Canon 5D Mark II Test
Posted: 7th December 2008.
Updated with new shots on 14th December 2008
The new Canon 5D Mk II was launched last week. I have had mine for about ten days now, having traded in my old Canon 5D. Its fair to say that this camera has been pretty eagerly anticipated by snappers the world over. Its not hard to see why. The Mark I 5D had become the AK47 of the world photography. Tough as nails, easy to use, ubiquitous and devastatingly effective. I was sorry to trade mine in. But it was three years old, and beginning to show its age. This is just a brief review of the camera so far. I have not really got fully to grips with it so my conclusions, though positive, are tentative.
General Impressions
The camera is well made just like its predecessor. However, it feels lighter in the hand. And the plastic covering of the ally frame is different. In size terms it seems to the naked eye to be pretty much similar to the MK I. Only the wee Mark II sticker at the bottom front of the body gives the game away. Overall, the camera performs like the 5D but with a number of improvements:
- The menu system is a huge improvement. Its intuitive and a joy to use.
- The auto ISO feature is very useful particularly if you are shooting action shots in rapidly fading light. See below. No use for landscapes.
- The 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor. Superb. The original 5D of course One thing, not very scientific, is that I need to use less un-sharpening mask in Photoshop.
- The noise control is very impressive. Using the new H2 (25600) allows hand held shots in the dark! There is noise at these giddy heights but that is the trade off for the flexibility. At lower ranges I have found the noise to be very effectively controlled.
- A lovely large LCD screen. Bright and crisp. Complements the menu system perfectly.
- Sensor cleaning. Hurrah. The amount of time I have spent in Photoshop cleaning shots is incalculable. An utter waste of time. Hopefully the cleaning will be effective, though I am beginning to have doubts...
- HD video. Strange as it seems to be shooting video with a DSLR thats what the 5D MKII will do. Please see below.
There are however some downsides, namely:
- One week in some of the dreaded dust bunnies are appearing on the sensor. Looks like I will be using the delete dust function. I wonder if the video function is a contributory factor here. After all the shutter is open and the electrically charged sensor is a magnet for dust.
- The new battery unit is in short supply. And of course no decent photographer fails to have a spare.
- Adobe has only released a RAW update for Photoshop CS4. For those of us still using earlier versions this is disappointing. Fortunately, Canon's free software is pretty good, and more than makes up for the absence a RAW plugin. The Digital Professional package has an export to PS option. Game on.
Test Photos
Here are some test shots. I will add more later when I get the chance. These are straight out of the camera. The Avebury shot had a tiny amount of unsharpen mask. Nothing more. More shots when I get the time or some interesting weather rolls along!
Action Shot - Full size @ 9mb
Landscape
Portrait Shot
HDR
HD Video
I have not been a great one for video. Until now. The video capability of the 5D MK II is incredible. When this function was announced in September I was a bit skeptical. What would I need a video function for I thought?
In practice it has turned out to be a heap of fun. I shot this video at my local railway station. Apart from turning it into an mp4 file to upload it to You Tube, and small bit of cropping in Quicktime, this is as shot:
At the moment You Tube doesn't support HD video. But the quality is pretty good nevertheless. The full size video pretty much fills my Apple Cine Display, and you can plug the camera into an HD television to watch if you have one. To record the train I did use an external powered Sony microphone in preference to the built in one in the camera. The problem with the latter is that it picks up all the mechanical whirring etc. Not sure how Canon can fix this problem. The beauty of the video function is that you can take a photo while filming should you want. The video pauses - briefly - and then resumes.
Stills from the videos are fairly usable too:
Apologies to the DHC! This was shot handheld under floodlights during fading light. Anyway in professional hands the results can be pretty spectacular.
Richard.