While I am neither the most experienced nor the most well informed photographer on this forum, I am a working photographer with 18 years of shooting experience. Most of the negative comments from users on this forum are coming from people who have a fundamental misunderstanding of the position this camera occupies in the market. People cry "no pro auto focus" they whine "3.9 fps is just too slow" and "not enough weather sealing" when the reality is it is not now nor will it ever be a high end Pro camera body. People seem to expect canon, and Nikon for that matter to give them the full fat Pro body experience without shelling out the clams for a Pro level body. It has all of the qualities in spec. to be one of the finest imaging tools ever produced, hopefully when we get our hands on it this will prove to be the case. My personal opinion is that the 5D produces some the finest digital images in the world and I expect the 5D MkII to continue that. However, if you want a workhorse to shoot 300 to 1000 images a day in difficult conditions including fog, rain, dust, crowds with poor light and generally bad shooting conditions you should be shooting and paying for the abilities of Nikon D3 series or Canon 1 series bodies. If you just want to make beautiful images a 5D is probably going to be the best consumer camera ever made.
If the mythical 3D had been released along with the 5DII, there would be few of those perceptions that the 5DII was lacking in any substantive way. I think many of the 5D shooters are happy, whereas the people wanting a D700-like camera are still left wondering if it will ever be.
whereas the people wanting a D700-like camera are still left wondering if it will ever be
They just got their answer, clear enough. Canon has a different philosophy on camera manufacturing than Nikon. They spend their R&D money on image quality rather than features, while Nikon spend more on features since image quality for the greatest part is defined by components they buy from third parties. Really a very different business model. It was clear enough that the audience in the segment Canon created with the 5D a few years back has their priorities first set on EOSfun through full frame image quality. Remember that was in the time when Nikon told all of their customers they would not need full frame! DX was the way to go and APS format had its own benefits. Now that Sony developed full frame sensors and Nikon has access to it they decided to change their policy. FX was an extra format. Unfortunately for them Sony did not provide a full frame sensor that outperforms Canon's sensors. So Nikon is forced to compete in other areas with features like that wonderful level tool for example and a semi conservative body design with ergonomic benefits.
Jeffrey Biggs wrote:
While I am neither the most experienced nor the most well informed photographer on this forum, I am a working photographer with 18 years of shooting experience. Most of the negative comments from users on this forum are coming from people who have a fundamental misunderstanding of the position this camera occupies in the market. People cry "no pro auto focus" they whine "3.9 fps is just too slow" and "not enough weather sealing" when the reality is it is not now nor will it ever be a high end Pro camera body. People seem to expect canon, and Nikon for that matter to give them the full fat Pro body experience without shelling out the clams for a Pro level body. It has all of the qualities in spec. to be one of the finest imaging tools ever produced, hopefully when we get our hands on it this will prove to be the case. My personal opinion is that the 5D produces some the finest digital images in the world and I expect the 5D MkII to continue that. However, if you want a workhorse to shoot 300 to 1000 images a day in difficult conditions including fog, rain, dust, crowds with poor light and generally bad shooting conditions you should be shooting and paying for the abilities of Nikon D3 series or Canon 1 series bodies. If you just want to make beautiful images a 5D is probably going to be the best consumer camera ever made....Show more →
In RG65's case, I use the center point AI-Servo (just did a bike race w/ a 5d... worked fine)
Daan: I have the same problem, outer points are basically useless focus wise and too tight in anyhow, which is why I manual focus portraits. But then again I don't have to do rambunctious kids, so we're basically talking static scenes.
DMSsix wrote:
I'm used to putting a point on the exact spot I want with my 1D, and with it I'm even sometimes wishing those 45 were spread out a little more. It was awkward for me shooting with the 5D because of this. I can't remember if I've read a decent technical explanation as to why these 9 points can not be spread out further to cover a bigger % of the frame to make them more useful in composing. Is there one?
You are used to a crop senor camera. Try a 1DSMKx the focus point are also grouped to the center since they use the same AF sensor as the 1DMKx.
Nobody wants a 1D AF. We want a better AF than the one on the old 5D - that's all. Try using the 5D with an f/4 in low light and you'll see it hunt. Maybe this won't be a problem with the 5DMkII, but it doesn't seem promising.
Uhumm, The USA Canon web site now says 9 cross-type AF points (+6 assist) just like the Australia site does. I wonder if other sites will be "changing" the specs to say this also, or is it just the English speaking people that think it's so??....
Who cares how many cross type focus points? they are all clustered around the middle anyway. It looks like most of the time the camera will be set for the center point anyway - no chance of composing for the Rule of Thirds without a focus/recompose.
Put the focus points where we need them - THEN it'll matter if they're cross type!!
Nine AF points — eight horizontal-line sensitive at f/5.6 and one cross-type, vertical-line sensitive at f/2.8 — combine with six invisible Assist AF points to provide speedy and precise focusing of even fast moving subjects.
Thanks Jerry. I realize the Ds bodies have similar grouping of the points, I've just always wondered exactly why. Always has seemed like wasted space to me out there in no-man's land.
ichiro17 wrote:
So where is everyone getting that there is no weather-resistant body?
They claim it is weather sealed, but it's not anywhere near what the 1 series are. Keep in mind that they claim that the 40D is weather sealed --- it's a very half-ass weather sealing. They put a little bit of foam rubber around the CF compartment, and the battery door, and they claim it is sealed. Take a look at a 1 series, or a Nikon pro body, and you'll see real weather sealing.
