Featured User Review: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

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Featured Review:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR Camera

by Jim O (Expert)

Summary:
I upgraded from the 5D and am very impressed with the camera. I especially like the high resolution and ability to shoot at ISO6400. I can do indoor shooting now without a flash, but my primary interest is Landscape photography and the 5Dmk2 is outstanding for landscape shooting. The liveview feature with focus magnification and depth of preview with autolighting on the huge 3inch high resolution screen is almost as good as ground glass with a loupe.

I used to shoot a Pentax 6X7 with Velvia, and I got tired of the hassles with film. Getting thru airports, getting clean scans, maintaining film plane flatness was all a pain in the butt. I like to make large prints, like 24X30. The 5D did not have the resolution to go to this size, so I had to stitch multiple shots. I have done careful experiments and found the 6X7 w/velvia scanned on a Nikon 8000 was equal to about 25Mpix. The new 5D Mk2 is very close to that level. If I add a TS-E lens and stitch two shifted shots, I will be up to 4X5 resolution, and can easily make super sharp 30X40 prints.

I really like the three custom setttings, C1-C3. This is much better than the one one the 5D. with all the various program options, its great to be able to preprogram MLU and all the various options.

I have briefly tried the video mode, but don’t expect to use this too much, mostly because of the poor sound and lack of controls. Its too bad it doesn’t have an aperture priority mode with ISO selection. Canon screwed this up. Maybe they will do a SW upgrade and fix this.

All in all, I am hoping this camera lasts me a long time. I don’t see there is much more they can add that would interest me. This is truly a fantastic camera.

Strengths:
High resolution
High ISO
Large high resolution LCD screen
three custom settings C1,C2,C3
auto lighting with depth of field preview on live view (AMZAZING)

Weaknesses:
The hightlight tone priority and auto lighting optimizer are gimmicks and should be left turned off. they do affect the RAW capture, which is a real mistake by Canon.

Similar Products Used:
Minolta and Canon 35mm film
Pentax 6X7
Canon 20D
Canon 5D

Customer Service:
I had problems with Canon software on my PC (I screwed up), and I found the Canon customer support to be incredibly good. They answered quickly and spent a lot of time working with me. The best call center service of any I have every used.