You know when your interest in digital SLRs becomes an unhealthy obsession when you release weird sounds and salivate at news of a release of a new model. In my case, official news of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR triggered the aforementioned phenomenon. Earlier this year, it was news of the Canon 1Ds Mark III…
I’ve been wanting a full-frame SLR for a couple of years now but two things have held me back: price and skill. Although some may view the US$2699 price-tag as over-the-top, avid digital SLR photographers will know that for all the features that come with the Canon 5D Mark II, it’s actually good value. As for my skill, well that’s something that still needs work, but I believe after 3 years practicing on my Canon 350D aka Rebel, I at least have a better understanding of the basics: composition, shutter-speed, aperture and lighting.
New Features: Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR
There are 5 main new features of the Canon 5D Mark II camera that particularly stand out for me:
1. New 21.1 Megapixels Full-Frame CMOS : With this super-high resolution, you’ll be able to blow up your photos to poster-size while still enjoying all the detail of the image. Whether it’s wide-angle landscape shots or telephoto depth-of-field shots, you’ll be able to maximise your creativity with the full-frame design. This something that I lacked with my 350D.
2. New DIGIC 4 Power Processing: This is Canon’s most advanced image processor to date and coupled with the new 21.1 Megapixel CMOS, seems to be a marriage made in heaven – the new DIGIC 4 processor transforms the huge amount of data produced by the 21.1 Megapixel CMOS into photos with low signal-to-noise ratio, superb tonal gradation and extended dynamic range; put simply, brilliant pics.
3. EOS Integrated Cleaning System: Prevention is better than the cure and this time Canon have tried to apply this axim to tackle the age-old problem of dust gremlins in the camera. The new integrated cleaning system has resulted in the following dust-prevention / elimination mechanisms:
- Canon 5D Mark II design reduces dust entering
- Shutter material decreases likelihood of dust being created
- Auto self-clean when powering on using shake technology
- Fluorite coating makes it easy to remove dust with blower
4. Full High Definition Movie Capability: I was thinking of buying the Canon HF10 Video camera this year due to its tapeless recording ability amongst many other neat features; now I think I’ll just wait for the Canon 5D Mark II which Canon state is the world’s first DSLR that can shoot full High Definition and Standard Definition movies.
5. Expanded Live View Shooting: Gone are the days where you have to use the viewfinder (this of course what set SLR apart from instamatics as you were actually looking down the barrel of the camera), now you can take shots by viewing the largish 3inch LCD screen. This is awesome for situations where it’s hard to put your eye to the camera such as above the head crowd shots etc.
Here are two links to some sample Canon 5D Mark II photos hosted on the Canon website:
1. Portrait Shot (3 MegaBytes sample)
2. Landscape Shot (12 MegaBytes sample)
Both are amazing and demonstrate what this brilliant SLR is capable of.
I’ll keep you posted of Australian release dates but at the moment it’s November for the U.S.
Again the RRP price is US$2699 for the body.
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