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Continuing problems with 5DMkII

mazor

New member
That is typical Canon of today, release a product, fix problems after.

I am starting to think the 5d mk ii is really only good at 1080p video, which is bizarre as I thought it was supposed to be a DSLR to superceed the 5D.

Go 1ds mk iii. hehe

MAzor
 

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
I'm starting to think about giving up on my Leica quest and add that to the money I had planned for a 5DMkII and look for a good deal on a used 1DsMkIII.

Canon seems to be missing a lot these days from the 1DMkIII focus issue to the 5DMkII black dots and other things. What seems really strange is what appears to be a lot of variability in the production 5DMkII.
 

jonoslack

Active member
I'm starting to think about giving up on my Leica quest and add that to the money I had planned for a 5DMkII and look for a good deal on a used 1DsMkIII.

Canon seems to be missing a lot these days from the 1DMkIII focus issue to the 5DMkII black dots and other things. What seems really strange is what appears to be a lot of variability in the production 5DMkII.
John! Selling your M8 . . . surely not?
 

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
Oh, no not selling the M8. I've been thinking about an MP or M7 for a final film Leica.

I'll see if the M8 will serve me as long as the IIIG has. :thumbs:
 

jonoslack

Active member
Oh, no not selling the M8. I've been thinking about an MP or M7 for a final film Leica.

I'll see if the M8 will serve me as long as the IIIG has. :thumbs:
Phew - where WOULD we all be!
My days of film are over - but I sympathise with the sentiment, and I'd like an MP to cuddle every so often :)
 

woodyspedden

New member
I am kind of in the same boat. Wish I used my beautiful black paint M7 as often as I ogle it! I just find it hard to go back to film now that I am very proficient with both Raw Converters and Photoshop CS4 and can get such good (instant) results.

Woody
 

rchisholm

Member
I bought one of the first 5D2s available... In a studio setting, with a 135 L on it, the results were just plain stellar! And landscapes with the nikon 14-24 -- wow!

Now, when it comes to actually using the autofocus, well, I have never been so frustrated! This comes from a Canon "fanboy" who had a long time love affair with the 5D. I enjoy taking street and candids and, the 5d2 proved to be a less than great tool in these conditions.

Another issue that seemed minor when I purchased the camera but slowly grew unbearable, was the shutter delay/mirror black out. The gold standard was my M8, with its immediate response and no black out. The opposite being a digital point and shoot, with the long pause between shutter release and actual picture. The 5D2 seemed almost like the latter, with a click, pause, wait, picture that almost ensured that I missed that perfect moment I was trying to capture. Again, not an issue in the studio or landscape setting, but just the devil when trying to capture candids. And, focusing manually my alt glass was painful, like pulling out my own fingernails. Even with a focusing screen.

So, in the end, I got suckered into the megapixel race, the size matters mentality. Look how big the sensor is!!! 21 MP. Everything else is just not enough!!! I mean, who doesn't want to be able to print a billboard? I print that size all the time! Don't I? OK, I never do. I was so frustrated that I actually thought of throwing all this expensive gear into the trash. I mean, all I wanted was a great sensor, like the one the 5D had, with a better build, more solid body, some weather sealing, more FPS, more reponsive/less shutter lag. Maybe even with some sort of focus-aide for manual lenses, like a built in rangefinder focus or something. You know, kind of a 5D with a 1-series build. The mythical Canon 3D, or what the 5D2 could have been. Canon, where is it?

Then I went to the camera store and someone handed me a D700... Oh, that's what happened to the 3D! Now, I am happy again. My manual focus lenses focus fast AND accurately? What?!? No way? And the autofocus, wowow. And the build and the... well I could go on. Suffice it to say, for an amateur who doesn't want the size of the 1-series or D3 series body, the D700 is like driving a 5 series BMW or a Audi A6, not the most expensive or fastest in the line up, but very upscale, well built, responsive, and when do I need to go 150 miles an hour (or print much bigger than A3+)?

Don't get me wrong, for landscapes, the 5D2 seems like a dream. But for me, as someone who shoots portraits and landscapes AND street AND candids AND fashion... My long awaited 5D2 just, well, just left me defeated. And I soooo wanted to love it! I am a bit surprised that Canon put such a mediocre focusing system in a camera with stellar low light potential. I mean, how do you shoot low light candids when the cam takes forever to find focus? The specs of the A900 make more sense -- the A900 with its huge dynamic range, ISO good to 800 makes much more sense as a landscape/studio choice, as light is controlled and you want to shoot at low ISO anyway.

