Отзывы о Фотоаппарат Canon EOS 5D Mark II Body

This top of the line Canon Camera along w/ the L Type lens will make any photographer into a pro in no time. Great combo price!

From all the reviews posted here recently, you know a lot of consumers complained about Canon 5D Mark II's quality and features. As a previous owner of Canon T1i,7D, and now the 5D mark II,I can say clearly that you DON'T need to "upgrade" to 5D Mark II until you REALLY know what you need and what you don't. 5D Mark II is NOT suitable for everyone. Actually, in most conditions, it's just a "downgrade" choice especially for 7D owners. For shutter speed, build-in flash, autofocus, metering, menus and a lot of advanced new technical specifications, 5D feels like an old generation toy, it's not even comparable with 7D. I'd suggest that you should seriously consider 7D rather than 5D Mark II, if you are the one who likes shooting sports, social events, family activities, travel and normal landscape pictures. That's say, 7D maybe the BEST camera for 90% photo enthusiasts. But 5D Mark II is solely for the "rest of us" who are searching for the camera of best available picture sharpness and best color capture at an relative affordable price. I'd say 5D Mark II is NOT made for general consumers, is made for serious landscape, architecture, advertising, commercial, publishing photographers and advanced amateurs. 5D Mark II lacks a lot of cutting-edge features which are very important for most customers, if you are one of them, you'll certainly not satisfied with its old generation of functions; but for me, all the cutting-edge features are not as important as 5D mark II's full frame sensor which enables me capture the widest range of lights and colors when I meet the once in a lifetime scenery. Other than the FF sensor, I think the 2nd most important feature of 5D Mark II is that I can now take full advantage of my L lenses, I don't need any more to consider the 1.6x crop factor which reduces enormously the ultra wide angle features when using 7D. In short, 5D Mark II's Pros and Cons in my opinion: Pros: 1. Full Frame Sensor - As good as 1Ds Mark III; 2. Possibility To Take Full Usage of L Lenses At Their Original Focus Range. 3. Very Good Low Light Performance And Usable Higher ISO Until 3200; 4. Much Better Dynamic Range - With just one shoot of RAW you can get a very good HDR. Cons: Almost All Other Features Are Inferior To 7D even 60D. So the most important thing before to buy it, ask yourself if you REALLY need 5D Mark II?Update 12/29/2010: After almost 2 months use of 5D Mark II, I'm absolutely satisfied with its picture quality(sharpness,color saturation, low light performance). A lot of my landscape pitctures taken with 5D Mark II look like Pro class postcards and I feel more confident to my ability even I'm only an amateur. It's absolutely an invaluable investment.

This camera is amazing. I shoot 90% video and the low light quality is very impressive. You can't go wrong

In real world and in the studio, I'm shocked at the image quality difference from my old 5D I bought 4 years ago. I'm kicking myself for not buying this earlier. Color fidelity, contrast, sharpness, color balance, focusing all better. I'm surprised that the extra resolution really did help. The large files have a lot of headroom for mistakes.While most reviews for this type of item are rationalizing a large purchase, here it goes anyway. When I first purchased the camera, I had cold feet and was ready to return because of the price. But after 2 months, I would buy it again even if I broke it.Alternatives are really overrated. Nikon has a far more aggressive marketing team than in the past that exaggerates differences, so take what you read with a grain of salt. Lots of people are drinking Nikon Kool-Aid right now and defend them to the death. Overall Canon is a better SYSTEM, although I openly admit things I like better about Nikon: button layout, viewfinder, body design, built in infrared flash control, built in flash, and the 14-24mm lens. But other things: low resolution alternatives, poor third party support (pocketwizard and adobe raw), overprices lenses with no midprice alternatives, poor video or no video, etc. For instance, Canon makes a 17-40L for much less than the 16-35L. A 70-200 4 IS or no IS, 70-200 2.8 IS or no IS. Nikon only makes the expensive versions, which is why I always see Nikon owners with cheap lenses or mid-prices Sigma Lenses. Canon owners almost always have Canon lenses. Anyway:Pros:-Outrageous RAW headroom for mistakes, far beyond the 5Dmk1. In outdoor portraits with strobes, I can still get a high quality images when the strobes don't fire and leave me with a -2ev shot. When making outrageous changes in Photoshop, files respond beautifully. RAW files are monstrous, however.- Picture quality out of camera saves serious time in photoshop.- The screen is finally useful in judging exposure. You can clearly see if the skin tones are over and under exposed, hotspots in a poor lighting setup, etc. You'll still see more detail in shadows on the computer, however.- ISO sensitivity: one of the best today. I shot out of a car window at twilight in a spooky looking town and got amazing shots at 6400+. I shoot more for fun since I've had this camera.-Great customization and cool menu controls.-I laughed at video but am starting to use it regularly at weddings. Amazing quality of expensive video cameras. Tricky to learn with autofocus. Must use a tripod.- Even more detail out of my lenses (except 100-400)- Everything improved from old 5D- Much better image quality than 1Ds Mkii and iii.- Canon lenses a much better value than Nikon.Cons- MINUS ONE STAR - second position of power switch was broke when arrived, so I couldn't use any manual features. Had to order a new one.-Pre-planned obsolescence; just look at the 7D with built in speedlight control, extra video switch, auto-focus system, pitch-leveler, 1.0 viewfilder, etc. The sensor on this thing is still WAY better, and I needed another camera body now. But, it has features such as video that are way ahead of the competition.- File size is getting ludicrous, especially when you need to export to TIFF, but WORTH IT. Unlike 7D and others, however, that extra file size actually has way more detail. Other high MP cameras can't justify their file sizes. sRaw not much smaller.-My 100-400mm L Canon lens cannot keep up with this high mp, full frame camera. Your worst glass will look REALLY BAD with this camera. Even sigma lenses look better. Looks much better on an APS-C.-I still sometimes miss the focusing system on my old 20D. Maybe I'll buy a 7D for bird shooting. People really exaggerate the differences in focusing systems, but it honestly could use improvement.-Viewfinder not as good as Nikon's or Canon 7D.Notes: shoots with 17-40 4L, 24-70 2.8L, 70-200mm 2.8 IS L, 100-400mm L, Lensbaby, Sigma 12-24mm fullframe,

