Chapter One: The Equipment

What’s in the New Package?

As of mid-summer 2012, Canon is making the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, referred to as the EOS 5D Mk III, available in two different packages.

Figure 1-1. The contents of the Canon 5260B002 package

The Body-Only Package

The first package, designated by Canon’s “item code” 5260B002, provides the EOS 5D Mk III body without a lens, plus:

• Eyecup Eg. This is the standard rubber eyecup designed to fit around the viewfinder’s viewing window. As this eyecup physically projects beyond the back of the camera body, it is not installed on the camera so that it’s not distorted during pre-purchase storage. Installation is straightforward. Removal (required only if you wish to install one of the nonstandard eyecups) involves simply pressing the left and right sides of the eyecup, then lifting it straight up.

• Eyepiece Cover. Many Canon camera owners are not aware that this piece exists. It’s a soft rubber rectangle that comes attached to the standard wide camera strap. Its purpose is to completely block ambient light from entering the viewfinder’s eyepiece while you’re capturing an image without having your eye at the viewfinder. Such instances would include any kind of remote triggering, most long-exposure shots, and delayed exposures. Ambient light entering through the viewfinder can influence exposure metering, resulting in underexposed photos. To use this little device, remove the viewfinder’s eyecup and slide the eyepiece cover (still attached to the camera strap) over the now-exposed viewfinder rails. Page 185 of the Instruction Manual describes and illustrates the process.

• Battery Pack LP-E6. This is the same lithium-ion battery used in the EOS 5D Mark II (but not the EOS 5D), EOS 60D, EOS 60Da, the recently announced 6D, and the EOS 7D. That can be a real advantage if you’re using one of those models as a second camera: With three batteries, you have a battery in each camera body and another ready to go in either body as needed. The downside is that multiple-body compatibility makes this battery a popular purchase, and it seems every shyster, using every imaginable means of deception and misrepresentation, has a “Genuine Canon LP-E6 battery” on the Internet market. Note that this is a battery Canon lists for $100, so when you find it on the Internet for $14.95 plus $11.00 for shipping and handling, you may want to leave that web page and seek your battery elsewhere. You certainly can find better deals than the Canon list price online, but expect to pay $60 or so for a real Canon battery.

• Body Cap RF-3. This item is generally removed from a new camera, replaced a lens, and relegated to a forgotten drawer or shoebox. The body cap’s role in life actually extends well beyond protecting the hole in the front of the camera during the sales process. Today’s DSLRs are complex electromechanical wonders that require protection from dust, moisture, shock, and extreme temperatures. The body cap assists greatly in the dust-protection case, some in moisture protection, and even a bit in extreme temperature protection. A DSLR’s strongest feature—the wide selection of sophisticated lenses that can be easily interchanged—is also its weakest point. Changing lenses provides a significant opportunity for particle intrusion. A particle inside your camera may simply be a nuisance, such as a speck of dust on the image sensor that creates a gray spot you have to remove from your photo during post-processing. But it can also be as disastrous as a hard granule of sand that scratches whatever internal components it comes into contact with, or totally binds some of the mechanical operations, rendering the camera useless and needing professional repair.

- There will always be a degree of risk that we simply accept in order to make lens changes. But it’s still prudent to eliminate as many risk factors as possible, including reducing the amount of time in which the camera’s internal parts are exposed to an absolute minimum. For any period longer than a few seconds, use of the body cap is highly recommended. Certainly, those of you who have multiple DSLR bodies that you take out for serious shoots should never simply stuff an open DSLR body into your camera bag. If there’s not a lens on the camera, there should be a body cap.

• Battery Charger LC-E6. Canon makes two versions of the battery charger for the LP-E6 battery: one called the LC-E6E that has a four-foot long power cord attached, and the standard LC-E6, which has no power cord but uses a swiveling male plug that folds into the body of the charger. It’s this second one that is provided with the camera. Personally, I prefer it. It’s designed to plug directly into a wall outlet or power strip, with no associated power cord to trip over. In my case, I keep a four-foot single-ended extension cord on my desk that can provide temporary service to any number of short-term-use devices, including this charger.

