British GT/F3 Cup at Oulton Park 2013: Testing the Canon 5D MkIII

The weather in recent weeks has been freezing cold, but I was determined that I would get over to Oulton Park to see the opening round of the British GT series. This year’s championship is one of the most heavily subscribed series in the UK, with a mix of GT3 and GT4 specification cars including makes such as Mclaren, Ferrari, Ginetta, and Mercedes. I photographed the British GT and F3 event at Donington Park last year and couldn’t wait to be at the season opener this year.

Some new exciting equipment – Canon 5D Mk III Review

I’ve not been to Oulton Park before, so finding good places to photograph as a spectator was a new adventure for me. I took with my my brand new Canon 5D Mk III, which I finally bought a couple of weeks ago. Although my 5D Mk1 has served me well, it had become unreliable and had both a shutter button and mirror failure. It has had it’s time, and is now used as a backup, or on my Harewood shoots as a second body for wide lenses.

I’ve not yet received the battery grip for this camera, despite ordering it nearly 2 weeks ago. Despite this frustration, I’ve been eager to get to a track to see what it can do. I took with my the 70-200 f/2.8, 16-35 f/2.8, the 24-105 f/4 and the 1.4 Mk III extender. I also took along the Mamiya C330F, with some Delta 400 for the grey, overcast conditions.

A very noticeable improvement in auto focus

The very first thing that struck me about the 5D Mk III was the auto focus. This is a substantial improvement over the Mk1 and Mk2. I selected mode 4, which was described as being for motorsport, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Focusing was fast, with no noticable seeking, and tracking moving subjects was almost flawless. The 63 point AF system also gives plenty of choice, but this can be a hinderence as it can be fiddly to switch quickly. Luckily this can be changed to a more traditional number, or even fully automatic.

The new Auto Focus system is excellent for tracking subject, with very little seeking. The United Autosport MP4-12C is no slouch, and the 5D MkIII kept up with it as it flew past.

Deceptively high resolution

The screen on the 5D Mk III is much bigger than my old camera, at 3.2 inches. The 22 megapixel resolution is much higher too, and this does give images a deceptively sharp look to them until zoomed in. I do find the zoom function on the Mk III a bit fiddly too, as you press the magnify button, and then use the top wheel to zoom in. I’d much prefer the plus and minus buttons of the MKI/MKII, but at least the wheel is responsive when used.

A mix of L series glass and 22 megapixels created super sharp shots, even when using the 1.4x extender.

I was amazed with how sharp the photographs came out, event though I was using the 1.4x extender for some shots. Photographs also responded well to any post processing adjustments, although I try to keep these to a minimum. I can only (currently) imagine how L series prime lenses such as the 400mm f/5.6 look with this camera body.

Great for ‘Superblur’ style shots

These are some of my favourite types of shot – by setting the shutter speed to an insanely slow speed, I create blurry, jagged photographs as the cars speed by. For this, the 5D Mk III again didn’t disappoint. There is very little shutter lag or mirror slap on this camera, despite it’s 6 frames per second speed. This means that these shots come out very crisp, with no unintentional movement that can ruin these delicate shots.

A low shutter lag allows for steady shooting, which is especially hand for these superblur shots. This Nissan GT-R looks exciting as it heads towards Druids.

Use with superwide lenses

As this camera is again a full frame affair, using wide angles is a must to get the most out of this camera. The 100% coverage intelligent viewfinder is a big improvement over the one in the MKI and MKII cameras, and allows for different AF setups to be shown. Seeing right to the edge of a frame was really useful, as I didn’t have to check shots to see if I’d missed the passing car or not.

Passing Audi R8 LMS taken with the wide angle lens on the 5D Mk III camera.

Some small niggles

Despite my first impressions of this camera being extremely good, there are a few niggles. The high resolution means that on a 16gb card, I can only fit about 550 shots on. Although you can turn down the RAW size to either 5 megapixels or 10 megapixels, there still isn’t much difference in file size. The upside of this of course is the superb image quality, which is a big improvement over the MKII. Another small problem is that the LCD screen has a brightness sensor, which seems perfectly positioned to be covered up by the lose ends of my camera strap, meaning the preview appears really dark. Luckily this can be turned off, so again isn’t too much of an issue.

A pair of Audis dueling out of Lodge corner. The 22 megapixel images may produce detailed shots, but they do eat up card space quickly.

I have found some of the menus a bit fiddly to use, and as I’ve said previously the magnification button is not all that intuitive. I also found the shutter button to be very sensitive, with only the lightest touch firing the camera. This will probably become better as the camera gets worn in, but did result in several photographs of the floor!

Let’s not forget about the Mamiya

Although I only ran a single roll of Ilford Delta 400 through the Mamiya C330F, I still managed to get some decent shots. As I was just a spectator at Oulton Park, I didn’t have the same kind of access that I had done recently at the Ginetta Media Day at Silverstone. Moaning aside, I still took the 2kg hunk of metal and glass around with me, with the prism finder for action shots and around the paddock.

An F3 car in the paddock at Oulton Park, with 3 blokes stood in front of it created a nice tonal shot with silhouettes.

I really liked this photograph of an F3 car in the paddock with 3 blokes stood in front of it. The tones in the bodywork, details on the tyres, silhouettes and 6×6 framing made a pleasing composition to me.

A fittingly sombre panning shot of the Ginetta G55 which was destroyed by fire late on in the race. The prism finder made panning shots on this beast of a camera much easier.

I managed to get a panning shot of the Ginetta G55 out of the Mamiya during the second race. The prism finder, which correctly inverts the image, makes panning shots relatively easy on this camera. The shot would prove fittingly reflective, as this car caught fire after suffering from a broken exhaust. Despite the best efforts of the staff at Oulton Park, the car was destroyed by the fire. Luckily the driver managed to get out before the fire took hold.

Summing up and further reading

I was very impressed with the 5D Mk III – it is a substantial improvement in every area over the Mk II, and it’s clear that Canon have upped their game. The image quality, features and build quality have been a welcome improvement over my now rather ancient looking Mk1. I’m looking forward to using the camera this year, hopefully with my battery grip attached to it soon.

As for Oulton Park, I felt that the circuit offered great access to spectators, and there were plenty of places to take decent shots without huge catch fencing getting in the way. I look forward to returning to Oulton Park to photograph some more action in the near future.

I have created a set of my British GT/F3 Cup photographs on Flickr, including photographs from the Mamiya C330F.

Posted in: 6x6, Digital, Film Photography, Formula 3, GT, Medium Format, Motorsport, Review