First digital SLR and I am very impressed. Fit and finish is world class. Wide ISO range of allows taking excellent photos in minimal light. The 24-105L AF lens is superb and a great gerneral lens for this camera.

Awesome product. This camera shoots best photos I've ever seen and even better It is a little difficult to learn though

I shot 35mm film ages ago, but stopped when the cost of purchasing film and processing fees became prohibitive. I have been a photographer in one form or another for nearly 20 years. I decided that I definitely wanted to go digital, but was not happy with any of the cropped sensor bodies available at the time (early 2000's). When the 1Ds and 5D models first became available, I drooled, but couldn't justify the amount of money. So I waited. Along came the 5D Mark II (or as we say in the software industry, version 2.0) The price was lower than the original 5D and the quality and speed were even better then the now-three year old model. I saved my pennies and nickels for a while and finally purchased one!From the moment I picked up the demonstrator model in the store, I knew this was the camera for me. Well balanced, large view-finder, and *gasp* video! I'm not much of a videographer, but seriously, taking HD clips with a prime lens on a full-frame sensor is just insane!Pros:- Low-light performance has to be seen to be believed. I'm sure you have heard the hype, but it's not hype. You really can take reasonable pictures in much darker rooms than you ever thought possible.- Well balanced in your hands- Simple menu system that does not require an engineering degree to use.- Image quality (IQ) that simply blows away everything else in its class.- Price is actually reasonable for what you get; hundreds less than the competition.- Video!Cons:- The IQ is _too_ good. You can actually tell the difference between pictures taken with "L" glass and those that were not.- Frame rate isn't great for sports. If this is your intended use, look at the 7D or 1D.- Video limited in odd ways. Then again, this is a DSLR, not a camcorder.In spite of what I just said about taking pictures with "L" glass, this camera is perfectly serviceable with regular lenses. Just realize that they are "consumer" grade and will have issues when shot wide open or when at the minimum or maximum of the zoom range. That said, the "nifty fifty" (50mm f/1.8) that sells for around $100 takes astonishingly good pictures.If you're just starting out, the lenses that I would recommend buying with this body are:17-40mm f/4 L - Eye-popping landscapes. The 16-35mm f/2.8 L is a stop faster, but neither lens will see much indoor use as you would have to be mere inches away from your subject to fill the frame. The extra stop also doubles the price with little benefit in the scenarios that it is likely to be used. At 2.8 the faster lens is quite soft, and the image quality in general is not quite as good. Save your money and get the 17-40. You won't be sorry!24-70mm f/2.8 L - Fantastic walk-around lens. The 24-105mm f/4 that comes in the 5DMkII kit has more reach and is image stabilized, but I still prefer the speed of the 24-70. You can do more with it in lower light sitations.70-200mm f/2.8 L - The IS version of this lens is silly expensive, but the standard version shares the same glass with its brother. For portraits and weddings, you cannot have a finer lens. The f/4 cousins are smaller and lighter. If you plan to shoot outdoors most of the time where there is sufficient light, then you should be fine with it. Indoors you will find yourself using a flash more often, even with the IS version of the f/4. The bokeh from the f/2.8 is noticeably better too.50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 - The "L" version of this lens is f/1.2 and about $1k more. It's soft at f/1.2 and shoots its best at f/1.4 and higher. The "L" glass _is_ better than its cheaper cousins, but is it really worth it? This is one of the rare cases where there is little need to buy the "L" version. Buy the f/1.4 for $350 or the f/1.8 for $100 and enjoy it.

