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This is a jaw-dropping camera. I can't fault it and sometimes I can't believe how good it is. The images have beautiful clarity and detail, excellent colour and rich tones. The sensor handles wide variations in dynamic range as well as very subtle variations in lighting. (I photographed a martial arts demo in a dimly lit Chinese restaurant at 1600 ISO and the pictures are sharp, clear and almost free of noise.) The camera handles superbly, with good ergonomics and a well planned menu interface with heaps of useful features to keep you a jump ahead. The rear LCD screen is amazingly clear and bright. I've found the live view mode very useful especially for achieving accurate focus when the camera is mounted on a tripod -- and it also reveals every little vibration in the tripod.
This is my first full frame digital SLR. I had held off for a long time, partly waiting for Canon to bring out a successor to the original 5D, and partly believing that I should stick with a crop-factor DSLR until my skills improved enough to `justify' upgrading. However, the Canon 5D has unexpectedly proved to be a huge boost to my photography skills. Basically if I take a bad photo, I know instantly that there's only one reason -- me. It's not the camera's fault! I can't blame the poor optics, shutter delay, erroneous autofocus or whatever because those flaws are nonexistent in this camera. The feedback is great.
If you're thinking of upgrading but not sure if you can 'justify' it, I would highly recommend taking the plunge with this camera.
A few compatibility problems: Canon 580EX speedlite does not do second curtain sync with the 5Dmark II so you need to upgrade to a 580 EX mark II. Photoshop CS3 does not support the 5DmarkII raw files so you need CS4. And you'll need a larger CF card...
The 24-105 f/4 image stabilised L lens, that comes in the premium kit, is a pretty good general purpose lens and is well suited to this camera. It's approximately the same field of view as the 17-85 IS lens on a crop camera. The price is good if you get it in the premium kit. I'm happy with it for general purposes. When travelling I take the 24-105, with a close-up diopter for low-mag macro shots (as the close focus distance is not so short). That said, if you put a good prime lens on the camera, you can see the quality.
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Canon Digital SLR
Nikon Lenses
