Since the government will start taxing internet purchases, I decided to go ahead and buy a new 5DmkIII and a couple of new lenses. I was wondering which cards and filters everyone uses.
I made the same decision recently myself. Canon 1D-X. After some research, I settled on 32 GB SanDisk Extreme Compact Flash. It's balance between convenience (not swapping cards all the time) and risk (all the eggs in one basket).
Michael, I've tested a bunch of CF cards on my 5D3 and discovered that there are only two that run at high speed if you wish to shoot high FPS and don't want buffer clog: The new Lexar 1000x 32GB is the fastest, I shoot full size RAW and get 29 frames before buffer (I own 4 of them). They handle the UDMA 7 spec that the 5D3 now sports. Second fastest is the 16GB model of the 1000X, it caps off at 24 frames before buffer. Isn't that wild? Ron Martin's blog has a table that shows that phenomena, that the 32GB is way faster than the 16GB. The 64GB is almost as fast as the 32GB.
I used to use SanDisk Extreme Pro which do run at 90mb/sec read & write, but being the slower UDMA 6 they don't stand a chance against the Lexar 1000X's. I sold 'em and bought the Lexar 1000Xs. BTW, Lexar makes an 800X series for half the price, and they are SLOW for write speed, they only run the 800X speed for READS, doesn't help birders or sports shooters!
Couple other thoughts: don't bother with SD cards in the 5D3. Canon omitted I-UHS and therefore SDHC cards run like a Pinto pulling a 5th wheel, lol. I'd fill my SD slot with FixAll if it didn't void the warranty. Also, the thing that bigger CF cards are more of a risk was yesterday's truth and today's myth. Flash memory technology HAD to improve if SSDs were ever going to be reliable, and now they finally are. Between my 5D2 and 5D3 and the SanDisk and Lexar 32GB cards (owned 8 total), no failures ever in 40K images, many at weddings. I'm sure their will be a day when one goes, but smaller cards are just as risky these days. (I'm figuring that topic should start a good round of discussion, lol!).
The only filters I own are a few B+W ND's so I can shoot wide open in daylight on my 50mm and 70-200mm. I also own a B+W Kaesemann CPL if I need to remove reflections from foliage or water, or from windows when shooting video. One device I fell in love with is he ExpoDisc, the 5D3 AWB is OK at times and "huh?" at others, lol... being you can shoot clean at ISO 3200 indoors, the white balance struggle gets easily solved with that. I don't bother for sunrises & sunsets, I just use AWB, because the intricate time we take in post is way linger than the 30 seconds it takes to balance it. For event shooting it's quite helpful though.
Last thought: with the 5D3 I've noticed something that I didn't get with the 5D2: You have to trust the histograph implicitly, and know that 5D3 images will open in ACR totally blown out. Tis OK, just pull 'em down and your detail will be there. I guess that means it has more dynamic range then the 5D2.
Discussion
2 repliesI used to use SanDisk Extreme Pro which do run at 90mb/sec read & write, but being the slower UDMA 6 they don't stand a chance against the Lexar 1000X's. I sold 'em and bought the Lexar 1000Xs. BTW, Lexar makes an 800X series for half the price, and they are SLOW for write speed, they only run the 800X speed for READS, doesn't help birders or sports shooters!
Couple other thoughts: don't bother with SD cards in the 5D3. Canon omitted I-UHS and therefore SDHC cards run like a Pinto pulling a 5th wheel, lol. I'd fill my SD slot with FixAll if it didn't void the warranty.
The only filters I own are a few B+W ND's so I can shoot wide open in daylight on my 50mm and 70-200mm. I also own a B+W Kaesemann CPL if I need to remove reflections from foliage or water, or from windows when shooting video. One device I fell in love with is he ExpoDisc, the 5D3 AWB is OK at times and "huh?" at others, lol... being you can shoot clean at ISO 3200 indoors, the white balance struggle gets easily solved with that. I don't bother for sunrises & sunsets, I just use AWB, because the intricate time we take in post is way linger than the 30 seconds it takes to balance it. For event shooting it's quite helpful though.
Last thought: with the 5D3 I've noticed something that I didn't get with the 5D2: You have to trust the histograph implicitly, and know that 5D3 images will open in ACR totally blown out. Tis OK, just pull 'em down and your detail will be there. I guess that means it has more dynamic range then the 5D2.
Anyway, enjoy!