First the good...If you're looking for an excellent, full-frame DSLR, the 5D Mk2 is very, very good. It's at least 1 full F-stop more sensitive to light than my Canon 1DS Mk2. A setting of ASA 800 or 1000 yields about the same noise level as my older camera at ASA 400. It's autofocus system is very fast and accurate on single shot mode. (I don't think EF-L series lenses are capable of faster focus action.)The new LCD screen is gorgeous. 3" diagonal with 900,000+ pixels. It's possibly the best quality LCD screen ever put on a DSLR. The menus are easier to understand and navigate than the 1DS Mk2's menus. "Live View" is an excellent way to do critical focusing. If you've never used a DSLR with live view, you'll love it. The only negative of live-view is that it really drains your battery and it can only be used for a certain length of time before the CMOS imager circuitry heats up, adding noise to the image. (In real-life typical shooting, overheating is not a problem and besides the camera will auto cancel live-view if it senses an over temperature condition.)The huge 21 mega-pixel RAW images are excellent. The camera uses an updated variant on Canon's .CR2 RAW format so if you use an older version of Adobe's Lightroom or Photoshop for image processing, you'll need the latest Lightroom 2.2 or Photoshop CS4 to get the proper RAW converter. I've personally never liked the included software for RAW image processing, but many people are happy with it.The auto-exposure system seems very accurate... more accurate than my 1DS Mk2.I never experienced any "black dot" phenomenon. But I've only shot RAW images at less than 1200 ASA. The "black dot" sample images that I've seen on the internet look like simple, in-camera, over-enhancement of highlights. Besides, unless you're shooting sports at night or are part of a CSI team, who shoots at 3200+ ASA anyway? If you're doing a night shot of a city use a tripod, a longer exposure, and a lower ASA. This will yield rich, clean blacks and much higher detail in highlights. Also, although JPEG's are much smaller, every professional photographer that I know shoots only RAW images.I ordered the camera with the optional BG-E6 battery grip. This grip makes the camera taller and easier to hold. It allows simultaneous use of 2 Canon lithium batteries or 6- AA alkaline or rechargeables. It's a very valuable accessory to consider.Now the bad...I primarily purchased the camera for its ability to shoot great looking 1080P HD video for commercial TV projects. I thought it would be a great source for "B-Roll" cutaways and inserts.The biggest single problem in the video mode is that you have no control over iris, ISO setting, or shutter speed. There's an exposure lock button that will lock the exposure variables to whatever the LCD displays at the time you press the button. There are no on-screen indicators that show the settings that the camera has chosen for you. The only control you have is the color temperature setting. Basically, you pan the camera around in the scene and let the brightness float up and down. When you see what you think is a good exposure on the rear LCD screen, you press the lock button. Since the exposure lock resets after each scene or take, chances are you won't have consistent exposures over multiple takes of a particular scene.Working with the auto exposure system can sometimes be difficult. I was shooting with my 85mm F1.2 lens. By looking at the iris, it appeared the camera had decided to only open the lens to about an F2.8 and use a much higher ISO setting than necessary to achieve proper exposure. By pointing the camera to some very dark shadows, the iris fully opened. I then panned back to my original scene which appeared to be much cleaner and free of noise. You really need to be able to manually set the ISO & F-stop when shooting video.I adjusted the camera's custom settings to lower the detail enhancement and contrast. These controls effect the quality of jpeg stills but seem to have no effect on a video recording.The camera only records at 30.00fps, not 29.97fps. This tiny .03fps difference means that you have to alter each file's header, using a program such as Apple Cinema Tools, before you can edit 5D footage into a normal, broadcast 1080P/1080i, 29.97fps timeline. Failure to do this header alteration requires setting up a 30.00fps timeline or rendering every 5D scene on your 29.97fps timeline which yields periodic skipped frames.There is no 24P (23.98) setting. As far as I'm concerned, there is no logical reason that Canon chose 30.00fps instead of 29.97fps. No broadcast TV or film standard operates at 30.00fps. Maybe Canon will correct this with a future firmware update. Please note that if you're only shooting high quality videos for web release, the 30.00fps speed won't present a problem.To simulate the film-like cadence of a movie camera's 180 degree shutter at 30.00fps, the 5D Mk2's shutter should be set to 1/60 of a second exposure time. There

