Berger Bros also has the kit readily available for $3,495.00. Does any of you guys know who has the body only available as I don't want to go through trying to sell a 24-105mm, please?
Man, I've been looking for about a week, what I got from my local Dealer is that Canon is shipping them at least twice as many kit's than body only's. So, getting the kit and selling the 105 is, for now, the quickest way to go.
I finally took a few minutes to write down (in no particular order) my 5D Mark II first impressions. A lot of the cons I mentioned are because I’ve been spoiled by my ID Mark II N. On the other hand, there are many pros specifically because of those experiences!
Pros
• Relocated display light button
• Larger top display font and symbols
• (Multiple) Battery meter
• Quick camera changes using (thumb) “mouse”, can keep hands (especially left under lens) on the camera and quickly change many settings.
• RC-1 support!
• Live view/movie mode supported remotely via USB (cheaper and more common than Firewire).
• Hot shoe is all metal. So hopefully no more “beat up” look after a few uncoordinated (speaking from experience) flash mounts.
• Very intuitive menus/setting changes which is wonderful for on the fly changes
• ISO button near your shutter finger, one press (don’t have to hold), and just turn the dial. And since the ISO is displayed in the viewfinder, all of this can be done quickly without taking your eye of your subject.
• Rubber connector covers seem of higher quality and attached in such a way that I don’t feel it’s just amount of time before they tear. Haven’t checked into this, but those covers “appear” to be easily changed. I know I’ll use them more now without hesitation, not worrying about them tearing.
• Three creative settings on the dial may or may not be of interest to some. I personally will be setting three distinctive and much used settings where I can immediately switch between the three. Very nice when an unexpected photo op presents itself and you have at least, or only, 2 seconds notice!
• Auto dust delete option when changing lenses. VERY nice to have that as an option.
• Manual focus amazingly easy with large sharp LCD and high zoom preview (in live mode). Amazingly easy to get tack on focusing at f/1.4!! (I don’t have an f/1.2 lens, so someone else will have to chime in with their feedback here).
• Very lightweight and small (w/o BG or WFT attached) with the now “very useable” 24-105 f/4L lens. But get a faster lens to get more light on the awesome sensor if you’re relying on IS to “buy” you one or more stops.
• Speaker on the back so you can hear playback.
• Weather sealing. It may not be as good a 1Dseries, but it’s better than nothing.
• “L”ens IS very good in movie mode. Very easy to get “non-amateur” results. Especially now that your video clips will probably be “critiqued” on a large HD screen.
• Info button that quickly shows most current camera settings
• Very easy transition from other canon DSLRs. Menus and buttons have been improved immensely without having to relearn a new camera. Sounds like an easy feat, but it never ceases to amaze me how companies always seem to screw this up.
Cons
• Eye piece does not protrude enough
• Cheesy eye piece cover (vs. integrated lever as on the M2N)
• DOF button on the “wrong” side.
• Concerns about battery life with WFT attached
• Also, difficulty changing the battery more often w/WFT attached.
• Not as ergonomic as the M2N (thumb area)
• Pronounced focusing noise while recording video, lens has a “stepping motor” sound, which is very loud upon playback. Definitely will need to get an external mic (stereo, directional (?), and insulated from camera vibration).
• No voice/audio notes (unless I'm missing something). I guess you could use movie mode for a few moments in a pinch. But there's already a mic so...
• I wish it had AF assist lamp built in. But focusing, even in low light, is VERY accurate and fast.
Misc babble
• Makes me want another 5D2
• Makes me want more “L”enses
• I know that others have complained about the CF card cover, but I’ve never had a problem with this design with my 10D, which I’m sure it’s improved by then.
• Don’t bother with substandard lenses, not than anyone will
• Bright red (on black strap) “EOS 5D Mark II” may get unwanted (or wanted attention!
• You’ll need to buy really expensive CF cards if you plan on shooting RAW+JPG. Unless of course you don’t plan on taking more than one shot at a time. (~USD $175 for 8GB). But YAKT (you already knew that)!!
Hope this helps. And I look forward to hearing from others, especially coming from different cameras as well as other shooting conditions.
Also, if I missed the mark anywhere (not the first, won't be the last), please let me know...especially on the cons. Would love for that list to disappear.
"But focusing, even in low light, is VERY accurate and fast"
After chasing deer around the woods with the 5D mkII I'll agree with 90% of that statement. If I did not have a 1DmkIIn it may have been 100%. I've been happy with the AF and speed and that includes using the outside points at times including the infamous red blob. Maybe some are griping, I'm not.
The AF is much better than on the 5D. The last few days I have been shooting my little black labrador with the 5D. Hardly anything in focus. Mostly it just wont fire. Today the II arrived and it started catching the black lab. Much better.
ovredal73 wrote:
The AF is much better than on the 5D. The last few days I have been shooting my little black labrador with the 5D. Hardly anything in focus. Mostly it just wont fire. Today the II arrived and it started catching the black lab. Much better.
Probably attributed to the Digic IV. I noticed the same improvement from the 40D to 50D. Only difference is the digic chip.
ovredal73 wrote:
The AF is much better than on the 5D. The last few days I have been shooting my little black labrador with the 5D. Hardly anything in focus. Mostly it just wont fire. Today the II arrived and it started catching the black lab. Much better.
Probably attributed to the Digic IV. I noticed the same improvement from the 40D to 50D. Only difference is the digic chip.
Must be some other improvement--the DIGIC doesn't handle any part of phase autofocus. The DIGIC does handle the Live View contrast autofocus, however.
Wanna hear something funny? I just called Samys Camera in Santa Ana to ask if they may have any 5D II in stock (for a colleague) as Wednesday (12/17) is the last tax-free day. Not only do they have no 5D II in stock .... they have a backorder of 400 units! Holy Cow!
