5D Mark II - Reviews by PhotoCamel Members

Forum

Home

Member List

Home » Cameras » Canon Cameras

Canon 5D Mark II

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
9	6743	Thu July 26, 2012

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
89% of reviewers	$2,850.00	8.6

supersize

Description:

High Performance for High Expectation Canon's update to the wildly popular full frame EOS 5D is here, and it's better than ever. The EOS 5D Mark II has a stunning 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor, a vast ISO Range of 100-6400 (expandable to ISO L: 50, H1: 12800 and H2: 25600), plus EOS technologies like Auto Lighting Optimizer and Peripheral Illumination Correction. It supports Live View shooting, Live View HD videos, and more. It can shoot up to 3.9 fps, has 9 AF points plus 6 AF assist points, a new 98% coverage viewfinder, a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) and a rugged build. Full-frame shooters rejoice!

Purchase from:
B&H Photo
Amazon
Adorama

Keywords:

Canon 5D Mark II

Author

Johnny Perkka

F1 Camel

Registered: October 2007
Location: R'lyeh
Posts: 2784

Review Date: Sun December 21, 2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $2,300.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	picture detail, usable high ISO's, bright and big viewfinder, etc. too many to list here
Cons:	Vertical grip should be integrated

This more of a real world photography "review", so pixel peepers steer clear

Ok, coming from the 40D, I'm gonna compare this to that...

When I went from 350D to 40D, the transition was nice but nothing spectacular...

This time though, from 40D to this, I keep getting the "WOW!" feeling all the time. It's mostly probably because of the full frame.

I'm just gonna concentrate on things that are worth mentioning, aka things that I would have wanted to know before buying...

Viewfinder & focusing

The viewfinder is so much bigger and brighter, I can finally reliably use manual focus.. Now it's more like I don't use the autofocus because using manual is such a joy. That is not to say the autofocus would not work, because it does. I didn't really notice any differences between the 40 and the 5DmkII. Well, I don't do birding, sp that could be a tougher situation for the AF. But eventually when summer hits, I will be shooting some racing and other sports... So maybe then I can see if there are any differences...
It's just so different when you can keep your eye on the VF and see everything. The whole exprerience of shooting just got more natural and easy flowing.

Lens calibration

I calibrated the lenses using the suplied EOS utility, with the camera on tripod. I was astounded how big a difference it made. I kept thinking how much sharper my pictures would have been before on previous cameras if user controlled calibration existed before. It was easy to do with the camera tethered on a laptop, and I think it is one of the biggest reasons to upgrade from older cameras (the 50D and current 1D's have the calibration option also).

The Screen

Finally the picture preview is from the big picture and not the small thumbnail. I can actually see if the picture is in focus or not. This is for me, in top 3 of the reasons why I bought this camera.And the screen is fabulous anyway. It makes a world of difference.

Handling

It's a brick. In a positive way. The buttons are in the right places, and it was very intuitive to use. Finally the "direct print" button can be used for other stuff too. When you have it in your hand, it just oozes with the fun factor. It makes you want to keep on shooting. Only thing I wished was they had the vertical grip built in, but I suppose some want to keep it smaller. I myself opted for the grip right away...

Picture quality

This is one of the most subjective things in photography. From my point of view though, it is just amazing. The amount of detail at my disposal with this camera is so overwhelming. Looking at the raw files I think, wow, the sky is the limit. For some reason getting the exposures spot on seems so much easier with this camera. The tonal range one can get is great. You really have a lot of material to work with from the files.

High ISO

Well, I knew it was gonna blow me away. But I was still in awe when I opened the first shots above 1600. I think the possibilities this camera (or any other of the new breed that can deliver the goods, Nikon or Sony or whatever) is beyond comprehension. My band, wedding and street photography are going to get boosted to new heights from now on.

Fullframe

It was clear to me before going fullframe that it was gonna look different, but how much different was still a huge surprise. The bokeh got so much creamier, and the depth-of-field became more apparent... It really made a difference. Even the non-L cheaper lenses lost most of the smutty bokeh they used to have...

Conclusion

Highly recommended. Hands down. If I knew exactly what I was gonna get, I could have easily paid a 1000 € more for it. It is just so good. It's like falling in love with photography again. It's rare I get to use a piece of equipment that I just have no complaints about. Canon really delivered the goods this time. Go out and buy it!

------------------------------
"we all see things from our own specific place and appreciate images for a variety of reasons, both technical and psychological"
- A W Carey -

www.johnnyperkka.com

Click here to Send this user a Private Message

boristhemoggy

Guanaco

Registered: August 2005
Posts: 497

Review Date: Sat December 27, 2008

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 0

Pros:	Noise handling
Cons:	Most everything else

My experience is very different.