If you are heavily invested in Canon and own lots of their lenses, then your decision will be whether to buy the Canon 5D 1, or the new Canon 5D 2. In this regard, I would say the 5D 2 is the way to go because of increased ISO sensitivity, higher resolution, etc etc.VIDEO?PLEASE do not buy this camera because of the video because you will most assuredly be disappointed. I too was wowed by watching the various videos circulating on the web... but beware that the best quality video is that taken with fast prime lenses (e.g. max aperture f 1.4). The camera in indoor lighting often prefers to open the aperture wide allowing more light in... sounds great... problem is that its all manual focus.. so you have a paper thin depth of field.. which can create artistic effects, but for any real home video, you would spend all your time concentrating on focusing back and forth. If you are the type of person who is interested enough to spend a lot of time and effort to create short video clips (e.g. commercials etc), then this is nice... but if you're thinking, great, I won't need my camcorder... you're going to have one sore focusing finger.Not only that, I used to think the rolling shutter artifact was just people whining.. beware that it is not a minor artifact that bothers videophiles, it is a very real strange video artifact that can sometimes be very distracting and it can be present not just in panning, but also on still video.Shutter is still loud as hell, same as the 5D 1. AF is still very obsolete, like the 5D 1.That said, it is a great camera with wonderful quality, excellent resolution, and if you are a Canon guy/gal, you want this.----If you are NOT a Canon guy/gal, consider the alternative. The Nikon D700. The advantage of the D700 is primarily in the greater more sophisticated 51 point 3d autofocus, which is essential for taking pics of moving objects well, such as kids. Even the most advanced camera in the world will be ridiculed if it can't focus well (ahem, 1d mark iii initially).Problems with the D700, choice of lenses is somewhat less than for Canon but obviously there are still plenty of lenses to choose from.. no video, that is minor since the video from the 5dii is not tremendously easy or useful.PROS 5D II:High megapixel for printing large postersStunning HD Video when its goodWide choice of lensesCONS 5D II:HD video difficult to use due to manual focus, all other settings autoLoud shutter, hard to blend into background when shutter is that obnoxiousAF horribly obsolete, same as old 5D, shame on you CanonPROS D700:Advanced modern AF, same as on top modelsQuiet shutterReviews show better build quality and better ergonomics (I find both to be almost equal though)CONS D700:Lens choices slightly less"Only" 12 megapixel, only problematic for very large postersNo video-------------------In the end, I returned the 5D mark ii and bought a D700 because I take pictures of live moving subjects, and AF is crucial. I have been very pleased.Picture quality of both cameras is equal (given that they are in focus). Before buying, please read other web reviews regarding 5DII ability to autofocus.UPDATE 8/2011After looking at a lot of the comments I decided I needed to clarify some things that may have been ambiguous.1. VIDEOMy comments above speak to the average person who does not shoot for a living and is not taking video of carefully scripted situations, and is not willing to spend a lot of time to produce small clips of video. I assumed pros don't really read Amazon reviews anyway, the intended audience is the average homeowner like myself who is a camera enthusiast and may have thought that it could replace a camcorder for home video (which we all agree, it cannot).2. SHUTTER NOISEThis is obviously a very subjective thing. One common praise for Leica cameras is how "sexy" the shutter sounds. The D700 is no Leica, but the 5DII is at least double or triple the noise level (my subjective evaluation). Will a pro care, of course not. Why the heck would a pro read my review anyway? This was a very minor point that I had not seen mentioned in other reviews, and I thought it worth mentioning.3. AUTOFOCUSI have to say, after a couple years of shooting the D700, even though it's autofocus is far more advanced than the 5D1 or 2, e.g. 3D continuous tracking, I still tend to shoot and recompose with just the single point focus 80-90% of the time. When shooting older kids adults and inanimate things, this is especially the case. When shooting at 1.4, I'm also tending to even go for manual focus when possible... so while the extra abilities are definitely nice to have, they aren't quite as important as I originally thought they would be.

