Mark III display stinks

Wow, I never realized how bad the LCD display is on the camera. They color are way off and its not very sharp at all. Really makes looking for whats in focus very hard....grrr. Was trying to take pictures of water droplets and every picture looked out of focus, but when I got to the computer is was a totally different picture.

Are there any settings that will help make the display look any better?

tips and or comments on this issue would be great.

Well, compared to the bodies that came before it the display is really nice! Are you complaining because it's not as good as a body 4 years newer?

So, I honestly don't use the LCD for White Balance and such because I shoot Raw, so don't even notive the colors. Sorry.

For sharpness I just use it if I'm shooting in manual focus by zooming in at the 10x level. At that magnification you truly can use it to check sharpness. At any lesser magnification you really aren't viewing sharpness no matter what camera you're using. Maybe getting an idea of generally "in focus", but usually I'm busy shooting and have my eye on the viewfinder to get the focus working properly. If I have the time and a shooting something critical at a wide angle, again, Live View with 10x magnification does the trick.

Mostly, I use Live View with Exposure Simulation turned on and the live Histogram to check overall exposure and for highlight alerts, typically at the beginning of a shoot so I don't have to do a lot of chimping as the shoot goes on.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. IMO, it's worse than the one that was on the 5DC because they upped the size of the LCD while keeping the resolution the same. It's same with the 40D. Just, truly FUGLY things.

Actually, you can judge sharpness. You just have to figure out what is sharp relative to what you are seeing. If you shoot the 1DMKIII long enough, you'll acquire this "skill".

1D Mark III? 1Ds Mark III?

What you see on the LCD of any DSLR is a small "preview" JPEG. It's of limited value, but you probably can modify the appearance to be a bit more acceptable. (I don't have either of those cameras, so what's below is based upon every other Canon I've used).

Look for the Picture Styles in the menu: Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Defined 1 through 3.

These are typically used as simple preset choices when shooting JPEGs with the camera. The three user defined ones can be custom setups. But the Picture Style that's chosen also determines what appears on the LCD, even when you're shooting RAW files. Choose a different one that gives you more pleasing colors, you'll need to experiment. I think Canon may have some info on their website how the different Picture Styles are set up. You can also go into the setup to check how the different parameters are adjusted, make any changes and increase sharpness, if you wish.

These settings will effect any JPEGs you shoot. But they will not effect RAW files, unless you post process them with Canon DPP and allow it to default to the Picture Style. Even then, with RAW files you can change it if you wish, the original file data is not modified.

Still, the LCD on any DSLR is only marginally useful for image review. It's too subject to ambient light and there is no way to color calibrate it accurately. You can zoom in to check focus and check overall composition. The histogram can be very helpful with exposure accuracy. But critical image color and contrast evaluation, along with focus accuracy, are best checked on a calibrated, graphic quaility computer monitor. How about shooting tethered?

Solution is simple.......don't use your LCD to compose your shots, maybe for framing. Look at the histogram for exposure. For sharpness and AF accuracy? With enough experiences, you should know if you have nailed the focus.

We aren't really talking about composition/framing. We aren't even talking about exposure. There are situations where having an LCD good enough to at least give you an idea of sharpness would be very helpful, and we have that in newer cameras so it's not something new that we are demanding. Of course the 1DMKIII is an older generation camera so it is what it is. I don't see it as a show stopper at all but having experienced the nice high resolution LCD's on newer cameras, going back to the 1DMKIII is definitely a jolting experience.

That said, IMO, the LCD on the 1DMKIII, 1DsMKIII, and 40D all are especially very bad. It's like why even bother putting it there if it was that bad!

nicksan wrote in post #11818824
That said, IMO, the LCD on the 1DMKIII, 1DsMKIII, and 40D all are especially very bad. It's like why even bother putting it there if it was that bad!

They work great for menus

Solution- Don't chimp.

I use the LCD for checking menu settings and blinkies, nothing else. The mkIII was not really targeted at people who like to stare at the LCD.. Maybe you would be better off with a point & shoot, with a nice big LCD of course. If you think the mkIII LCD is sub-par, try using a 10D or earlier model.

emtp563 wrote in post #11818913
Solution- Don't chimp.

Haha! YEP!

I shoot with a MANUAL FOCUS 50mm F1.2!!!!! on a 1D MARK TWO!!!!!


what could you possibly be so upset about????

relax, you have one of the best cameras ever made. Chill out. calm down. grab a beer, or a mixed drink, read the paper, watch some tv.

it is not that bad!

Now, my life has been made MUCH easier thanks to a new spit prism focusing screen. It truly is lovely. Ec-B forevaarrrrr!

I did not realize you did ask a question, I am sorry for responding and not offering any real help.

The best thing is just not to rely on what the jpeg preview of the image looks like. shoot in raw..... adjust the levels in your computer. no problem. easy/peasy.

.

Thank you for the responses. When doing macro type shots that require 1000 shots to get a couple good keepers it would be nice to have a better display. It's no fun to have to stop shooting to zoom in on ever picture to see if your focused or not. falling water droplets are not a very easy thing to focus in on when you want a fairly shallow DOF. If this is the worst of my complaints I think Im in Great shape....lol.

I think this would be a good time to experience with the live view shooting..=)

nicksan wrote in post #11819595

I'm with you, I find live-view a very useful feature for a lot of shots. It's actually frustrating without it on a tripod.

I never had any issues with it..granted its no were near as nice as my 7D is but it doesnt make things bad when i am using it.