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It kinda feels (to me) like Canon have painted themselves into a corner.
It's safe to say that the image of the 5d MarkIII will NOT be superior than the C300. (I know image can be subjective and that the sensor size is different, blah, blah blah...but other than the sensor size and associated image differences associated with that....)
So, the DR can't be "better" than the 5d Mark II because the C300 is 12 stops. The 5d Mark II is 10 stops. (according to some sources)
So....I guess they can go to 11? Not much further they can go without "threatening" the C300.
How about low light? Could it be better than the C300? (DSLR comparison says ISO6400....even though it says ISO20,000...it's truly comparable to ISO6400) I guess they might go to ISO 6400 is have it clean enough to be usable. So...add one stop there. Again, they can't do much better without threatening the "higher" line of cams.
Now....I realize that we have the GH2 vs AF100 comparison all over again....one is a production tool, the other is a stills camera that shoots video. IQ speaks for its self.....so I guess we'll all see if that's what we're going to get:
5d Mark III = same IQ as C300 without proper controls?
A LA
GH2 = same IQ as AF100 without proper controls
Like I'm saying....it looks like they're kinda stuck and can't really "unleash" anything too CRAZY because it will threaten C300 sales. (NOW...that's NOT what I think...that's just what Canon appears to have been projecting by NOT including HDMI out for all this time....)
Just seen a Hi-res image, its a Headphone symbol !!!
woohoo built in iTunes!
On swappable CF Card Playlists
How about low light? Could it be better than the C300? (DSLR comparison says ISO6400....even though it says ISO20,000...it's truly comparable to ISO6400)
So basically, you want to shove the 850ISO exposure down pretty far in daylight, since the sensor can reach into shadows a lot better than it can into highs?
[Definitely on the right path. At any ISO, the C300 with C-Log will see further into shadows than it will into highlights - but by how much varies according to what your ISO is set to.
If you shoot below 850ISO, then you'll definitely want to shove your exposure way down. But at 850 and above, all the way to ISO 20,000, the DR of the C300 will reach at least 5.3 stops into the highlights and 6.7 stops into the shadow - which is actually a very nice balance. Below base sensitivity (under 850), the camera starts very gradually seeing further into shadow and less into highlight. This peaks at the lowest sensitivity of ISO 320 with 3.9 stops over and a whopping 8.1 stops under.
This is all, of course, according to Canon's own released specs on the camera. They have not published the DR specs of their normal gamma modes, which will behave far differently from the C-Log. Non-log gamma modes on any camera boost midtones artificially. If you expose caucasian skin for 60-70 IRE in non-log gamma, then you'll probably want to expose it around 40-50 IRE in a log gamma. This all goes out the window, of course, when you start shooting below base sensitivity.
Which is why so many people got bent out of shape when they released the C300 at $16K. Not for what it is, but for what it isn't, and what that means for the rest of the line. Basically, blah.
This is what you can expect for the 5D and video:
Full HD. Improved ISO. Better control of moire, aliasing and skew. Not eliminated, but better. 8 bit 4.2.0, probably clean HDMI 8bit 4.2.2.
And that's about it.
This 'theory' is getting bandied about quite a bit, but is actually incorrect. Barry Goyette, a C300 owner and the shooter behind the infamous "By the Light of the Moon" video shot by moonlight at ISO 16,000 and 20,000, had this to say on another forum regarding that claim:
"Yeah. No. those reports were completely incorrect in my opinion. It came from an early test video where they had a 1dmark4 (not the 5d, and a somewhat faster sensor I believe) at 6400 and compared it to Log-C at 20000 on the C300. The problem with the test is that the poster wasn't really thinking about what he was looking at when he made the claim.
The 1dmark4 gamma and the Canon C-log couldn't be more different. the 1dmark4 pushes the mid-tones up at the expense of the highlights and increased noise, Log-C protects the highlights by pushing the mid-tones down keeping noise low overall. As the camera seems to have extensive range in the shadows, there isn't much penalty with this approach...especially up to about 6400 on the c300. At 20,000 it gets a little dicey, but, well...it should. So when you look at that test footage, taken in a normally lit room with the 1dmark4 at 6400 and Log-c at 20,000...they look kinda the same, because the gamma curves are so different, but in terms of dynamic range they aren't even close. Try to adjust that 1dmark4 footage and you'll know what I mean. Alan Roberts in his review stated that the c300 iso rating is correct.
For my tests I was using the normal 1 setting which is closer to the canon dslr gamma but still darker, and also in C-log.... there was a slight benefit in terms of noise to shooting with the Normal 1 setting versus trying to stretch the c-log up in post. As the Light level was so low, it didn't really makes sense to use Log-C as nothing in the scene is getting even close to testing the highlights, except for the passing cars --(which we hadn't even planned on, and there were few of) If the light level was slightly higher, then I'd probably stick to c-log as it would have lower noise and better DR.
Anyway...what I can tell you is that midway through our shoot I took the lens off the c300 and put it on the 5d. Turned the iso up to maximum, and couldn't see a damn thing (which, as Jon mentioned, matches my previous experience.)"
The ISO is accurate.