• Wide Strap EW-EOS5DMKIII. This neck strap is reasonably comfortable, with good high-friction rubber on the underside to keep the strap on your shoulder. Note, though, that the rubber doesn’t give any softness or elasticity to the strap. It seems capable of supporting the camera and lenses up to about 300mm in focal length. Of course, any lens is going to add weight to the camera body, so the ability of the body’s strap mounts must also be considered when you’re determining how much weight can be suspended by any strap.

- Aside from being capable, the red, black, and silver strap is embroidered with a readily recognized Canon logo and camera identifier, which has to be considered an asset: anyone who spends this kind of money on a camera is entitled to brag a bit.

- My greatest frustration with this strap is that it doesn’t provide any form of quick-disconnect couplers. When I shoot tripod-mounted macro images of wild flowers, the attached strap is too often in the way and frequently gets entangled in the greenery surrounding my subject. To address that problem, I’m evaluating an UPstrap SLR-QR-V and an OP/TECH Pro Loop Strap 1501372. The UPstrap seems to have a superior grip from the pad, which many users claim simply prevents the strap from slipping off your shoulder. The OP/TECH has a shaped, wide pad that better distributes the suspended weight of the camera, lens, battery grip, flash, and whatever else you assemble as a luggable unit.

• Stereo AV Cable AVC-DC400ST. Though Canon put an HDMI-out port on the camera body, the camera doesn’t come with an HDMI cable. Apparently Canon determined that most of today’s TV sets are still not high definition, so this cable lets you connect the EOS 5D Mk III to a television’s RCA inputs. On one end of the cable, there’s a USB Mini-B connector that plugs into the camera’s A/V OUT/DIGITAL terminal, and on the other end there are three RCA plugs: red and white plugs for the right and left audio channels, respectively, and a yellow plug for the video-in signal. If at all possible, buy an HDMI cable and use an HDTV; it will give you a far superior viewing experience.

• USB Interface Cable IFC-200U. Be careful with this term. Personally, I feel this is correct, but find that Canon uses the term primarily online and in printed promotional material. The Instruction Manual calls it the Interface Cable, and the camera port it plugs into is identified as the A/V OUT/DIGITAL terminal. The purpose of the cable is to allow the camera to be connected directly to a computer under the control of the EOS Utility (one of the software products on the EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk), or to a PictBridge-compliant printer. This type of connection is useful for moving photos and movies from the camera to a computer without using an external memory card reader, and for copying firmware-update code to a memory card in the camera. However, I recommend using an external card reader, which is a safer approach since you’re less likely to lose power during a transfer, and the amount of battery charge required is significantly reduced.

• EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk. This disk contains the Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility, ImageBrowser EX, PhotoStitch, and Picture Style Editor software products. Before spending a significant amount of money on additional software, you might want to use these programs to get familiar with the concepts. You’ll gain a better understanding of which features you want in your editing software and utilities. Many folks never use any other software. However, it seems that most of us eventually bite the bullet and spend some real money for the extended capabilities available in Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom or, for Mac users, Apple’s Aperture photo editing and management software.

• Software INSTRUCTION MANUAL Disk. The EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk provides comprehensive and sophisticated programs. To derive maximum benefit, you’ll probably want to copy the instruction manuals to your computer for fast and easy access.

• Canon EOS 5D Mark III Instruction Manual. This may present one of the most challenging aspects of exploiting the camera’s extensive list of features. The manual is provided in English and Spanish versions, both of which are printed in 403-page, 4 1/8” x 5 7/8” booklets. If you’re over 40 years of age, you may need a magnifying glass.

• Pocket Guide (EOS 5D Mark III). The Pocket Guide is a small eight-panel fanfolded document that provides 15 pages of quick-reference information. Though not nearly as comprehensive as the Instruction Manual, it is—as the name implies—designed to be small enough to carry, especially during your early experiences with the camera.

