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USA market: 5d3 for $1800 or 5d4 for $3000?

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Woodman411

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I'm on the verge of getting my first full-frame camera. I can get either a new 5d3 for $1800 (local offer), or 5d4 for $3000 (cpw street price). For those who have experience owning both, if you could rewind time and do it over again, and considering the price difference of $1200, would you get the 5d3 and pocket the savings (maybe towards a lens), or would you still pay the difference and get the 5d4?

In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Sold my 5d3 for $1600. Bought the 5d4 for the then cpw street of 3400 with vertical grip.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. The 30mp alone it's worth it not to mention all the other goodness.
 
Woodman411 said:
I'm on the verge of getting my first full-frame camera. I can get either a new 5d3 for $1800 (local offer), or 5d4 for $3000 (cpw street price). For those who have experience owning both, if you could rewind time and do it over again, and considering the price difference of $1200, would you get the 5d3 and pocket the savings (maybe towards a lens), or would you still pay the difference and get the 5d4?

In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?

Thanks in advance.
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I'd pay 1/2 price for each.
 
After selling my 5D3, I had to put in another $1500 to get the 5D4.

In retrospect, I'd have paid $1000 more if I had to. Big difference, definitely worth the cost. But had I needed to pay more than $4500, I'd just get the 1dx2.

However, if you do mostly close-in studio stuff, where you are neither reach nor light limited, then the benefit wouldn't be as noticeable.
 
Woodman411 said:
I'm on the verge of getting my first full-frame camera. I can get either a new 5d3 for $1800 (local offer), or 5d4 for $3000 (cpw street price). For those who have experience owning both, if you could rewind time and do it over again, and considering the price difference of $1200, would you get the 5d3 and pocket the savings (maybe towards a lens), or would you still pay the difference and get the 5d4?

In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I loved my 5D3 and was an amazing body. However, I do like my 5D4 d features even more. So the answer to your question is no... I would not go back.
 
You might want to wait and see 6D II. 5D IV price will be lower after 6D II launches.

I bought 5D III at $2500 (Black Friday deal) and sold around $1850 (before 5D IV announced). Looking for another sweet deal on 5D IV, and I could wait to holiday season this year as I have other cameras to shoot for other purposes meantime.

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I haven't owned the 5DIV yet but am on the verge of making that purchase. I have two 5DIII's and a 6D and two good lenses (70-200 f/2.8 IS II and 24-70 f/2.8 II) and weighed the purchase of another 5DIII, a 5DIV, or more lenses (thinking of the Canon 100-400 II, the Tamron 35mm 1.8, either the Canon 16-35 f/4 IS or Tamron 15-30 2.8 as well as either the Tamron 85mm 1.8 or Canon 135 f/2). As tempting as the lenses are, I know that the 5DIV will give me better low light performance than the 5DIII, making my 2.8 lenses more effective in low-light sports situations (high school gyms, for instance). The improved AF of the 5DIV over the 5DIII will help with sports (and fast toddlers?), too. The higher resolution of the 5DIV will help with reach of my 70-200 lens. Plus, the 5DIV will give me a fresh camera body (one of my 5DIII's is on its second shutter and my "new" 5DIII has about 130k shutter actuations). (The faster frame rate of the 5DIV doesn't affect my shooting style. One click at a time, lol.) So, I'm planning on the 5DIV vs the 5DIII or new lenses at this time. New lenses will have to come later, and more slowly.
 
I've owned and used professionally both. I would recommend the III with good glass unless you have some overriding reason to get a feature (video, low light, more megapixels, fps) on the IV. This is a really handy chart done by Jonathan Brady and others comparing the features:

f806ec9fdf624943a9f66302f3c32727.jpg

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As someone who JUST bought a 5D3 with the 24-105 kit lens, I saved about $1000 Australian Dollars (700USD) by not getting the 5d4 (body only)

I can say this unequivocally:

1) Going from the 7D to the 5D3 is like night and day. Shooting at ISO 6400 on a full frame camera is like shooting ISO 1600 on my 7D. AND I got a new L lens to boot.

2) The AF system is miles ahead of my 7D, and my L lenses suddenly got wider and they perform better in low light now and far more responsive. (They were made for Full Frame) With a new lens!

So my point is - Going from Crop to FF is a BIG jump - to me, its worth the $2000 jump. BUT going from the mark 3 to the mark 4... is it worth the $1000 jump? As a crop shooter who shot weddings for 8 years with a 7D... NO WAY! Why would I pay an extra $1000 for features I dont use or need. And I would pay extra and not get a new lens!

But that was MY justification. My shooting style has not changed and it now means I can shoot 1-2 stops of higher ISO and not see a drop in my image quality that I already produce with an 8 year old camera. I have never lost a job because my dynamic range was 10EV and the 5D3 was 12EV and the D810 is 14EV Dynamic range. In fact, no one has ever mentioned it in the real world. is the $1000 worth it for the extra 2 stops of Dynamic range improvement.... maybe. Does it make me money or increase my fees? No. Will it improve my photography? Possibly not. But a new lens means I can access new areas of photography!

Before buying the mark 3 or 4, you have to figure out if you are actually going to use the movie mode with Dual Pixel AF, if you are planning on shooting 4K, if you plan on using DP RAW, if you need 7fps instead of 6fps. And if you already have the standard lenses to move up into Full Frame if you get the mark 4.

