Photography BLOG

by GoldenHammer

A Long Story

It has been a long wish since my first professional body Nikon D1x to have it shoot in low light (the acceptable sensitivity level is iso400), and it ended up running with wide open aperture, the result is not really up to my expectation.

I have been seeking my next advanced camera for ever best image quality, in particular, in terms of pulling out excellent details and delivering great image quality under lower light environment, it will also serve me mainly for landscape and portrait work.

I have been waiting for a while with hope that there will be one out soon that meets all my expectations (no surprise, it always fails, and I skipped the Nikon D2 series). But with the recent higher-pixel, higher-iso and FF (Full Frame refers to the use of the full film gate at maximum width and height for 35 mm film cameras) revolution in digital cameras, I finally have my shortlist – Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 5D and Nikon D3.

After some months of investigation, it comes up into a score chart (5 is the highest mark). Please be reminded that, the ranking here is totally a subjective perception, make your own judge and take your own risk if you take this serious in decision making.

Image quality: 5D=4.5, IDsM3=4, D3=4
Features: 5D=3, IDsM3=4, D3=5
Portability: 5D=4, IDsM3=3.5, D3=3.5
Ease of use: 5D=3.5, IDsM3=4, D3=4
Construction: 5D=4, IDsM3=4.5, D3=4.5
Value for money: 5D=4, IDsM3=3, D3=4
Overall: 5D=23, IDsM3=23, D3=25

Falling in Love

And now you know what, I picked the Canon 5D, is that strange? How come it was not the latest camera at the status-of-the-art technologies like Nikon D3 (for its amazing performance capturing light in darkness and shooting like machine gun to freeze actions?) and why not the 21MP ever high pixel FF digital camera Canon 1Ds Mark III? Yes, I like all of them, I would want all cameras with me, but it turns out that I only fall in love with the Canon 5D.

If I just followed the score chart, I would have had the Nikon D3, which in fact is a reasonable choice, since I already have a nice set of Nikkor prime lenses (10.5/2.8 fisheye, 18/2.8, 28/1.4, 45/2.8, 85/1.4, 200/4 & 300/4). The D3 should produce some very nice result with them in low light environment.

But that is not a simple case, I find the Canon 5D has an edge over all others in terms of "gentle & smooth", it delivers an output most favorite to my eyes, in fact, it is a please to see the smoothness, not to mention with exceptional details delivered, the 5D is very good both in the landscape and portrait applications. Yes, a very subjective perception? And I am not sure if that could be quantified in a technical expression, but I am confident that I see something inside that makes the 5D unique. Perhaps that is the reason we are different and *STILL* in a world of wonder?!

5D is far from being my "perfect" camera, it has 2-years behind in features (I would want the auto-iso in Av & Tv and M modes, and live view is going to help for some work requires precise manual focus) and in a relatively lower performance in operations. I have asked myself if I should keep waiting again for something new? …… not this time, though Canon may eventually release something like 5D Mark II, it will be in a completely new design with a new sensor, that is totally another story.

Second Thought

Being a rational man with a mind set seeking value and optimization, I always take a second thought, D3 is about double the cost of the 5D, the additional costs goes to a better built body packing with a rich set of features and exceptional high performance in terms of frame rates. Unfortunately, they are not critical to me, I rarely shoot sports and moving subjects.

While D3 is able to pull out usable result in 2-3 more stops (in which it goes to extra high shutter speed to freeze actions) over 5D at higher iso, it is more relevant to a matter of the built-in noise reduction feature. 5D is quite usable at iso3200 (and if by accident it under exposured by 2 stops, I may still have something that retains most details rather than completely missed a shot, some assessment claims that 5D is about a third of a stop more sensitive than indicated, and that means iso4000 when shoot at the specification iso3200, see also Canon EOS 5D at iso12800 (16000?!) and Canon EOS 5D at iso3200 which is which?), with RAW processing and more advanced external noise reduction tools, that is not a real big gap if I don't shoot sports/ action under indoor environment.

