Canon EOS 5D Mark III part 2

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I have now had some time to shoot with the 5DIII along side my 1D Mark IV for several different events. I am still acquainting myself with the AF cases, etc but I feel like I can make a decent assessment of the camera.Virtually all of my shooting has been fall sports. Soccer, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Football, etc. at both the High School and Collegiate levels.
I don't do scientific testing or prepared studio shots, etc. I simply get out and shoot the things that I normally shoot and then check the results..simple and tells me what I need to know as a photographer.

I will compare this camera to the 1D Mark IV where applicable.

ergonomics:
I have been shooting 1D bodies for over five years..there is no comparison. The 5D III feels cheap in comparison. I don't think that it is but comparing to the mark IV, it is small, out of balance, and feels cheap.
I added the battery grip and it made a huge difference. It balances the camera on my big lenses, gives vertical controls, and makes the camera more comfortable to use. One thing that I don't like about the grip is that the controls are not exactly in the same place as the camera body. I think with bit more use, it will be a non-issue but I still fumble a bit to get my thumb on the focus instantly.

Shooting:
The 5DIII is nice to shoot but again lacks in responsiveness in comparison to the markIV. It is slower to wake up, has a bit more lag, the shutter isn't as snappy, etc. Coming from anything but a 1D body and I am sure people will be more than happy with it. The bright full frame viewfinder is fantastic.

AF:
My camera evolution has been: 20D, 40D, 1D mark III, ID mark IV, and the 5D III. I honestly think that the 5D III AF is the best yet. The cases are a bit confusing and the zones and points complex but once you figure it out...it is a great system. If I could get this AF into my mark IV I would be happy to do so.

Files and high ISO:
I think that there is maybe 1/2 stop or so of high ISO improvement over my mark IV. Sometimes I don't see much difference and then at other venues it seems to be closer to a stop of improvement.
As far as the files, the camera produces beautiful images that can handle cropping and post-processing (I shoot 100% RAW) with ease.

I got this camera for a great price with the thought that I could easily sell it without a loss if I didn't like it. Well, I am keeping it. My guess is that the 1Dx is the camera that I am looking for...a combo of the ruggedness and responsiveness of the 1D mark IV and the AF and new features of the 5D III. I could sell both my bodies to fund the 1Dx but in reality, I can do my job better when I have two cameras working. My combo has been the 1DIV with a 300 2.8 lens with a 1.4x converter and then the 5DIII with a 135 F2.0 to cover closer action. My next purchase (there always seems to be a next one) will likely be the 70-200 2.8 II.
I sold my 70-200 2.8 IS about a year ago. I was never thrilled with the AF, etc on it in comparison to prime lenses.

Click to see larger image.

New weapon in the arsenal coming...

I have been laboring over what if any piece of equipment would allow me to do better work or give my clients better images. On the short list is a 400mm 2.8 lens, the 70-200 2.8 IS II lens, and the forthcoming 24-70 2.8 II lens. Each of these are amazing lenses by all reports and would allow me to capture measurably better images than right now (I have the focal distances covered but with older lenses or teleconverters,etc.).
The thing is, I can still capture those images now so with those lenses ranging from $2300.00 to $11,000 (for a new 400 2.8) is it worth it?
As primarily a sports shooter, the one thing I cannot handle is when action comes at me so quickly that I don't have time to change lenses. I shoot with a 1D Mark IV...no second body.
With that little epiphany, I realize that a second body can in fact get me images that I cannot even capture now at all. I also am asking for trouble when shooting weddings (even though I always shoot with a partner).

That is a long-winded rationalization for what is coming in the mail tomorrow. A brand spanking new 5D Mark III from Adorama. This camera with its new AF will serve well as a second sports body. With its full frame 21mp sensor it can be my ideal portrait body. With its great high ISO performance it can be my ideal event body...Woot Woot.
Here is a link to a review below. I will post my impressions after a week or two of using it.


http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-DSLR-Camera-Review.aspx

The digital picture is a great source for all things Canon and beyond. Great in depth reviews, news, etc. check it out. www.the-digital-picture.com