Figure 1-2. The contents of the Canon 5260B009 package

The Body and Lens Kit

The second package, designated by Canon’s “item code” 5260B009, contains all the components of the body-only package (5260B002) plus the Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM lens and its accompanying accessories.

This lens is a high-quality product, one of many from Canon’s extensive and comprehensive line of high-quality lenses. The “L” in the lens name indicates that this lens is a member of the “Luxury” group of Canon lenses (notice that bright red ring around the lens barrel, close to the front end). Unlike many zoom lenses, this one maintains the same maximum aperture (f/4) throughout its entire zoom range. It’s also equipped with image stabilization (IS) to compensate for camera shake and Canon’s Ultrasonic Motor (USM) for fast, silent autofocusing. Combined, its features make it a good general-purpose lens.

Along with the lens comes:

• Lens Cap E-77U. The sole purpose of a lens cap is to protect the front lens element, that glass surface you see when you remove the cap. The integrity of the lens is compromised whenever that front element accumulates fingerprints, rain drops, mud spatters, or wind-blown detritus. Even worse, the lens can be rendered useless if the front element is cracked or broken. The lens cap can go a long way in reducing or eliminating those kinds of problems if it is in place on the front of the lens.

• Rear Lens Cap. While the front lens cap is extremely important, the rear lens cap is no less so. In addition to protecting the rearmost lens element, the rear lens cap covers the gold contacts and the lens-mounting lugs. The gold contacts are the means by which the camera and the lens communicate—whether it’s the lens telling the camera the current focal length, the Image Stabilizer switch settings, or the focus mode switch settings—or it’s the camera instructing the lens to rotate the internal focusing mechanism. Obviously, if the contacts are dirty or damaged, a part of that communication will be seriously compromised. The sharp, precisely cut mounting lugs are used to securely attach the lens to the camera body, and maintain a consistent position. The rear lens cap protects from damage as well.

• Lens Hood EW-83H. Any lens hood serves at least three purposes:

1. To help reduce lens flare in those cases in which the lens is pointed close to the sun.

2. To provide a degree of impact protection for the front lens element, especially when the lens cap has been removed.

3. To help identify the photographer as a true (well, at least a wanna-be) photographer.

- Being a Canon product, this lens hood is durable, fits snugly, and does not intrude on the lens image or cause vignetting. If you need to replace this lens hood, consider that there are many less expensive options available, all claiming to be either a Canon product or “for Canon lenses,” but too often may be badly designed, badly manufactured, or both.

• Lens Case LP1219. This soft bag won’t provide much in the way of impact protection for the lens, but it is a good first level of protection from dust and other forms of external contamination, and will certainly reduce any damage or deterioration caused by abrasion from neighboring camera parts in your camera bag.

What Else Do I Need?

Memory Cards

There was a time when digital cameras, including DSLRs, came with a memory card. The included card had a limited capacity, but it was enough to let you check out the camera somewhat thoroughly.

Today, there is such a wide array of memory card types, and an even larger spread of specifications within memory card types, that most camera manufacturers leave the selection of the memory card to the photographer. The EOS 5D Mk III both complicates and eases that concern by accepting a CF (CompactFlash) memory card as well as an SD (Secure Digital) memory card. First, that means there are potentially twice as many variables to learn about and manage, and second, you can choose one or the other and ignore the one not chosen. It’s also true that the EOS 5D Mk III will allow you to use both; we’ll cover that option later in the book.

Among memory cards, the major variables to consider are memory capacity, data-transfer rates, and cross-camera compatibility. It’s becoming difficult to find new memory cards smaller than 4 Gigabytes (GB), but there are some as large as 128 GB. The real question, though, is how large a memory card you should buy. Most of us would like to have a memory card large enough to contain a day’s shooting, but there’s another school of thought that says, “Why put all those eggs in one basket? Wouldn’t it be better to use four 4 GB memory cards than a single 16 GB memory card? A failure on any one memory card would result in losing all 16 GB of photos in the one case, but only a maximum of 4 GB of photos in the other.” There is merit to that argument.

