Canon 5D mark III firmware update

Today Canon USA announced that a couple of key firmware updates for the 5D mark III will be rolled out in April 2013. This announcement follows on from one made for the 1DX on 17th October. The updates will improve the autofocus of both cameras by adding the ability to autofocus when using lenses or lens/teleconverter combinations with a maximum aperture between f/5.6 and f/8 using a single central cross-type autofocus point. AF assist points were also described for the 1DX system with AF point expansion selected (see image below), essentially increasing the autofocus detection area for increase sensitivity, but I am not sure these will be shared with the 5D mark III; I assume/hope they are.

Schematic of central f/8 cross-type AF point (solid) and 4 surrounding assist points available with AF point expansion activated. Image taken from Canon USA website.

f/8 autofocus

Previously, autofocus with the new Canon cameras was limited to lenses faster than f/5.6, in contrast to previous 1-series bodies and the new Nikon offerings. This update will benefit wildlife and sports photographers, in particular, who want extra reach but are mere mortals and cannot afford super-tele primes! For example, those who shoot with ‘slow’ telephoto primes or zooms and teleconverters, such as the 400mm f/5.6L lens and 1.4x teleconverter (giving a 560mm f/8 equivalent), or the 300mm f/4L lens and 1.4x or 2x teleconverter (420mm f/5.6 and 600mm f/8 equivalent), will still be able to autofocus. Of course, those who use f/4 and f/5.6 super-teles will also benefit if they use teleconverters.

This update brings the Canon AF system into line with the Nikon offerings, though with 61 AF points, 41 of which are cross-type (extra sensitive), compared with a maximum of 51 and 15 in the Nikon full frame cameras, respectively, the Canon system might now be considered superior. Reviews I have seen and feedback I have received certainly suggest the Canon 61-point AF system is amazing and I might find out myself soon!

AF point illumination

Apart from the matter of the 4 AF assist points, it is not clear whether another part of the AF update will be shared between the 1DX and the 5D mark III; AF point illumination.

AF point illumination in AI-Servo. Image from canon USA website.

Another criticism of the new 61-point AF system was the active AF point does not illuminate red in the viewfinder as it does in older 1 series bodies and the 5D mark II. After all, it helps if one knows what point is selected at all times. This has now been fixed for the 1DX, with intermittent (to preserve accurate metering) illumination upon half shutter press during AI-servo; however, the 5D mark III firmware press release made no mention of this upgrade. Time will tell whether this improvement will be available for the latter.

Clean HDMI out

Other criticism of the 5D mark III in light of the Nikon D800 and Sony A99 release was the lack of ‘clean’ HDMI video output. With the strong video features on the 5D series, this was seen by some as a let down. The April update will fix this also, by making it possible to stream uncompressed HD video data (YCbCr; 4:2:2 8; bit), minimising image degradation, improving editing capabilities and enabling external monitoring. This update was not outlined for the 1DX, which probably makes sense, seen as the 5D mark III is more likely to be chosen by videographers.

Why April?

Both these upgrades are available for free, but why the delay in the 5D mark III firmware release when the 1DX upgrade is already available? Maybe the provision of clean HDMI output will take longer to arrange. Furthermore, the importance of the AF upgrades to wildlife and sports photographers probably justifies the hastened release of these fixes in the 1DX, the camera they are most likely to own.

What else could they improve?

It is good to see that Canon is listening to feedback and offering improvements. I have been a little put out with Canon’s pricing and the relatively modest improvements in sensor performance in the 5D mark III, the camera that most interests me (and which I might get soon), so it is nice to see the company doing something good. I hope they can also fix the auto iso feature in the 5D mark III to offer different shutter speed limits (currently you can only set a maximum of 1/250 as far as I know); introduction of exposure compensation in manual mode (where the auto iso has no shutter speed limit, obviously) would also be nice so you can correct for obvious metering differences; if you set aperture and shutter speed in this mode and then the auto iso causes under or overexposure due to the lack of exposure compensation, its not much use and you might as well select the iso as well.

Time will tell whether Canon chooses to address these issues. It might be that not enough people make noise about it, so then what would be the point in them spending resources to fix it.

Do I upgrade now?

I am hoping to upgrade to the 5D mark III soon. These issue weren’t massive to me anyway as I don’t shoot video and I don’t have tele lenses or converters (I would love some though!). The main issue I had with it is that the low iso sensor performance is almost identical to that of the 5D mark II. However, I rarely find low iso image quality a problem with the mark II, and the other improvements made to the mark III are fantastic. I will probably vocalise my internal debate over whether to upgrade in a blog post soon. So check back if you would be interest to hear what goes on in my head!