EOS 5D Mark III vs Nikon D800 – How do they compare for photo-journalism?

Let’s go in another round of EOS 5D Mark III vs Nikon D800 comparison. Canon is facing hard times these days given the EOS 5D Mark III hardware problem we reported about and have now been officially confirmed. However, there is no reason to return your new 5D Mark III or to cancel pre-orders.

This is the second part on camerastore‘s ongoing field-testing of Canon and Nikon’s new full-frame cameras (I reported about the first part). This time, it is photojournalist Mike Drew who has a look at both cameras in a real-world, photo-event shooting at a horse competition. The setting is challenging: low light and fast moving subjects – the kind of tests I like. Hence, the attention goes mainly to how these cams cope with the issue. Moreover, JPGs are used. For a good reason, since a lot of people prefers to shot JPGs and hence is interested to know how the internal image processing performs.

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Should I return my new EOS 5D Mark III? – (no, you shouldn’t)

This is the main question that’s raising among new 5D Mark III owners – together with the question if you should cancel your pre-orders. The answer is: no!

First, the light-leaking issue we reported about is nothing that you should be really worried about. It’s not influencing your pics in a way that could make them useless – not in a real-world setting (i.e. >90% of what you will do with a camera). It only, if ever, shows up in extreme settings, like night shots. It’s annoying, that’s true, but if it should be a real issue Canon will react accordingly. But then: you are not shooting with a mounted lens-cap, right? :-)

Second, don’t get scared by the rumors saying that Canon is recalling the 5D Mark III. It is just a rumor, and we need some official announcement by Canon before taking for granted that there is some real and limiting problem with the 5D Mark III. Canon recalled the 1D Mark III (I am not sure about the exact model) body in the past, and it wasn’t too much annoying for customers. If Canon decides that the 5D Mark III has a serious hardware problem, it will not left its customers out in the rain.

The 5D Mark III is an amazing camera and I have lots of reports of users who are more than satisfied by its performance (the AF is simply outstanding, and ISO performance is great too – not to mention the video-capabilities). More in one of the next posts.

EOS 5D Mark III price check (click on shop name): B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

For a list of shops that have the 5D Mark III in stock click here.

See the latest 5D Mark III pics uploaded to Flickr (click here).

Have a nice day, or night – wherever you are.

:-)