There certainly can be more important issues to worry about than the camera you're using, but as I've said, the right camera can make your life that much easier on set. As cameras begin arriving at doorsteps in the next couple of weeks, we're going to get plenty more videos of the Canon 5D Mark III. We've got a couple interesting videos to check out below, and thankfully all of them are available for download from Vimeo so they can be properly tested. If you'd like to try them out for yourself, be sure to download the original.
We've one from Dan Chung who got an early 5D Mark III. This one gets a bit garbled but it's the 5D Mark III first, followed by the Canon C300. Be sure to visit Dan's Vimeo account and download all of them. It's clear the C300 resolves quite a bit more detail:
The C300 is a better camera, but many of us weren't expecting Canon to blow away the market for their high-end camera with a DSLR priced at $3500. Price points are a huge factor for companies, and it's that extra bit of R&D and sensor development that gives us such clean resolution on the C300.
Stu Maschwitz took this clip from Dan Chung and did a simple grade. Looks like it holds up very nicely, something we couldn't necessarily say for the older Canon footage.
It's also worth noting that Canon has changed their color space from the previous DSLRs, and they are now using the standard REC-709. That's a huge step in the right direction in my opinion. Here's one from EOSHD:
Again, streaming doesn't seem to be doing the ALL-I codec any justice, so you really should download the originals. There's another clip from EOSHD on the Vimeo site.
Here's a quick one comparing High ISOs of the 5D Mark II and the 5D Mark III:
It seems like the consensus so far is that we're not getting much more resolution than the 5D Mark II, but compression is greatly improved, and moire and aliasing don't seem to be much of an issue. Canon looks to have improved the Mark III in a few areas, but not necessarily in others. It's an amazing camera - we should get that out of the way - and you should not be disappointed, but you've got to weigh your options when you consider spending that much money on a camera body. I know for me, once I tasted full frame and was able to fully utilize my 35mm lenses, I had a hard time trying to go back.
It's going to be an interesting couple of months with NAB just around the corner. If the rumors are true we might be seeing yet another new camera from Canon in just a few short months.
What features really matter to you? Which improvements are worth the money? Let us know in the comments.
Links: Stu Maschwitz & EOSHD & Dan Chung
