Canon EOS-5D MII Evaluation/Better Late Than Never?

[Arthur Morris]

EOS-5D Mark II Quick Evaluation


As described in BAA Bulletin #395 here, I was forced to depend on the Canon EOS-5D MII that I borrowed from CPS for my Southern Ocean trip far more than I planned on. (See the HOW TO RUIN TWO PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL CAMERA BODIES feature.


I quickly fell in love the the 5D MII. The files are beautiful. While it is hard to quantify a statement like that I do love the color. And it is the first full frame camera where I really love the small pixels. The amount of detail is phenomenal. As I am rarely a hold-the-hammerdown type of guy, the 3.9 frames per second advance is not usually a big handicap. I love to be able to use the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM Fisheye Ultra-Wide Zoom lens both as a circle lens or a full fish eye. And there are similar advantages when using this body with the 16-35mm f/2.8L lens.


With 21.1 megapixels, a sharp 5D MII image can stand up to lots of cropping. Jeez; I almost forgot the camera's super light weight. It did fabulously well on my shoulder with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. I had limited opportunities to use the 5D MII for flight but did get some great results; I used it from the ship and always used the full 9-point array in order to keep a sensor on the birds as the ship was rocking. Ergonomically, the camera felt very nice in my hands. And I made some great video footage easily on Bailey Head in Antarctica. If I can ever figure out how to edit it, I will post some on the blog.


I am not at all a technical person. If you are and would like to read about the impressive stuff inside the camera, you can click here. After 28 1/2 years of photography including the last 11 doing digital I do know when I like a camera and when I don't. And I like the 5D ark II.


There were a few minor things that I did not like about the 5D MII. As with all Canon digital cameras, it is very difficult to see where the histogram ends when working outdoors. I have been begging for a thin white or yellow box around the histogram since I got the original EOS-1D in 2001. Or was that 2002? The 5D MII focuses only to f/5.6; that means that it will not autofocus when a 1.4X TC is added to an f/5.6 lens like my beloved 800mm f/5.6K IS. The 9-point array is hard to get used to for those coming from a MIV with AF sensors available almost everywhere; the good news is that the 9-Point array worked very nicely with walking, running, and flying subjects. When when I used the lens with a teleconverter and manually selected an AF sensor I noticed that all the AF sensors but the central sensor had some difficulty holding focus. My biggest gripe is with the Command Dial; it rotated inadvertently while I was carrying the lens on my shoulder with the Black Rapid RS-7 strap. I would put it in Manual mode but when I grabbed the rig to make a flight or action it would be set to Bulb or Program or something equally ridiculous. I considered putting a piece of tape on it. If you use one as your primary body this would be a non-issue.


I should be getting lots more experience with this great camera over the next few months as I ordered one on Friday....

You can see more 5D Mark II images in recent blog posts here and another in BAA Bulletin #395 here.

.....

The Macaroni Penguins in the image below were photographed with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 145mm) and the EOS-5D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/800 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual mode. Central Sensor Rear Focus AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Note: the central AF sensor just caught the edge of the right wing of the penguin in the front and held focus accurately while tracking the subject. I was impressed.

 

[Alan Stankevitz]

Artie,

Thank you for your review. I bought one of these gems when they first came out. It's truly a great camera and the fact it is full-frame, with decent resolution makes for a superb camera. My biggest complaint with this camera is a so-so autofocus and slow fps. I am looking forward to the replacement for this camera this year. I'm sure Canon will enhance both.

As far as your concerns with the dial...there is a Canon "fix" for this. You can send in your camera for a modification that will put a lock on the dial. See here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...geKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e02480245968

The cost is $100.

On another note, the recent pics of what appears to be the "Mark III" version of the 5D (Probably to be announced this spring.) has the lock on the dial.

The beauty of a full-frame sensor (providing it has enough resolution, which the 5DM2 has) is that you have plenty of "wiggle room" to image a bird-in-flight w/o clipping a wing out-of-frame.

This is an exciting year for Canon as we will see the 1DX and a 5DM2 replacement. Both full-frame sensor cameras that should be up to the task of taking excellent images of birds!

Alan

 

[Scott Grubb]

I'm surprised (and concerned) to hear about your 1DIVs. They're supposed to be weather-sealed. While I wouldn't expect them to survive submersion, they shouldn't be rendered inoperable by rain, regardless of how heavy. The fact it happened to both bodies suggests it may be a design issue rather than a one-off problem like a faulty O-ring. I hope Canon are able to establish exactly where the water got in.

FWIW, a rain cover might not have helped - when I've used mine in low temperatures I've noticed that the heat from my hands is enough to generate quite a bit of condensation inside the cover which then pools around the controls - exactly where you least want it.