OK, I'm rambling now. Bottom line, I wish I had not gotten so caught up in all the camera hype. Once you commit to a cam, it is hard to say anything negative about that purchase because you have yourself invested in it. And, admitting you made a poor decision also means people might think that you are not a smart person... Oh well. (I'm also one of those people who loves the M8, but most of the cam world makes fun of the M8 and its "shortcomings," so...)--Rob
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Rob we all make camera buying mistakes , it is a very normal issue. First don't beat yourself up for it and just chalk it up to a good learning experience. I made several mistakes just in the Canon camp alone. Should have never sold the original 1ds. They had the best looking files and the 1dsMKII was a joke compared to it as far as the images. The 1ds had some noise and which led to the next version for me but I should have waited to see how those files looked before unloading the 1ds. My story is very long with Canon and finally got out of it and not sure i could ever go back to them. But that is a thread all by itself. LOL

The Nikon D700 is a nice setup so enjoy
 

robertwright

New member
It would be hard to replicate the success of the original 5D because at the time, it was such a category breaker.

Now we have more choices in full frame cameras, so the journey is a little bit longer.

I think Canon thought the video plus the resolution plus the low light capability was enough to set it apart from other competitors. But it is not so easy.

I bought the 5DII mainly because of the resolution and live view. I have come to appreciate it's low noise and malleable files. You can push them around quite a bit and not destroy them. With good glass you can get a great file.

But I think they missed an opportunity to put the 50D autofocus into the new 5DII. It has been a longstanding complaint that the 5D autofocus was lacklustre.

It really opens the door to the A900 and the zeiss glass!

Unfortunately, from a rental standpoint, I could never go Sony because you can't go out and rent lenses for it.

Price+resolution+support=buy. Simple equation for me.

Now if Zeiss decides to make their sony zooms available for Canon...I am hoping.
 

robmac

Well-known member
Rob,

I run with a 1Ds2 and all alt glass (e.g. Leica, CV, Mamiya, Minolta Rokkor) and have owned the 30D, 5D, 1Ds1, 1D2, the R8 and other Nikon film bodies and older Nikon digital. Have also used the M7 & M8. I also tested the D700.

When looked at as the sum of all it's parts - sensor (if digital), handling, ease of MF, AF (if possessing), shutter lag, ergos, flash control, etc, etc - there are a few of those bodies that REALLY impressed me - and the D700 was one of them.

So much so that am in gradual process of shifting my lenses to only those that will mount or can be converted to mount on Nikon F so that I can add a D700 or move to one and the eventual D700x.

Nikon is far from perfect, but part of the move is also my contempt for the QC with Canon glass (have played and lost the Canon Lens Lottery too many times) and the way Canon is moving with it's non-pro bodies - stuffing the densest sensor possible into mediocre bodies and letting the customer play the role of QC Department.

The QC testing issue also applies to the last two 1 series bodies -- far, far too many issues that should have been found and corrected well before they ever landed in customer hands.
 

robertwright

New member
alt-glass-is that some new indie minimalist band?:)

I guess I am a poster boy for liking cameras that have issues that should have been found before shipping-M8 anyone:)

I may go the Zeiss route but from what I have seen on ReidReviews, the debut has not been stellar with the 50 and 85. Sigma seems to offer a better value in a 50 from what I have read, although no direct experience.

The ef 85L is untouchable from what I have seen, and even the 85 1.8 seems to hold it's own at a fraction of the cost.

which leaves everything else:)

Definitely attracted by the new shift lenses tho. And expecting software to be part of the equation in terms of CA, fringing etc. Don't see any way around it at this price point.

If Nikon releases a d700x to compete with the 5DII then I am in trouble..!!

I think Canon was pretty conservative on the value proposition of the new 5DII-not aggressive enough. Assuming in the slowdown they will spread out new camera introductions further, I believe they should have at minimum bumped the autofocus specs to keep pace with nikon. They are going to lose customers no doubt.

