5D MK III settings -- help a brother out....

i'll be receiving my 5d3 on thursday and i was hoping that i could get some help on setting up the camera.

i remember when i got my 1d3 one of the pros posted a list of his preferred settings that turned out to be a great starting point for many of us not familiar with so many options.

and i'm not just talking about AF parameters but all settings. if you can point me to a thread or lists of settings i would appreciate the help. thanks .

I've been using the 5D3 now for about 10 months and I know how I like it setup. Here are the basics.

For outdoor or natural light situations:
1. raw
2. auto white balance
3. ISO 160, 320, 640, 1250 (1600 and above, any ISO is fine)
4. EC +2/3 to (1+1/3) for low to mid contrast situations
5. if high contrast (like direct sunlight), EC 0 to -1/3
6. for more raw like accurate histogram, neutral, 0 sharpness, contrast -4, satuation -2, tone 0
7. for that "oh snap" look straight out of camera, auto picture style, 0 sharpening.
8. Silent shutter makes for sharper photos and it is very quiet.

For typical indoor, lower contrast, tungsten light:
1. IS0 Same as above
2. custom white balance (grey card, kelvin, etc.) household bulbs seem to be about 2500K
3. EC +1

ETC... I use Lightroom 4, ACR 7, DXO Optics Pro 8 or Canon's DPP to process raw files depending on the look I want and the situation.

Boss302 ISO 160, 320, 640 and so on has less noise than 100 200 400 ..?

5D Mark 3 AF Setting Guidebook: *CLICK*

Nice one, just what i was looking for myself.Cheers.

jocau wrote in post #15707629
5D Mark 3 AF Setting Guidebook: *CLICK*

you're the man Jocau -- you must be a Tom Boonen fan !

all other suggestions are appreciated.

sed714 wrote in post #15707770
Nice one, just what i was looking for myself.Cheers.

You're welcome. It's always nice to help someone out.

ed rader wrote in post #15707809
you're the man Jocau -- you must be a Tom Boonen fan !

all other suggestions are appreciated.

Lol, actually I hate cycling, but Kim Clijsters (tennis) is OK. And Belgian French Fries, they are 'OK' too.
I originally saw the link to the PDF in someone's signature on this forum, but I can't remember who... I also mentioned it somewhere in my 5D3 vs 6D thread. I'm glad you like it.

GT-ti wrote in post #15707582
Boss302 ISO 160, 320, 640 and so on has less noise than 100 200 400 ..?

Yes, ISO 160 does seem to have a little less noise than ISO 100. Exposing to the right helps also, I do both.

There is a site that attempts to calculate something called Photographic Dynamic Range. http://home.comcast.ne​t/~NikonD70/Charts/PDR​.htm According to this site, the 5D3 has its best dynamic range at ISO 160, and its even a tiny bit better than ISO 100 on the 1DX. I make no claims that this information is correct, but in my experience taking real photos it seems to be correct.

I like setting the DOF button to toggle between one shot and AI Servo. I also change the M f-n button to viewfinder leveler.

Boss, Buylongterm -- thanks for the replies. i will bookmark this thread and use your suggestions to set up my camera. i've been on my phone all day so now that i'm home i'll check out the PDF Jocau. thanks to all for helping a brother out .

Ed

your gonna find that base settings are very accurate. Your biggest headache will be the AF system. If you have used a 7D at all, your good to go. Its very similar.

here are my settings.. hope it helps

1-Camera settings-- pretty much standard Canon stuff on the 1st 4 menu's so set to your hearts desire

2- AF--read and understand how it works and how to set tracking sensitivity,accel/dece​l tracking and AF pt auto switch works

case 1 works very well right out of the box but for me for what i do i choose to slow it down

case 1
tracking sensativity set to 1 below zero
accell/decell set to zero
AF PT auto set to zero

important

turn off all auto functions,, i dont let camera make any selections

Select AF area selec mode-- un -check the last 2 auto boxes-- they suck

orientation linked to AF point is a nice feature on this camera-- set it to your liking

another biggie for dual cards--RECORD FUNC+Card/folder sel.