 

[Arthur Morris]

I'm surprised (and concerned) to hear about your 1DIVs. They're supposed to be weather-sealed. While I wouldn't expect them to survive submersion, they shouldn't be rendered inoperable by rain, regardless of how heavy. The fact it happened to both bodies suggests it may be a design issue rather than a one-off problem like a faulty O-ring. I hope Canon are able to establish exactly where the water got in.

FWIW, a rain cover might not have helped - when I've used mine in low temperatures I've noticed that the heat from my hands is enough to generate quite a bit of condensation inside the cover which then pools around the controls - exactly where you least want it.

I had had similar rear LCD problems with each of these bodies without any moisture involvement.... I would not worry too much as I have never heard of anyone having the problem but me. And I am firmly convinced that a simple WalMart plastic bag or three would have saved both....

 

[Arthur Morris]

Artie,

Thank you for your review. I bought one of these gems when they first came out. It's truly a great camera and the fact it is full-frame, with decent resolution makes for a superb camera. My biggest complaint with this camera is a so-so autofocus and slow fps. I am looking forward to the replacement for this camera this year. I'm sure Canon will enhance both.

As far as your concerns with the dial...there is a Canon "fix" for this. You can send in your camera for a modification that will put a lock on the dial. See here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...geKeyCode=prdAdvDetail&docId=0901e02480245968

The cost is $100.

On another note, the recent pics of what appears to be the "Mark III" version of the 5D (Probably to be announced this spring.) has the lock on the dial.

The beauty of a full-frame sensor (providing it has enough resolution, which the 5DM2 has) is that you have plenty of "wiggle room" to image a bird-in-flight w/o clipping a wing out-of-frame.

This is an exciting year for Canon as we will see the 1DX and a 5DM2 replacement. Both full-frame sensor cameras that should be up to the task of taking excellent images of birds!

Alan

Thanks for the button-fix tip. I had heard about it on my blog. Same place that I heard about the 5D MIII. I was in the dark on that one. I will wait for one of them and produce a User's Guide to cover both the 5D MII and MIII.

 

[arash_hazeghi]

Well, too late Artie, the 5DMKIII has already leaked out.

BTW, I have been saying this stuff since 2009 :w3 The 5D2 is my fav. camera too, I have no problem with its AF for flight, even in the most challenging conditions. Its files are the sharpest of any digital camera I have ever seen and DR is just amazing. Too bad it's only 4fps.

Here is one example

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• ƒ/5.6
• 700mm
• 1/1600s
• ISO 1600
• Flash not fired
• Sat, 20 March 2010 5:50 PM
• (c) 2010 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.

So did you get a 1DX to test too?

 

[Arthur Morris]

Killer. Nobody said I was a quick learner. What would you like to see for the frame rate on the new camera?

 

[arash_hazeghi]

Killer. Nobody said I was a quick learner. What would you like to see for the frame rate on the new camera?

At least 6fps naked and hopefully 8fps with an optional grip just like the mid-range Nikons :S3:

 

[Arthur Morris]

Well, too late Artie, the 5DMKIII has already leaked out. BTW, I have been saying this stuff since 2009 :w3 The 5D2 is my fav. camera too, I have no problem with its AF for flight, even in the most challenging conditions. Its files are the sharpest of any digital camera I have ever seen and DR is just amazing. Too bad it's only 4fps. Did you get a 1DX to test too?

No 1Dx for me. And late yes on the 5DII, but do not forget that lots of folks will be interested in the much cheaper 5D MII once the 5D MIII is out.....

 

[Arthur Morris]

At least 6fps naked and hopefully 8fps with an optional grip just like the mid-range Nikons :S3:

I hope that you are right. Is there not a battery grip for the 5D MII?

 

[arash_hazeghi]

I hope that you are right. Is there not a battery grip for the 5D MII?

There is one but it doesn't increase the frame rate...stuck with 4fps (well actually 3.8 fps!)

 

[Arthur Morris]

Actually 3.9 I believe....

 

[Robert Amoruso]

I have owed one since it was introduced and it is a great camera for landscapes (except for only allowing three-bracketed images at once which is a colossal mistake - can Canon say firmware upgrade). The AF is the same in the 20D/30D era cameras. I guess the thinking is most would use this camera for landscapes so focusing is not a big issue. Since I use it with Canon T/S lenses and manually focus, no biggy. The rather slow AF does make BIF rather easy as once you lock on it doesn't bounce to the BG quickly.

Its features, combined with various lenses will be covered in my eBook on Ocean/Beach landscape photography.

 

[Jay Gould]

Artie, did you use the 5D2 with the battery grip?

Oops, just saw you asked about the grip; that answers the question!

 

[Jay Gould]

Bob, looking forward to your eBook; when?

 

[arash_hazeghi]

I The rather slow AF does make BIF rather easy as once you lock on it doesn't bounce to the BG quickly. .

Is that a joke ? :w3