Buying Canon's 5D MKII
A month ago I began my first venture into digital photography. As expected, there was a fair bit of research required to invest in a completely new rig and setup but in hindsight the choices were quite simple. It did however take considerable time to gather the relevant info so I hope this saves you some hours.
Needs and Uses
My primary commercial shooting requirements will be portraiture, products and architecture/landscapes. Social photography includes friends/family gatherings, trips and outdoor activities. To achieve these ends I needed high ISO/low light performance (as little noise as possible, high speed) with excellent overall image sharpness/quality.
If you're chasing a new camera, give the DPreview DSLR buying guide a try to help you sort out what you need before you start looking. It helped me with some of the latest terminology and how it applied to my situation.
I looked at a few different models over varying price ranges, 7D's, D700's, Rebel XTi's and D3's. I actually deliberately looked for something beside the Canon 5D MKII. I wanted something really simple, close to my basic old manual film camera so I was initially scared off by the size and feature set. In the end the trifecta of image quality, sensor size and amazing video capabilities was too hard to refuse, I ordered the 5D MKII.
Canon 5D MKII
Now that I have the camera, I can't recommend it enough. The 5D MKII has really opened up a new world of shooting possibilities. It isn't perfect (no flash?) but for 90% of users any issues won't be encountered often, if at all. Do yourself a favour, if you plan on sticking with the body and lenses for some time, go with a full-frame camera. It not only gives you better quality for now but you won't have to play around with getting the correct focal length and lens compatibilities in future. It also took me only two days to get fully familiar with the new body so turned out my worry about complexity was for nothing.
I don't have any tests of my own to share so check out some of these trusted reviews at Ken Rockwell, DPreview, Luminous Landscape. Sample Flickr images:
Excellent Video
I'm sure it's nothing new to hear but the video quality is something to behold. It's a joy to use your favourite lenses shooting motion! I look forward to producing some edits in future. The recording codec is h.264 so you will need to convert the video to cut it up. MPEG streamclip does a great job of coverting to Prores if that suits your setup. Use some great glass along with basic lighting and you'll produce some astounding results.
Canon EF Lenses
Lens choice is the most important consideration when using the Canon 5D MKII. The sensor is so large any imperfection or shortcoming will be clearly seen in your shots. Get the best glass you can afford but be smart about it. Here's a basic rundown of the way lenses work and what lengths might suit you. Photo.net also has a nice explanatory guide.
So what do you prefer? Prime (fixed) or Zoom lenses? Here are three high quality setups that cover most bases, reviews are in brackets:
Zooms: 16-35mm f/2.8L II (1) (2), 24-70mm f/2.8 L (1) (2), 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS (1) (2)
Prime: 24mm f/1.4 L II (1), 50mm f/1.2 L (1) (2) (3), 85mm f/1.2 L (1)
Prime alternative: 35mm f/1.4 L (1), 85mm f/1.2 L (1), 135mm f/2.0 L (1)
You can always mix and match but that's a good starting point. I've started with two very proficient lenses but they aren't top of the line. I picked up the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM but will choose an L later, either a wide prime or a tele-zoom for variety. Luminous Landscape have a nice overview of their bag of Canon glass.
CF Cards
Lots of megapixels and HD video means you need a fast, substantially sized memory card to put it on. Rob Galbraith has a nice overview of cards but it doesn't include some of the brand new offerings on the market. I went with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB 90MB/s CF Card with SanDisk Extreme FireWire Reader. They were priced well and are more than up to the challenge of the 5D MKII. Be sure to format any new card you buy with your camera. Doing so periodically (monthly) will help prevent card corruption and lost images while clearing up miscellaneous files that tend to collect and take up storage space.
Extras
I've included some accessory links at the end of the article. If you need filters check out Cambridge In Colour and HDP's writeups to see what's available. The Manfrotto FigRig is a very smart camera stabliser that may be a must for hand-held video work. Here's a tutorial to swap the focusing screen if you dont have an AF lens.
There's a multitude of little setup additions and I've yet to even start on lighting. My recommendation would be to choose which areas you want quality and which you want financial savings. At the end of the day the best camera is the one you use. If it's too heavy, big or doesn't fit your needs then don't buy it. If you're comparing the 5D MKII to anything else below it, there is no comparison. Happy shooting!