The Mk 2 physically is very little different to the 5D except a larger clearer review screen which is handy but not a deal breaker.
There's an extra button to quickly cycle through picture styles, again not a deal breaker. The print button now also enables live view and video. I can't see when I would use the video function so for me this was just a gimmick, although others may like it.
It also has a higher ISO which is handy.

I set the camera up on a tripod and took sixty shots. I took identical shots with my 5D once I had ensured exposure etc were the same. This was not easy as the Mk 2 over exposes in corparison to my 5D so both had to be set the same.

I chose landscape and faithful styles, and took shots at each stage as I increased the sharpness, contrast etc in increments. I took the same shots in flourescent light, flash and daylight, and used the same lens for all shots.

My conclusion was:
The autofocus on the Mk 2 was weaker than my 5D and on several shots I had to revert to manual focussing on the Mk 2
The auto white balance left some of the Mk 2 shots with a green cast.
Noise handling was far superior on the Mk2 and I lust for it.
Contrast range on the Mk 2 was not as good as my 5D and indeed it blew some highlights that the 5D handled well.
Sharpness just wasn't there. The 5D was way superior and it was clearly evident too. I didn't have to look for it.
The Mk 2 has auto sensor cleaning which is useful.
Image size was slightly larger on the Mk 2, obviously as pixel size is almost doubled. But the resulting image size isn't enough alone to be a deal breaker.
This was the second Mk 2 I tested. I returned the first one as I was convinced it was broken or something.

My conclusion? Think hard if you already have a 5D and try to get your hands on a Mk 2 before you pay money. I was incredibly enthusiastic about the camera but as it turns out it has been a major disappointment for me.

If anyone is curious I can send some of the files to show the clear difference between the two cameras.

I'm now exceedingly happy with my 5D and will not be upgrading from some time.

------------------------------
Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-105 f/4.0 L USM IS EF, 100-400 f4.5/5.6 L USM IS EF, 100mm f2.8 USM EF macro lens, 2x convertor, 580 EXII flash, Sigma ringflash. Mannfrotto 055XB tripod. Mannfrotto 790B Monopod.

ws1088
Alpaca

Registered: December 2008
Posts: 1

Review Date: Tue December 30, 2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $3,499.99 | Rating: 8

Pros:	IQ at ISO up to 3200, custom setting dials, live view, 21M pixel
Cons:	Bugs, expensive batteries

HTML clipboardPurchase: I was on the waiting list on day one, and by mid December I still haven't heard from my store. Fortunately, I found out Amazon has the kit for MSRP. ordered it on dec-16 and it was at my hands the next day! i think Amazon still have them, but not the kit. try Adorama or B&H.

Background: I am a seasonal wedding photographer. i use canon 5d exclusively on my wedding shoots. my main lens are 24-105L, 24-70L, 70-200L2.8.

Pros:

IQ up to 3200: no question about it. it has one of the best IQ from 50 to 3200. anything higher should be reserved for emergency situations. i feel comfortable setting the iso to 3200 and work all day. but i can set the iso to AUTO-ISO to allow the camera to use a lower ISO when lighting permits
custom setting dials: there are 3 situations i encounter frequently in my assignments: outdoor with enough light, indoor low light non-flash, indoor low light flash. I can now use the C1, C2, C3 dials to quickly switch among these situations. Without this on 5D, I have to deal with many menu settings.
Live view: with 5x, 10x zoom, I can use live view to shoot my details without guesses
21M pixel: I don't need it for the large prints, but I need it to crop. In critical moments, you don't want to zoom in and wait for the focus to lock in. You can zoom out a little bit more, let more lights in, makes focus faster, make shutter faster to freeze action. Then you go back and crop the portion you need.

Cons:

Bugs: where should I start There are too many bugs: picture review sometimes does not work, burst mode sometimes hang, and of course the infamous black dots.
Expensive batteries: What's going on here? With live view and video mode, I need at least 3-4 batteries per camera to last me a whole day. And each battery is $80?! And most stores are out of stock. Check this out (my goodnes)!

Epphoto

F1 Camel

Registered: January 2006
Posts: 3527

Review Date: Wed February 4, 2009

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $2,700.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	Please read the review
Cons:	Please read the review

Very good all-around camera to have
I have test the camera with all my lens and images they look grate, from the 16-35mm always up to 500mm
I do like the image quality over all , but I was very disappointed again with Canon, for the Custom functions they give you in this camera
If you never use the 1D cameras you will never know the deference,Big jump backwards from the 1D, and not to big jump from the 40D,50D even the original 5D.Except the 21 Megapixels, video , high ISO , and LCD and some small marketing updates they have done
Where I will like to see more Camera customization then a video or the better LCD, example:
Exposure Compensation I will like to see -/+3 and not -/+2
Bracketing 3-5 shots not only 3 ,maybe 19 focusing points and not only 9
I don't thing I'm asking to much for the money I have spent for this camera
If you shooting lots of pictures at sunset and sunrise be prepare if you magnified your images at 100% to see lot's noise in the shadows
And this is very disappointing, because 80% of my pictures is between those golden hours , looks to me no-one bother to test the camera at low ISO. Every one is happy because the camera shoots 100,000.00