And how critical is that 21MP from the 1Ds Mark III to me? If I need extra large print size for my landscape work, I would make something amazing by stitching in processing tools. At this price level (D3=5Dx2, 1Ds Mark III=5Dx4), I would prefer to have the 5D body and some more decent Canon EF L lenses. I also acquired the optional battery grip that makes 5D the only FF body available in a more portable advantage over D3 and 1Ds Mark III.

On the other hand, I already have a 1.6x Canon 40D (see also Canon EOS 40D for Serious & Everyday Work) serving as a everyday work horse at better portability, the FF Canon 5D will set this into a very good combo, they can share the decent EF L lenses (and just discovered that the 5D is using same type of battery and charger for 40D), and I would enjoy the advantages from both worlds.

*** I would suggest the 5D is the best FF camera out there for enthusiast while D3 and 1Ds Mark III means effectiveness & productivities (and that means money) will be a necessary solution to high demanding professionals. ***

Engagement

Well, Canon 5D, I caught my dark angel! Is it up to my expectation? Yes and no.

I ended up to have my 5D kit (24-105/4 lens), 2nd battery, the battery grip and a 8GB flash memory. It is a nice touch recall my feel with pro body, nice handling (I find the 5D kit with the battery grip in very good balance) … but what a relatively much slower machine than my 40D in general operations, downloading my very first pictures to PC is longer than expected (it is a pain when downloading images in a fullly loaded 8G CF from the 5D to PC). Fortunately, the center AF point is working effectively up to my expectation with 24-105/4 in most case under low light, not that much behind 40D.

Immediately discovered the advantages and disadvantages of FF body, clarity image, but now I have to get used to bad corners. My sensor and viewfinder are absolutely clear, see if it would start to collect dusts in the very soon future (though I am a very careful person).

And I was wondering for a while on the hot pixels (2 big & 7 small identified), but they are not actually visible generally by iso800 at 1 second exposure. By iso3200 at 1/10s, it can hardly tell there is a hot one, this makes the iso3200 a true usable setup (well, I am not going to call for a replacement, guess this is about the 5D quality standard from Canon?).

Anyway, here is a non-official way on the forum to map out dead pixels – make a shot with lens cap on at eg. 1/5 seconds and 1600 ISO with auto-focus off (or turn off noise reduction in CF and make shutter open for longer). After that go to Sensor Cleaning and turn it on (as cleaning the CMOS when mirror is up and shutter is open, but leave lens on) for a minute. Yes, it should be long enough. After that, switch camera off, then – on and – YOUR DEAD PIXELS ARE GONE!

I am mastering it better whenever I make one more shot from 5D, I confirmed myself to have 5D serves me as mainstay in landscape and event work and 40D as backup and whenever I need longer. While I find the kit lens 24-105/4 is capable of covering most everyday work (ok, I decided to have the Speedlite 580EX II too), I need some wider and higher speed lenses for creativities in landscape and low light works. I may go to a 14/2.8 II (that will be something amazing in ultra wide when it filled with a proper composition) and 24/1.4 (in a "two eyes" prospect that makes handheld & dynamic work style possible in low light), they are enablers for spectacular, not from the camera & lens, but the vision of photographers.

I finally go with a 16-35/2.8 II lens instead of two primes after some careful inspection and refined requirement. Firstly, it comes with my most favorite focal length ranges, that is a compromised solution – versatile and high speed for landscape as well as event work in low light environment.

Secondly, 16-35/2.8 II is a new design lens optimized for latest Canon FF body, it has consistent performance across apertures. In fact, Canon made this lens to work at wide focal length and wide open aperture, I am surprised by its output at 16mm f/2.8. Lastly, 16-35/2.8 II has very nice blur background effect that worths its price for some creative and lower available light work.

And now I just made the basic setup in two combos, they cover most my applications, the main stream go to wide side in 5D + 16-35/2.8 II and 40D + 24-105/4 for general and long side work.

… to be continued.

Samples from 5D with 16-35/2.8 II

This is a very first shot at 16mm f/2.8, it already delivers very nice result wide open. It resolves much details in both close and distance shots with nice colors and contrast favorite to my eyes. Stop down comes with better corners sharpness but that looks marginal to me, at f/2.8, it produces less CA distortion than other smaller apertures, that is interesting and out of my expectation.