I bought this camera a few days ago. It's amazing. I really recommed to buy this camera if you want to have a professional Camera :)

I have returned this camera once now and it was replaced by the store. Now that I have the new camera for two weeks now and the same trouble that I had with the last one started to appear again.First it shows up like a grainy pink line on the top of the LCD screen; the next shot, it gets a little wider; third shot, the whole screen turns into a blurry pink display; then all white and pinkish and showing the display from the last shot and not the current one...HELP!!!!!!My lenses are all L lenses; Could it be the memory cards??

Very good, very like it.Although I am not a professional photographer ,it is convenient to use this to my baby shot many beautiful photos,haha

As a rule I work with a Canon 1D and 1Ds. I've long had my eye on the 5D, though have purchased the Rebel XTi and XSi as in the field back-up cameras and for assistants to use. I remember the same rush with price gouging by Amazon and other distributers when the XTi and XSi first became available; much less noticeable because they are lower priced cameras. It is obvious to me, at least, that the presence of price gouging taking place now over the Canon 5D is in part due to the manufacturers marketing stratagem. Such stratagem, however, may under the present economic conditions seriously back-fire. I was considering purchasing a 5D Mark II to add to my arsenal of equipment, but what about the "black spot issue", surfacing reports by new owners that the 5D Mark II picture quality is not equal to that of the original 5D even with the greater megapixel count, and adding a marginally usable video capability to what purpose? I've growing doubts about the 5D Mark II besides a profound dislike for such marketing stratagems that creates superficial demand etc. and it appears others share the same concerns. The 5D is a major product line for Canon and I'd hate to see it fail but I and others no doubt, are beginning to think Nikon! ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Addendum (2/2/09): Several months have passed and the initial storm over the new 5D mark II has passed... And the retail price of the camera has settled at around $2,7000. (body only), about $250 more then the initial retail price announced before the release of the camera. And, so you see, the price gouging continues though it's comparatively modest in the case of most reputable retailers. I doubt that the price of the camera will drop to it's original retail price until demand completely falls off and a total end of back orders comes about which may take more then a year. Note: (body only) Amazon price is 2,699 with super saver shipping and after tax (NY) totals $2,914.92...``````````I must admit to have placed an ordered for a 5D Mark II recently, myself. For the following reasons;``````````1) The "black dot" phenomenon appears to have been resolved during manufacturing before shipping. ``````````2) While some owners of the original 5D feel the Mark II's image isn't as fine as the originals', tests by periodicals are reporting that image quality is even better then that of the 1Ds Mark III, (of course there remain many reasons why the 1Ds is a superior camera, for me, most of all the advanced AF and metering system). ``````````3) With all the Canon equipment I have besides camera bodies it's impractical to switch over to Nikon besides Zeiss prime lenses for example are beginning to become available for Canon EOS cameras with EF bayonet mounts. ``````````4) A use for a 21.1 megapixal camera. (note: Eight megapixal is more then fine for most photo work. But for oversize prints and a lot of playing with RAW images a larger megapixal camera is desirable. And, for commercial reproduction, four color offset litho printing for example, at least a 12 megapixal image is required, with a need for even greater megapixil images for high quality and large to huge reproductions). ``````````5) My use for a 21.1 camera dose note require AF and in camera metering, I've other cameras for such work (I'm sure the 5D Mark II's AF and meter are probably just fine, but I've become accustomed to working with a 1D and 1Ds and the AF and metering systems of the lesser Cannon camera models, to me seem totally inadequate now). 6) Price; to be honest I can't afford the 1Ds Mark III at present but I can afford the 5D Mark II, now...! (I have a feeling that a 1Ds Mark IV is on the horizon with it's image quality tweaked at least to equal the 5D Mark II's or more likely surpass it. I think I may wait for it before purchasing another 1Ds). ~~~~~~ For the uses I have in mind the only real draw-back for me is that the 5D Mark II must be run on batteries, a Canon BG-EG Battery Grip is going to be a must have with extra sets batteries at the ready.``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````addendum 4/6/09: I learned of the Canon ACK-E6AC Adapter Kit for the 5D Mark II, from members of Canon Forums and have ordered this AC adapter. This adapter removes the last vestiges of reservation I had, had when I first considered purchasing a 5D Mark II. Like with 1D and 1Ds cameras, this adapter allows the 5D Mark II to be powered by AC power, which saves costly batteries during long hours of in studio work while using a tripod and also during the long hours when the camera is connected to a computer for downloads, etc.~~~~~ By the way, the superior picture quality as reported by periodical reviews is true, at least my own use of the camera would in my opinion suggest it to be so. ~~~~~ At this point if it were possible I'd change my star rating of the camera to a four and a half or maybe even

I know this is an awesome camera, but I've only had it a month and it's already falling apart! I'm off to the camera shop tomorrow to see if I can get it fixed. How's this for a start...a $2,200.00 camera falling apart in less than a month. I'm sure I will eventually love this camera, but right now I'm not at all happy.

