Canon 5D Mark III announced + comparison to Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D800

Today Canon announced the successor to their hugely successful Canon 5D Mark II. The Canon 5D Mark III is a big improvement to the previous model and contains numerous features of both the new 1D X and current 7D.

The following table contains a comparison of some of the key features of the new Mark III to both the Mark II and the Nikon D800.

	Canon 5D II	Canon 5D III	Nikon D800
Estimated price of body	$2,499	$3,499	$2,999
Sensor size (MP)	21.1 MP	22.3 MP	36.8 MP
Viewfinder coverage	98%	100%	100%
LCD	3”	3.2” 1.04M dots	3.2” 921K dots
Memory card	CF	CF+SD	CF+SD
Popup Flash	no	no	yes
Autofocus points	9 up to f/5.6	61 up to f/5.6	51 up to f/8
Face Detection	yes	yes	yes
ISO Range	50 – 25,600	50 – 102,400	50 – 25,600
AE Bracket	3 frames	3, 5, 7 frames	2, 3, 5, 7 frames
Continuous shooting	3.9fps	6fps	4fps (FX) 6fps (DX)
Buffer size	?	18 raw	16 – 21 FX raw
Multi-exposure	no	yes	yes (?)
Timelapse support	no	no	yes
HDR in camera	no	yes	yes
Horizon level	no	dual axis leveling	dual axis leveling
GPS location	external device	external device	external device
Shutter life	150,000	150,000	200,000
Quiet shooting (mirror delayed)	no	yes	yes
Silent shooting (no mirror)	no	?	yes
Ethernet port	no	no	no
Video
Video (1080)	30, 25, 24	30, 25, 24	30, 25, 24
Video (720)	n/a	60, 50	60, 50, 30, 25
Video (640)	30, 25	30, 25	30, 25
Longest clip	±12 minutes	0:29:59 (split into 3 clips)	0:29:59
Headphone Jack	no	yes	yes
Audio level control	yes (pre-recording)	yes + while recording	yes + while recording
Video autofocus	no	no	yes
Dedicated Video button	no	yes	yes
Video Recording format	H.264	H.264	H.264
Video compression	IPP	IPB or ALL-I	MPEG-4 AVC
HDMI out	no	yes (compressed)	yes (uncompressed)
Aperture control in video	no	no	yes
Histogram in video	no	yes	no
Time code support	no	Rec Run + Free Run	no (can set markers)