Fortunately, the quality of today’s memory cards is sufficiently high that it’s increasingly rare that anyone suffers such a hardware failure. So you drove 2,000 miles to get to your site; spent who knows how much on gas, food, and lodging; and took over 900 outstanding photos before your memory card suffered a catastrophic failure? The risks and benefits of choosing a single memory card versus multiple smaller ones are worth considering.

Select the capacity of your memory cards according to which image quality settings you select, which file types you choose for saving photos, how many photos you typically shoot in a session, and how often you transfer your photos from the camera to a computer. Regardless of your choice of memory card type, an image captured by the EOS 5D Mk III will require the same amount of space. When you select the highest quality option, an image saved as a JPEG file will require about 7 Megabytes (MB) of memory card space, giving you the ability to store just over 1,000 photos on an 8 GB memory card. If you save images as RAW files, each image will require just over 27 MB of memory card space, reducing the number of photos you can store on an 8 GB memory card to about 260. If you want to save each image as both a JPEG and a RAW file, saving an image as both file types will require just over 34 (7 + 27) MB of memory card space, allowing you to store only 210 photos on that 8 GB memory card. Movies can consume huge quantities of space on a memory card. Shooting at the highest resolution in ALL-I mode requires 685 MB of memory card space per minute of recorded video. That rate allows 11 minutes of video to be recorded on an 8 GB memory card. Hopefully, this information will help you determine the storage capacity you need, regardless of how many memory cards you spread it over.

The other major consideration in choosing a memory card is its data-transfer rate. If you take a single photo at a time, and your shots are spaced a minute apart, the slowest memory card you can find will serve you well. But if you take a number of photos in a short time, use multiple-image bracketing, play with HDR photos, or simply use the high-speed drive mode, you’ll find that you need fast data-transfer rates to get your images out of the camera’s internal systems and onto the memory card. The camera’s internal systems are able to handle anything the camera was designed to do; the hitch in the git-along is generally the low data-transfer rate of the photographer’s memory card. Data-transfer rates, and the factors to consider, vary between CF and SD memory cards, so we’ll discuss those considerations with respect to each memory card technology separately.

A note on data-transfer speeds: Both the CF and the SD memory cards utilize some form of the numeric-X designation. Strangely, this data-transfer rate designation started with CDs. In their first manifestation, CD drives could read as fast as 150 Kilobytes (KB) per second. Subsequent generations of CD drives, rather than stating an absolute data-transfer speed, simply provided an integer-multiple of that original CD data-transfer speed. Thus, an 8X CD drive was capable of 8 x 150 KB/s, or 1,200 KB/s. Exactly the same calculation is used in specifying memory card data-transfer rates. The CF memory card in figure 1-3 is rated at 80x, which equates to 12 MB/s.

Memory card technologies continue to evolve, giving us larger memory cards with faster data transfer rates, but requiring new hardware or firmware to fully utilize them, (an example being that the EOS 5D Mk III will support true UDMA 7 CF memory cards).

Finally, some photographers may be concerned with cross-camera compatibility. For example, in terms of CF memory card support:

• The Canon 20D, 30D, 40D, and the 5D do not recognize any UDMA CF memory cards as UDMA, but may process them as ‘older’ non-UDMA memory cards

• The Canon 50D, 7D, 1D Mk IV, and 5D Mk II support up to UDMA 6 CF memory cards; some models have firmware upgrades to allow them to support even UDMA 7

• The Canon 60D and 6D recently announced do not support any CF memory cards

• The Canon 1D X, and 5D Mk III support up to UDMA 7

Most manufacturers of CF memory cards claim that their newer memory cards are backward compatible with the older CF technologies. Their UDMA 7 cards, for example, should work with equipment that only recognizes UDMA 6 or even non-UDMA CF memory cards, but only to the capability of that older technology. However, there have been reports of photographers calling tech support complaining that their camera (in one case a 5D) would not recognize a UDMA card, and being told simply that the particular camera did not support UDMA cards...caveat emptor.

