Canon EOS 5d Mark II Review
Back in August 2005 Canon ‘defined a new DSLR category’ with the EOS 5D, and has since then proved to be very popular choice among portrait or landscape photographers. I believe the selling factor for this model was a full frame sensor in a compact body, coupled with outstanding image quality.
I remember back then forums were filled with good reviews and positive remarks. If you were a landscape or a portrait shooter, and didn’t need fast AF, you had to have a 5D… and even today, this camera has an excellent reputation. In fact, it was so successful that canon didn’t bother to upgrade it in three years! Look at other cameras in XXD range; canon updates them every year, without an exception… and market life of three years for 5D and no serious competition is an admirable fact itself.
So here is the 5D Mark II, which punches high in terms of both resolution and features, headlining: 21 megapixels, 1080p video, 3.0″ VGA LCD, Live view, and higher capacity battery. In other words, a camera that aims to leapfrog both its direct rivals, either in terms of resolution (in the case of the D700) or features (in the case of the DSLR-A900).
Will it live up to the expectations? How will it hold up against competition? And how does it compare with predecessor, legendary 5D? These were the questions I was asking myself, when I first learned about the possibility to handle canon eos 5D mark II.
Experience:
5D mark II is the first Canon Pro (XD) model I’ve ever held in my hands. It was a pleasant experience, and at the end of the day when I had to give it back, I understood that camera grew on me – basically, I was drooling when canon representative took the baby from my hands and locked it up in an ugly dark box…
After this encounter, I frequently contemplate the idea of robbing a bank just for financing my photography hobby. So my advice for you: don’t try new cameras especially high end models, don’t even look at it passing by the shop, and especially don’t handle it! Confine yourself to whatever you have, don’t look for other brands or models, and you will be happy! Okay, pathos aside, I have my Canon 5D mark II experience to share…
Feelings:
For a person of my hand size (which is pretty small) 5D feels like a huge brick, in fact after a while of handling it muscles started to hurt, but I guess it’s mostly the telephoto DO lenses that added extra bulk. (I have to start going to GYM, there is some muscle involved in photography).
Boy if you’re a XXD shooter, let me say, 5D feels like a real camera, you can feel/see all 2000$ that u paid for it: Big screen, 98% clear viewfinder, snappy focus (obvious upgrade from 5D mark I). In addition to cosmetic and usability upgrades, it produces photos with fantastic clarity! Compared to 50D that I own, shutter button also feels a bit different, it doesn’t click anything like XXD or XXXD models! It’s smooth and relaxing if I can express myself in this.
Did I already say this? Let me repeat, it’s very well built, chunky. There is no more pop-up flash that is characteristic to amateur oriented canon cameras like XXXD or XXD (I always hated the crackling sound of the metal hinges inside the pop-up flash of my 30D and later 50D, no useless pop-up flash, no more annoying sound).
The day of shooting (test) was a full of déjà vu’s and pleasant surprises. While handling I was constantly comparing it to my 50D, there isn’t a big difference, at least cosmetically. As for the surprises, high ISO performance, and snappy AF blew my mind!
Some more details:
Screen is big and gorgeous, what I noticed instantly is that it dims and lights up as ambient changes. You can instantly test this by holding a hand on the little light sensor under the screen on the left of the on/off handler. Everything else in the menu feels like a new generation canon camera, nothing much has been changed, added few features like HD move etc. But everything else, it’s a CANON EOS, nothing more nothing less.
Auto Focus:
As far as the focus is concerned I have no complaints; I used this camera in action shooting, which isn’t the right profile. Full frame of 5D holds itself in the landscape / portrait niche. Contrary to this, it handled everything well. Instead of shooting 8fps, blindly like on my 50D, I used a bit more caution with pushing the button. I honestly didn’t find 5FPS a limiting factor in action photography. Maybe for a dedicated sports shooter APS-C sensor is better, but 5D mark II doesn’t fall short in this aspect. I would say this camera is an excellent performer.
