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How much was your focus improved upgrading to a 5DIII or 5DSR?

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George Zip

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I have the 5dII as per my gear list.

I have been getting a bit frustrated at the amount of shots I am missing the focus in bad light (indoor sport). To be honest I am not sure if it is my technique or just a limitation of the camera. Don't get me wrong a lot of the time it's fine, I use center point focusing and the 24-70 2.8 mainly, and happy with the shots when I get them.

I ask because it's the only "good" camera I have had and have no point of reference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
George Zip said:
I have the 5dII as per my gear list.

I have been getting a bit frustrated at the amount of shots I am missing the focus in bad light (indoor sport). To be honest I am not sure if it is my technique or just a limitation of the camera. Don't get me wrong a lot of the time it's fine, I use center point focusing and the 24-70 2.8 mainly, and happy with the shots when I get them.

I ask because it's the only "good" camera I have had and have no point of reference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Ok, so this is just from my own personal experiences with the cameras ive owned.. I started with Nikon.. ill start from the D300, then the D700.. awesome cameras, but for some reason, with both of them i was having a lot of focus inconsistencies. lots of front or back focus depending on the lens i was using.. (But I did love those cameras, they were quite great overall.) When the D600 came out with all its dust and oil issues, and my D700 being held together by Gorilla glue at that point, I switched over to Canon and picked up the 6D.. Ive made some of my most favorite images with that camera, however.. unless I was using the center focus point, id have focus problems (sometimes...), mostly if the subject was moving... im assuming bc only the center is cross type it locks on so much better.. So there was a lot of focus re-compose going on which got annoying.. Enter the 5DIII.. My most favorite camera to date.. I have 0 issues with any of the lenses ive used, and its fast and has been ultra reliable. I shoot mostly weddings.. and its great for that, and event work (portraits, sports, etc. too..) Group AF modes, GREAT AF Servo group tracking, etc.. tough as nails workhorse of a camera.. Id say grab one while you can and the price has been dropped. :)
 
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I changed from a 5DmkII to a 5Dsr and the AF accuracy definitely took a noticeable jump. It's not perfect but I'm certainly happier.
 
George Zip said:
I have the 5dII as per my gear list.

I have been getting a bit frustrated at the amount of shots I am missing the focus in bad light (indoor sport). To be honest I am not sure if it is my technique or just a limitation of the camera. Don't get me wrong a lot of the time it's fine, I use center point focusing and the 24-70 2.8 mainly, and happy with the shots when I get them.

I ask because it's the only "good" camera I have had and have no point of reference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Basically, the 5mk2 has a good center point, but that's all. The 6D is even better in low light , but not better for the others
The 5dmk3 has the same sensor than the one of the 1dx but has no intelligent tracking
The 5ds has the intelligent tracking, is AF is very near than the one of the 1dx except, that it lack a dedicated AF cpu, and has less voltage (wich translate into slower focusing)
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It's all about photography
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Excellent question. I shoot editorial photos for a living. I used two 5D II bodies for several years and kept missing easy photos--a businessman walking towards the camera, a basketball game with 70+ year old players, a soccer game in broad daylight, etc. The straw that broke the camel's back was an assignment from the Houston Chronicle to photograph wild birds. i easily missed 75% of my shots, often so badly that the bird was nothing by a vague blur.

I bought two 5D III and been using them for over two years now. The focusing is night and day. The 5D III easily nails action 95-98% of the time, occasionally missing a shot if a player is charging directly towards the camera. It also has more fps, a very handy "quiet" mode, about 1-1/2 to 2 stops better low light sensitivity, and better build quality and weather sealing.

It has some minor flaws--6 fps is still pretty anemic, the SD slot is crippled and a lot of pros shooting action only use the CF slot, the sensor is kinda outdated (though I've shot good stuff at ISO 6400) and it doesn't have the new anti-flicker technology. But this is still a solid mid-level pro body available at a quite reasonable cost.































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George Zip said:
I have the 5dII as per my gear list.

I have been getting a bit frustrated at the amount of shots I am missing the focus in bad light (indoor sport). To be honest I am not sure if it is my technique or just a limitation of the camera. Don't get me wrong a lot of the time it's fine, I use center point focusing and the 24-70 2.8 mainly, and happy with the shots when I get them.

