Seems like Tumblr ate this blog post of mines… well, here’s a repost of it! Originally posted March 23, 2012 Canon ruined my weekend. It wasn’t from lack of customer service, or that I had a camera crap out on me while on an assignment. Nor was it because a Camera body I had, was defective. It was something entirely different. There I was, minding my own business while editing photos, and prepping them for my photoshelter achive, and a post from Josh at Hawaii Photo Rentalcame across my facebook feed. “Krap.” I said to myself, “I’m going to want to play with it for a weekend.” I had been telling myself since the March 2, 2012 announcement of this highly anticipated camera that there was no need for me to buy it. There was absolutely no reason I would need a new camera, and that my current camera bodies were more than enough. I decided, what the hell. I’ll rent it for the weekend. First, A little back story on what I shoot with currently: A set of Canon EOS 5D Mark II’s Switching over from a set of 1D bodies (1D3/1D2N) I was a little hesitant about dropping 5k on two new cameras. Not to mention I was switching over from zooms to strictly primes. The 5D2 sensor was and is something very beautiful. It s a full frame 21.1mp CMOS sensor that has the ability to produce some amazing quality, vibrant images, both during the day and night. My good friend Luke Sharrett posted on SportsShooter.com one day about how the full frame sensors “Attracted better light, and better moments.” I laughed, but felt it was pretty true. After purchasing two, they became my main work horse cameras, while I would occasionally supplement them with a 1D Mark IV. Some things that bothered me about the 5D2’s were the responsiveness of the AutoFocus (AF) system. The slow 3.9 frames per second. and the beautiful 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) screen that ‘lied’ to me about image sharpness. But like all things, the 5D Mark II’s, like all other cameras, are tools. Tools that we use for our respective jobs. Wether it be an assignment for a magazine, newswire, newspaper, commercial client, or a wedding. The Cameras we use are tools used to create images. Simple as that. The 5D’s helped me understand composition, timing, and training myself to accept the ‘shortcomings’ and limitations of the tools we use, and to do my best training myself to overcome these limitations and not let them affect the way I performed my job.

First Impressions

I walked into the tiny shop on Waialae and was greeted by Josh and Natalie’s smiling faces. “KENT!” they exclaimed (at least in my head that’s what it was like) As Natalie processed my order, Josh was placing four 5D Mark III’s on top of his display case, prepping for a photo that he would later post to Facebook, driving traffic and more potential customers to rent a 5D from them. He handed me the 5D I would be spending the weekend with. After spending almost two years with 5D Mark II’s always in my hand, I instantly noticed the weight difference betweent he two cameras. Yeah, to some the 5D Mark II like a toy but that didn’t matter much to me. However, the 5D Mark III, weighing in at 33.5oz. compared to the 28.6oz of it’s predecessor felt solid and comfortable in my grip. Not a brick like the 1D Mark IIN was, but not super light like my dad’s 7D.

The New Menu, and Button layout

First things first. I needed to setup the camera to my usual 5D settings so I could be at least comfortable with it and focus on creating images with it while putting it through it’s paces. Canon did a great job redesigning and reimplementing the menu. Making it a bit more intuitive and a bit easier to use. However, being a typical guy, I didn’t bother to read the manual, and found myself wasting time trying to find where specific settings are. If you want to read the manual, you can get a copy here. Courtesy of Canon Rumors. Having to work on Friday, I didn’t have much of a chance to go out with the camera and test it out, so I used it as a good opportunity to familiarize myself with it’s controls and custom functions. Saturday, I was itching to get out and shoot.

Taking it out for a spin

Having gotten to setup the camera as closest to the operations of my 5D2’s I proceeded to head out the door with Geena and my good friend Jayson to Waikiki for some good ol’ feature hunting. Below are a set of images from that Saturday.