Longtime owners/heavy users of 5D III, please read

I am heavily considering a 5D III as a second body. For those of you that have shot with the 5DIII for a long time, or at least ran at least 20k shots through it, I have some questions:

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?
- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it?
- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it?
- Is there anything you would change, right now?
- What are its top 3 strengths?
- What are its top 3 weaknesses?
- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it?
- What do you primarily shoot?
- How is your real world battery life?
- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights?
- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again?

Thanks!

I haven't put 20k shots through it yet, but I can answer some of your questions

I hope this helps.

Since March of 2012 and over 20k in shutter count.

For me, the AF is amazing and tied for what I love the most. The image quality is the other part of the tie. The ergonomics and low noise at high iso have helped me greatly as well.

nothing really. It does everything I want it to and far more.

Nope. For others, maybe an interchangeable focus screen, but for me it won't matter.

AF
low noise at high ISO
image quality (at bit generic, but still valid)

There are none in my opinion

Work? Why would it not? When I first bought it, I tested it with a 5D MKII in low light (5D2 using center and my 5D3 using outer AF points) and it ate the 5D2 for breakfast. more details if you like

portraits/models (we call them "pretties" here)

I use the BG-E11 grip and two batteries. I get well over 900 shots with two batteries and at least 8 hours of shooting with LCD on. In fact, I've never ran out of battery life in a single day of shooting.

Very good. I can recover 2-3 stops. But, I think it's a bunch of nonsense to try and recover shadows, much less judge a camera about shadow detail. Shoot at the proper exposure.

Sure, no change. Bought it with the 24-105 and paid more than you guys in the states (+ ~$200 body alone) and would do it again right now.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Anyone else?

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?
Since March 2012 - when it first came out, I had mine pre-ordered from the first batch shipped to my local store. I have put a little over 20,000 shots on it. (based on me remembering when my file numbering system resets to 0. Its done that twice now)
- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it?
I love the feel of it, especially with a grip. It is a workhorse, it just keeps going and can totally keep up with me. I LOVE the AF system. I have grown to love the fact that I can use any of the outer-edge focus points without a worry of lack of sensitivity or accuracy.
- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it?
Nothing really, I'm still learning how to use the AF system to its fullest capabilities. Every now and then (very, very rare) the menu will freeze up. Just a glitch, doesn't stop me from shooting. Goes away in a few seconds/returns to normal.
- Is there anything you would change, right now?
Not really. More fps would be cool, just for the machine gun factor, but I couldn't see myself ever needing to shoot like that with the sport subjects that I shoot
- What are its top 3 strengths?
AF System, Image Quality, Build Quality, High ISO
- What are its top 3 weaknesses?
Honestly? I can't really think of any.
- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it?
Absolutely. Any slipped/OOF action shots are my own fault, or not choosing the right AF case for the subject.
- What do you primarily shoot?
Dog agility, equestrian sports (dressage), animal portraiture (dogs, horses, etc), wildlife.
- How is your real world battery life?
With two batteries in my battery grip, my battery life can last a week or more depending how often Im out to shoot.
- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights?
A lot better than my T2i, so its excellent from what I'm used to
- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again?
Absolutely.

I don't own one but I heard it turns into laminate flooring when no one is looking.

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?Purchased in April/May to supplement my 7D. Have probably taken 6,000 shots
- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it? The high ISO performance is outstanding. The AF system is very good, but so is my 7D
- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it? Nothing comes to mind.
- Is there anything you would change, right now? Nothing comes to mind
- What are its top 3 strengths? image quality, high ISO performance, AF performance
- What are its top 3 weaknesses? Slow SD card performance
- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it? The AF system is the best I have used -- a small improvement over my 7D
- What do you primarily shoot? landscapes, wildlife, family events, some sports
- How is your real world battery life? Battery life has never been an issue. I usually recharge the battery long before it needs it, and I do not use a battery grip. Could probably get close to 1,000 shots if needed
- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights? Better than any of my crop bodies. I have been getting more into Lightroom with the 5D3, which helps in this area.
- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again? Definitely

Not a long term/heavy user, but I would like to share my two cents

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?
Since October 2012 and at least 2k shots.

- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it?
The overall image quality when compared to my two previously owned cropped cameras (20D and 7D). The automatic white balance is definitely smarter than my 7D. I have grown to love its ability to focus in low-light condition.

- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it?
Slow writing speed when writing RAW and sJPEG to both cards. But, that is within expectation.

- Is there anything you would change, right now?
Wish it can support the high speed writing on the SD cards.

- What are its top 3 strengths?
Overall image quality, high ISO performance, and AF system in low light condition.

- What are its top 3 weaknesses?
slow write speed to SD card, easy lint/dust built up around the edge of LCD screen, and no interchangeable focus screen.

- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it?
It works very very well

- What do you primarily shoot?
portraits, still life, events and some action shots of dogs running in the dog park.

- How is your real world battery life?
pretty good to me.

- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights?
Very good. I would say easy to recover.

- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again?
I would!!! And if I have to buy again, it will be cheaper in the future. lol

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?
About 7K

- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it?
High ISO Image quality
The AF accuracy
The AF options
Customizability of functions

- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it?
Nothing worthy of "hate"

- Is there anything you would change, right now?
Little things:
* AF points don't light up issue (it's fixed to 1DX, it should be fixed for 5D3)
* Proper implementation of Auto-ISO in M mode
* Better range of "minimum shutter speed" while in auto-iso
* More flexible minimum/maximum ISO options while using Auto-ISO
* Proper SD-card support (SDXC speeds and above)
* 2 more FPS to match the 7D

- What are its top 3 strengths?
See "love"

- What are its top 3 weaknesses?
See "changes"


- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it?
Most of the time yes.

- What do you primarily shoot?
Indoor Sports.

- How is your real world battery life?
1200+ shots per charge. Never ran out of juice on an outing.


- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights?
Good enough for what I use it for. Never had a situation where blown highlights or dark shadows (in a properly exposed image) ruined the image.

- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again?
Yes.

- How long have you had it? How many shots would you say you've put through it?

Since April 2012. Over 40K shots.

- What do you love about it? What have you grown to love about it over the time you've used it?

I love the AF, how the buttons/controls are customizable, the build quality and the size of the camera how it fits in my hand well so everything is comfortable to use. I also love being able to take more than 3 bracketed shots.

- What did you hate about it? What have you grown to hate about it over the time you've used it?

I don't hate anything about it. But I wish it had better hardware for reading/writing to an SD card. I pretty much only use the CF slot now since the SD one is so slow except in emergencies.

- Is there anything you would change, right now?

I am waiting for a firmware fix to address the issue of seeing the AF points when shooting in dimly lit areas or against dark objects.

- What are its top 3 strengths?

AF, ergonomics, customizable

- What are its top 3 weaknesses?

SD card slot, seeing AF points in certain situations, seeing AF red light for AF confirmation.

- Does the AF work most of, if not almost everytime you use it?

Seems pretty accurate almsot all the time.

- What do you primarily shoot?

Landscapes, people, pets, portraits, kids, street, hdr.

- How is your real world battery life?

Seems okay. However, I am a little annoyed that once your battery life drops below 50%, your fps drops as well.

- How is the true dynamic range? How easy/hard is it to recover details in shadows/highlights?

Seems to be pretty good. Been able to recover some fairly under exposed details. Highlights, not so much.

- Would you buy it if you could go back and do it all over again?

Definitely. I love this camera.

cheezz wrote in post #15552667
I don't own one but I heard it turns into laminate flooring when no one is looking.

I must admit. I lol'd.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

So its safe to say that you guys are actually happy with your 5D Mark IIIs, and not just in the "honeymoon" phase of owning a new camera? The reason I asked for "seasoned" 5DIII shooters was because people tend to look past some things when they first buy a camera. A good example would be me looking past the awful 5DII AF when I first bought it. It took me almost 5 months to come to terms with it and realize that I basically had to just use manual focus.

I think when the price settles closer to the 2,000 mark its going to be a great great deal. It was overpriced at 3500 and thats about when I got mine.

Biggest gripe were all minor stuff. SD card is not high speed

If your a canon shooter really nothing better out their besides the 1dx. The 6D is crippled too much to consider I think for a lot of people.

It should have dual digic to get 7FPS I think too in this price range.

But I loved it, sold it and went another direction for now. But its GREAT camera.

cheezz wrote in post #15552667
I don't own one but I heard it turns into laminate flooring when no one is looking.

This one is going to run and run, eh..?