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Let's cut to the chase -- the Canon EOS 5D Mark II does live up to its billing. It takes a great full-frame DSLR, the original 5D (Pop Photo's 2005 Camera of the Year), boosts damn near everything, adds high-definition video capture, and turns in an overall performance that makes it a virtual steal (or at least as close as a steal comes in this price bracket). The body-only street price is $2,700; $3,500 with the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM kit lens.
Does the 5D Mark II have drawbacks? Certainly. The autofocus is no faster than that on the original 5D (greetings from the Wayback Machine). The burst rate, at just 3.9 frames per second, isn't pro-sports caliber. And when shooting video, though the image quality rivals any consumer-level camcorder, there's no autofocus.
Of course, the true wonders and shortcomings of this camera are in the details. So let's take a look at those in four key areas.
IMAGE QUALITY
Talk about the best of both worlds! Until this 21.1MP Canon debuted, the choice in the under-$3,500 price range was between lots of pixels or high image quality at high ISOs. One route was a camera such as the $3,000, 24.6MP Sony A900, which produces high-resolution images but tops out at only ISO 6400, and even there serves up lots of noise. The other approach was the $3,000 Nikon D700, with just 12.1MP but impressively clean images at ISO 6400, along with the ability to shoot (albeit noisily) at up to ISO 25,600.
But the 5D Mark II matches the Nikon for sensitivity and comes close to the Sony in resolution. At its lowest standard sensitivity, ISO 100, the Canon scored 2820 lines of resolution; the Nikon, 2350 lines; and the Sony 3230.
Reduced to ISO 50 for longer exposures and bright-light work, the Canon's resolution was 2830 lines, matching the $6,680 (street) 21.1MP Canon EOS 1-Ds Mark III (see, the 5D Mark II is a steal). Neither the Nikon nor Sony offers ISO 50.
And even when the ISO is cranked up to 25,600, the Canon edges out the Nikon with 2400 lines of resolution. Put simply, in our tests, even at its worst, the resolution of the Canon beats the Nikon's best. That's the power of 21.1 versus 12.1MP.
Of course, at such a high ISO, both the Canon and Nikon are in Unacceptable territory in our noise tests (4.9 for Canon, 4.6 for Nikon). At 6400, the Sony scored 3.5, while the Canon and Nikon hit 2.0. Any reading above 3.0 is Unacceptable.
These numbers suggest low-light shooting like you've never seen before. We took the Canon out at sunset in New York's Central Park and photographed a rollerblader, capturing the scene with a shutter speed of 1/20 sec and aperture of f/11. At ISO 6400, there was no more than a light dusting of noise. Compared to the grain you'd see with 6400-speed film, this is the stuff of revelation.
Such high resolution and ISOs will change your photography. You'll use the 5D Mark II in settings where you wouldn't have opened your camera bag before. And you can leave your auxiliary flash at home (though think twice, because this camera doesn't have a pop-up).
One benefit of the camera's 14-bit capture (up from 12-bit), with help from the camera's processing engine, is Canon's Highlight Tone Priority setting. When enabled, it limits your ISO range to 200-6400, but also captures a little more detail in highlights. The effect is subtle and, according to Canon, may add a little noise to the shadows. If you're shooting a wedding dress, though, you'll likely be glad you have it.
But this low-light performance isn't glitch-free. As have commenters on the web, we noticed tiny black blotches next to areas of blown-out highlights, such as the streetlights in our image of the skater. We found it hard to predict what images these spots would turn up in -- sometimes we'd find them, sometimes we wouldn't. Canon is aware of the problem, and our bet is that the issue soon will be resolved with a firmware upgrade. In any case, the blotches are easily removed in postproduction.
When working with RAW images, we noticed finer gradations of tone in the final images. Credit the sensor's 14-bit capture. And that sensor ranked fourth out of all current DSLRs in DxOMark Sensor tests (www.dxomark.com), which analyze and compare unprocessed RAW data.
Color? In our testing protocols, anything below 8.0 is Excellent. The Canon scored 6.3. This beats both the Nikon and Sony. And with 9.0, the Sony fell into our Extremely High category.
Tagged as:
- Camera Test,
- Canon
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