Can my 5D Mk III create five bracketed pictures? And what about with flash?
Brian Says… The EOS 5D Mark III can be configured to create two, three, five or seven frames when set to bracketing mode, though it’s three by default. You’ll need to go in to the camera custom functions and, on the first tab, change the number of bracketed shots to the required number. If you do a lot of bracketing it might be worth also setting the Bracketing Auto Cancel option to Disable so that the bracketing settings are retained even when the camera is switched off or powers down automatically.
If you prefer to have the images in a specific logical order you may try changing the bracketed sequence setting too. By default Canon cameras take the normal metered exposure first, then the underexposed and finally the overexposed shot.
Don’t forget that this kind of task-specific configuration is ideally done and stored in to one of the Custom shooting modes, then you can simply arrive on location, and a turn of the dial is all you need to do to be ready to shoot.
Depending on which Speedlite flash you have, you can also use Flash Exposure Bracketing. Certainly, Flash Exposure Bracketing is possible with the Speedlite 580EX II and 600EX-RT flashes. However, the flashes are limited to a series of three brackets in a single sequence. Deep in the manuals you will find that it is not possible to combine Flash Exposure Bracketing and ambient light bracketing. If a flash is fitted to the hotshoe and switched on then the camera will be forced out of any configured bracketing mode. Though if the camera’s Bracketing Auto Cancel setting is disabled, then the bracketing will resume when the flash is switched off.