The camera’s large magnesium body is
well insulated against dust and moisture and
is pleasant to hold. It responds promptly to all
command input. The overall look and feel of
its controls are typical of Nikon’s high-end
products, with a wide range of dedicated
buttons and dials. There is no main mode dial
and the setup menu is extremely long. The
information display offers only a few direct
settings. Its high resolution slows the camera
down in continuous shooting mode, and we
achieved just 4 fps (for a maximum of 10 JPEG
or RAW images) during our test. Autofocus is
very good, except in live view mode, which
uses the slower, contrast-based AF system.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Slow contrast-based live view autofocus is
also the Achilles heel of the latest version of
Canon’s EOS 5D. However, you can switch to
phase detection AF in live view mode. This
approach requires the mirror to be raised and
lowered but otherwise works very well.
The Mark III boasts a new AF module
inherited from the EOS-1D X, with 41 cross
and five dual-cross sensors among its total of
61, The module represents the pinnacle of
current AF technology and provides fast,
precise autofocus, even in unfavorable
lighting conditions, although the D800’s
system is still slightly faster overall. The Canon,
however, can shoot 20 RAW frames at 5.7 fps
in continuous mode or endless JPEG
sequences that are only limited by the
capacity of your memory card.
The Mark III’s 22-megapixel sensor
produced test resolution values inferior to
those of the Sigma but retained almost
90-percent resolution over the entire range up
to ISO 3200 while delivering consistently high
contrast. The Canon sensor’s large pixels
deliver excellent noise characteristics, with a
fantastic signal-to-noise value of 101 at ISO
100 and visual noise characteristics that beat
those of all the other test candidates. The
Canon test images are virtually noise-free and
have great detail definition up to ISO 1600,
only beginning to drop off at ISO 6400 and
above. Adequate full-screen viewing is even
possible with images shot at ISO 12 800.
The Mark III also includes some ergonomic
improvements. The power switch is now
located next to the (now lockable) mode dial.
A depth of field preview button has been
added to the lens throat and there is an
additional multi-function button located next
to the shutter release. The ‘Quick Control’
button on the right of the monitor gives you
instant access to all the shooting functions
listed on the Quick Control screen, and the live
view lever can be switched between video
and photo modes. The new ‘Rating’ button
helps you grade your images for selection
later on.
Some production batches of the camera
were affected by a light leak problem that
caused light from the 3.2-inch (3:2) monitor to
affect the results produced by the camera’s
light meter in dark shooting situations. If you
are unlucky enough to have one of these
cameras, Canon customer service will block
the leak for you if you send your camera in.Nikon D4: Fast and Professional
Two and a half years have passed since the
introduction of the D3S, and Nikon has now
presented us with its latest full-frame promodel DSLR. This camera sports a
16-megapixel sensor (up from 12 megapixels
in the predecessor model), and offers
continuous shooting of up to 50 RAW or JPEG
frames at 10 fps. It supports the rare but fast
(and expensive) XQD memory card format
and also has a conventional CF card slot. It also
has a new, multi-function 91,000-pixel RGB
sensor that takes care of exposure metering,
subject tracking, highlight analysis, and even
face recognition. The shutter module is
designed to last for at least 400,000 shoot
cycles and ISO sensitivity can be pushed up to
204 800. Other new hardware features include
a new 22 Wh battery, two joystick-style
multi-selectors and a number of backlit
control buttons on the top and rear of the
camera body.
The weatherproof magnesium body
weighs 1.3 kg (nearly three pounds) and our
24-70mm f/2.8 test zoom added a further
kilogram (2.2 pounds). In addition to a wealth
of dedicated controls, the camera has a
built-in portrait-format grip with its own
shutter release, main dial and sub-selector for
quick menu access.
The 51 AF sensors include 15 cross sensors,
and Nikon has increased the light sensitivity
of the central sensor and the 10 sensors
surrounding it to the equivalent of f8, which
makes darker lenses and telelconverters a
usable AF option for the first time. We
measured an AF speed of 0.24 s at 30 lux and
0.26 s at 1000 lux, making this camera the
best in this test. As expected, live view
contrast-based AF was much slower, and
cannot be substituted for phase-detection AF
the way it can in the EOS.
The camera has the same virtually silent
‘Quiet’ live view release mode as the D800.Camera Test | SLR and System CamerasDiffering degrees of monitor freedom. From left to right: the Canon EOS 5D Mark III with its fixed
monitor, the Sony SLT-A57’s tilt/rotatable model and the up/down tilt of the Olympus OM-D E-M5.