Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera — Indepth Review
Make the right purchase decision by reading/watching these reviews (text and video) of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera before you buy if you want to ensure you are getting the best camera for your current needs and budget (If you want product description, specs, features and price, click here to get to the end of this post where you’ll find links to additional resources)…
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame Camera
Let’s first take a look at two different video reviews from two vastly experienced pro users. After that there is a third review (text) that is more or less a report based on the average feedback from a number of different levels of users (I believe that this will help you get to the pieces of information you really need to make a superior purchase decision faster)…
Review 1 (Video)…
Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera
Review 2 (Video)…
Canon 5D Mark II 21.1MP
Review 3 (Text): Before I go into the review, it’s important that I give readers an idea of how I intend to approach it. I am NOT going to attempt to touch all the parts or features of the Canon 5D Mark II. Instead, I going to go through things I consider to be the strong points (pros) and things I consider the weak points (Cons). This way, I believe, readers will be able to quickly get the basic information they need to decide whether it makes sense for them at the moment or NOT. Call it an executive summary (with links for even more info). So let’s take a look at the things that I consider to be the high points of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera…
i. The ISO performance of this camera is quite high. Super low light high ISO photographic tool with 25,600 ISO! Low 50 ISO allows photos at F/1.2 aperture out in bright sunlight for shallow DOF.
ii. You get image quality that is very exceptional. If you have heard users rave about how great the MarK II’s low light performance is, I bet you will still be pleasantly surprised at it when you have the opportunity to try it out. It’s really top class. Thought a room was too dark to get a reasonably good picture? That’s if you are NOT using a 5D. It gets great shots in low light conditions you would have called impossible before it.
iii. It comes with one of the very best LCD screens I have seen on any DSLR — It’s simply awesome. Making a comparison between it and the 1DS MK 2 or 40D, you will find this one easier to use and navigate. The Live View feature on it is another thing that is quite very useful. You can know for sure how sharp your pictures would be in reality — Just check it in Live View and get that critical focusing you need.
iv. It has a solid and sturdy build. It has a texture that gives it a good grip.
v. The video quality delivered by this otherwise still camera is quite top class. I do know that some people are shooting serious stuff on video with it. Just make sure you use a tripod if you want to get something that you’d use for a serious video job. Yes, this isn’t a movie camera nor was it meant to be. However, do expect to be blown away by the things you can achieve on video with the 5D — It blows a lot of dedicated video cameras out of water.
vi. The battery life is good. It does a good job of holding up charge. There’s also an info screen that lets you know how your battery is doing. It take the guess work out of something as important as your battery — Definitely something every professional would be happy about.
vii. This isn’t the original 5D repackaged. This is a massive improvement from what you had. Let me just point out a few: The Mark II is definitely more weather-resistant — it comes with weather sealing and dust reduction features. You can shoot outdoors and other situations that you simply wouldn’t have imagined if you owned its older sibling.
Another upgrade you’ll discover is the extended ISO range. Just to help you grasp how much of an improvement has gone into this area, the ISO 5000 on the Mark II is equivalent to ISO 1600 on the original 5D. They’ve also dealt with the black dot issue that many people complained about thanks to a firmware update.
viii. Definitely a great price-to-value ratio. What you get with this camera compares with what you’d expect from cameras that cost far more — I mean by the hundreds of dollars.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Now let’s look at the areas some might NOT be happy with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP…
i. Even though pro photographers who really shoot at this level might NOT consider this a set back, the absence of a popup flash won’t please everyone.
ii. It shoots slower than another EOS like the 40D thus making it NOT to be ideal for high speed shoots like sporting events and so on.
iii. If you don’t have high quality lenses and don’t intend to start buying them, you won’t be pleased with the results you will get with the Mark II. It really brings out the best and worst in a lens. You must be willing to spend hundreds of dollars buying top class lenses.
iv. You just have to buy larger memory cards since it delivers huge files. For example, all an 8GB card can hold is just about 300 shots if you set the camera to shoot in RAW.
But Shooting in RAW means that you can try a lot of creative things even after you have done your shoots. RAW means you have your files in a format where you can really play with things and let the creative juices flow. So some might NOT want to call this a disadvantage but an acceptable compromise — I just didn’t know where to stick it so I put it here.
But if you don’t need the option for extra creativity and really do mind having huge files that require larger cards, then may be this camera isn’t the best fit for you.
Also, I’d strongly recommend that you buy it with the optional BG-E6 battery grip…
Canon 5D With BG-E6 Battery Grip
Buying it with the grip gives you some added advantages: The camera becomes taller and easier to hold and you can easily use 2 canon lithium batteries or similar batteries simultaneously. Click here to buy it or read more about it.
Would you like to read even more reviews from users of this EOS camera? If so, click here to do so now.
Are you ready to buy the Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera right away? If so, click here to buy yours at a great price now.
Do you own it? Would you like to share your experience using this camera? We’d like to read your indepth review as a real user — Few things are more helpful than the honest opinion of someone who actually uses a product in the real world.
