Canon EOS 5D Mark II Review
Canon has clearly established itself as the leader in the professional DSLR and SLR field. And although it has been facing steep competition from the likes of Nikon and in more recent years Sony and Panasonic, they have managed to still create the best cameras offered.
The EOS 5D Mark II is no exception, as it is the upgrade to the EOS 5D.
Design
For those familiar with the original EOS 5D, it will be easy to note that the Mark II does not differ much in design. Except for the 3.0 920,000 dots LCD (upgraded from 2.5 320,000 dots) and the deleted button that has been moved to the bottom left of the screen to accommodate the bigger screen size, little else has changed.
The viewfinder is great and now supports live view. Canon notes that the accuracy is 98% (which is true) and beats the D700’s 95% (from Nikon).
The life expectancy of the shutter has been upped from the previous 100,000 cycles to 150,000. Not only that but Canon has made not of the possibility of dust or sand getting into the sensor and has integrated a self cleaning system that shakes the sensor each time the camera is started. Dust and sand fall below and is picked up by a sticky surface below the shutter. As if that weren’t enough, you also have the option to create a dust map that can in turn be downloaded to your computer and once the pictures are uploaded, you can use Canon’s software to remove dust from the photos that were affected.
The only major drawback to the systems design is the exclusion of a popup flash which Canon seems not to be interested in. That said, Canon did in turn upgrade the hot-shoe to a more rugged design, so it makes the loss a little more palatable.
Performance
You’d think that photos were just great on the 5D Mark II, but they are more than great, they’re awesome. Canon has completed this task by upgrading the ISO which now offers a low of 50 and a high of 25,600. The megapixels have also been bumped up to 21.1 which gives crystal clear images.
When Nikon announced that they would be the first to offer video shooting capabilities on a DSLR you know that Canon would have to top that. And of course they did. The 5D Mark II supports full 1080p 30fps video shooting which totally trumps the 720p 30fps offering of the Nikon D90.
Video quality on the camera is superb and is equal to broadcast quality. There are a few drawbacks though. During video shooting the aperture is locked meaning you have to manually refocus. Secondly due to the CF card, you will be limited to only short video clips of around 12 minutes. Last but not least to download videos onto your computer for editing you will have to use Canon’s proprietary software to convert them.
Conclusion
If you’re not aware of the price you’re probably thinking that this system is going to cost some major greens. You’re right. For the body alone you’ll have to shell out $2700. But if your pocket is deep enough to handle it you will not find a better DSLR camera anywhere else. So if you’ve been hearing photo enthusiasts and professionals alike touting this as the greatest DSLR camera ever….they’re right.