Review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Features of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Parameters	Values
Sensor type	CMOS Full Frame 24x36mm
Pixels	22 million
Photo Burst	3.9 photos/seconde
Shutter Speed	30s to 1 / 8 000th. Bulb mode available
ISO Range	50 (L) to 25'600 (H2)
Autofocus	9 points with a crossed in the center at f/2.8 and 6 Assist AF points
Video mode	yes, 1920x1080 at 29.97img/s
Recording quality	Video: H.264, Sound: Linear PCM Stereo 48KHz
Sensor cleaning	automatic and manual, ultrasonic
Rear screen	VGA LCD anti-glare 3''(7.62mm) of 0.92 Mpixel
Construction	Magnesium alloy

We now turn to the handling of the case. Already, it's heavy, a little over 800g with battery and a CF memory card. But a case that is not used no objective, therefore, with its basic purpose (24-105mm f/4L IS USM) the weight increases to 1.5kg. it's not bad, it's something other than a small compact 130g. Besides that generally there is no one goal in itself, it also has a zoom or superluminous (or both) and others.
If the door with the thong around his neck, it quickly becomes cumbersome. However, if we put it in a good bag or around the thong around the wrist is on much less annoying.

The weight is good, but those of interest, but rather how the unit is doing at the photos ... I understand that Eton will start with the iso I made some pictures to show the different qualities with different ISO settings and .... how it's not what you expect? Good good .. and if I talk about examples of photos it's good to report from the field? Then forward.
Already, I was booed several times not to be at ISO 100 all the time, it spoils the picture gnagnagna. In this case, what's the point of having a good quality at ISO 3200 and not to use it? For my part I am always ISO 320 for a minimum of speed and depth of field (F / 5 1/160th and it works well). If I want to do the portrait really well as I should be down to ISO 100 and when I need light, I go up to 3200-4000 without any problems. I make both ISO 6,400 photos at parties such and I have too much to complain. After the two notches higher, I do not touch it (or so to show what digital noise) because there is not usable or so just to troubleshoot and black and white. This is an example from one of my photos to ISO 6,400 in the wild (From 100% crop of the photo of chestnut bud, photo category Nature First page, second row, sixth column):

okay, it's not too ugly, for sure at a 100% crop it's not clean, but even on a 50x75cm and it goes to see the noise, must be glued to the nose in the picture.


Then if we go to the shutter speed and the burst?

Almost 4 frames per second it's not bad (it's not worth the 7 img / o 7D or the 14 img / s of 1DX but one can quite a bit to 4 img / s). This is not necessarily a case for the sport where it is a lot going on in a short time (ping pong or tennis for example) but for rugby or motor racing the burst 4 img / s is enough for me, the goal is not to make a video game 5616x3744 pixels, there is the video mode for this. So far I have not taken the burst in default whether in the rock of the story or the story of the eagles to the monkey forest.
Burst also says that says shutter speed, from 30 seconds to 1 / 8 000th There's no problem to take virtually anything you want. I'm hardly ever at 1 / 8 000th except for photos of drops of water for example or test (or when it is very bright). After 30 seconds it is not always enough, especially in astrophotography. For me, the longest exposure time that I realized it was 45 minutes (the sensor has a lot chanffé the way) for the Circumpolar that can be seen in the category Astronomy site.
Speaking of burst, we must also talk about the autofocus. And there is the drama. Actually not that much, they always say that the 5DII's AF is zero, slow, it makes the focus in the cabbage. It's true that sometimes it's hard but not often. I take the example of the rock eagles, vultures that arrive with the nose down to about 120km / h the AF works, and for the kite and the falcon (falcon is not visible in the report). For these three pictures each time I was in''One Shot AF mode.''I only rarely use ''AI SERVO'' mode with followed by the subject. Well anyway I did not have much difficulty with the 5DII AF. Except when there is almost no light, however it is very difficult.


After discussing the quality of the photos, I will talk about an important point: the construction.
Those who know me know this: if it is not solid, it will not last two weeks with me. The 5DII wish since March 2010 despite the very bad treatment he is constantly with me.
To give you an idea, in one week of reporting (Arcachon, 2010) he will have spent close to 5 minutes immersed in salt water (dropped into the ocean, the bag leak tight because of the sand, etc...) , not far from ten drops of less than one meter and three drops of more than five feet (on the concrete, earth, rock, sand) he felt the dune Pyla to the bottom and has took gusts of sand-laden winds during a change of lense and other things which I do not remember. He still works as well. I just cleaned quickly after the sand and water but no more, I had nothing on me and the t-shirt full of salt to clean it through a lens. If not in the kind held in difficult conditions, when reporting to Papiliorama, the heat was stifling and I had to clean the lens of his fog every 2 to 3 seconds. I stayed in there for almost 3 hours with several changing lenses, it does not stop functioning just as well. In the end it says that this device is not waterproof and does not work below 0 ° C and above 40 ° C. The seal on my part is present, the camera operated by hiking -17 ° C without any problems (apart from the smaller batteries but that's normal) and took pictures after remaining in the car overheated by the sun in summer.

In saying this as I do, I seem to go for someone not careful, but this is not the case, it's just that my camera, I have always on me. So obviously, it often takes the full in the face. Moreover, it is not voluntary if I let go of hands, I like my equipment to a minimum and if I can I protect it but sometimes it does not work and he takes.

Last point to see and not least the video.
TV shows and movies have made ??summers in whole or in part with 5DII instead of cameras. Some director and web-directors (as Freddie Wong) use 5DII but why? Is it because the price is well below a camera with the same size sensor (24x36mm full frame)? Is it because of the many goals all much less expensive than full frame camera objectives?
Both my captain! In fact, the 5DII has a video quality is absolutely fantastic in full HD. I compared between a Canon LEGRIA HF S100 camcorder with full HD which has a very good quality (largely over other camcorders trade) and the 5DII with the Sigma 50mm F/1.4 EX DG. Simply the 5DII is over, it has a better color rendering (while the Legria saturates too much, which may seem nice at first, but ultimately it does not make the right color) and where there is a shallow depth of field with the 5DII, the camcorder has almost doubled the depth (to highlight a subject that is not the top). Finally, noise and sharpness. If the 5DII has no autofocus in video mode, when you do focus in hand, the sharpness is much better, the rendering of detail is higher. Digital noise on the 5DII at identical ISO on the Legria is more visible on the latter than the 5DII.
However, the 5DII is very much higher video quality for everything outdoors, nature, architecture. But it is only slightly higher when you find yourself in low light (have to open the aperture to F/1.8 and 1/30th of a second as the camcorder) it appears a kind of end gray veil. It's not a bad thing, just watch the video made ??the night at the show of the photo in Paris in 2011 to see it. But the colors seem very gray compared to the saturation of Legria.


This little test of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is now complete and I hope it will have been useful.