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Canon 5D Mark II

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Yawn. It's not even a 50D with 21 megapixels. It's a 5D with 21 megapixels and to be honest my 5D's with 13 are pretty much good enough, especially as stopping down with that many megapixels will kill most of the advantage anyway. Exactly the same AF system, weather sealing (yeah right) from the 40D, no silent mode, etc. Can't see why it's worth bothering unless you shoot no further stopped down than f8 in a studio. My two very battered 5D's will live on.
 

Uaiomex

Member
Af system with 9 points, all cross type now.
It has silent mode
It has Live view with AF
It has wireless transmitter.
Better viewfinder
About double resolution. Sraw1 for 10 mp and Sraw2 for 5 mp.
According to Canon, it will better 1Ds3 in picture quality.
Plus a lot more other stuff I don't really care.
Price: $ 600 usd less than original
Match it with a Zeiss 21 Distagon
Amazing!!!! Awsome!!! Heavenly!!!
Eduardo
 
R

rexyinc

Guest
ok this was one of the four models that i never expected to see marketing pick to release... and they only did that last night.. interesting as this will kill every 1dsmk3 sale from now on and totally piss off the entire pro market who brought into the way over expensive 1dsmk3 now...

now they just have to make it before xmas :) lol - and you can thank sony a900 for this also btw.. canon was pushed into a corner big time eh?
 

Lars

Active member
I think we have to credit Sony for shaking up the DSL market, interesting when the market dominant is compelled to follow rather than lead. The next 12 months will be quite interesting WRT new releases from all manufacturers.
 
C

carbonmetrictree

Guest
Thank God I sold my 1dsMk3 when I did, if I saw these specs while still owning it, I would be PISSED! I sold all of my Canon gear because of these types of stunts they pull with their marketing.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
So did I Andrew! I however am waiting a few more hours to see if the new 5D specs and pricing really are all that... If so, I'll probably own it as soon as it's available; 21 MP, ISO 25,600 and $2600 US is pretty darn compelling :)thumbs:), but 4 fps is not quite as fast as I want.

But yeah, I don't like them much as a company either,
 

robmac

Well-known member
Typical Canon.

A lot of MP for the $$$ and likely sweet IQ at lower ISOs, but no gapless micro-lenses, same old SI-screen VF, I understand same 5D mirror box (issues with alt lens - not that Canon SHOULD care), no real weather sealing, tweak to fps (not a biggie for me anyway), same 5D body, AF sys (according to RG and Chuck W) is the same. Video - who cares? New LCD - but old one was getting to be a laughing stock anyway.

Bitching aside, it's a nice camera for the $$$ and while the fan-boys will go nuts, it will fill the needs of many real photogs (vs gear nuts). That said, it would have been nice to see Canon change it's stripes a bit and offer say 16 or so fatter pixels, ditch the video and up the snack-bracket of the WS, VF tech, etc. Make the 5DII to the 1Ds3, even with fewer MP, what the D700 is to the D3.

I would not want to be a 1Ds3 (studio) shooter this a.m. (not that you couldn't have seen it coming). Their $8000 body HAD dropped to $6500 or less used and can now be matched (lot of IQ assumptions here) IN THE STUDIO (where WS and uber-AF are less of a concern) for a sub $3000 body. Nice. Very nice.

As for ISO 25,600 - w/o gapless lens tech and 21MP I'll reserve judgement until I see tests beyond the typical "who did these and why..?" sample shots Canon sticks up. My hopes aren't high.

Let the various B&S forum 5D Mk1 tsunamis begin.....
 
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Marc Wilson

New member
interesting as this will kill every 1dsmk3 sale from now on and totally piss off the entire pro market who brought into the way over expensive 1dsmk3 now...
not necessarily.
If for the type of shooting you do any of the following are completely imperative then the 1ds series is still your best bet:

100% viewfinder
2 card ports for instant backup.
Full weather sealing.
Pro AF..I don't know much about differences in AF, speed, etc

So I do believe a market certainly still exists for both.
Whatever the price difference, if these are to be used proffessionally where you just have to and rely upon any of the above then the 1dsmkIII still is the camera to use.
 

Terry

New member
Typical Canon.


As for ISO 25,600 - w/o gapless lens tech and 21MP I'll reserve judgement until I see tests beyond the typical "who did these and why..?" sample shots Canon sticks up. My hopes aren't high.
I thought it did have the micro lenses similar to what was announced on the 50D
 

robmac

Well-known member
Apparently NO (RG site). Does have Digic IV processor. From RG's site it sounds that they gave the 1Ds3's sensor a buff and polish and tweaked the amplification electronics instead of gapless tech:

"Sensor With a size of 24 x 36mm, 21.03 million image pixels and a pixel pitch of 6.4µm square, the 5D Mark II's CMOS sensor offers the identical pixel count in a sensor that's identical in size to the full-frame EOS-1Ds Mark III.