Accessories, guides, upgrades and resources:
http://photo.net/equipment/canon/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/24-vs-24.shtml
http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/01/beginner-dslr-cinemaphotography-kit/
http://www.tune-in-tokyo.com/2009/06/canon-5d-mark-ii-accessories/
http://video.idcphotography.com/Educational/5D-Mark-II-HD-Exposure-Control/
http://www.glidetrack.com/products/glidetrack-sd-range.html
http://www.redrockmicro.com/redrock_dslr.html
Needs and Uses
My primary commercial shooting requirements will be portraiture, products and architecture/landscapes. Social photography includes friends/family gatherings, trips and outdoor activities. To achieve these ends I needed high ISO/low light performance (as little noise as possible, high speed) with excellent overall image sharpness/quality.
If you're chasing a new camera, give the DPreview DSLR buying guide a try to help you sort out what you need before you start looking. It helped me with some of the latest terminology and how it applied to my situation.
I looked at a few different models over varying price ranges, 7D's, D700's, Rebel XTi's and D3's. I actually deliberately looked for something beside the Canon 5D MKII. I wanted something really simple, close to my basic old manual film camera so I was initially scared off by the size and feature set. In the end the trifecta of image quality, sensor size and amazing video capabilities was too hard to refuse, I ordered the 5D MKII.
Canon 5D MKII
Now that I have the camera, I can't recommend it enough. The 5D MKII has really opened up a new world of shooting possibilities. It isn't perfect (no flash?) but for 90% of users any issues won't be encountered often, if at all. Do yourself a favour, if you plan on sticking with the body and lenses for some time, go with a full-frame camera. It not only gives you better quality for now but you won't have to play around with getting the correct focal length and lens compatibilities in future. It also took me only two days to get fully familiar with the new body so turned out my worry about complexity was for nothing.
I don't have any tests of my own to share so check out some of these trusted reviews at Ken Rockwell, DPreview, Luminous Landscape. Sample Flickr images:
Excellent Video
I'm sure it's nothing new to hear but the video quality is something to behold. It's a joy to use your favourite lenses shooting motion! I look forward to producing some edits in future. The recording codec is h.264 so you will need to convert the video to cut it up. MPEG streamclip does a great job of coverting to Prores if that suits your setup. Use some great glass along with basic lighting and you'll produce some astounding results.
Canon EF Lenses
Lens choice is the most important consideration when using the Canon 5D MKII. The sensor is so large any imperfection or shortcoming will be clearly seen in your shots. Get the best glass you can afford but be smart about it. Here's a basic rundown of the way lenses work and what lengths might suit you. Photo.net also has a nice explanatory guide.
So what do you prefer? Prime (fixed) or Zoom lenses? Here are three high quality setups that cover most bases, reviews are in brackets:
Zooms: 16-35mm f/2.8L II (1) (2), 24-70mm f/2.8 L (1) (2), 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS (1) (2)
Prime: 24mm f/1.4 L II (1), 50mm f/1.2 L (1) (2) (3), 85mm f/1.2 L (1)
Prime alternative: 35mm f/1.4 L (1), 85mm f/1.2 L (1), 135mm f/2.0 L (1)
You can always mix and match but that's a good starting point. I've started with two very proficient lenses but they aren't top of the line. I picked up the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM but will choose an L later, either a wide prime or a tele-zoom for variety. Luminous Landscape have a nice overview of their bag of Canon glass.
CF Cards
Lots of megapixels and HD video means you need a fast, substantially sized memory card to put it on. Rob Galbraith has a nice overview of cards but it doesn't include some of the brand new offerings on the market. I went with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB 90MB/s CF Card with SanDisk Extreme FireWire Reader. They were priced well and are more than up to the challenge of the 5D MKII. Be sure to format any new card you buy with your camera. Doing so periodically (monthly) will help prevent card corruption and lost images while clearing up miscellaneous files that tend to collect and take up storage space.
Extras
I've included some accessory links at the end of the article. If you need filters check out Cambridge In Colour and HDP's writeups to see what's available. The Manfrotto FigRig is a very smart camera stabliser that may be a must for hand-held video work. Here's a tutorial to swap the focusing screen if you dont have an AF lens.
There's a multitude of little setup additions and I've yet to even start on lighting. My recommendation would be to choose which areas you want quality and which you want financial savings. At the end of the day the best camera is the one you use. If it's too heavy, big or doesn't fit your needs then don't buy it. If you're comparing the 5D MKII to anything else below it, there is no comparison. Happy shooting!
Accessories, guides, upgrades and resources:
http://photo.net/equipment/canon/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/24-vs-24.shtml
http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/01/beginner-dslr-cinemaphotography-kit/
http://www.tune-in-tokyo.com/2009/06/canon-5d-mark-ii-accessories/
http://video.idcphotography.com/Educational/5D-Mark-II-HD-Exposure-Control/
http://www.glidetrack.com/products/glidetrack-sd-range.html
http://www.redrockmicro.com/redrock_dslr.html