Related but unrelated--I looked seriously at nikon for a while since I am not heavily invested in Canon and mostly rent. One thing I could not figure out was how to stop the red overall flash in the viewfinder with the autofocus confirmation. It was either this video game effect or no confirmation points light up. The nikon rep said that was the choice-

does anyone know what I am talking about?

the entire viewfinder flashes red, not just the focus point. what's up with that? has to be the most distracting thing I have ever experienced in a camera.
 

robmac

Well-known member
"alt-glass (my edit: alternative glass) is that some new indie minimalist band?"

Yeah, an addictive and costly one ;>

"I guess I am a poster boy for liking cameras that have issues that should have been found before shipping-M8 anyone"

ROFL ;>
 
D

DougDolde

Guest
It's amazing how nearly every recent Canon is flawed. First it was focus issues on the 1D Mk III. Now the 5D Mark II is all screwed up.

You'd think they would test them more thoroughly before releasing a new model.
 

robertwright

New member
yeah if you don't need the extra real estate, you'd be hard pressed.

to play devils advocate however, the highlight headroom with the new 14bit pipeline is very very much better. and the noise is substantially better at 1600 and higher. and the live view is very handy. menu control of canon flashes...larger screen, 98% coverage viewfinder, auto ISO....sorry:D

actually the auto-iso is a little screwed up, Leica got it right :wtf: it goes by the inverse of the focal length only, no provision to set a shutter lower limit. Meaning on wide lenses it has a habit of picking 1/20th too often before bumping the ISO. Not very handy considering what an ISO monster it is.
 

dseelig

Member
when I got my 5d mk 11 I was very happy for a walk around street camera and a newspaper photographer which I do part time. I contemplated selling my 1ds mk111. then I shot a job on bicycles and for fast action it simply did not cut it too much shutter delay. good camera just not for all things is any camera?
 

robmac

Well-known member
To be fair, I think people do sometimes unrealistically expect current cameras to be excellent at everything. Too many people want a FF 24Mp body that can do clean uber-ISO shots with no blackout, 8fps, a 100% VF, weatherproofing, no bigger than an FE2, with 14 bit and dual cards, LV, movie mode (with total control), AF that can grab a bat in flight at 100yds at midnight, etc., etc. Oh, and for no more than $2500.

Kind of like expecting the best from an Mamiya 7 shooting baseball or a high-res large print from an F3 shooting Yosemite.

There's no excuse for lousy design at premium prices or crappy QC - nor for jerking the customer around when you force them to do your testing for you. That said, a dual-body kits, to me, is starting to look more and more like a solution - especially as prices continue their inevitable drop.

While I shoot the 1DS2, for less than that body it cost USED 2 yrs ago, I could now pick up a used D3/new D700 + A900/5DII for a best of both world's scenario. Lens duplication could be an issue, but if you're willing to shoot SOME MF and SOME stop-down vs. all AF, a nice dual-body kit of TOP glass could easily be slung together. Yeah, each can play in the other's sandbox if need be, but only to the limit of their design.

This dual-body approach is really starting to make sense (to me anyway) as mfg's stretch 24x36mm sensor 'pixel' densities - resulting in the inevitable compromises elsewhere within the camera's capabilities (e.g. ISO, blackout) due to physics and specs (e.g weather proofing, AF, etc) to hit a price point. Some bodies come close to the ultimate (e.g. D3x) but then we bitch they cost too much.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
Having a Nikon D3 (lot of Nikon experience) and a 5D2 (not much Canon experience) I must say I really prefer the IQ of the 5D2. Maybe personal feeling, but this it is.

And I really like the 5D2 and would buy it again! D3 is not a bad camera, but actually I am waiting for a new 1DsMk4 or whatever, to replace my D3 and my Nikon glass.
 
S

stevenkania

Guest
I have the D700 and 5DII.
D700 is like a dream in many areas, but just can't beat 5DII in some other areas, resolution being the most important. I can crop the 5DII files and still get a nice picture, not so with D700. 5DII is almost like an A900 Sony regarding resolution and AF, and almost as good as the D700 regarding high ISO performance.

And yes, AF of D700 is much better. WA Nikon lenses are better, but not so in the tele range.

So, we have to agree that a single camera can not be the best in every situation.
I like the 5DII. I don't shoot sports with it!
 
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