Canon Mark III

I recently purchased a Canon Mark III. I have been very hesitant to purchase this camera due to all the focusing issues after the initial release of the camera. I know some people feel these issues were blown way out of proportion, but I believe that they were genuine. There was just way too many respected photographers that noted this problem, to not believe it! It is also apparent that not all cameras were affected.

Canon released a new Firmware (1.2.5) and a new "fix" for affected cameras earlier this month. See this link.

After reading several good initial responses to this fix I opted to purchase a Mark III. The new cameras are marked with a "yellow dot" and have Firmware 1.2.5 installed.

I've "tested" the camera this week in multiple shooting scenarios to try and test the autofocus including static subjects, a fast running dog running directly at the camera and Birds in Flight. I have been extremely happy with the camera's AF system. IMHO, it acquires AF faster than my Mark IIN and does not lose focus, unless I lose the subject away from the selected focus point.

I've posted a gallery of photos on my website as examples from this weeks testing. It is important to note that I did not only choose those photos in focus to display, the vast majority of photos were in focus and those that weren't were due to my error not the cameras.

I hope this means that the focus issues for this camera are finally fixed, I guess only time will tell.

To see the gallery please visit this link - 27-March Phlog

Bighorn Sheep

Thanks to Tim Torell of Digital Wildlife Images I went up to the Ruby Mountains this past week to find some Bighorn sheep. I only had a couple days to photograph them, but what a great experience. The sheep are in the rut this time of year, though I believe things were quieting down and I did not witness any head butting, though I did see a pair of Rams stand up on two legs and challenge each other.


I found this very cooperative pair in the early morning before the sun had risen. When taking photos in the shade or in heavy overcast conditions the light is generally flat and cool. To correct this in post processing increasing the color temperature during RAW conversion and increasing the contrast with curves is needed. The big advantage of this flat light of course is no shadows. I observed and photographed this pair for about 2 hours.



This photo of the Ram with a High Key background was taken with the sun behind a cloud casting a shadow in the foreground, but leaving the background in bright sun. The background sky is actually blue sky, but to get the exposure correct on the Ram I had to overexpose the background, which caused the blue sky to blow out. I don't particularly care for this type of photograph, but I know that some people do.



This is a photo of the Ram looking out over the canyon. I wish he would have stepped out just a bit further so that his hindquarters were visible, but he never did.

To view the complete gallery with larger images please visit this gallery.

Accipiter ID

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