Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Camera Review

Four long years, the technological equivalent of a geological epoch, passed between the introduction of the venerable Canon EOS 5D back in 2005 and its successor, the aptly named Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Yet it’s fair to say that the Mark II was worth the wait, since it ushers in a new level of SLR video performance with breakthrough 1080p resolution, along with exceptional image quality and a level of customizability that pros and would-be pros will drool over. Of course, at $2699 price for the camera body alone and a weight of 3-pounds-plus with a lens attached, it’s safe to say buying a Canon 5D Mark II is a heavy commitment to serious photography.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II uses a full-frame sensor, which puts it in a rarefied category among digital SLRs. Nearly all the SLRs on the market today use an image sensor that’s much smaller than the  frame of 35mm film that most camera lenses were designed to support. This has the effect of magnifying the apparent range of a lens by about 1.6 times. In other words, put an 18-55mm lens on a typical SLR and it’s like you’re shooting with a 29-88mm lens on a 35mm camera – a nice boost on the telephoto end, but you’re losing out on the wide-angle goodness. Put the same lens on a full-frame SLR like the 5D Mark II, though, and it behaves the way it was designed, a major boon for sophisticated photographers. The very high 21.1-megapixel resolution is another big deal, providing lots of cropping and image enlargement freedom. And with the extraordinary opportunities provided to fine-tune and store settings to match your photographic preferences, demanding shooters will work fast in the field with minimal fiddling.

One of the reasons for the Canon 5D Mark II’s substantial heft is rock-solid construction. Built from magnesium alloy, with weather seals and gaskets protecting all the dials and buttons, this is a rugged camera built to stand up to the elements. And despite its size, we found the 5D Mark II comfortable to shoot with, thanks to a nicely sculptured grip and the secure, steady balance of the camera in your hands.

The 3-inch LCD, with 920,000-dot resolution, is sharp, bright and renders colors accurately. We liked working with the Quick Control menu option on the LCD. With one button press; the full-screen LCD shooting information display becomes a one-stop command post for changing all the key settings. In addition to a stubby joystick control there are two command dials, one of which is mounted flat on the back of the camera, which makes scrolling through options very speedy (though it’s sometimes tricky remembering which dial handles what). One item not included, though, is a built-in flash. This isn’t unusual for a pro-level camera but we do miss having the option to shed a little light on the subject without carrying a separate flash in addition to a bulky camera. And Canon assumes you’ll use the autofocus assist lamp on a separate flash as well, which makes low-light photography much more of a chore.

Performance (read in-depth lab performance coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
Since high-definition video is a marquee feature of the 5D Mark II, let’s start there. The quality of the 1080p video we shot was excellent, very sharp, with good color accuracy and saturation and accurate exposure. The one significant video quality flaw we saw was in capturing motion; our tests here revealed some shadowing and imprecision when shooting fast action. Overall, though, a commendable performance. And when it came to shooting stills, the 5D Mark II excelled in image sharpness, color accuracy and white balance adjustment, and also outperformed comparable SLRs in our dynamic range testing (the ability to capture both highlight and shadow detail). The Live View system, which lets you compose an image using the LCD screen instead of peering through the viewfinder, worked reasonably well, though the slow autofocus typical of Live View on SLRs makes it impractical when shooting quickly.

Comparison (read in-depth comparisons at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
When it comes to SLRs that shoot video, the only contenders currently shipping are the Canon 5D Mark II and the Nikon D90, a $999 camera that shoots at 720p, versus the higher-res 1080p of the Canon. The 5D Mark II video performance clearly outshines the D90, and not just because of the denser sensor; color accuracy testing also comes out in Canon’s favor. As for shooting stills, the D90 offers much lower resolution (12.3 megapixels versus the Canon’s 21.1), but actual image quality was pretty close, with the 5D Mark II posting superior scores on white balance accuracy and dynamic range, while the D90 offered faster continuous burst mode shooting, slightly better low-light performance and about the same color accuracy and image noise. It’s worth noting that Canon recently announced another SLR that will shoot video, the Rebel T1i, priced at $899 with lens and scheduled to ship in May 2009. DigitalCameraInfo.com offers a hands-on preview of the T1i here.

There are three full-frame-sensor models priced around $3000 for the camera body: the Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D700 and Sony A900. While the sensor size of the 5D Mark II and the D700 are the same, the D700 delivers much lower resolution, at 12.1 megapixels. And while we love the Nikon LCD display and fast autofocus system, it can’t match the Canon 5D on several key benchmarks, including color accuracy, resolution and dynamic range – plus with the Canon you’re getting high-quality high-definition video capability for $2699 price, $300 lower than the Nikon.

The Sony A900, also priced at $2999, delivers a league-leading 24.6-megapixel sensor, and tops the Canon 5D Mark II in our resolution testing. It also fires off continuous shots at a brisk 4.4 frames per second, quite a feat given the 20-megabyte-plus file sizes involved, and significantly faster than the 3.81 fps Canon. Also worth noting, the optical viewfinder on the Sony A900 is more accurate and comfortable than any other SLR we’ve tried to date. Here again, though, the 5D Mark II excels in the lab, beating the Sony soundly in color accuracy, white balance performance and dynamic range. The Canon also feels more comfortable when shooting, and offers Live View mode which Sony has chosen not to include.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Canon EOS 5D Mark II Review at our partner DigitalCameraInfo.com