I ask because it's the only "good" camera I have had and have no point of reference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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For general photography, the AF systems of the older models is just fine. When combining both sports and indoor/low-light, however, there's no question that the more advanced AF systems found in cameras like the 5D Mark III will provide you with more keepers.

Of course, even the finest AF system in the world cannot be effective if it is not properly used. So don't just count on the technology. The more advanced AF systems give you more choices, and the wrong choice can dramatically affect results.

My favorite AF system is still that which was in the two 1D Mark II bodies (standard and studio models). Even with its 45 AF points, it's not as advanced as the newer bodies, but it's rock solid reliable and doesn't overwhelm with complexity.
 
George Zip said:
I have the 5dII as per my gear list.

I have been getting a bit frustrated at the amount of shots I am missing the focus in bad light (indoor sport). To be honest I am not sure if it is my technique or just a limitation of the camera. Don't get me wrong a lot of the time it's fine, I use center point focusing and the 24-70 2.8 mainly, and happy with the shots when I get them.
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5DII had fairly weak AF system compared to the best systems today. Especially in low light.

5DIII was an overall improvement - but it also suffered in low light. Night shots were not reliable. Unimpressive AF in low light was a main reason I did not upgrade from 5DII to the 5DIII even if I mostly take action shots.

5DS/R has clearly better AF than the 5DIII. More customization options, better low light AF, faster (especially in low light), extra fine AF point.

And it works: One evening I was shooting some action with the 5DS/R and the focus started teasing me. I shifted to one of its -3ev points and I again had almost picture perfect AF for a while.

Both the 5DIII and the 5DS/R are enough of an upgrade from the 5DII for you to notice the difference.

Final thought; Canon also continuously improves AF/lens operation through its software. Already for this reason a new lens on a new camera will often perform really well.
 
Tapeman said:
5DII to 5DSR is a very large improvement for action. For still subjects the 5DII holds its own.
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I will say my 5Dsr wins for still subjects over my 5DII in every criteria I can think of except for image storage size. You get more DR, less shadow banding, loads more resolution, a 100% viewfinder, more accurate AF, etc.
 
The 5DSr is better than the 5D3 for spot focus. For AI servo mode it's a big jump, especially in low light - It's better at low light AF than the D750 (which is supposed to be -3 EV sensitive vs the 5DSr's -2, yet it's better).

On reason to get this camera alone.
 
I loved (love) my 1DIIN and previously thought the AF was on par with the new 61 point system minus some very obvious improvements. However when I use them side by side I notice the new 61 point is a touch better. The 45 point system on the 1DIIN seemed to use "all points" a little better than the new 61 point system's "all points" mode. To me, it seems to know where it needs to focus, but is always just a little behind. However, the new system is more accurate and speeds up significantly when you hone it in with the smaller zones, expanded points, or single point. That said, as far as speed goes, the 45 point "Ring of Fire" was pretty good, even in comparison to its modern all point option. It didn't seem to be over-burdened by the massive amount of data that the new 61 point system is processing.

When dealing with slower/static movement or low light, the new system trumps the older by a substantial margin. I also noticed the older system appeared to micro hunt in AI Servo mode opposed to the new system jumping on target and staying there.
 
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I upgraded from the original, "classic" 5D, to the 5Ds R, at the Canon full-35mm-frame level, though as I understand it, the 5D and 5D Mark II had similar AF performance, so the improvement should be similar. I have little to add to the excellent replies already posted, except to agree with them. The improvement, especially when things start moving, in low light, is dramatic, but also more complex to master. To be clear, I cannot say I have mastered Canon's new AF capabilities! (Actually, I side-stepped to Nikon* FX cameras, for low-light action/birds/animals, and became accustomed to Nikon's AF for moving subjects, so shifting back to Canon AF for moving subjects is a challenge.)

*I never switched to Nikon; I simply added Nikon gear. The "gateway" was buying a Novoflex EOS/NIK adapter so my Nikon-shooting wife and I could share nice Nikkor lenses. It then progressed, from there.
 
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