ISO, If this was up to me how to make the camera, I will make the ISO better from 100 alway up to 6400
And not worried for the 24,000.00 ISO.
And the side grip it can be a little longer this way I can fit my pinkie properly on the grip, and hold the camera firmly ,without having to spent $260.00 more
For the extra grip and the battery
Battery life its not that grate also, it's a must to have 2-3 batteries with you for a long day of shooting
I use the camera for landscapes and the review I have give you its only for the stile photography I'm doing , and not for weddings, sports .....
Overall camera gets 8\10 from me, and my biggest disappointment was the bad low ISO in the shadows
I hope some day Canon shorten the big jump between the 5D II and the 1D cameras,with another cameras or better 5D III
And stop giving us updates for marketing, we need quality and better customizations for the jobs we do
Thanks to all and don't forget this is only my opinion

------------------------------

My_Pov

Alpaca

Registered: August 2008
Posts: 15

Review Date: Fri August 21, 2009

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $2,900.00 | Rating: 0

Pros:	Inage Quality,,"the New Medium Format"
Cons:	none Ive encountered

Well worth the money. After four months Im still astounded by the image quality.

Jason Hermann

Camel Breath

Registered: December 2006
Location: NY, USA
Posts: 11199

Review Date: Fri January 8, 2010

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	FUll Frame is amazing, lenses now due what they were intended to do, Very now noise
Cons:	slow 3 FPS, playback mode acts funny sometimes, has some noise at low iso, Focus engine could be stronger

I wanted to start off by saying this camera is amazing! It absolutely blows away the 40D in image quality by leeps and bounds. Images now look 3D almost. I guess the Full frame contributes to this, but honestly I don't see how other than Depth of field.

Let me start off with a List of the huge improvements over the 40D (my old camera):

- Way better high ISO ability and iso 3200 is usable for wedding work
- Depth of field is off the charts better due to the Full Frame sensor
- Sharpness is way better right off the camera, using the same L Lenses
- Color and contrast are also noticeable better right off the camera
- Dynamic range is much better and more images are now usable without HDR
- As far as feel goes, it feels a bit stronger built in my hands

Here is the Negatives as compared to the 40D:

- Focus doesn't seem to be as fast or accurate for sport type shooting
- FPS is much slower at 3fps compared to 6.5fps

Here a few test shots directly off the camera imported to Lightroom, then exported at full res with no adjustments at all.

------------------------------
Using mostly Sony Alpha gear these days , but also have the Canon 5D Mark II and L Lenses

SonyAlphaLab.com
Now On Google+

Mark1616

Llama

Registered: September 2007
Posts: 738

Review Date: Wed February 9, 2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 0

Pros:	Resolution, sensor size, high ISO performance
Cons:	AF is a little down on the 1 series but so is the price

This is my favorite camera to use (I also have 1DmkIII, 7D, 5D classic, 500D and 30D), it's the first choice when doing the majority of shooting as the results rarely disappoint. The high ISO noise (of lack of) is great, the DOF control of full frame, the size of the view finder, it's just lovely to use.

I would love the AF to be better but then we would be talking about a 1 series camera and I couldn't justify paying the price for the gains over this (well if there were any).

I use it in combination with one of my other cameras at weddings but would love to have two of these, one with the 24-105 and one with the 70-200mm f2.8, that would be killer to work with.

Basically the 5DmkII rocks unless you are shooting sports/wildlife as a major area or don't want to carry the weight around.

------------------------------
Mark

Is having 6 dSLRs too many, not to mention 3 P&S cameras? Does that constitute obsession?

My website Devon Wedding Photographer
My Plymouth Wedding Photography Blog
My Facebook

Cody21
Alpaca

Registered: April 2008
Location: El Cerrito, Ca.
Posts: 2

Review Date: Wed April 6, 2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 0

Pros:
Cons:

I am really looking forward to the release of the 5DIII later this year !! Going from my current 30D to the new Mark III will be exciting for me.

vdench

Vicuna

Registered: June 2008
Location: Kwadakuza, South Africa
Posts: 152

Review Date: Thu July 26, 2012

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Custom settings, grip design, button location, amazing Video
Cons:	After an hour or two it becomes very heavy on the wrists

I thought I would never get over not using a Fuji S3 Pro or Nikon D3X - I did