Canon 5D Mark III: 5 quick tips to get more from your EOS camera

Are you in love with your EOS camera but stuck in the same features and modes? As part of a new series, every Friday we’ll profile a new EOS camera and offer our best tips for using it in new ways. Some EOS cameras may be current models, some may be classics and others may be long out of date, yet a classic to those who still use them.

Sound good? Good. Now let’s take a closer look at the Canon EOS 5D Mark III…

So you think you know how to use your Canon 5D Mark III? Like many of us, you may have a DSLR or compact system camera but tend to use only a handful of your its features.

In our ongoing review of some of the more popular current and ‘out of date’ Canon cameras, we want to help you better harness the creative potential of your camera.

Call them camera tips, or call it a user’s guide to your favourite Canon camera. The advice below comes from experts who have used the Canon 5D Mark III and know this DSLR inside and out.

If you have your own Canon 5D Mark III tips you’d like to share, post them in the comments below. What we want to build is an ever-growing user’s guide for the Canon 5D Mark III that comes not from a press release or a lab test, but from the photographers who shoot with this DSLR (read more DSLR tips or read about another Canon DSLR).

We want to inspire you to twist the mode dial and move beyond your favourite settings and functions and get more out of your Canon 5D Mark III starting today!

Tip 1 AF point selection 
The 5D Mark III has shedloads of focus points. If you frequently use one of the outer ones, head to the fifth page of the pink AF menu and make sure that Manual AF pt. selec. pattern is set to ‘Stops at AF area edges’.

Tip 2 Multi-function button 
New to the 5D line, the M-Fn button near the shutter release can be assigned to a setting you need quick access to. We suggest using it as the flash exposure lock (FEL) function, or for instant movie recording.

Tip 3 HDR mode
In a Canon first, the 5D Mark III can merge three shots in-camera to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. Shoot in RAW+JPEG mode, and the three Raw files will be recorded separately, so you can process them later.

Tip 4 Rate button
Short on time and don’t fancy rating all your images in-camera? Change the Rate button’s function to Protect instead – you can then just highlight the frames you want to keep, and delete everything else from the memory card.

Tip 5 Autofocus points
If you’re a little fazed by having all 61 AF points available for selection, consider switching to 15 points. This number offers a good compromise between coverage across the frame and the speed at which you can shift the active point.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2012 at 8:00 am and is filed under Canon D-SLR Skills, Photography Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.