EOS 5D mkII - Worlds most pwoerful SLR

[DBR9]

Canon has finally released the details on this camera and to say they have blown everyones expections out the window is an understatement.

It is the world most powerful Full-Frame SLR, has a resolultion of 21.1 Megapixels, ISO 50 - 25600 just to quote a few of its stats, oh and there is the matter of its brand new feature.

The capability to shoot HD video with an SLR! anyway enough of my rambling as i truly love this camera, look for yourselves:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II: 21MP and HD movies: Digital Photography Review

Surely NIkon and all other manufactures must be worrying about what canon will do next, the rest of the photography world is and nikon and sony and pentx etc are gonna need something special to be abale to even think about competing with this.

[Matra et Alpine]

WOW. Can't wait to see the video capture capability with high zoom lenses
Hopefully this will now start the trend to get HD video into good cameras.

[RacingManiac]

And its cheaper than the other 20+ MP FF in the market, the Sony A900....not by much though...

I could do without the video functionality, I am not sure how comfortable it is to hold a SLR to shoot video for prolong period. And I am not convinced of the value of HD video without equivelent quality sound. But it is an interesting trend....

[NSXType-R]

There's stereo sound, but thing is, without a microphone, if you use high zoom lenses, you're only going to be recording your own breathing sounds.

[Street_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

WOW. Can't wait to see the video capture capability with high zoom lenses
Hopefully this will now start the trend to get HD video into good cameras.

wait, doesn't the D90 do that??

Also, despite the high MP count, i wonder if this is as good as the D700, especially through the ISO range, where the D700 is said to be spectacular.

[NSXType-R]

Originally Posted by Street_Dreamer

wait, doesn't the D90 do that??

Also, despite the high MP count, i wonder if this is as good as the D700, especially through the ISO range, where the D700 is said to be spectacular.

I'd go for Nikon everyday, every time.

Both are full frame, but I wonder if less pixels help in low light situations. I'd rather have less pixels and more sensitivity than more pixels crammed into the same space. I mean, it's not like the D700 has 6 megapixels.

[RacingManiac]

denser pixel is more sensitive, thats why it tend to be noisier.....at higher ISO range anyway its heavy on the interpolation algorithm on the camera, which is mostly software....Canon probably has the best algorithm out there for high ISO stuff, where as Sony probably will be 3 firmware updates behind on their 20+MP FF....

[ScionDriver]

I want that. It is truly awesome sounding. I know a guy who ordered one, opened a new credit card just for it and everything.

[pat_ernzen]

Originally Posted by NSXType-R

There's stereo sound, but thing is, without a microphone, if you use high zoom lenses, you're only going to be recording your own breathing sounds.

Well it does have an external microphone connector. And there's plenty of cool telephoto footage you could get where you wouldn't need sound at all.

[Matra et Alpine]

Yeah reckon you'd ALWAYS want an external mic for HD work. I use them when "serious" on normal. Also for in car footage you want an external or surface contact mic Zoom mics are awesome though expensive ... I hire when I think I need it !
Re holding, then remember video cameras were a lot larger and heavier than this when we strted Also, home-brew "steady cam" mounts are great if you don't have monno-pod hmmmm, viewing what's filming crap with a non movable screen.

SH!tty QuickTime video limited to 12 mins

DO like the liveview zoom on the LCD screen to the focus point for pics though.

Ach well, stil have to lug two cameras around Just want to be able to switch from photo mode to vid mode with a button and not slinging one camera down and one up

[2ndclasscitizen]

Meh, I'll still take a D3. 12mp is plenty unless you're doing stuff that needs to be printed really big.

[pat_ernzen]

Originally Posted by 2ndclasscitizen

Meh, I'll still take a D3. 12mp is plenty unless you're doing stuff that needs to be printed really big.

Or if you need to do any significant cropping. And to be fair, the D3 is $1,700 more than the 5DII.

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by pat_ernzen

Or if you need to do any significant cropping. And to be fair, the D3 is $1,700 more than the 5DII.

I'm a Canon guy... but I assure you, the build quality on the D3 is a grade up on the 5D II -

The 5D II is still a pro-sumer camera from a build stand point. Like the 1D MKIII, the D3 is a pro body.

That said, I'm a skeptic at all this pro / pro-sumer posturing by the camera companies anyway. I carry around 3 bodies and they're 40D's. By the end of the season they'll be replaced with 50D's... or at least two of them and 1 5D II.

Today's equipment is so over-the-top already... I have a hard time justifying $5K for a body. Hence the reason I don't have a Leica M8 yet. LOL

JT

[pat_ernzen]

Originally Posted by John Thawley

I'm a Canon guy... but I assure you, the build quality on the D3 is a grade up on the 5D II -

The 5D II is still a pro-sumer camera from a build stand point. Like the 1D MKIII, the D3 is a pro body.

That said, I'm a skeptic at all this pro / pro-sumer posturing by the camera companies anyway. I carry around 3 bodies and they're 40D's. By the end of the season they'll be replaced with 50D's... or at least two of them and 1 5D II.

Today's equipment is so over-the-top already... I have a hard time justifying $5K for a body. Hence the reason I don't have a Leica M8 yet. LOL

JT

I absolutely agree with all of this. The build quality is obviously a big part of that additional $1700 despite the lower price. I'm sort of torn between the 5D II and the 50D. I'm just going to pick up a 40D for now (my 20D died a bit ago), then decide later. And yeah, the 20D is really good enough for most stuff I do, but there are a lot of nice new features on these cameras. I really like the idea of being able to grab some video if I feel like it, even though it obviously won't be as good or as convenient (while actually shooting) as a dedicated video camera.

[Lagonda]

The design of the Mk2 has been, yet again, completely done by the marketing dept. More pixels = more noise, same old crappy AF with all the focus points around the middle, mediocre weather sealing (build seems to better compared to the Mk1 though), low fps, still pretty crappy ergonomics, etc.

All in all it's a meh update. It can't touch the D700 by a mile.

But then again, I know that Canon can do some good stuff with their noise reduction. We'll see what Digic4 on this sensor will give us.

Originally Posted by pat_ernzen

Or if you need to do any significant cropping.

Frame your pictures correctly.