I've often wondered this question, if cameras have different response curves (input->output) how do we measure digital ISO? We had this same problem when comparing the 7D/AF100 a long time ago. If I exposed for the hilights, the mid tones were off, in both directions. Opened my eyes to how complex this stuff gets when trying to compare since there are SO many little differences that add up.
I'm afraid that the long awaited 5d Mark III will not bring much to the table. If the 5d Mark III IQ = C300 then I will be THRILLED. So do I think Canon will do that....no, I don't think they would do that...and certainly not "on purpose." I'll cross my fingers just in case. So that means it will be slightly better than the 5d Mark II....slightly worse than the C300....there simply isn't any where else for it to go. Bummer....but we'll see.Cheers!
Fair enough. Here's to hoping that the ISO is TRULY 20,000....because it looks AMAZING for that level. All of that said, although it may be debated that the DSLR mappings are "off" or not.....one thing is for certain: The 6K FS100 spanks it rather handily in low light head to head, no matter what you call the ISOs and/or DBs.
Certainly we'll just hope for improved low light from the 5d Mark III whatever the case with the C300. Thanks for the perspective! Cheers!
Which is why so many people got bent out of shape when they released the C300 at $16K. Not for what it is, but for what it isn't, and what that means for the rest of the line. Basically, blah.
This is what you can expect for the 5D and video:
Full HD. Improved ISO. Better control of moire, aliasing and skew. Not eliminated, but better. 8 bit 4.2.0, probably clean HDMI 8bit 4.2.2.
And that's about it.
This 'theory' is getting bandied about quite a bit, but is actually incorrect. Barry Goyette, a C300 owner and the shooter behind the infamous "By the Light of the Moon" video shot by moonlight at ISO 16,000 and 20,000, had this to say on another forum regarding that claim:
"Yeah. No. those reports were completely incorrect in my opinion. It came from an early test video where they had a 1dmark4 (not the 5d, and a somewhat faster sensor I believe) at 6400 and compared it to Log-C at 20000 on the C300. The problem with the test is that the poster wasn't really thinking about what he was looking at when he made the claim.
The 1dmark4 gamma and the Canon C-log couldn't be more different. the 1dmark4 pushes the mid-tones up at the expense of the highlights and increased noise, Log-C protects the highlights by pushing the mid-tones down keeping noise low overall. As the camera seems to have extensive range in the shadows, there isn't much penalty with this approach...especially up to about 6400 on the c300. At 20,000 it gets a little dicey, but, well...it should. So when you look at that test footage, taken in a normally lit room with the 1dmark4 at 6400 and Log-c at 20,000...they look kinda the same, because the gamma curves are so different, but in terms of dynamic range they aren't even close. Try to adjust that 1dmark4 footage and you'll know what I mean. Alan Roberts in his review stated that the c300 iso rating is correct.
For my tests I was using the normal 1 setting which is closer to the canon dslr gamma but still darker, and also in C-log.... there was a slight benefit in terms of noise to shooting with the Normal 1 setting versus trying to stretch the c-log up in post. As the Light level was so low, it didn't really makes sense to use Log-C as nothing in the scene is getting even close to testing the highlights, except for the passing cars --(which we hadn't even planned on, and there were few of) If the light level was slightly higher, then I'd probably stick to c-log as it would have lower noise and better DR.
Anyway...what I can tell you is that midway through our shoot I took the lens off the c300 and put it on the 5d. Turned the iso up to maximum, and couldn't see a damn thing (which, as Jon mentioned, matches my previous experience.)"
The ISO is accurate.
I'm also thinking about this; that there are a considerable number of 5D mkII shooters already using Magic Lantern, Canon also has to consider that. That whatever they improve on the Mark III has to be better than 5D mkII + Magic Lantern Unified.
5D mkII+ML Unified already has these and more;
-Headphone monitoring
-Focus peaking and other focus assist features like;
-Magnified window
-False color
-Histogram while recording
-Waveform while recording
-Clear screen HDMI out for use with ext recording device (Im careful not to use the term Good HDMI out signal because I'm not sure how good it is)
-Split audio channels with independent controls allowing use of internal and external mic simultaneously
-HDR video (albeit tricky to use with fast motion, ok with 60D, 600D due to their 720 60P)
-customized crop marks
-Built in Intervalometer for video
-Variable frame rate from 3 to 31 fps which is good for clean lowlight/night shots or for motion blur effects
-Programmable rack focus
Also, for much less cost than a new DSLR, the mosaic filter has solved Moire and Aliasing on the 5D mkII
There are also several features for stills like focus stacking and bulb ramping.
So with these features in our current 5Ds I for one am looking for significantly more improvements in the new 5D mkIII than just merely improving on a stock mkII.
Sony/Nikon sensors are better than Canon's in low light and I don't expect that to change too much with these 2nd gen HDSLRs.....They might not even be good enough to be worthy of the 2nd gen tag next to a GH2 image wise (I hope not). High ISO performance should be good but it won't be as good as the D4, probably barely as good as the D800. Canon have to do something about the chroma noise. The Sonys/Nikons don't have any.
The FS100 has a couple of issues that have put me off it (sensor reflections and highlight rolloff) but I might get one just for 60p 1080p if the MKIII doesn't have it.