Canon EOS 5D Mark II: hands-on first impressions

[Max@Home]

Hi all!

This evening, September 17th, 2008, I visited the Canon Circus, an evening-filling event in which the entire new 'Autumn Collection' is shown.

Before and after the show, the participants (retailers from all over The Netherlands) had a chance to see and hold the new products in person.

So after arrival I sped to the EOS boot, anxious to see whether the just-this-morning revealed EOS 5D Mk II would be present.

It was.

And it worked, batteries loaded and such.

Not allowed though to take images with it on your own card, as it was still a pre-production body .

There were two bodies, one was shooting (and filming ) tethered to a 30" HD TV with a 24-105F4L IS attached, the other had the new grip on, and a 50mmF1.2L.

I watched the former, and played with the latter

Note that my comparisons are towards the EOS 1D Mk III that I shoot and know as the back of my hand. I tested/tried the 5D several times, but never at length.

After picking it up, the first thing I noticed was an even larger viewfinder, but closer to the body: the 1D's viewfinder sticks out a bit more, better for those wearing glasses (I do), but bright and clear, and after a short fiddle (the diopter needed some adjustment ) the information was there and readable.

AF was quick, as was the response to the shutterbutton, but not as blazing fast as the 1D III. As the press-release (Canon's own words) indicated, compared to 1D III and 40D/50D 5DII feels a little 'sluggish', but not annoyingly so.

The new LCD, 3"and 920.000 pixels, with anti-reflective coatings, needs to be seen to be believed: a real treat, the best yet.

Live View AF worked, in all three modes, and gives a usefull double-function to that very unnecessary (to many, including me) DirectPrintButton.

The topright buttons have been rearranged like the 1D3/40D/50D, ISO is now easier to get to, and controlled with the front dial.

The battery is a new one, although it looks very similar to the BP511e, but now Li-ion (so better manageable) and stores more juice.

Then I watched the tethered body acquire AF on the big screen: the mirrorflip-flop was the fastest, but the other two (contrast-detect and face-detect) were not extremely slow either

The body with the grip on looks and feels very like the 1D(s) series.

It is good that 'ISO 25.600' is called H2, (and ISO 12.800 H1) otherwise the display would have been too narrow

The new Quick Control Screen way of controlling/setting up your camera works really well, very intuïtive and fast.

...wouldn't know what else to report, so I'll add some images...

...and if anyone has questions, I'll try to answer to my best knowledge...

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[Latinbob]

Nice to hear reaction from someone who actually handled one, Max. Were you able to shoot any H1 or H2 shots? I hope the high iso is as good or better than the D700/D3. Competition is good.

Bob

[cyclohexane]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Looks like a real winner. Can't wait for some sample images to look at.

I'll go back to taking photos now, seeing as I don't own any EOS bodies or EF lenses... =)

otherwise the display would have been too narrow

Hahaha. Good one. =)

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by Latinbob

Were you able to shoot any H1 or H2 shots? I hope the high iso is as good or better than the D700/D3. Competition is good.

...the lens was a 50mm1.2L, can't remember the ground aperture or ISO setting, but I took it to H1 and at H1 I maxed out the shutterspeed, so I stopped down to can't remember what aperture, but it held (stopped blinking ), went to H2 and maxed the shutter out again... you can't comprehend the shutter-aperture combinations in regard to the light you are watching, never seen before... or did: my ancient A1 has an ISO ('ASA') scale that goes to 12.800, but way back then (30+ years ago) nobody ever in their right mind imagined there would be 12.800ASA film... now we have ISO25.600 sensors...

As I said before, I wasn't allowed to shoot to my own cards and take the images back for close inspection ('pixel-peep' ), but what I saw on-LCD and on-screen (HDTV shooting tethered) looked bright and clean...

