First reaction to my new 5DS R - really judging it against my 5D3

Probably an excellent camera but I think if I was going to spend that much money on a new body would rent one first to be sure it was for me..
Hopefully once you get used to it it will produce the results you are after..

joeseph wrote in post #17744863
so you're saying none of the 1Ds line should be in used in the field by landscape photographers? not sure anyone would really agree with that...

I didn't see anything remotely like that...

Yes in studio situation it definitely delivers the pop soc.

Outside was a disaster but I am pretty sure I know why - see further post.

Pretty sure that was my problem.

The point regarding build was the 5D3 is 950g and the 5DS R is 845g = 101g
So the 5D3 is 12% heavier. As the baseplate has been beefed up in the 5DS R , one would expect the latter to be heavier.
On the contrary it is lighter, so in light of the heavier baseplate, they must have reduced the weight more than 12% in the rest of the camera. I can percieve that, I it has almost lost the "carved out if a solid block of aluminium" feel. Thats a shame and seems stupid as they say they need the mass to avoid vibration.
The finish on the dials also looks cheaper , painted raised plastic indentations rather than a sort of metal demarkation thin plate.

The latter doesnt bother me - but the loss of weight is disappointing. But hey thats life.

Thanks for the recipe - will try that.

Would seem sensible, but wanted needed the POP, and wanted to do the swap before the 5D4 hit the streets and the 5D3 prices tumbled.

Pretty Sure I have discovered why my outside shots were a disaster.
No real excuse, but it was all a huge rush to get this shoot sorted including a 3 hour drive there.
So no time to even read the manual - which is rather a dumb thing to do.

The pressure was on, as the Model really wanted the ultimate in resolution, and agreed to an 11 hour shoot free in exchange - and she understood I may even have to stop and read the manual.

So I really just had time to check out all the stuff for studio work - and that went fine - ish?

In context - 501 studio images - say 3 awful shots and 4oo good ones and 50 great ones!
37 outside shots 5 good, 10 OK , 22 disasters.

I think I have identified the problem. I thought that Canon had implemented metering at the selected AF point in all modes, on the 5DS R! [my only gripe with the 5D3. Pretty basic thing imo]
Reading the manual it seems they left it like the 5D3 i.e. Only in Evaluative Mode, and with the manually selected AF point otherwise its metered at the Centre Point! I used Spot metering!

These outside shots were just a spur of the moment thing, we were having coffee saying hello, not met her before. Suddenlty its brilliant warm sunshine...... In the UK in October OMG!! So we fired off a few. She just had on a loose, very light cream blouse and Black non-marking stretch leggings!

As I really use the selected AF points, and virtually always on the eyes. I am pretty sure when I focused on the eyes the centre point could have been on the light blouse in strong sun, or on the black leggins. No wonder it was all over the place. Or when she was lying / sitting on the fountain surround, the metering point could have been on foliage or the stonework or even the gravel!

Naturally I will have to check this, but I am pretty positive this was the problem.

The second problem is, I would normally go 100% manual. Set my aperture to say F 2.8 to F8 as desired, ISO to 160 and shutter speed to 1/160, and then look at the meter to adjust the shutter speed to expose for the background sometimes, or maybe up the ISO if needed, And use the Speedlights for backfill.

In this case as it was just a bit of fun, I just set the shutter speed to 1/160 and the aperture to F8 and ISO to Auto.
So pretty much not helping things at all.
Compound that with Spot metering missing the metering target - I am sure this was the problem.
Or one could say the dumb photographer was just asking for it!

Or blame Canon for not having metering at the selected AF Point on a £3,200 camera. Lets hope this is a frmware fix , as they do it in Evaluative mode??

I am therefore not at all worried, but interested if you experienced folks agree the camera had no chance.

Is there a link one could point me to ref instructions on how to post pics!
I Think I have a Photobucket account somewhere.
Ideally would like the image to appear in the post, with an option to hyperlink click to see the full file.

Quick impressions in studio lighting it was very rich, and sharp, even without MFA ing the lens ( on the 5D3 ) .

Outside it was a bit dissapointing and not bomb proof like the 5D3 BUT as the exposure metering was so off - due to my error I think this might adversely affect it. ( but is that right? )

Other points
It did take some time for the image to appear on the LCD screen, whereas the 5D3 is pretty much instantaneous !

But worth the delay for the superb IQ, but it really could use a faster processor . The card used was a 120 MB/s Sandisk Extreme.

Need to look into this ( check it is in spec ) , time it properly etc. as I saw a post where someone had a problem.

I Do hope if mine is a slow one, that its a firmware fix?

Submariner wrote in post #17746226
Other points
It did take some time for the image to appear on the LCD screen, whereas the 5D3 is pretty much instantaneous !

But worth the delay for the superb IQ, but it really could use a faster processor . The card used was a 120 MB/s Sandisk Extreme.

Need to look into this ( check it is in spec ) , time it properly etc. as I saw a post where someone had a problem.

I Do hope if mine is a slow one, that its a firmware fix?

The display / review of the pictures is a FACT about the camera (compared to the 5D3 - you should see how slow the A7Rii is) - no SD card is going to change it - just accept it. The only way to make it 'faster' is to use a single CF card (I use a Lexar Professional 1066x). Even with a fast CF card, it still takes longer for the pictures to be available to immediately review than the 5D3. Also make sure you choose the CF card to review the pictures from.

You learn to live with the above or you don't - I just accept it as a fact and no longer fight it. It has changed the way I have shot in different wedding situations as with the 5D3 I would very quickly review certain pictures to make sure I have everyone's eyes open - I no longer do this - I just shoot another 4 pictures in certain situations.

Submariner wrote in post #17746171
The point regarding build was the 5D3 is 950g and the 5DS R is 845g = 101g
So the 5D3 is 12% heavier. As the baseplate has been beefed up in the 5DS R , one would expect the latter to be heavier.
On the contrary it is lighter, so in light of the heavier baseplate, they must have reduced the weight more than 12% in the rest of the camera. I can percieve that, I it has almost lost the "carved out if a solid block of aluminium" feel. Thats a shame and seems stupid as they say they need the mass to avoid vibration.
The finish on the dials also looks cheaper , painted raised plastic indentations rather than a sort of metal demarkation thin plate.

The latter doesnt bother me - but the loss of weight is disappointing. But hey thats life.

The don't need mass to avoid vibration, there are many other ways to soften the mirror "flop" from different materials to different motors, etc. Lighter cameras aren't bad at all, as long as they are rigid (ie. don't flex) and they are weather resistant. Weight isn't a good indicator of build quality.

(For example) I can build it out of Steel, or I can build it out of Titanium, the Steel will be heavier, and the Titanium will be stronger. Mass is not an indicator of either strength or quality. Building things out of the optimum materials for the job in hand is what really matters. Why do you think the good Engineers like the Materials Sciences guys so much?

Alan

I don't have a 5D3/S/Sr but having tried the spot metering on my 1DX I have had very erratic results! There is nothing wrong with the metering it is just that it changes wildly with the slightest movement of the camera. I find "Big Spot" as I call it or Partial as Canon call it much more reliable.
This is what I use for wildlife, I use Evaluative for pretty much everything else.