Having a blast with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Takes great pictures with great flexibility. Taking it everywhere. Still learning. And, there is a LOT to learn. Needed to order a couple of guide books, as the manual is a bit cumbersome and scattered. Other than that, it is great.

This camera is a bargain at its current price - even before when I bought one. High resolution, simple menu, light, user friendly; shoot jpeg or RAW with better lenses and you can print big.

I went from a film SLR to a few of the early point-and-shoot digitals to a 10D and now a 5D Mark II. In the early days I wasn't willing to buy high-end digitals due to the ridiculously fast pace of the technology progression. The 5D II finally sold me.Generally speaking I am quite happy with the camera. It took some fiddling to get the picture quality I wanted. My 100-400mm F4 L works incredibly well and has no AF issues. My 28-105 (stock) F4 L was consistently soft on the AF but the fine focus adjustment CF fixed the issue. It was surprisingly easy to calibrate, just switch between live-mode focusing (which is very slow but perfect) and standard AF and adjust the fine focus until they match. I had go all the way to +12 on my 28-105. On a pixel-by-pixel basis there is still some slight softness looking at the raws, but it looks unavoidable considering how the RGB matrix works on a sensor, plus noise reduction (depending on the ISO one is shooting at), and it is unnoticeable on prints or reductions. Still, I can only give Canon 3 stars on the AF because while it is always perfect on zooms sometimes it is just too wonky at wider angles, and the camera's automatic AF point selection is a roll of the dice. Fortunately the AF point can be easily selected. Finally, I also noticed that the AF sometimes got in the way of shooting with the zoom or tele, where I would hit the shutter button on a fast-moving subject that was never-the-less still in focus, and the camera would decide not to take the picture. Possibly it was just the AF mode I was in, but it seemed a bit inconsistent.The only way to go is to take full RAW photos and clean them up in post-production. Canon isn't known for good auto-white-balance but it's a minor inconvenience in post. The 14-bit ADC has wonderful dynamic range. I had no problem cleaning up wedding photos taken in horrid lighting conditions (beige walls, mix of fluorescents, flash).I also purchased the wireless file transmitter (WFT-E4A). The WFT is incredibly convenient. No cables, no fuss... even if I'm not shooting in an area with internet access it's amazing how convenient it is to get it into the computer back home when I do get into range of a base station, or even once I get home.Battery life is excellent compared to earlier models. I have no complaints on that front. Both lens are excellent. I upgraded my flash as well. The 580ExII flash is excellent, far better then the 4xx series I had on my 10D. Big CF cards with UDMA are expensive but mandatory. This is not a cheap camera even if you don't count the lens. The RAWs hit 30MB and you will be unhappy if you aren't using 16G UDMA CF cards. The camera has no problem taking 500+ full blown shots on one set.Finally I am very impressed with the video capabilities. It took some messing around to get it figured out but I finally hit upon the '+' button to zoom the live-view, making manual focusing while shooting possible. Being able to adjust the exposure w/ the new camera firmware is wonderful, too! The quality is insane, I'll have to buy a faster computer to process it. It is not a camcorder so don't expect it to behave like one. It definitely works best when the subject is at a fixed focal point. Taking video with 100-400mm in stabilization mode 2 just blew me away.One thing I would love to have on this camera is the ability to set a specific auto-ISO range (e.g. 100-800, 400-1200, 800-3200, etc) and then be able to fix both Av and Tv and have the camera only adjust the ISO and flash exposure. I'm a bit miffed that Canon hasn't done something like that yet. The current auto-ISO does not work very well in any mode other then Av. So that lack plus the AF issues cause me to drop the review to 4 stars even though I think the camera's only competition is the high-end Nikon (and Nikon has its own issues).-Matt

Finally a full frame digital camera that can utilize ISO 50! The tonal gradations in skins tones are great! I love this camera.

I love this camera and it has been my workhorse for 2 years. People often complain about the AF ability, but the center point is very accurate and has worked well for me, even in the low light of the studio. The outer AF points, as with most non 1-series Canon cameras, are unreliable. I focus and recompose, and look forward to the day that I have the 5d3 with its pro level AF so I can actually use the outer points. I still rate this camera as a 5, since it was the best available full frame option at the time, and the image quality is stunning.I do look forward to the ergonomic upgrades and pro-level AF of the 5d III, but this camera has served me well.

