Topic: Canon 5D Mark II (Page 1 of 1)

Not so much news anymore but still one of the most exciting things going on right now in the world of photography and cinematography.

What's so exciting about it?
1) Incredible low-light capability. ISO 100-6400 and extended range of 50-32600.
2) 1080p @30 fps video with excellent quality, little to no rolling shutter effect, amazing low-light and vivid colors etc
3) 21MP 14bit full frame sensor
4) big 3" lcd with live view
5) digic 4 processor
etc

dpreview has one of the best previews as usual:
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos5dmarkII/

Vincent Laforet (a photographer) has produced a short movie with the new (pre-production) camera
http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/22/without-further-ado-reverie/

Michael Reichmann's review with some video
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/5dmkiipre.shtml

So personally, I'm not switching to D90 ... because I'll be buying this baby next year and I'm very excited and amazed and looking forward to this very much.

I am really looking forward to what Nikon replaces the D3 with to top the video capability of this camera.

I'm a Canon user but generally I wouldn't consider myself Canon's fan. I have much more faith in Nikon ... but I already have some Canon glass and not enough money to switch so I have to stick with Canon. Nikon's noise is much more grainy and looks kinda old school while Canon's noise looks like bad jpg compression plus it seems like Nikon innovates more and releases cool new features earlier than Canon. Of course the new guys such as Sony innovate even more. Canon and Nikon are both trying to make a lot of money from the peripherals that should be really cheap to manufacture.

Essential features that are keeping Canon 5D mk II from being a truly great camera in my opinion:

Movable(what's the right word here?) live view screen for better filming.
Full control over shutter speed, iso, aperture, fps, resolution etc while filming. - A software problem really. Canon please don't fudge with the software.
In camera stabilizer. Even if it helps just 1 stop it's worth it.
Nice looking noise.
Another processor. The 1D has 2 digic3-s ... the new 5D should have 2 digic4-s because the 3.9 fps really doesn't cut it these days.

The comment about the quality of nikon vs canon noise is very interesting. Good quality noise is definitely compelling, I am curious to make some comparisons now.

In regard to the 5D's filming features, for my personal work I'm more interested in the possible boon to reciprocity over say the 40/50D just by virtue of being able to record video at all. I don't know if that is actually a valid expectation, or if it's more a function of the higher grade digic..

(Edited by cycus on 01-19-2009 06:50)

I just stumbled across this little clip filmed handlheld with the 5D without any extras (lighting, colour correction etc).

5D Tokyo Video

Pretty amazing.. make sure you view the HD stream and fullscreen wouldn't hurt

I wonder what they'll go for in about a year from now.. Maybe I should upgrade from my Rebel XT/350D..