Canon 5D II: Roundup of links
The moon is now full. Canon had a teaser site, with the moon slowly revealing a new camera body. Rumors and speculation all talked about it being the new 5D II (or 7D, or fabled 3D). Well, the moon is now full and the 5D II has been revealed.
In this quickie article (Its 11pm, after all), I’ll do a roundup of links to some specs and a forum or two, and my thoughts on it. Oh and Canon’s also released an updated lens, the 24 1.4 II, as well as announcing a few new P&S cameras, including the G10 (an update to the very cool G9), and others.
I see some good points, like full HD video, up to 29:59, and a connection for an external mic. This makes a lot of sense, since Canon has been a major force in video cameras. Nikon may have beat them to the punch with the D90 (did I mention I’m playing with one? It’s real nice for the price), but the external mic connection trumps that, since you can now do interviews with decent sound that also run over 5 minutes (the limit on the D90).
Canon took a cue from Nikon and got their act together on the LCD. It’s also now 920,000 pixels. Welcome to 2008, Canon!
Oh and it’s supposed to be about 2699. That’s 10% less than a D700 and only about twice as much as a 50D.
Digic IV processors work their magic on this camera, so the 5D now matches the D3, and can do a native 100-6400 ISO, with 12,800 and 25,600 available. I can’t wait to see how the 5D’s 21mp will match up to the D3′s 12, especially at high ISO. But different horses for different courses. The D3 can do 9fps with everything enabled. The 5D tops out at 3.9.
But I do see some bad points. 9 points to be exact. That’s the number of AF points on the 5D II. And the previous 5D. And the 50D, 40D, 30D, and 20D (which is now over 4 years old). Really Canon? Even the D90 has 11. The D300? 51 (same as the D3). So you see that LCD’s should be high resolution, but you don’t even consider bumping up the AF points. I’d even take 11. Just as a token of good faith, letting me know that you understand that perhaps, because we didn’t buy the lowest end camera (the XSi, or even the 50D), that perhaps we may want a mid range AF. Can’t even make it into double digits eh?
And the ugly point: the Direct Print button still lives. Ok, it can now engage Liveview, but really, why not call it a custom button. It would relieve us of the stigma of the DP button, but also let us know that we can give it a custom command. Even if the DP button lets me change it to any other button, just calling it DP makes me wince.
Ok enough enough. Even if the 5D serves as a photographic martyr, ushering Canon into HD video, better LCD’s, and insane ISO ranges. 25,600!! We laugh now, but wait til we hit 2011 or so, and ISO 102,400. At some point the ads will just start saying that we can shoot under any lighting circumstance. Like during a power outage with no moonlight. Or black holes. Ok, I’m getting silly (until 2011). Link time (and I’ve been updating it as more sites have come to light).
Canon Japan Site (with Photo and Video Samples)
Rob Galbraith posted an in depth article on the 5D II.
And one of my usual haunts, Fred Miranda, discusses it in one long thread on their Canon Forum
DPReview, as always, has some info. Be careful though, the forums there can REALLY get out of hand. You’ve been warned.
Gizmodo has a few articles, not just on the new 5D II, but also on their other releases ( G10 anyone?)
Feel free to comment here, I’d love to hear what people of all sorts have to say.
Me? I’m just not sure whether I’m buying it. I don’t need 21mp. What I need is a really really clean ISO 25,600 or better in a sporty model. D3, I know I know. But I’d like to see if Canon responds to the bad PR they got with the 1D III and brings out some mind blowing 1D IV. I want to see ISO 51,200, 16mp, 12fps, enough AF points to play a game of Minesweeper with, and let’s work that price point down. Canon owes some people for their previous purchase. (Me? I’ve been lucky. Two 1D III’s that work well, but they are certainly a bit quirky)
HD Movie Mode stereo recording up to 29 minutes FULL HD
?????
Have you seen this review. Sounds like you might not worry so much about the “9″ flaw. I’d love 48 or 51 or whatever too, but the rest seem pretty good.
http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/
Yes, this camera is so stunning I feel like selling crack again to get my hands on one. Check out this car rigg and video done by http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/
Oh yes, I’ve read the reviews. It looks excellent. Here’s my point (ha) with the 9 AF areas: If you can cram all this into a camera, why not go the distance. To me it’s obviously the Canon way to really make very separate cameras for everyone, and to limit features either through software or firmware. The R&D has already been spent on the 45pt AF, so why not put that into the 5D rather than the 9pt? Would it really have affected their bottom dollar?
Not only would this be a good move to separate the 5D from the 50D and lower ranks, but it’s been speculated by the Canon faithful (take a look for the hopeful 3D/7D) to get a midsize camera with the 1 series build and feature set, including the 45pt AF. They’ve done it before with their film cameras. Basically the question is WHY?
Regardless of that though, I’m not saying the 5D isn’t an amazing camera, but to me, certain features not being full pro spec makes me feel like its a cheap tip after a good dinner. There you are, loading the camera with feature after feature, like HD video, and insane ISO, but then you skimp on the little things. Oh well.
The situation with the 21mp though, is something to ponder. I have, currently, over 3TB dedicated in redunant storage, with over half of it full. That’s coming from the 4mp 1D through a 6mp 10D, to the 8mp 1D II and 20D, to the latest batch of 10mp 40D and 1D III. Jumping to 15 (ala the 50D) and 21mp is a near doubling of mp. That’s gonna take a lot of storage. And that’s for still. Video isn’t small, especially once you start editing.
All that being said, the only reason I’m not buying one right now isn’t that it’s not good enough, it’s that I can’t wait to see the new 1D IV, or Nikons response (perhaps a D3X).
Ultimately, good times for us all, as we reap the benefits of the latest technology. It was just in 2k1 that the 1D was revolutionary, offering 4mp, up to 1600 ISO native, and 8fps. It took up to 2GB cards, gave you about 400 shots a battery, and the screen was tiny, and the images all had a weird green tint to em. And that was top of the line (and 6k to boot).By the time the decade is over, we will be playing with HD video, stills that go into the 12-15fps range, and ISO’s in the 50k range.
And to top it all off, RED has considered going into the SLR trade. I would normally say they’re off their rocker, considering the stiff competition, but the RED itself had skeptics, and many of them have quieted down since the release.
Good times folks, good times. We’ll all laugh at our first cameras soon enough.
This is crazy…technology runs so fast sometimes it is hard to keep up with it. I was reading an article from this portrait photography website and they mentioned that the 5D was designed for portrait photographers, they did not say much about it. I have being looking at the 5D for future purchase, very future. Now I use 40D as my main camera and 20D as back up. I have noticed that my 20D does much better on the higher ISOs than my 40D, Am I doing something wrong?
Catch you late!!!
Abe