…my head is still spinning. You’ll also have to forgive me for this being as brief and disjointed as it’s going to be, I keep interrupting myself to go try something else out on the camera while I’m writing this.

I though I had working these cameras all figured out, and apparently I did with dinosaurs. I’m pretty quick on the uptake when it comes to technology and it took me the better part of 2 days to get my head around all the features and start figuring out how to put them to use. I’d even go so far as to suggest, that anybody who claims to have a comprehensive review of this camera and do so in less than about 15,000 words is just rattling off specs and bullet points and not actually discussing anything.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Canon has done a poor job with the UI—though I have some complaints—there’s just that many updates and features going from a 1D mark 3 to a 5D mark 3 that it can be a bit overwhelming at first.

That said, the biggest complaint I have is file sizes. At between 28MB and almost 40MB a shot, depending on ISO and therefore the ability to compress the data, I can get on average less than half as many images on a card as I can with the 10MP images from the 1D mark 3. MRAW and SRAW mitigate the problem to some degree, and I see them as something I’m definitely going to have to seriously consider using if I want to keep to reasonable file sizes, especially when I’m not printing.

On the other hand, 22MP Images are a far cry from the 10MP images I’ve grown use to, and that’s also posed something of a problem, since I’m having to relearn and rediscover the sharpening settings that are most appropriate.

As for video, well that’s proving to look like a drawn out potentially very expensive path, even just to get to an acceptable minimal level of functionality. The built in mic works in the sense that it records sound, but that’s about it. And pulling focus isn’t the nicest thing without a proper follow focus setup, though it can certainly be done. Other than that I’ve not really spent much time with the video functionality yet.

AF performance, to the limited extent that I’ve tested it, is simply superb. Focus has been on target right out of the box, to the point that I don’t see a real need to micro adjust any lenses yet.

Speaking of AF, the ability to set the DOF preview button to switch between AI Servo and One shot AF has proven to be quite handy. Granted you lose the DoF preview, but changing the settings is quick enough though the Q button. Alternatively you can always save a C setting to have DoF preview there instead of the AF mode switch. Unfortunately the C modes retain the same unfortunate behavior of resetting any changes made after switching into that mode any time you wake the camera up. This behavior is ultimately what caused me to stop using them on my 40D some years ago.

Actually if there’s one complaint I have with the assignable camera controls, it’s that many of functions that I find most useful are limited to the DoF Preview and M-Fn. buttons only. I would really like to have the viewfinder electronic level (M-Fn. or DoF Preview), AF mode (DoF Preivew or Lens button), and DoF preview (Dof Preview button) all available and since I don’t use Exposure Lock (*) or AF-On all that much, thought, but I can’t use either the AE Lock or AF-ON buttons for those functions.

So far, the 5D mark 3 is definitely a solid camera, and short of the anemic shutter sound, may be one of the best SLRs currently available from Canon right now.

* Yes the clouds were shot on the 5D mark 3. No you shouldn’t draw any conclusions about the camera from heavily processed down sampled images of clouds.