5D Mark III to 5D Mark IV Upgrade?

Looking for real world experiences with anyone who has upgraded.
Not a Video guy.
Any real improvements in the AF Focus speed and hit rates?
Thinking about it as the Grips are now included which is a nice savings.
May or may not trade in one of the two 5D Mark III’s. Love to keep as back up, remote and they are darn nice cameras.
Just thinking out loud.
Thanks.

Nick5 wrote in post #18875330
Looking for real world experiences with anyone who has upgraded.
Not a Video guy.
Any real improvements in the AF Focus speed and hit rates?
Thinking about it as the Grips are now included which is a nice savings.
May or may not trade in one of the two 5D Mark III’s. Love to keep as back up, remote and they are darn nice cameras.
Just thinking out loud.
Thanks.

I got the MkIII in December 2012 and the MkIV in May 2018. Among other things I shoot high school girls varsity soccer with the 100-400mm L Mk I (push/pull). I always had great success with the MkIII. Moving to the MkIV, I've found it to be marginally better. The AF system in the IV is more sophisticated than in the III. I love the IV, but I also loved the III.

I moved to the IV because I could. I had 80,000 shots on the III and it was working fine. My wife gave me the go ahead to get it before I actually decided to do it. I also waited for the price to drop on the IV as I didn't think it was worth the full price when it was released. I don't regret waiting.

Is the AF worth the upgrade? While people have said the size of the AF point coverage is larger in the IV, it's not much larger. Is the hit rate better, the same, or worse? I've found it's certainly as good. The III was always very good. If I had to give the sense of the improvement in the IV, I couldn't quantify it other than to say I've never regretted the upgrade and wouldn't willingly choose the MkIII over the MkIV. Below is a set of shots taken with the MkIV and the 100-400 last month.

https://grahamglover.z​enfolio.com/p255323225

On the grip, I think Canon went cheap on the grip. With the MkIII, you got two trays, one for the regular Canon batteries and one for 6xAA batteries. With the MkIV, you just get the tray for the Caon batteries, and it seems a bit flimsy. No matter, those are nit picks.

There is one improvement I really like in the IV, AutoISO. AutoISO is wonderful. In Av, you can set a fixed shutter speed or an automatic shutter speed based on the focal length of the lens, with adjustments to either increase or decrease the automatic shutter speed.

The MkIII is a great camera and the MkIV is better. Is it worth the upgrade? Honestly I haven't seen a noticeable improvement in AF, but then it was great before. If you're looking for great improvements with the IV, you won't find them and in that case I wouldn't recommend it. If you're on the proverbial fence about the IV, can afford it, and the money is burning a proverbial hole in your pocket, go for it!

Better yet. Rent the MkIV and see what you think. While you won't be completely familiar with the IV, it's similar enough to the III that you should be able to get a good sense of what the IV can do for you.

Hope this helps!

I loved Mark III while I had it. Upgrading to Mark IV wasn't a WOW'ing experience, whether improved AF or whatnot. As a mostly bird photographer, my primary motive for upgrading was to go from 22.3 MP to 30.4 MP so I can enjoy the greater crop tolerance. I can now print my bird images larger.

More pickles, slightly more FPS, faster SD, improves ISO and the WiFi were my biggest everyday things for me
The AF, GPS, touchscreen etc were nice new things to have

I tried to go back to the III after that and I couldn’t

I upgraded from the III to the IV. Overall better camera. No one feature stands out but in total its nicer to use. The AF is better and seems to lock on very fast. Low light AF is amazing. I appreciate the built-in GPS and wi-fi. With the wi-fi I can operate the camera remotely which is handy. A few more pixels give more cropping ability, and slightly faster operation. SD operation is sped up with the ability to use the faster cards.

Conceptually, the AF in 5Diii-and-up are the same. The 5Diii (and 7D) mark the advent of modern AF for canon's DSLR. If you had the 5Dii, it's well worth it to move up to 5Div, bc that was like 90s AF architecture.

Btw, I shot on 5Dii and 7D for about 10yrs, and now 7Dii. Nevertheless, the 5Dii IQ is orders of magnitude better than 7D at any given time; conceptually, I believe the IQ difference from 5Dii to 5Div isn't vastly different in the right hands.

Prior to the recent 7Dii upgrade, I considered going back to FF and 5Diii is a better value for photos based on my estimations.