CF Memory Cards

CF memory cards come in two major types: Type I and Type II. CF Type I memory cards are 3.3mm thick, while Type II cards are 5.0mm thick. Please note: The EOS 5D Mk III will not accept CF Type II memory cards. There are a number of manufacturers of CF memory cards. It’s a good idea to look at comments on websites such as B&H or Amazon regarding the experience that (presumed) purchasers are reporting.

Figure 1-3. Front and back of a typical CF memory card

Speed-Class Ratings

The only reliable expression of data-transfer speed for CF memory cards is their “X” rating (honest, this has nothing to do with the type of photography they’re capable of recording). The “X” rating was derived from the data-transfer rate of the original CD drives, which was 150 KB/s (thousand bytes per second) and was described as 1x. Years ago, when I bought my first CF card, it was an 80 MB card with a data-transfer speed of 8x, or 1.2 MB/s. Many of today’s 8 GB memory cards operate at something like 133x, which equates to 20 MB/s. You will find CF memory card manufacturers that come right out and state the data-transfer speed as a specific value, such as “30 MB/s.” Be aware, though, that you’re being given the faster of the CF card’s two data-transfer speeds. The read speed, which is critical for transferring images from the memory card to your computer, is generally the faster speed, while the write speed trails along behind (usually not too far behind). It’s the write speed that is so critical for accommodating long strings of high-speed continuous shooting.

The latest development in CF memory cards is the use of UDMA technology borrowed from the personal computer world. You may have seen CF memory cards with the acronym UDMA, or even UDMA 6 or UDMA 7, on the face of the card. Originally, this was used to express a data-transfer rate, with UDMA 6 offering 133 MB/s and UDMA 7 offering 167 MB/s. However, I see manufacturers presenting moderately high-speed cards as having 400x (60 MB/s) data-transfer rates and as UDMA 7 cards. Something doesn’t quite fit there. On close inspection, I discover statements like, “Leverages UDMA 7 technology to support the latest generation of high-resolution cameras (64 GB–128 GB).” I have to conclude that this reference to UDMA 7 relates only to that architecture’s ability to support large CF memory cards, not with data-transfer speed. Be careful what you infer from slick marketing.

SD Memory Cards

These memory cards measure 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm, making them small in all dimensions. They have evolved from the SD card to the SDHC card to the SDXC card. (Be aware that all three types are generally referred to simply as “SD memory cards” unless there is a need for a specific qualification.) As a result, all SD cards are designed to work in cameras that support SDHC and SDCX cards, and all SDHC cards are designed to work in all cameras that support SDXC cards. There is no backward compatibility provided. So, for example, any camera that supports only SD and SDHC cards will not be able to use an SDXC card. This same consideration applies to external memory card readers. Many older readers (including the ones built into the front panels of many personal computers) are not compatible with SDXC memory cards. If you load an SDXC card into an external reader and the computer doesn’t acknowledge its presence, the problem is most likely that the memory card reader is not new enough to recognize or support the SDXC memory card type.

Figure 1-4. Front and back of a typical SD memory card

Though newer SD memory cards (the SDXC cards) can store a great deal of data, at present even they are not able to handle the high data-transfer rates that some of the current CF cards offer.

SD Memory Card Capacities

Secure Digital, also known as SDSC (for Secure Digital Standard Capacity)

• Maximum capacity: 2 GB

SDHC

Secure Digital High Capacity

• Capacity range: 4 GB through 32 GB

SDXC

Secure Digital eXtended Capacity

• Capacity range: 64 GB through 2 Terabytes (TB) or 2,000 GB

Though the architecture allows for a high capacity, the largest SDXC card I find available at the moment is 128 GB.

Speed-Class Ratings

Inexpensive memory chips simply don’t operate as quickly as more expensive chips. This can be significant when recording high-quality video or a long burst of images: the amount of data simply overruns the chip’s ability to accept and store it. This results in missed photos or video drop-out.

