5D Mark II Firmware [CR2]
March 2nd, 2009 Posted in Canon 5D Mark II
From an email
Expect to see a new firmware update for the 5D Mark II sometime in the first week of April. Expect to see an added feature. I can’t say for sure what it is, but it’s there.
We all know what most folks want, we’ll see if it’s delivered.
cr
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
framrate selection?
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March 2nd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Chances are likely that any modifications to the firmware will have to do with enhancing the 5D mark II’s video mode. Myself, I’d love to see Canon add a faster FPS when shooting in sRAW modes.
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Victor Engel Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
FPS probably cannot be improved. You are limited by several things:
* reading data from the chip (99+% same data has to be read for SRAW as for other still formats — the differences are only at the edges)
* The mirror and shutter mechanisms are limited in how fast they physically accelerate.
* The pipe between the processor and the card buffer can go only so fast.
Only the last category is improved by shooting SRAW. I suspect both of the other constraints are tighter constraints anyway.
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EGProductions Reply:
March 10th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
You wouldn’t want an increase of FPS in sRAW. The only way to accomplish this is for the camera to sample every other or every few pixels. The reason you should prefer the sRAW image to be derived from a 21MP image is because with the 21MP image, you are offseting the relativly small Pixel pitch with a lot of resolution causing grain to be smaller.
In short having a a faster shooting speed in sRAW will give you worse low light capabilities.
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March 2nd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I’m thinking manual video
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March 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
[...] Could this mean it’s coming in the next firmware update? According to Canonrumors, that firmware is coming during the first week of [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I bet it’s video playback.
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March 2nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
i will be glad to see anything new
beside more ‘direct print’ crap
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March 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 pm
if it starts shooting 24p – i’m buying it, maybe even a few!
manual controls would be nice, but it can be tweaked with nikon lenses and tricking int 1/50 shutter at certain iso…
jello is still a big downside thou
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March 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 am
Here is an interesting list of improvements that could be implemented:
http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=884
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March 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 am
manual video mode is ideal it will release its full hd video recording potential!
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Photographer/Videographer Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 am
No doubt that so far the potential of the 5D Mark II’s video is VERY limited…
We hope Canon opens it up, and let the customers (Amateurs and Pros) use its full capabilities
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March 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 am
Manual control would truly make the 5D Mark II revolutionary.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 am
omfg I won’t get my hopes up, but I’m mildly erect right now.
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David Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:38 am
that’s a little disturbing.
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Anthony Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:53 am
but amusing! lol
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Charlie Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
lol
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March 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 am
Distortion and vignetting function of the current lens shown at the display as stored in the camara for correction would be nice? This data is inside the camara but not on the web site, so a new feature makes sense.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 5:14 am
>We all know what most folks want
That depends on whether you live in 30fps-land (amnual AF control) or not (framerate)
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Nigel Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:15 am
My brain said ‘manual’, but my fingers can’t spell.
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jonne Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
At this point I’d settle for amnual control of exposure. Better than what we have now..
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March 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 am
It’ll be a 25fps mode. No way in hell are they going to add manual control.
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sleepingcanon Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 1:08 am
why do you say no way in the world they add manual control?
what could be easier to add?
it already does similar to Av mode if you go by Zeiss, Olympus and Nikon lenses for your camera instead of Canon (which many are now doing)
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March 3rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
First week of April… as in April fools?
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March 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
This is a CR2. Grain of salt is right. Not gonna happen.
Even your rating is highly skeptical. Over all PMA looks like a dud from Nikon as well.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
I think frame rate is probably high up the list for PAL countries. If they add 25fps do you think they will also do 24fps or will 25fps be a good enough compromise for the people that want 24?
Unfortunately I think they will have seen how popular video is and will want to retain some features for just on the next 1D to get people to switch up. Good auto focus in video mode would be a great addition for it but if that’s not ready I can see them wanting to hold back better manual control for the 1D.