Another Poster image

                       -Click the image to see it larger-


For the past year, I have been shooting images that Orono High School uses for posters that are displayed around the school. They get printed at about 24x36 (maybe a bit bigger). Each image has a theme attached to it and words are added to the image. Last year some of the words were; determination, drive, focus...you get the idea. The problem was, and is, is that I was bringing out my full lighting kit to shoot these images and the shoots were taking a long time. Since I also work for the school, I am not being paid my usual rates (I don't want to hear it).
This year, I am back at it but I am trying to go with minimalist gear and am trying to get the shots done quickly...but still get usable images.
So for this one I showed up at practice with my camera and one speedlight. It was 2pm so it was intense daylight and no cloud cover. The Athletic Director told me the shot he wanted: Jack out front pulling for Norton with both guys in frame but focus on Jack as he is the student chosen to be featured.
I tried several angles but ended up shooting from the ground and I had another player holding my speedlight and tracking Jack as they ran just past my right shoulder. The flash was bare, and he aimed it at his face with 1/8 power and I triggered it with skyports. It took about 20 minutes to shoot from getting out there to walking off the field.
The image isn't really natural looking with so much light hitting Jack's face so in post, I tweaked the settings in ACR to give it an HDR effect and actually enhanced the unnatural look of the photo. Sometimes it is easier to go with something rather than fight it.
Happy shooting,
Peter

Field Hockey Season

Sunday afternoon field hockey game at the beautiful UMaine field. Unfortunately it was a noon game with blazing sun which challenges any sensors dynamic range. To deal with this, I do one of two things. I either use 1. exposure compensation in camera to expose for the players faces or 2. I will leave not worry about shadows on faces and pull up the shadows in post production. How do I decide which approach to use? A few things. If I am exposing for the faces in camera, I must accept that highlights will be blown out and unrecoverable so if the final usage is print, I need to decide if I can get away with that. On the other hand, if I am pulling up the shadows in post, I need to be ready for some unwanted noise in those areas. So... if I can get the ISO down to 100 while keeping the shutter speed I need AND I don't mind the post processing work, I have more latitude by using a regular exposure and protecting the highlights. If I am not shooting at ISO 100 or I don't want to mess around with post processing, I am better off exposing for the faces in camera and calling it good.
Here are some shots from today, All at ISO 100, shutter speed of 1/800 and an F stop of 3.2. The ISO of 100 is very forgiving when you start recovering shadows. The F stop of 3.2 isolates the subjects well and keeps my shutter speed up. The shutter of 1/800 is just enough to get sharp images. You can see the motion blur in the stick and ball of the second shot...which I like. So with those parameters, I went with letting the shadows get heavy on their faces (the team was a bit backlit) and I fixed it in post. Each image takes less than a minute to process when you have done it a lot but even that adds up if you do a lot of them.

      Click on the Images to see them Larger Please
This one had minimal tweaking in ACR. The new interface with PS CS6 is great. Highlight and Whites slider down about 25 each to save the highlights, then push the shadows in PS with a curves layer.

Lifted in post. A quick job using ACR and then curves

Another shot with shadows recovered in ACR and curves in Photoshop

Freezing the ball

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 People really like this shot and I have had quite a few ask how to do it? Truth is that it is quite easy:
 1. Shoot from behind the fence and get a good position. This will depend on your access and the batters stance in the box. The more straight on the better.

 2. Set your aperture to wide open. This shot was at F3.2 so almost wide open. The goal is to throw everything but the ball out of focus.

 3. Make sure that your shutter speed is as fast as possible. I shot this at 1/3200..Ideally you want 1/4000 but you can get away with less if the pitch is slower.

4. shoot when the light is right. A low angled sun is great and it needs to hit the ball as it travels to the plate.

5. Manually focus about 2/3 of the way to the plate. You can also AF on the pitcher and then drag focus closer to you manually

 6. Wait for the pitch and try to time your shot. I captured this one on my first try with a three shot burst. I got lucky. It may take several tries. My camera shoots at 10fps so I get a an advantage but even at 10fps only one frame will be in focus.

 7. In post you can add some contrast and sharpening to the ball to make it pop more... That's all there is to it. Good Luck!

Another Poster Image

CLICK TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE . Above is the latest image I shot for a series of motivational posters being used at the local high school. This one was tough because the team practices at the University but I have been unable to secure track time to set up a shot. What I ended up doing was shooting in the gym of the high school and then getting rid of the background and adding some tweaks in post. The image was shot with a Paul Buff Einstein in a gridded softbox in front of the runner, aimed directly at him. I used another Einstein in a giant softbox behind him to create the cross lighting that you see. I didn't use any diffusers for the shot because I wanted the bare bulb look. Using the softboxes allowed me to control the light spill enough that I could eliminate the background quite easily in post. The strobes were triggered with Elinchrom Skyports and I used a Canon 1D Mark IV with a 50mm 1.4 lens. The runner started right in front of the rear softbox from a sprinter's start and had room for about two steps before he had to veer to avoid the front light. I had the front light about a stop higher than the rear one due to the distance difference from each to the subject. Post Processing: Two curve layers to darken the background and to lighten some areas of the runner. Another layer used in overlay to add some yellow to the floor. Last layer was used to add in some motion blur and then I selectively masked it out to taste. That's it!