Canon 5D Mark IINever Ever: Rent, borrow or use the Canon 5D Mark II, if you do, you will have to own it. It's that good!Pros:Crazy high ISO performanceFantastic amazing image quality you have to see to believe!Great menus, sharper, brighter, easier to read then 40DVideo, did someone say video? I love it! You will need a tripod!Fantastic rear LCD that you can check actual photo sharpnessSuper low light high ISO photographic tool with 25,600 ISO!!!Feels great in your hands, the grip texture is easy to hold and is well balancedLow 50 ISO allows photos at F/1.2 aperture out in bright sunlight for shallow DOFCons:No Built in popup FlashA little slower shooting then the 40DVery demanding of lenses, high end L lenses are a must haveHuge files: you will need larger memory cards and a larger hard driveUltra large bright sharp viewfinder makes my 40D finder seem dim and tinyHum... I'm thinking..Intro:I have had my Canon 5D Mark II for a little over two weeks now. And I'm having a hard time putting it down.I tried switching back to my Canon 40D and the very first thing you notice is how small, dim and fuzzy the viewfinder on the 40D is compared to the 5D Mark II. Especially if you are older you will really appreciate being able to easy see and read information in the viewfinder not to mention you can actually manually focus with it. It reminds me of my switch from the Canon Rebel XTi to the 40D. It's that big a difference.The Images are huge and quite simply stunning. Plus I find that I can get away with very low noise all the way up to 3200 ISO on the 5D Mark II where the 40D was very noisy. In fact I would not hesitate to say the 5D Mark II photos has less noise at 9,600 ISO then the 40D does at 1600 ISO.Lenses:I have never had the pleasure of owning a Camera that is this demanding of the lens you use. It's like an instant lens test. I haven't seen much in-depth lens as used on 5D Mark II information on the other reviews and decided this would be good to be included in my review.All of these lenses are brighter in the viewfinder and focus much better on my 5D Mark II then on my 40D.So, with that said after several hundred photos I can give you a rundown of my most used, most favorite, best performing and least used lenses that I have used on the 5D Mark II and a few un-expected surprises along the way.1. Canon 200mm F/2 IS L lens. This lens is my new master of resolving power. Even wide open at F/2 it is sharper then any other lens I have ever used. I could go on and on but here's a few highlights: Lightening fast auto focus, F/2 speed at 200mm, unbelievable perfect 10 Images, public attention hog, otherworldly image stabilization, great build quality, weather sealed, fantastic perfect buttery smooth Bokeh and what a lens case! If you crave attention and demand the absolute best there is the do what ever it takes to get this lens on your Canon 5D Mark II. If you do not like public attention you may want to skip to number 2 in this list as I have never been asked so many questions about a lens as this one. But it's all worth it as the clarity, sharpness, Bokeh and colors are: otherworldly, insane, impossible, rare, perfect, out of sight, crazy!!2. Canon 85mm F/1.2 II L lens. Without a doubt at F/4 (after the Canon 200mm F/2 of course) this lens delivers the clearest sharpest and most resolving power onto any photograph you care to take with the Canon 5D Mark II. The clarity has to be seen to be believed. At F/1.2 the Depth of Field (DOF) is scary thin and the edges are super soft which is great for female portraiture. The super soft creamy dreamy Bokeh at F/1.2 is much smoother on the 5D Mark II over my 40D. But stop this lens down to F/1.8 and it gets scary sharp and clear. Step it down to F/4.0 and it's at its sharpest and the only lens I have that gives you 100% pixel peeping razor blade edge to edge top to bottom perfect clarity in every single area of the photo. For some reason this lens is even sharper on my 5D Mark II then my 40D or Rebel, don't know why but it is. Guess it's getting the full resolving power to the 21 megapixel sensor.Looking at a photo on my iMac taken with a 5D Mark II with this lens stopped down to F/4 is like standing there looking through an open window at the actual scene! You feel like you could actually open up the computer screen like opening a window and climb in!!!The 85mm F/1.2 is your low light monster on the 5D Mark II, I don't have to harp too much on what an F/1.2 aperture and an ISO 25,600 can do for you at night. Let's just say you can go out into what appears to be a dark night and do hand held photos.Not all is perfect as it's: expensive, heavy, and hard to focus wide open, focus lock does not work and it eats camera batteries at twice the rate of my other lenses. Also it doesn't focus as close on the 5D Mark II as it did on my 40D so you can't get head filling close ups. This isn't really a problem, as with 21 Mega Pixels I can crop no problem. However, all t

