Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
by Canon
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Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
Customer Review: Best Full-Frame Camera: Don't drink Nikon Cool-Aid just yet
Summary: 4 Stars
In real world and in the studio, I'm shocked at the image quality difference from my old 5D I bought 4 years ago. I'm kicking myself for not buying this earlier. Color fidelity, contrast, sharpness, color balance, focusing all better. I'm surprised that the extra resolution really did help. The large files have a lot of headroom for mistakes.
While most reviews for this type of item are rationalizing a large purchase, here it goes anyway. When I first purchased the camera, I had cold feet and was ready to return because of the price. But after 2 months, I would buy it again even if I broke it.
Alternatives are really overrated. Nikon has a far more aggressive marketing team than in the past that exaggerates differences, so take what you read with a grain of salt. Lots of people are drinking Nikon Kool-Aid right now and defend them to the death. Overall Canon is a better SYSTEM, although I openly admit things I like better about Nikon: button layout, viewfinder, body design, built in infrared flash control, built in flash, and the 14-24mm lens. But other things: low resolution alternatives, poor third party support (pocketwizard and adobe raw), overprices lenses with no midprice alternatives, poor video or no video, etc. For instance, Canon makes a 17-40L for much less than the 16-35L. A 70-200 4 IS or no IS, 70-200 2.8 IS or no IS. Nikon only makes the expensive versions, which is why I always see Nikon owners with cheap lenses or mid-prices Sigma Lenses. Canon owners almost always have Canon lenses. Anyway:
Pros:
-Outrageous RAW headroom for mistakes, far beyond the 5Dmk1. In outdoor portraits with strobes, I can still get a high quality images when the strobes don't fire and leave me with a -2ev shot. When making outrageous changes in Photoshop, files respond beautifully. RAW files are monstrous, however.
- Picture quality out of camera saves serious time in photoshop.
- The screen is finally useful in judging exposure. You can clearly see if the skin tones are over and under exposed, hotspots in a poor lighting setup, etc. You'll still see more detail in shadows on the computer, however.
- ISO sensitivity: one of the best today. I shot out of a car window at twilight in a spooky looking town and got amazing shots at 6400+. I shoot more for fun since I've had this camera.
-Great customization and cool menu controls.
-I laughed at video but am starting to use it regularly at weddings. Amazing quality of expensive video cameras. Tricky to learn with autofocus. Must use a tripod.
- Even more detail out of my lenses (except 100-400)
- Everything improved from old 5D
- Much better image quality than 1Ds Mkii and iii.
- Canon lenses a much better value than Nikon.
Cons
- MINUS ONE STAR - second position of power switch was broke when arrived, so I couldn't use any manual features. Had to order a new one.
-Pre-planned obsolescence; just look at the 7D with built in speedlight control, extra video switch, auto-focus system, pitch-leveler, 1.0 viewfilder, etc. The sensor on this thing is still WAY better, and I needed another camera body now. But, it has features such as video that are way ahead of the competition.
- File size is getting ludicrous, especially when you need to export to TIFF, but WORTH IT. Unlike 7D and others, however, that extra file size actually has way more detail. Other high MP cameras can't justify their file sizes. sRaw not much smaller.
-My 100-400mm L Canon lens cannot keep up with this high mp, full frame camera. Your worst glass will look REALLY BAD with this camera. Even sigma lenses look better. Looks much better on an APS-C.
-I still sometimes miss the focusing system on my old 20D. Maybe I'll buy a 7D for bird shooting. People really exaggerate the differences in focusing systems, but it honestly could use improvement.
-Viewfinder not as good as Nikon's or Canon 7D.
Notes: shoots with 17-40 4L, 24-70 2.8L, 70-200mm 2.8 IS L, 100-400mm L, Lensbaby, Sigma 12-24mm fullframe,
Customer Review: Canon 5D Mark II vs Nikon D200
Summary: 4 Stars
Super fun new camera! I have been using the Canon 5D Mark II for the past 2 weeks since using a Nikon D200 every day for the past few years.
I realize that the 5D is in a different class from the D200 but surprisingly the D200 compares pretty favorably.
Here are some pros and cons, some in comparisons to the D200 and others not:
Cons:
- 5D Mk 2 feels a lot slower than the D200, I did not think that the lower frame rate would be so noticeable.
- I need new lenses.
Pros:
- The 5D is amazing and has such great low noise at high ISOs that I can get printable shots in near darkness!
- I need new lenses... This is the main reason I switched to Canon; more fast prime lenses available.
- video! another compelling reason to switch...
Other than these, comparable class Nikons and Canons are essentially the same and both produce amazing quality files.
Customer Review: Buy it for your lenses!
Summary: 5 Stars
I took a break from system-cameras for a few years. My arsenal of lenses became temporary museum pieces while I wandered around with a point-and-shoot digital. While it gave great images, one thing it lacked was the flexibility of interchangeable lenses.
I got an urge to start using my lenses again so "went back to film" so I could use them on my film cameras. And that's when I remembered why I went to digital in the first place. The long story short is that film takes lots of time, costs lots of money, and these days, is not well supported if you want high-end processing, printing, etc.
So there I sat, staring at over 20 name-brand, high end lenses and no camera to use them on. In todays dollars that's a significant investment. Enter the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. There are a number of good mount-adapters that enable the use of vintage and not-so-vintage lenses on the camera. After a little research I was convinced it would work for me. So I ordered the camera (with kit lens), battery grip, extra battery, memory cards and the lens mount adapter.
All the packages arrived on the same day. It was like the best birthday I ever had. Within minutes I was shooting images with the kit lens (24~105), and testing the camera with every last one of my vintage lenses and the lens mount adapter. A couple wide-angle lenses with deep rear elements would not work, but a long list of lenses worked perfectly and very easily. With the lens mount adapter I purchased, I even get focus-assist!