i have mine set to record seperately
main card is raw
SD card is Mraw

im using the dual cards strictly as a back up--- 32 GB cards get you at 1000 shots on the main card (close might be wrong but close )

auto rotate on

VF grid display on--love this feature

exposure- 1/3
iso speed- 1/3

study custom controls-- lots of trick stuff here

All in All-- easy to use camera.. just get AF system down cold and your set

A couple of other useful settings I use are setting the joystick to control the AF point, and setting the SET button to adjust the ISO in the viewfinder (just hold the SET button and use the dial to change ISO in the same manner as you would shutter or aperture).

For the dual cards, I just have the SD card installed as an overflow in case the CF card gets full or becomes faulty. I have not used it yet (except by accident) -- I shoot RAW only.

I also configured the custom modes on the dial to automatically retain any setting changes I make. On the 7D or previously owned 40D, this was not possible, as you had to go into the menu system each time and save your changes. I find the feature very useful.

Ed,

I spent about 2 weeks (on and off) playing with more advanced settings for my new 5D Mark III, i.e., beyond the blatantly obvious stuff like auto white balance, Raw vs JPG, color space, etc. Here are a few of mine. Feel free to adopt them, or not, based on your own personal shooting style.

AF4 Menu:

Lens Drive when AF Impossible: Off

Selectable AF Point: All 61 Points (recall we discuss this in another thread. But see AF5 settings below)

Select AF area Selec. Mode: All ON

AF area selection mode: Main Dial (faster than pressing the M-Fn button IMHO)

Orientation linked AF Points: Select separate for vertical and horizontal.


AF5 Menu:

Manual AF Pt. Selection pattern: Continuous (allows the AF point to move from one side of the VF to the other.

AF Point Display during focus: Selected (Constant) — See my comment on AF4 Menu above. This works to show only the selected point of the Selectable AF Point, All 61 Points you chose in AF4 above so you won’t SEE all 61 points, but have access to them.

VF Display Illumination: Auto

AF Microadjustment: Off


C.Fn2 Custom Controls. This is a biggie. Mine is set as follows:

Shutter button: Metering Start/AF On

AF-On: AF-Off — this will allow for Back Button focusing if you want.

AE Lock (asterisk) button — AE Lock (default)

DOF Preview —DOF Preview (Default for me, but others like One Shot AF to AI Servo Instant Switch)

Lens AF Stop Button — AF Stop — I don’t have any lenses that use this function.

M-Fn Button — Viewfinder Level. Very cool!

SET button — ISO Instant Access— Basically you hold down the Set button and turn the main dial to change the ISO without taking your eye from the viewfinder.

Main Dial — Av — Aperture Setting in Manual Mode

Quick Control Dial — Tv — Shutter speed setting in manual mode

(Note the above two are reversed from the defaults. Reason: Reversing them keeps these controls in the same configuration in Manual mode as in Av mode, so if you use Av mode often, switching to Manual won’t mess up your muscle memory with different controls on the main dial and quick control dials.

Joystick Controller — AF Point Direct selection. This allows you to access the AF Point selection directly without pressing the button for it on the camera.

Those are a few of mine. Hope that helps.

A couple other things:

A. Although I've added all the lens aberration correction data to my camera for each Canon lens I own (via EOS Utility), I've Disabled all of it for now until I can see how the photos come out.

B. On My Menu, I've selected the following in this order:

1. External Speedlite Control -- allows you to control the Speedlite from the back of the camera.

2. VF Grid Display

3. Hightlight Tone Priority

4. GPS Device Settings (I have the GP-E2).

5. Format Card.

6. Record Func+Card/Folder Sel. -- Having quick access to this allows you to quickly choose which card to record to and which to play back from.

this ++ a million times
It's really a big help when shooting M mode (or any other mode for that matter)

You might want to change the front dial to aperture and the rear to shutter. It just seems backwards to me the other way around (default). I tend to vary the shutter far more than aperture.

The Mf-n button is worthless for changing AF type. You might want to set it to use the wheel.