BTW: also felt and held the new 24mm F1.4L II, took some shots with the 200F2.0L IS mounted on my 1D3, and tried to handle an 800mm F5.6L IS mounted on a 1Ds3

...that last combi wasn't tripod-mounted, and is absolutely *NOT* handholdable by *me*

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

Can't wait for some sample images to look at.

...Canon Japan has two 5D2 sample images on line: the portrait (50mmF1.2L at F2.0) is pure 3D... ...awesome...

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[KellyL]

So....Max.....what about price?

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by KellyL

So....Max.....what about price?

From DPReview today: Body-only prices: US: $ 2,699, EU: € 2,499, UK: £ 2,299.

And from 22-08-2005: The EOS 5D (- 1) will be available in October priced at $3299 (US) / €3459 (EU).

...which makes a new 5D-1 at $/€ 1.750 the best bargain in town

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[JDArt]

Great stuff, Max. Any more first impressions you can provide?

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by JDArt

Great stuff, Max. Any more first impressions you can provide?

...actually, yes, but from a different nature

...this day was also the launch day of the PowerShot SX1-IS , the first Canon PowerShot with a 1/2.3” Canon CMOS sensor with 10 million effective pixels... DIGIC4, 20x zoom, stabilized (effective FoV 28mm-560mm) , ISO 1600, full HDMI video recording with stereo sound ( ? ), full compatible EX hotshoe, etc...

..the IQ *gap* between *that* and something like the 1000D on Auto/P with kitlenses is getting closer ...

...and Canon starts to become independent for it's PowerShot/Ixus sensor-production if that trend continues, then no more Sony sensors in Canon compacts ...

...FWIW, €0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[swampler]

I got an ad from Dury's (based in Nashville) today saying the 5D 2 availability is November and the 50D availability is the end of September. Price on 5D 2 TBA and 50D is full MSRP, $1399 for body only.

[SensorDust]

Thanks for the news Max. Terrifying that I will have to upgrade my prime lenses.

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by SensorDust

Terrifying that I will have to upgrade my prime lenses.

Why is that?

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by JDArt

Why is that?

...see the reports/tests of the 1Ds Mk III: at 21MP every 'lens error' becomes visible...

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[moizes]

Congrats and very best wishes on new beatuful camera, gentlemen! It really is a huge step forward with its H2 on 21MP! Yes, competition is so good for all of us, Nikonians and Canonities! Looking forward to see what will be Nikon's answer. Dimitri.

[Worm324]

Thanks Max for your thoughts and input on the New 5D Certainly drooling at the moment!

1 surprise is the Sluggishness compared to xx ? Is that specifically the AF your reffering to , or the Shutter itself?

Thanks,
Jay

[Max@Home]

...more so the shutter, it is not so responsive and has a long blackout time, see the 2nd table here : shutter lag 50D: 59ms, 1D3 40-55ms, 5D2 73ms, viewfinder blackout: 50D 100ms, 1D3 80ms, 5D2 145ms... If I tell you the 40D (almost same as 50D) to *me* feels sluggish the first minutes I shoot it after a week 'only 1D3', then 5D2 will feel slow!

...but a slow you can easily get used too

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[Worm324]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Max Good to here!

Best,
Jay

[Bob Kupecky]

Hi Max,

Does the new 5D MK2 really takes both EF and EF-s lenses?

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by Bob Kupecky

Does the new 5D MK2 really takes both EF and EF-s lenses?

huh ? what ever gave you the impression that it could ?? it is a FullFrame, so will take definitely NO EF-S LENSES!

...or:...

! EF ONLY !

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[Bob Kupecky]

Just checked back with the Canon USA site and it has been changed. Yesterday the site said the 5D MK2 had an EF mount but listed it as compatible with EF and EF-S lenses - which surprised me because I thought the EF-S lens could not optically cover the 24X36 full frame sensor. I thought that it was a mistake. It is one thing to make a mount compatible with a mount system, another to have that lens perform well in that format.

Thanks for your report and am glad that Canon caught the error on their USA website also.