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Zac Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
As a mkIV prospective, and someone who currently owns a mkIII and has several friends who also do, I can tell you most 1D shooters aren’t terribly interested in the video aspect. The press guys definitely want it so they can do multimedia with the same body at (ore or less) the same time), meaning HD 30 fps for a web imprint is fine, and they (and I) probably won’t be testing out the “filminess” of 24 fps. So i Doubt Canon is reserving this for the upcoming 1 series. I think they video on the 5d mkII was rushed after the D90 came out, Canon had to move quick to trump it, and it shows. It is clearly handicapped, though well intentioned. I just hope they left themselves enough loose ends to be able to tie down manual control, though I personally think they can do it and just need time. same with 25 fps for PAL. That is KILLING the 5DmkII sales in Europe, I think that is what they are working on hardest right now, so that is what I would expect first.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 9:51 am
this would be the first time ever for canon to add new features after initial release……wouldnt it?
doubtful but something to wish for!!
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Zac Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
5D mkIIN? real AF system and better video, released after the mkIV ?
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March 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
I would love for Canon to allow me to bracket more than 3 exposures on AEB. Nikon and Canon’s 1Ds Mark III allow four up and four down in one go. No reason why the 5D Mark II should not be allowed to do the same.
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Zac Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
3 up and 3 down, max of 7 total on mkIII.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
This is foremost a still camera. Don’t expect a movie feature.
My bet (hope, wish, whatever) is being able to set the lower and upper ISO value for Auto ISO, to compete with this great Nikon-first feature. Auto ISO is a great new 5DM2 feature that I end up using 25% of the time when I would use 90% of the time.
A wish would be to set the lowest acceptable shutter speed ratio. Yes, I know that the reciprocal of the focal length is standard, but I would rather that the ISO go higher rather than finding I am shooting at 1/15th with my wide angle lenses. Being able to set 2/x or even 3/x would be very useful with various auto modes. (You’d want this to be 1/3 stop increments, incidentally.)
Heck, a great feature would be able to set minimums and maximums for shutter, aperture, and ISO for use in P, Av, and Tv. Call it Intelligent Auto! You heard it heard first…
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Enjott Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Lots of people had this idea before, and other brands’ products (as well as the 1 series) allow it to some extent.
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Scott Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Auto ISO is not a Nikon-first. Pentax started with their ISO-priority mode
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Anonymous Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 5:10 am
This would help sway me back toward buying a 5DmkII — the reports of the D700’s AF superiority are currently sucking me in. I want to be able to focus decently on my 5mo son.
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Rick Rickman Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Or you could learn how to use the light meter/properly expose and just shoot manual mode. Auto means Awful.
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Zac Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
He was talking about focus, not exposure.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
If anything it would be aperture control to stop people from using Nikon glass. Canon looses money when people buy new/old manual Nikon’s to put on 5D MII’s.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
If video is not broken by a still image, I would take the raw uimage without jpg. Would that save computer power to store both to the chip? That would be great.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I would like auto-ISO in Manual mode. Given how clean the high ISO range is, I would love to set the aperture and shutter speed and have the camera figure out the ISO that makes that combination work.
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Enjott Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 7:13 am
This function (which I consider essential in some situations) is also available with manual lenses. Set the camera to Tv, set shutter speed on the camera and aperture on the lens – voila.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
looks like Panasonic has listened to peoples wished…720p/60 1080p/25/24 with full manual…can’t wait to try that thing out…
they also made a smart move releasing a “super” zoom. That’s gonna steal alot of potential SX1 buyers..
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DeeWee Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
It’s just 1080i unfortunately. Still good though…
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March 3rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
So we need a zoom with a motor drive for the focal length controled by some device at the tripod? A super zoom would be ok since video has only low resolution.
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March 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
The most canon would do with firmware as it relates to video is aperture control.
Why? Because aperture is now fully controlled with manual Nikon prime lenses and most dslr filmmakers or people doing video went for Nikon primes and $20-$200 nikon2canon lens adapters. By providing this control on canon camera, it really doesnt revolutionize accomplishing something Truly new, rather makes it easier and brings more $ back to canon.
