5D Mark III or wait for IV?

flyrccg · Jun 3, 2015

Sold my 70D to upgrade to a 5D and I'm hearing rumors of a mark III soon. Should I wait or bite the bullet and get the camera now. Id hate to spend $2300 now only to find out I made a mistake.

Derrel · Jun 3, 2015

Well...the people who bought the 5D-III early on payed $3699 to $3499 for it; those who waited a year payed around $2999. The camera is going on three years old, and at $2,300, that price is pretty fair for what it is and what it can do. The 5D, 5D-II,and 5D-III were all "three thousand five hundred dollar cameras" when introduced; that's a decade or so of that price at intro.

I would not call a new 5D-III at $2,300 "a mistake" in any real sense, because chances are a version 4 of it will be $3699 when it premiers. The 5DS and 5DS R are slated for summer 2015 release, but those are 50-megapixel models.

it depends what you want: a good deal, or a brand-new camera that has a three year life cycle ahead of it before it too is supplanted by a newer model.

ronlane · Jun 3, 2015

If you are without a camera now and need one, your choice is the 5D III or getting one of the new 5Ds or 5Dsr. The 5D IV is only rumored and they are saying that it will be announced possibly August with a end of year ship date.

Any 5D is not a mistake (Mk II or higher).

rexbobcat · Jun 3, 2015

The Mark IV probably won't be released until the first or second quarter of 2016 (I'm banking on early 2016 since the Olympics are next summer), so if you can wait that long...

However, for the price that the Mark IV will likely be ($3400-$3600), you could buy a Mark III and a 7D Mark II or 6D. Not sure if that makes any difference.

flyrccg · Jun 3, 2015

Ok. I DID IT! I'm pretty stinking excited, although I'm going to miss some of the features on the 70D.
Ordered a new 5D for $2239 shipped. Found it through canon price watch. They had a popular camera store set up a special coupon code to get that price. EASY. Will be here Friday, on my birthday.
Does anyone know if the CF and sd cards have to match? Don't have a CF card yet but I have some sd cards that I used in my 70D.

Dao · Jun 4, 2015

Happy Birthday!

curtyoungblood · Jun 4, 2015

Does anyone know if the CF and sd cards have to match? Don't have a CF card yet but I have some sd cards that I used in my 70D.

Nope, I regularly use a 16gb CF card and a 32gb SD card in mine. I've read in multiple places that the CF slot writes faster than the SD slot though.

goodguy · Jun 6, 2015

flyrccg said:
Ok. I DID IT! I'm pretty stinking excited, although I'm going to miss some of the features on the 70D.
Ordered a new 5D for $2239 shipped. Found it through canon price watch. They had a popular camera store set up a special coupon code to get that price. EASY. Will be here Friday, on my birthday.
Does anyone know if the CF and sd cards have to match? Don't have a CF card yet but I have some sd cards that I used in my 70D.

Congrats, the 5D III is pretty old but still an excellent camera, just a well balanced camera with no real bad things to say about it.

Enjoy

TCampbell · Jun 6, 2015

flyrccg said:
Does anyone know if the CF and sd cards have to match? Don't have a CF card yet but I have some sd cards that I used in my 70D.

Congrats! And since it is now Saturday I hope that you are out using it at this very moment.

The cards do not have to match. The CF card on the camera is fast (e.g. get a Sandisk or Lexar "UDMA 7" card and it will take advantage of the high speed.) But the SD card slot is not the fast UHS-1 speed slot that the newest cameras have. For this reason, I pop in both cards but tell me camera to write to the CF card as the primary card (and overflow to the SD card.) You can tell it to write to both simultaneously (e.g. for a safe backup in case a card goes bad at an important event.)

mkoller · Aug 22, 2015

Just picked up another 5d mk III as a back up can not beat what these cameras can do for around 2 grand. Will be interesting to see what the mk IV has as far as advantages over the MK III. Very exciting times!!!

sashbar · Aug 23, 2015

How fast things are changing in photography these days, it is crazy. I remember as if it was yesterday, when Mk III came out and was greeted like manna from heaven and a dream come true. Now suddenly it is "old". Hey, it has not got any worse than it was three years ago! Congrats, you have a great camera!

jaomul · Aug 23, 2015

But the mark v will probably be even better again

JacaRanda · Aug 23, 2015

sashbar said:
How fast things are changing in photography these days, it is crazy. I remember as if it was yesterday, when Mk III came out and was greeted like manna from heaven and a dream come true. Now suddenly it is "old". Hey, it has not got any worse than it was three years ago! Congrats, you have a great camera!

Agreed 100%.

Punisher911 · Oct 13, 2015

To dredge up an older post.... . how do you feel about ditching the 70d in favor of the mk3? What do you miss about the 70d? I know I am spoiled by the touch screen and quick menu. I am currently in the same boat, I'd like to get the mk3, but more than likely will wait until early next year.... and then the possible mk4 becomes a "want" issue..... but the mk3 price will be hard to pass up in comparison....

JacaRanda · Oct 13, 2015

Punisher911 said:
To dredge up an older post.... . how do you feel about ditching the 70d in favor of the mk3? What do you miss about the 70d? I know I am spoiled by the touch screen and quick menu. I am currently in the same boat, I'd like to get the mk3, but more than likely will wait until early next year.... and then the possible mk4 becomes a "want" issue..... but the mk3 price will be hard to pass up in comparison....

Sorry, don't have the Mk3 but the two cameras are completely different beasts; FF vs Crop. What would be missed IMHO, crop factor, articulating screen, touch screen, wifi, 7fps, weight, and that pretty much would be it. 5dm3 is superior in most every other aspect.

btw - you can get to the quick menu on 5dm3 by cycling through the info button.