I love the battery grip - it holds two batteries AND comes with a clip so you can use AA batteries in a pinch.
The kit lens is wonderful. It gives a great range of focal lengths - from a super-wide 24mm to a very useful short telephoto 105mm, with a continuous run in between.
The autofocus is almost silent - so much so that a Nikon user I handed it to said "the auto focus isn't working". Yes, it was...
Gadgets are great and photographers love to talk about them. But it's the pictures that really matter, right? And that's where this camera rules. I have put this camera to every test I can come up with - slow shutter speeds hand-held (image stabilization really helps); low light (the ISO range is so wide I can almost say that light isn't an issue anymore); colors (so natural and clean that the images will stun anyone who sees them); and for me, the ability to attach vintage lenses and get auto exposure and assisted focus - a huge money saver for people with high-end vintage lenses.
The full-frame image sensor means that all those 35mm lenses you have will still behave the way they did on your 35mm SLR.
Check the customer images for a couple examples of what can be done...
Customer Review: A very good camera from Canon
Summary: 4 Stars
I went from a film SLR to a few of the early point-and-shoot digitals to a 10D and now a 5D Mark II. In the early days I wasn't willing to buy high-end digitals due to the ridiculously fast pace of the technology progression. The 5D II finally sold me.
Generally speaking I am quite happy with the camera. It took some fiddling to get the picture quality I wanted. My 100-400mm F4 L works incredibly well and has no AF issues. My 28-105 (stock) F4 L was consistently soft on the AF but the fine focus adjustment CF fixed the issue. It was surprisingly easy to calibrate, just switch between live-mode focusing (which is very slow but perfect) and standard AF and adjust the fine focus until they match. I had go all the way to +12 on my 28-105. On a pixel-by-pixel basis there is still some slight softness looking at the raws, but it looks unavoidable considering how the RGB matrix works on a sensor, plus noise reduction (depending on the ISO one is shooting at), and it is unnoticeable on prints or reductions. Still, I can only give Canon 3 stars on the AF because while it is always perfect on zooms sometimes it is just too wonky at wider angles, and the camera's automatic AF point selection is a roll of the dice. Fortunately the AF point can be easily selected. Finally, I also noticed that the AF sometimes got in the way of shooting with the zoom or tele, where I would hit the shutter button on a fast-moving subject that was never-the-less still in focus, and the camera would decide not to take the picture. Possibly it was just the AF mode I was in, but it seemed a bit inconsistent.
The only way to go is to take full RAW photos and clean them up in post-production. Canon isn't known for good auto-white-balance but it's a minor inconvenience in post. The 14-bit ADC has wonderful dynamic range. I had no problem cleaning up wedding photos taken in horrid lighting conditions (beige walls, mix of fluorescents, flash).
I also purchased the wireless file transmitter (WFT-E4A). The WFT is incredibly convenient. No cables, no fuss... even if I'm not shooting in an area with internet access it's amazing how convenient it is to get it into the computer back home when I do get into range of a base station, or even once I get home.
Battery life is excellent compared to earlier models. I have no complaints on that front. Both lens are excellent. I upgraded my flash as well. The 580ExII flash is excellent, far better then the 4xx series I had on my 10D. Big CF cards with UDMA are expensive but mandatory. This is not a cheap camera even if you don't count the lens. The RAWs hit 30MB and you will be unhappy if you aren't using 16G UDMA CF cards. The camera has no problem taking 500+ full blown shots on one set.
Finally I am very impressed with the video capabilities. It took some messing around to get it figured out but I finally hit upon the '+' button to zoom the live-view, making manual focusing while shooting possible. Being able to adjust the exposure w/ the new camera firmware is wonderful, too! The quality is insane, I'll have to buy a faster computer to process it. It is not a camcorder so don't expect it to behave like one. It definitely works best when the subject is at a fixed focal point. Taking video with 100-400mm in stabilization mode 2 just blew me away.
One thing I would love to have on this camera is the ability to set a specific auto-ISO range (e.g. 100-800, 400-1200, 800-3200, etc) and then be able to fix both Av and Tv and have the camera only adjust the ISO and flash exposure. I'm a bit miffed that Canon hasn't done something like that yet. The current auto-ISO does not work very well in any mode other then Av. So that lack plus the AF issues cause me to drop the review to 4 stars even though I think the camera's only competition is the high-end Nikon (and Nikon has its own issues).
-Matt
Customer Review: Amazing Camera, Unbeatable Price
Summary: 4 Stars
The Canon 5D Mark II really hits a new portion of the market- it's really a professional level DSLR at a price accessible to shutterbugs, photography enthusiasts, and independent filmmakers. The camera features an incredible Full Frame CMOS sensor that does very well in low light...this sensor is, in fact, larger than that of the Red One 4K Cinema camera, which costs approximately $17,000 (please note that I am not comparing these two cameras- they really do serve two VERY different purposes).
Canon really made a step in the right direction with this camera. It provides quality, functionality, ease of use, and the accessibility of professional level products to those with shallower pockets. This camera has been great for everything from candid family shots, to shooting great videos of trips to Europe, family gathers, etc.
While the still photos are incredible and the video rivals that of exponentially more expensive HD cameras, the only things keeping this camera from being much better with video is the processor and the write speed. I think we can, however, expect to see Canon focus on this in the near future. They do provide great user requested features in their firmware updates, which is more than can be said by most prosumer/professional electronics manafacturers.
I would absolutely recommend this camera to anyone who is looking for a camera that does it all without having to cost more than the car they drive.