High ISO / Low Light
Some reservations for the future involve thorough high ISO testing… If I have a chance to play with the camera again I would like to see, how it performs in really low light. I would like to see if focus is as snappy as during day, I would like to see how high ISO grain manifests itself at its extremes.
Image quality:
Here I will not say anything, it’s damn good… no need to pixel peep, just enjoy few photos I collected for you.
Key features / improvements
And for the technophiles, here is a detailed list of improvements and new features.
* 21 megapixel CMOS sensor (very similar to the sensor in the EOS-1Ds Mark III)
* Sensor dust reduction by vibration of filter
* ISO 100 – 6400 calibrated range, ISO 50 – 25600 expansion (1Ds Mark III & 5D max ISO 3200)
* Auto ISO (100 – 3200) in all modes except manual
* 3.9 frames per second continuous shooting
* DIGIC 4 processor, new menus / interface as per the EOS 50D
* Image processing features:
– Highlight tone priority
– Auto lighting optimizer (4 levels)
– High ISO noise reduction (4 levels)
– Lens peripheral illumination correction (vignetting correction)
* RAW and SRAW1 (10 MP) / SRAW2 (5 MP)
* RAW / JPEG selection made separately
* Permanent display of ISO on both top plate and viewfinder displays
* AF micro adjustment (up to 20 lenses individually)
* Three custom modes on command dial, Creative Auto mode
* Image copyright metadata support
* 98% coverage viewfinder (0.71x magnification)
* 3.0″ 920,000 dot LCD monitor with ‘Clear View’ cover / coatings, 170° viewing angle
* Automatic LCD brightness adjustment (ambient light sensor)
* Live view with three mode auto-focus (including face detection)
* No mirror-flip for exposures in Live View if contrast detect AF selected
* Movie recording in live view (1080p H.264 up to 12 minutes, VGA H.264 up to 24 mins per clip)
* Two mode silent shooting (in live view)
* New jump options in play mode
* HDMI and standard composite (AV) video out
* Full audio support: built-in mic and speaker, mic-in socket, audio-out over AV (although not HDMI)
* IrPort (supports IR remote shutter release using optional RC1 / RC5 controllers)
* UDMA CompactFlash support
* New 1800 mAh battery with improved battery information / logging
* New optional WFT-E4 WiFi / LAN / USB vertical grip
* Water resistance: 10 mm rain in 3 minutes
Conclusion:
Handling this new camera was a great experience. It’s is a real bargain for the price and features it offers. Canon hasn’t just taken the 5D Mark I and put a new sensor in it (Canon has history of doing this, 20D – 30D for example). There are many little improvements that make this camera more than just an updated EOS 5D. There is the new menu system, the implementation of Live View, the sensor shake anti-dust system, the larger and higher resolution screen, a higher capacity battery, and extra customizability. The little details have been refined; for example the new ports cover is much improved, making the ports easier to use, and it’s now easier to change the ISO with the camera to your eye. All of these things will have an impact in actual use that 5D users will notice and appreciate.
While there are still other cameras in its class with marginally higher resolution, marginally better high ISO performance, more advanced AF, faster performance, better weather sealing and more solid build quality – and the Sony A900′s built-in anti-shake remains unique in the full frame arena – the 5D Mark II is certainly one of the best value for money propositions on the market for image quality – especially in RAW, where you really can see the benefit of all 21 million pixels.
What do you think?
I would like to hear your opinion about this camera, did you have similar experience?
What would you add to the review article?
I’m particularly interested in low light performance, any thoughts on this?
You can read more reviews here: Canon EOS 5d Mark II Reviews.
P.S. FINALLY I SAW WHAT ULTRA WIDE IS! Being APS-C sensor shooter, it was new for me to see how wide 16mm actually is on full frame… wow! It’s so cool for exaggerated effects. Very cool effect for car shoots.
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There is 1 comment on this post.
Trackback URL | Comments RSS FeedThe canon Canon EOS 50D is really an amazing camera. The pictures are really aweseome. It think it is really light for its strength. Can anybody recommend a good printer for the camera or is it better to use a copystore?