Early in the life of the SD architecture, data-transfer speeds were expressed in comparison to the original CD data-transfer speed of 150 KB/s. However, SD memory card manufacturers now use a speed class rating, which establishes a minimum rate at which data can be written to a memory card. Data rates for reading from a memory card are generally equal to or higher than the writing rates.

The class number, encircled by the capital letter C, indicates the number of MB/s the memory card can write. Currently, Class 10 is the fastest rating on the market. Table 1-1 shows the possible SD memory card speed ratings expressed as “X” values, data-transfer speeds, and class ratings.

Rating	Read Speed	Write Speed	Speed
	(MB/s)	(MB/s)	Class
6x	0.9
10x	1.5
13x	2	2	2
26x	4	4	4
32x	4.8	5
40x	6	6	6
66x	10	10	10
100x	15	15
133x	20	20
150x	22.5	22.5
200x	30	30
266x	40	40
300x	45	45
400x	60	60
600x	90	90

Table 1-1. SD memory card speed ratings

The speed class rating is an indicator of minimum guaranteed data-transfer speed for writing. Therefore, you can find Class 10 memory cards (guaranteed minimum data-transfer speed of 10 MB/s) that provide the manufacturer’s “X” rating as well, resulting in Class 10 memory cards that display a rating of 133x, which indicates they’re capable of 20 MB/s. There are even Class 6 SDHC memory cards that claim 30 MB/s data transfer, but beware: that 30 MB/s figure applies only to the read speed; the write speed is actually Class 6, that is, 6 MB/s. One manufacturer does produce what it calls an “Extreme HD Video” Class 10 SDHC memory card that it claims runs at 30 MB/s for both read and write operations.

Newest on the market are SDXC UHS-1 memory cards, for which the UHS acronym represents “Ultra High Speed.” Not many cameras are capable of handling these new memory cards; however, the EOS 5D Mk III can! (Be careful. The advertising can lead you to conclude that the EOS 5D Mk III is able to exploit the ultra high speed, but that is not true. Rather, it would be accurate to say this camera tolerates the UHS-1 memory cards. Such memory cards can be used in the camera, but are treated as simple SDXC cards.) Again, this kind of performance comes at a price, but if you have a need and a camera that will be able to read and write at the UHS-1 data-transfer rates . . . At the moment, SanDisk is selling an Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-1 memory card capable of 90 MB/s write speed, which equates to 600X.

Some photographers who have been able to spend time with the EOS 5D Mk III have reported a “problem” with writing images to both an SD card and a CF card simultaneously. They report that their expensive, super-fast CF memory card slows to a crawl. The fact is that when you’re writing to both cards, the data-transfer speed will be set to accommodate the slower of the two memory cards. This is not a problem, but a choice made by Canon.

In my opinion, if you plan to use SD memory cards for this camera, either alone or in conjunction with CF memory cards, you should consider using only SDXC memory cards of Class 10 or better.

After I put this chapter together, Rob Galbraith concluded and documented the results of his own memory card evaluation. You may want to check him out at http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

Optional Items

OK, these are not absolute requirements, but serious photographers—or any photographers who are serious about protecting their investment of money, time, or creative effort—should consider at least a filter capable of providing some protection for the front element of the lens, and a tripod to optimize those shots that require an exposure too long to be comfortably (and steadily) handheld.

Lens Filters

Many photographers shy away from using a clear filter just for the mundane purpose of protecting the lens. They see adding yet another glass surface as an opportunity to degrade the final image. And their position is technically valid. However, with the exception of relatively few photographers, and possibly all fine-art photographers, most of us will never see that ever-so-subtle distortion that one more piece of glass introduces (unless you buy really cheap filters!).

Filters for the purpose of protecting the lens, but not altering other image characteristics, are often sold as “UV protection filters,” which can be a bit misleading: the filters absorb UV rays, but do not protect anything from UV rays; rather, the filters protect the front of the lens. Be sure to get a filter sized for your lens (for example, the EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM lens requires a 77mm filter). The other filter characteristic to be aware of is the depth of the mounting ring. Adding a filter, especially one with a deep mounting ring, can interfere with the light attempting to enter the front of the lens. This will result in vignetting, which makes the corners of your photos become dark. A single thin-ring filter should cause no vignetting. If you need to apply a creative filter to the lens, you will generally want to remove the protective filter.

