight difference at first and then more difference as your ISO gets higher. There are tons of little things I like to, like having the ability to show a grid in the viewfinder or not. The viewfinder is 100% of your view the 5d ii is not. The lcd on the back is nicer and bigger. I found the lcd on the 5d ii seemed less bright than the iii when outside. It shoots faster and I thought I wouldnt care about that but I sometimes use it to take a quick burst of frames. Just note that if you save jpg+raw or you will slow the camera down.

When all is said and done yes the price is higher but the camera is worth it. The camera also holds it value very well. I bought my 5d at 1000 bucks used and sold it at a 1000 bucks. I bought my 5d 2 on sale for 2000 and sold it at 1800. You dont lose much money on quality gear even if you turn around and want to sell it later. The reason it holds its value is the cameras are tough and made well.

Ryan


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## Lance James (Apr 16, 2012)

Ryan, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I bit the bullet tonight and ordered the Mark III =)

Can't wait to get it now and start learning how to use the dang thing. My next posts will be questions about how to use it.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Lance


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## briansquibb (Apr 16, 2012)

prestonpalmer said:


> PhilDrinkwater said:
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> 
> > Christian_Stella said:
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## te4o (Apr 16, 2012)

I have been using a 40D since 2008. As you, I was in that dilemma. I went for the mark 3. Imagine the price difference spread over four years and compared to your income. Does this help? It did for me. The MarkIII is not worse than the II. 
Good luck,
I feel relieved now not to look for a new camera for many hopefully healthy years to come. (at least four


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## PhilDrinkwater (Apr 16, 2012)

prestonpalmer said:


> PhilDrinkwater said:
> 
> 
> > Christian_Stella said:
> ...



I am. What concerns me is the extra 1/2 to 1 hour per wedding I need to spend in post if the WB's are all off. 

This is a time concern not a quality concern. Every pro should care about the amount of time they need to spend.


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## risc32 (Apr 16, 2012)

racing... yeah, you are better off with the mk3 for sure. I feel that the 5d does fairly good with AF but ONLY with the center sensor. the mk3 is worlds better in that regard. Sure it still feels like a slow poke with it's operations, but the mk3's AF is very good. the question i guess is how important are those racing photos to you, because otherwise the mk2 will get it done.


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## the-ninth (Apr 16, 2012)

Hi,

What made you wait for the 5D3 in the first place?

I was coming from a 30D as well, wanting to upgrade to fullframe and I was not happy with the 30Ds AF. I figured the AF of the 5D2 was not much better, so I waited, Canon delivered with the 5D3, which I am now shooting happily. 

Cheers


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## briansquibb (Apr 16, 2012)

PhilDrinkwater said:


> I am. What concerns me is the extra 1/2 to 1 hour per wedding I need to spend in post if the WB's are all off.
> 
> This is a time concern not a quality concern. Every pro should care about the amount of time they need to spend.



That could explain why as an amateur I get such positive comments because to me quality is the overiding priority.

I would expect to take an hour for each of the key photos in the wedding.


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## Lance James (Apr 16, 2012)

Well, I wanted newer and better but I wasn't expecting the price difference. That's what sparked the whole issue of which to buy. I was figuring on the new one coming it at the same price point. I thought wrong =)



the-ninth said:


> What made you wait for the 5D3 in the first place?


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## the-ninth (Apr 16, 2012)

Lance James said:


> Well, I wanted newer and better but I wasn't expecting the price difference. That's what sparked the whole issue of which to buy. I was figuring on the new one coming it at the same price point. I thought wrong =)



I'd take the AF as differentiator then. If you want a state-of-the-art AF, suitable for low-light and action, then you need the 5D3. In all other aspects both 5D2 and 5D3 will both be a big step up from the 30D, while the difference between them is comparably small. There is a lot of little things that the 5D3 is better in, but none of them weighs up the nice lens missing in your line-up that you could buy for the money saved. 

Cheers, Robert


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## briansquibb (Apr 16, 2012)

the-ninth said:


> If you want a state-of-the-art AF, suitable for low-light and action, then you need the 5D3.



Not quite correct as the 5DII has class leading AF on the centre point in low light.


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 17, 2012)

briansquibb said:


> PhilDrinkwater said:
> 
> 
> > I am. What concerns me is the extra 1/2 to 1 hour per wedding I need to spend in post if the WB's are all off.
> ...



Exactly. And remember, you can adjust WB post processing in bulk after they are in LR. Fix one photo and apply the WB correction to the others. Takes 10 seconds. You should never waste your time with WB in camera. Just leave it as AWB and go shoot. All else post processing.


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## cpsico (Apr 17, 2012)

briansquibb said:


> the-ninth said:
> 
> 
> > If you want a state-of-the-art AF, suitable for low-light and action, then you need the 5D3.
> ...


I agree the center point is golden in low light


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## the-ninth (Apr 17, 2012)

cpsico said:


> briansquibb said:
> 
> 
> > the-ninth said:
> ...



Yes, you guys are right. I myself make heavy use of the outer points, that's why the center point alone never made me happy. But if the center point suffices, already the 30D was not bad and I am sure the 5D2 isn't either. 

Cheers, Robert


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## april (Apr 17, 2012)

Wideopen said:


> As the old saying goes "Its better to have something and not need it then to need it and not have it" although you may not need the 5d mark iii upgraded features over the mark ii im sure youll eventually run into situations where the new features will help with those tricky af and hi speed shots.



that's a good point!


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## Michiel (Jan 7, 2013)

Lance James said:


> Ryan, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I bit the bullet tonight and ordered the Mark III =)
> 
> Can't wait to get it now and start learning how to use the dang thing. My next posts will be questions about how to use it.
> 
> ...



Hi, so that was april... Are you happy with it ?


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