Sanlameer wrote:
According to Canon rumours-a firmware update from Canon within the next 5 days or early next week. No info on the issues that are going to be updated.
Rule: Don't rush into firmware updates.
I recall when the 20D was released that people complained about lots of sudden lockups (a problem I never suffered). Canon released a quick firmware update, as in this case.
The update completely killed a lot of cameras--turned them into doorstops. Canon had to hurriedly withdraw that update and then issued another...and people still complained that it didn't stop the problem.
In this case, these black dots are less of a problem than sudden lockups. I'd strongly recommend holding off on any quick firmware updates for a couple of weeks.
I have an urgent question for all users of 5d Mk II. If you switch off your camera, what happens then to the light next to the wheel (above the on/off button).
Here's my problem: when I switch off the camera, the light (on page 30 of the manual, they call it the access lamp) goes on. While the camera is on, the access lamp is funtioning as it should, so blinks while reading info to the card. Normally when the access lamp is blinking or on, this would indicate that you cannot open the card slot and cannot open the battery compartiment. Since the lamp switches on when I switch OFF the camera, there is clearly something wrong with the system. According to the manual you may damage the card or camera when you open the card slot or battery compartiment while the access lamp is on. The first day everything seemed to work fine. After switching off the camera, the access lamp switch off as well. When I woke up this morning, I immediately noticed the access lamp was on, while the camera was clearly switch off. I removed the battery, changed memory card, tried taking pictures again, but still no improvement. Anybody had a similar problem? With a D1 or 5D or 5D MKII?
Please advise... Thanks! (Going to Africa soon, so really need to sort this out asap)
Are you saying the light is constantly on with the camera switched off?
Actually, the ON/OFF switch doesn't turn off the camera systems--it merely says "Don't monitor SW-1" (the shutter release). There are certain activities that can cause the light to blink even when the ON/OFF switch is set to "OFF" (such as inserting a CF card). That is also the case with the 5D1.
But as far as I currently know, nothing should result in the light being constantly on. Does it do that with/without a CF card? Does a change of lens make a difference (the camera also actively monitors lens changes even when the ON/OFF switch is set to OFF).
dinkra wrote:
I have an urgent question for all users of 5d Mk II. If you switch off your camera, what happens then to the light next to the wheel (above the on/off button).
Here's my problem: when I switch off the camera, the light (on page 30 of the manual, they call it the access lamp) goes on. While the camera is on, the access lamp is funtioning as it should, so blinks while reading info to the card. Normally when the access lamp is blinking or on, this would indicate that you cannot open the card slot and cannot open the battery compartiment. Since the lamp switches on when I switch OFF the camera, there is clearly something wrong with the system. According to the manual you may damage the card or camera when you open the card slot or battery compartiment while the access lamp is on. The first day everything seemed to work fine. After switching off the camera, the access lamp switch off as well. When I woke up this morning, I immediately noticed the access lamp was on, while the camera was clearly switch off. I removed the battery, changed memory card, tried taking pictures again, but still no improvement. Anybody had a similar problem? With a D1 or 5D or 5D MKII?
Please advise... Thanks! (Going to Africa soon, so really need to sort this out asap)...Show more →
Something is absolutely wrong there. All my body's light will flash a few times if I put in or take out a card when the camera is off, but never does the light stay on. I would call Canon for sure. Only guess help I can give you would be to take out the little battery and put it back in possibly resetting the whole camera.
Good luck.
RDKirk wrote:
Must be some other improvement--the DIGIC doesn't handle any part of phase autofocus. The DIGIC does handle the Live View contrast autofocus, however.
From RG: Somewhat surprisingly, Canon has not adopted the 40D/50D's AF system which, on paper, is superior, given that all nine of its AF points are cross-type. Canon USA's Westfall says the reason for that is the "6 Assist AF points plus center point were deemed to provide a higher level of performance for AI Servo AF than the center point-only arrangement of the [40D and] 50D." Given that we've previously found the overall autofocus performance of the 5D to be decent, while the 40D's tracking capability has been erratic at best, Canon has likely chosen the better of the two AF systems for the 5D Mark II.
The 5D and 5D Mark II share one other notable AF hardware similarity: both utilize a dedicated 32-bit RISC microprocessor to perform AF calculations (in contrast, Canon's Mark III models utilize DIGIC III for this).
This should mean the speed of autofocus will feel about the same as before, with one caveat: because the 5D Mark II's main CPU, DIGIC 4, is much faster than DIGIC II in the 5D, certain functions of the new model may end up enjoying a slight speed boost, even if they don't directly depend on the DIGIC processor to perform their specific function. Autofocus speed could well be one such function that is improved in this way, though whether any speed jump is noticeable or leads to a higher percentage of in-focus pictures is impossible to say without actually using the camera.
The 5D Mark II does include two more obvious changes in its AF system, relative to the 5D: it now has the ability to detect scene colour temperature and light flicker, then incorporate that as part of the camera's autotofocus calculation, plus AF Microadjustment, to compensate for focus calibration error in the camera body or combination of body and attached lens, has been added.
RG's statement about DIGIC controlling focus in the 1DMk III series has already been proven incorrect on other forums (including this one in another thread) by a couple of Canon publications. They don't use DIGIC for autofocusing.
The Series I cameras use two RISC processors dedicated to focusing (one for calculations, one to issue lens commands). The 1-Series has been unique with this dual-processor autofocusing system since Mk II.
It's certainly possible that an improved DIGIC keeps image processing from being a bottleneck in overall operations, but that wouldn't be an improvement of autofocusing per se.