Tripod

A thorough exploration of tripods could result in a book all by itself. There are so many variations in types, materials, weights, heights, heads, legs, and other elements. The purpose of this little section is to encourage you to acquire and use a support of some kind. Most photographers will choose a tripod, and many will add other forms of support.

The EOS 5D Mk III body weighs two pounds and the EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM kit lens weighs another one and a half pounds. Canon’s EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens weighs in at three and a quarter pounds. And, of course, if you’re into wild birds or animals, you may be using some long—and heavy—lenses. Often overlooked is the weight of a hot shoe–mounted flash or bracket-mounted flash, and possibly a battery grip mounted on the bottom of the camera. All of these items increase the weight and bulk that a tripod will be expected to manage. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a tripod at Target or Best Buy that’s up to this task. While the ability to maneuver the tripod head with that much weight sitting atop the tripod can be challenging, the real problem is that many of the leg-extension locks simply aren’t designed for that kind of weight. They allow the weight to force the weakest leg-set to start slowly compressing. It’s just a short period of time before the tripod is overbalanced by the camera’s weight and the tripod topples. Whether aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, or whatever, be sure your tripod will reliably support the load you mount on it.

As a general rule, for handheld photographs of objects four or more feet away, ensure the camera will use a shutter speed equal to or faster than the reciprocal of the focal length. That is, if the focal length is set at 25mm, then use a shutter speed of 1/25th second or faster. For a moderate telephoto length of 200mm, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/200th second or faster. When there is insufficient light for a good exposure at these shutter speeds, and you cannot or choose not to change the aperture, then a longer shutter speed must be used. To ensure that there is no camera movement during the exposure will require some kind of support—anything from a small beanbag to a sophisticated and expensive tripod.

At distances of four feet or more, the concern is managing motion in the up/down and left/right directions. But at closer distances, especially when using macro lenses, the depth of field can be so shallow that in/out motion is added to the directions of movement that must be arrested. That’s even more reason for using some kind of support.

Electronic Flash

There are many instances, even outdoors in bright sunlight, in which being able to apply a bit more light can really make a difference in the final image. For a whole raft of reasons, there is no tiny pop-up flash built into the EOS 5D Mk III. However, there is a fairly wide range of what are known as “external flash units” from Canon. They’re designed to sit in the hot shoe atop the camera, and to communicate with the camera regarding proper exposure, among other considerations.

In July 2012, Canon announced the new Speedlite 90EX as a purpose-built external electronic flash for the company’s new series of mirrorless cameras. It’s also compatible with the other members of the EOS DSLR family of cameras. This is not a powerful unit, with a maximum guide number of 30 feet (9 meters) at ISO 100, but compared to the built-in flash on my Canon EOS 60D that has a guide maximum guide number of 12 feet at ISO 100, it’s certainly acceptable as a small, lightweight, eminently portable source of auxiliary light. (A word on Canon Speedlite model numbers: Divide the model number by ten, and you have the unit’s guide number at ISO 100 expressed in meters. Multiplying that by three and a third gets you close to the guide number in feet.) Like a built-in electronic flash head, the 90EX head cannot be tilted or rotated. As with the built-in electronic flash on the Canon EOS 60D and Canon EOS 7D cameras and a couple of the recent Rebel cameras, the 90EX is able to serve as a flash commander (or master) for Canon optical-wireless electronic flash remote units, just as any of the Speedlite 500EX-series of units do (but at a greatly reduced price). Of course, the 90EX will have neither the wireless range nor the sophisticated set of customization tools offered by the Speedlite 500EX-series units. As of the day of announcement, Canon is listing the Speedlite 90EX at $150.

At the other extreme is the new Speedlite 600EX-RT, with a guide number of 197 feet (60 meters) at ISO 100 and with the flash unit zoomed to 200mm. This unit can also serve as a commander unit or as a remote unit.