5D mark III tips?

Good evening! I ordered the 5d mark III 24-105L combo over the weekend. On a side note I work for UPS "Preload early am". I will be able to get my camera before the trucks leave out in the morning I currently have a 5D mark II and now that I am moving to the mark III what things should I study first before doing a event? I have 3 events coming up this weekend. Any tips I need to know? Thanks in advance everyone. I love you all btw I also ordered a sigma 35 which will be coming in friday.

I'm not a fan of zone AF; I only use single point, spot, and single point with expansion.

timbop wrote in post #15839930
I'm not a fan of zone AF; I only use single point, spot, and single point with expansion.

Thanks, I will read up on those things. I had a 7D a few years back. The funny thing is I haven't paid no kind of attention to the 5d mark III cause I know I would have to save up to buy it lol. I refuse to use credit cards. God made it able and I got a few wedding bookings and were able to buy it cash. Now the hard part is trying to learn what this camera does. I just know of the 61 af system lol

Put it on single point AF in the middle like you probably did with 5DII and you'll be good.
If there is time, play around with moving the AF point.
I use the AF single point with restricted area, don't remember what its called but it seems to keep focus where I want it.

I bought first 5DIII and thought I'd keep a 5DII for backup. That lasted about two jobs. Then I got the second 5DIII and sold the backup 5DII.

Presuming you shoot raw, my suggestion is full sized raw on the CF card and the larger small faw on the SD card for backup. The SD will hold about twice the small raw if its the same size as the CF.

Get Doug Klostermann's 5D3 e-book. I don't have that one, but I got his books for both my T3i (since sold) and my 7D. He does a great job of going through every menu and how to set them up with recommended settings for each. Even if you don't set it up the way he suggests, you get a great idea of what each menu item does and what it controls. It is probably the best 10 bucks you will spend.

You can get it on Amazon or at his website: http://www.dojoklo.com.

Note: I have recommended Doug's books on several threads and lest anyone has other ideas, I have no financial interest in this except as a very satisfied customer!

Yeah AF system is the biggest change, read up on what it can do and how you can set the controls to use/change them. There's also some custom settings/buttons that the 5dII didn't have so just like any new camera read up on the custom functions/settings.

There is a thread already on here with tips and setting in it, it might be worth also looking in that thread for ideas.

My two favs are using the DOF button to instantly (and momentarily) switch in and out of One-Shot/AF Servo, and the the other is to set up different AF points depending on how i hold the camera. This is a real boon for going from landscape to portrait orientation as I have the AF point top middle in portrait mode, very handy for shooting people without having to focus and re compose too much.

Oh, and silent shutter mode in on 99% of the time.

Be aware that if writing to both cards at the same time the camera will slow down a bit, as the SD slot is not as fast as the CF slot, and the camera will use the slower slot for saving image to both cards. It might not be noticeable or and issue but to get the very best speed out of the camera just write to the CF card only.

Thanks everyone!

There are a series of Canon made tutorials at http://www.learn.usa.c​anon.com …d_markiii_tutor​ials.shtml. Some people find it worthwhile to sit in front of a PC and watch, camera in hand.

Look at the canon pdf for various settings for 1dx, 5dmk3. No need to buy any other book IMHO.

IMO, learning to operate a new camera by reading the user's manual is like pulling your teeth with a pair of pliers without anesthesia - yes it will do the job, but there are better and less painful ways.

Thanks again everyone!

I second switching the DOF preview button to servo/one-shot. I'm a boutique wedding photographer and shoot in servo constantly. Having one-shot handy did wonders for unique composition within seconds.

You lucky dog!

A couple of articles on AF that might interest you: http://learn.usa.canon​.com …n_crosstype_art​icle.shtml
This one is titled for the 1DX but almost all of it also applies to the 5D3 also: http://learn.usa.canon​.com …/2012/1dx_guide​book.shtml

Enjoy!

Set the MFn button to turn on the internal level. This has saved my bacon more than once on some landscapes.