Also consider, do you have the computer hardware and disk space to store and process 30MP files and will you be printing particular sizes to justify that many Megapixels?

So as someone who saved for a mark 4 but ended up with the mark 3, I have been blown away with how much a leap it was for me to go from crop to Full frame and access the full potential of the L glass I have been stockpiling for years. After playing with some mark 4 files, I really cannot see the benefit worth the extra cost (even the mark 3 kit is still a grand price difference). I would get better results with a nice lens for the price difference - like a tilt shift lens or even put it towards the 11-24 and get a new customer in the real estate industry.
 
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I just upgraded, but I don't think the 5D4's low light performance is hugely better than the 5D3's. A little bit perhaps. Granted I just got it last night so I haven't done much with it yet. :)
 
I just sold my 5D3 for $1200 (maybe a bit too low, I don't know, but their used value is definitely decreasing) and got a 5D4 this week for the B&H kit bundle price of $3300 with the Rode microphone. I had thought about it before and decided that it would be worth a $2000 difference. Reasons:

* $500 to replace a 4 year old body with some wear with a new body with a new warranty

* $500 for Wifi and GPS, both of which I expect to be very helpful in my travel shooting

* $500 for the better sensor with more DR and MP. I have a heavy investment in good Canon and Zeiss glass and feel they should have the best sensor I can get.

* $500 for the various other features - 4K video, touchscreen, anti-flicker, and the list goes on.... that just make it a better camera

If you're buying new either way that discounts the first point, so that would justify a $1500 difference (for me).

That said the 5D3 is fantastic and if you're on a budget OR simply don't need the 5D4's newer features, by all means get the older one. It just makes sense.

(As for the other $100 in my price difference, I'll call that for the microphone. :) )
 
Woodman411 said:
In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?
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I would not take that deal. I love my 5D IV. Granted, I came from a 7D II (which I loved).

I love shooting concerts, and lighting is nearly always horrible, so I want my 5D4. The touchscreen is also great, I use the faster frame rate and the WiFi transfer... In fact, I didn't consider the 5D III and upgrade from my 7D ii, so my upgrade cost was about $2,000 after selling my 7D2. I totally feel it was worth it. I am getting great results and I am very happy that I made this switch. Of course, if this is your first FF, there's a lot of money to be shelled if you want the f/2.8 trifecta of 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 L lenses. $5,500 or more for that trio.
 
MarshallG said:
Woodman411 said:
In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?
Click to expand...
I would not take that deal. I love my 5D IV. Granted, I came from a 7D II (which I loved).

I love shooting concerts, and lighting is nearly always horrible, so I want my 5D4. The touchscreen is also great, I use the faster frame rate and the WiFi transfer... In fact, I didn't consider the 5D III and upgrade from my 7D ii, so my upgrade cost was about $2,000 after selling my 7D2. I totally feel it was worth it. I am getting great results and I am very happy that I made this switch. Of course, if this is your first FF, there's a lot of money to be shelled if you want the f/2.8 trifecta of 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 L lenses. $5,500 or more for that trio.
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I know what you mean about the lenses, I'm thinking about what to do in that area. I sold my M3 system and lenses, and I already miss the excellent 11-22 efm. I have the 35 f/1.4L on the 80d which I use as an equiv. 56mm portrait lens, and I have the 70-200 f/2.8L IS (first gen) that I'm planning on attaching to whichever full-frame I eventually get. I love the IQ of primes, so I'm looking at 85 primes before the other zooms. Too many lenses to get, not enough money :-)
 
Woodman411 said:
I know what you mean about the lenses, I'm thinking about what to do in that area. I sold my M3 system and lenses, and I already miss the excellent 11-22 efm. I have the 35 f/1.4L on the 80d which I use as an equiv. 56mm portrait lens, and I have the 70-200 f/2.8L IS (first gen) that I'm planning on attaching to whichever full-frame I eventually get. I love the IQ of primes, so I'm looking at 85 primes before the other zooms. Too many lenses to get, not enough money :-)
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I bought Canon's 85mm f/1.8 and it's fantastic. Only about $350. Their 85mm f/1.2 is very expensive and famous for delivering magical bokeh, but I've heard that it's very slow-focusing, and that's a deal-killer for me. I think I'll borrow one and see for myself sometime.
 
Thank you all for your comments, I ended up getting the 5d4, an instant cure to my 6d2 anxieties :-)
 
Woodman411 said:
I'm on the verge of getting my first full-frame camera. I can get either a new 5d3 for $1800 (local offer), or 5d4 for $3000 (cpw street price). For those who have experience owning both, if you could rewind time and do it over again, and considering the price difference of $1200, would you get the 5d3 and pocket the savings (maybe towards a lens), or would you still pay the difference and get the 5d4?

In other words, if you someone gave you $1200 to go back to a 5d3 from your 5d4, would you do it?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Price is not very high even if you buy a new camera - IQ is great. It is a serious camera ...
 
I purchased my 5Dlll as soon as it was available. Always loved it and paired it with really good glass. I only recently purchased the Mark lV. I haven't had a chance to put it through it's paces. I will say that I always loved my results with my 5Dlll. Really good glass and the lll will get better results than the lV and slow glass. Bab
 
It depends on what is your photography interest and your total If you are into action then the 5D IV is much better. The 5D III is a good camera and is a good bet if you need $ to get good lenses.
 
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