5D Mark 3 ISO 100% crop and effect of crop on DOF...

Previous post too long liao, lets continue here...all are 100% crop, for whatever reason, the blog can't display full 700 pixel width, so click on the photo to see full 700x700 on flickr.

5D3 ISO 1600...not sure if it is thin dof or oof...


5D3 ISO 6400


50D ISO 1600


50D ISO 3200


EPL2 ISO 1600


EPL2 ISO 3200


Honestly, at pixel level, I feel that the 5D mark III is a crazily huge improvement over the smaller APS-C and M4/3 sensors. However, it is to be noted that the 5D3 and 50D samples were downsized to 8mp and 9mp internally by the camera. I am not so sure what is the effect of downsizing here. The reason for shooting at lower resolution on the 5D3 and 50D is such that the 100% crop are showing roughly the same thing/area of the scene.

The flaw in this ISO test(and probably many other ISO test on review sites) is that the subjects have proper illumination and the 100% crop is not taken out of some shadow region. From my limited exposure to photography, the ISO performance of the shadow region usually tells a different story. Weaker ISO performer are typically exposed in the shadow noise and detail.

As for the DOF test, I tried to maintain a similar subject magnification...

EP-L2 @25mm f/4.4...sorry I don't have a fast lens for M4/3...


50D @50mm f/2.8


5D MARK III @50mm f/2.8


5D MARK III @50mm f/1.4


For DOF and background blurness, there really is no good or bad here. It just depends on what you are doing and what you need.

Maybe I have poor art sense, but here is how I will prefer to shoot the heatsink fan...
EPL2 14mm f/3.5