(My EDIT: IMPORTANT PART) The 5D Mark II's sensor also features the same light-gathering area within each pixel (called the fill ratio) and same microlens coverage over each pixel as the company's current flagship.

To achieve what Canon is saying will be the highest image quality and lowest noise ever to emerge from a Canon EOS digital SLR, they introduced several refinements: the array of red, green and blue coloured filters over the sensor have been made more transmissive, which effectively bumps up the sensor's light sensitivity, plus they tweaked the way the sensor's signal (the light it has gathered during the exposure) is amplified and then read out."
 
A

asabet

Guest
Well I'm impressed!

When the 5D was released, they made sure it had less resolution and equal nominal ISO to the 1Ds II, which preceded it by a full year. Now the 5D II comes predictably 1 year after the 1Ds III, matches that camera on resolution and ups the ante on ISO.

Moisture/dust seals are improved from the 5D, all AF points are now cross type, and many of us don't need better weather resistance or AF than that. Then they improved the viewfinder coverage to 98%, threw in 1080P movie mode and made it $300 less than the least expensive full frame competitors.

The specified shutter lag and VF blackout time are a bit disappointing, but overall I think Canon's done quite well here.
 

robmac

Well-known member
The 6400 sample looks nasty - also some banding? (white streaks) but it just could be how it's presenting on my monitor. I also nominate it for the worst sample photo of the decade.
 
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Mike Hatam

Senior Subscriber Member
Apparently NO (RG site). Does have Digic IV processor. From RG's site it sounds that they gave the 1Ds3's sensor a buff and polish and tweaked the amplification electronics instead of gapless tech:

"Sensor With a size of 24 x 36mm, 21.03 million image pixels and a pixel pitch of 6.4µm square, the 5D Mark II's CMOS sensor offers the identical pixel count in a sensor that's identical in size to the full-frame EOS-1Ds Mark III.

(My EDIT: IMPORTANT PART) The 5D Mark II's sensor also features the same light-gathering area within each pixel (called the fill ratio) and same microlens coverage over each pixel as the company's current flagship.

To achieve what Canon is saying will be the highest image quality and lowest noise ever to emerge from a Canon EOS digital SLR, they introduced several refinements: the array of red, green and blue coloured filters over the sensor have been made more transmissive, which effectively bumps up the sensor's light sensitivity, plus they tweaked the way the sensor's signal (the light it has gathered during the exposure) is amplified and then read out."
From what I understand, Canon won't be able to go true "gapless" on a full-frame sensor, because they have to slightly tilt/angle the lenses around the edges of the frame to compensate for light fall-off on a full-frame sensor.

The gaps on this sensor ARE reduced from the 5D, but not true "gapless" as on the 50D.
 
A

asabet

Guest
There's a bunch of ISO 100 samples on the Canon Korea website, but the only non- ISO 100 image there is the ISO 6400 shot I linked. They don't mention whether the shot was taken with HTP or Auto Lighting Optimizer (the first would increase shadow noise/banding, and the second might as well).

I give them some props for posting a challenging scene with lots of shadows (EXIF: 15mm, 1/83 sec, F4, ISO 6400). It would have been easy enough for them to post a shot taken in better light.

After processing from RAW and downsizing to 12MP (or simply shooting 10MP SRAW). it would of course look much better.
 

Mike Hatam

Senior Subscriber Member
So did I Andrew! I however am waiting a few more hours to see if the new 5D specs and pricing really are all that... If so, I'll probably own it as soon as it's available; 21 MP, ISO 25,600 and $2600 US is pretty darn compelling :)thumbs:), but 4 fps is not quite as fast as I want.

But yeah, I don't like them much as a company either,
Jack - I'm disappointed by the 4fps too (although it won't stop me from buying this camera!).

The 50D (which also uses the Digic IV) does 15.1MP at 6.3 fps. That's 95.13 MP/sec. The Nikon D700 does 60.5 MP/sec without the grip (12.1 x 5fps) or 96.8 MP/sec with the grip (12.1 x 8).

By comparison, the 5DII only does 82.3 MP/sec (21.1 x 3.9), using the same processor as that on the 50D. I really wish Canon had been able to squeeze another 1.5 - 2.0 fps out of the 5DII, so it could also serve as a sports camera.

The way it is, I'll probably also have to own a 1D series (probably the 1D2) for sports work, and the more complete weather-proofing.

The 5DII will serve well as a landscape shooting, and portrait camera, for those of us who can't afford a MFDB :)

Mike
 
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