I will only write a short review about this camera because others have already written very extensive reviews about it. For an even more comprehensive one, I would refer you to the website DPReview.After thinking about this camera for 6 months, I finally convinced myself to buy it. I am not regretting the decision at all. This is an excellent camera for my needs and the picture quality and resolution from its 21 megapixel sensor is simply mind boggling. In my mind, the main advantage of all those megapixels is the ability to do an extensive crop without sacrificing the image quality. I owned a 30D and if I crop files from it just a little bit, the sharpness suffers.Let me now talk about the high ISO performance of the 5D Mark II. It is definitely amazing. Different people have different tolerances as far as image noise but for me it is excellent up to ISO 1600. I went to an indoor place with Christmas lights display and shot ISO 3200 and I was still happy with the results. I did have to clean up half of the files with the Noise Ninja software. But guess what, the files clean up very easily with the noise reduction software. Images from my 30D did not clean up as easily.The only reason why I did not give this camera 5 stars is because of its autofocus (AF) system. Now, I mainly shoot portraits and nature. I don't do much sports. And for subjects that are father away, I mainly use the center AF which is extremely adequate. However, when I shoot portraits at closer distances and shallow apertures, I like using specific AF points (to avoid blur). In these instances, I can't help but feel that there should be more focus points.How about using the camera for moving subjects? I don't think it was designed to be a sports camera. It can take 4 frames per second which I don't think is very adequate. Although I've seen pictures from very talented photographers from DPReview take amazing pictures of birds in flight with this camera so it can be done. (Google "liquidstone pbase" and you will be amazed.)While I love this camera and will use it for many years, I advice you to also read about the alternatives. I will list them below.If you are a Canon user and have Canon lenses, another alternative is the 7D. The 7D is not a full frame camera but an APS-C (cropped sensor) camera. The 7D is superior to the 5D in terms of its autofocus system (faster frame rate, more sensitive AF points, and more AF points) and features (better LCD, bigger viewfinder, electronic grid, customizable buttons) but inferior to the 5D in terms of image quality and ISO performance.If you are starting from scratch or if you are willing to switch, you also should consider the Nikon D700. As far as image quality and high ISO performance, I think both cameras are at par. Canon is superior in terms of having a higher resolution (21 vs 12 megapixels) and 1080p video. But Nikon is superior in terms of build quality, weather sealing, and autofocus system. The D700's autofocus system is really more advanced than the 5D2's. It has 51 AF points (15 of which are the more sensitive cross-type kind) and a frame rate of 5 FPS without the battery grip and 8 FPS with the grip.So which should you buy, the D700 or the 5D Mark II? If you will use the camera mainly for sports, then you should definitely go for the D700. Otherwise, it's a matter of preference. If you prefer a higher resolution camera with 1080p video, go for the 5D Mark II. If you prefer a more robust camera with excellent weather sealing and a pro-autofocus, then go for the D700.

I bought this used 5D with a little trepidation. It's a lot of money and I'd be nervous is it weren't used. Anyway, short of it being a little dirty and the screen being a bit scratched it's in great shape and so far I love it! Only downer was that the seller did not mention it came with a battery and a charger. That's not really a down side it's just that I bought both thinking I would need both. I guess back ups are always good!

Not that impressed. Images look good, by and large. Full-frame sensor is nice. Continuous shooting and focusing is slow and makes you miss shots.

I'm an enthusiast photographer. My first camera was a Canon XSi. I replaced that with a 7D. When that was stolen I finally decided to go full-frame. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. The picture quality is outstanding. While the 5D doesn't get you quite as close to wildlife, the difference in noise quality more than makes up for it. I like shooting sports and wildlife but I don't really miss 7 frames-per-second or the AF from the 7D. I just use the center focus point and it works great!Full frame lets me use my lenses in the way that they were designed to be used. Effective DOF is shallower so I'm using my lenses at F/7-9 where I used to use f/4-6. That get's me more into the sweet spot of sharpness, gives me more flexibility to "open up" the lens, and really makes a big difference in picture quality, esp. with tele and macro lenses.The metering system is better on the 5D than the 7D. It exposes perfectly 99% of the time. And it is very consistent between shots.The combination of great metering, great noise performance, and firmware that recognizes lenses/focal lengths/IS allows me to set the camera to auto ISO in changing light and feel confident of getting usable photos. I just use Av/Auto ISO and the camera very intelligently sets the shutter speed based on focal length and IS. It challenges me a little bit i.e. shutter speeds of 1/40th @ 50mm or 1/80th @ 100mm but I like that.