24p and manual controls is wishful thinking. canon or any corporation dont have the balls to be truly outstanding leaders and give the full capabilities of 5d II hardware to its users. companies have no hearts, thus no appreciation that we live life once, that time is golden and when technology is already there, it is true greatness to be pioneers and be first to open these in already capable of this DSLR camera. Instead, they put $, fear, reasoning 1st and are mired down in board or whatever BS committee meetings about how not to jeopardize video divisions make the most $ and do it “right”
hopefully the proper hacker shows 1st and sticks it to them
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Enjott Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Why a Nikon lens?? Is it because people only know Nikon and Canon?
Old Nikons are are expensive used, because their aperture can be controlled by current Nikon DSLRs.
Get an M42 adapter and many good lenses are no more than 10 bucks.
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Zac Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Old nikkor lenses are not very expensive. I just found a 105 f2.5 for $225 in great shape.
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Enjott Reply:
March 27th, 2009 at 4:33 am
That isn’t exactly cheap. I am doing concert photography with an excellent M42 Asahi/Pentax 3.5/200 from ca. 1960, for 50 bucks.
I also own an M42 OEM branded Tomioka 2.8/135 I got for less than 10, bought with a defective camera.
Pentax K mount lenses are cheaper too, even though they can be used on modern Pentax DSLRs. I got Chinon 50s (f/1.9 and f/1.4) for 15 or less, and the very good Pentax 2.5/135 for 35.
Used Nikons are of course cheaper than AF lenses, but they’re among the most expensive manual lens lineups.
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March 4th, 2009 at 3:04 am
[...] canon 5d mark 2, canon 5d mark ii, canonrumors, facts, manual control, Rating, rumors The site Canon Rumors received an email stating the update will come in the first week of April. Expect to see a new [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
So first week in April eh? Like right around April 1st? Sounds likely to me. CR[0]
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March 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I’d love to see Canon change the sRAW settings for the 5D2. 21MP is just too much for most purposes & the current sRAW at about 10MP isn’t enough–15 would be mmm, mmm, good:
sRAW1=15, sRAW2=8
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March 4th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Anyone who wants 24p because of the film look might be disappointed. There is no mechanical 180 degree rolling shutter, so you’ll just be getting fewer frames of what you’re already getting now. They’ll be much more likely to include a PAL mode.
The best features would be manual aperture/shutter/gain(ISO).
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March 4th, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] web canon rumors ha publicado que a princios de Abril se puede producir una nueva actualización del firmware de la [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I hope now that Panasonic released its DMC-GH1 SLR with full manual control HD video, Canon will decide to add manual aperture control to the 5DMII, because otherwise many buyers will decide for the GH1 instead of the 5DMII. However, I don’t think they will really do that…
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March 4th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Anything !!
Absolutely anything will raise the 5DmkII off the floor when it comes to the video functionality.
Despite the hilariously deceptive claims of creative control in their literature, let’s face it – the camera has zero control in video mode.
My cheap-O brand consumer camcorder from 1997 has more (much much more) control over video – I can set the aperture, the shutter speed and so on.
So like I say absolutely anything will be an improvement, which says a lot about how far Canon went out of their way to cripple the video mode.
Even the ability to see the settings the camera has chosen to record with would be an improvement !
Or maybe the ability to not loose all your hard won settings between every fucking take !
Anything !
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March 4th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
. . . . . and yes, the Panasonic DMC-GH1 SLR looks very nice.
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March 5th, 2009 at 3:55 am
yay Panasonic! officially the leader in cutting through corporate BS (and oh boy they have invested plenty in video divisions) and being 1st to lead manual dslr video. canon will respond with sthm
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March 6th, 2009 at 6:00 am
[...] Nine Inch Nails concert filmed on the Canon 5d Mark II dslr. Amazing clarity considering the low light and really allows the photographer/videographer to weave between the artists with minimal fuss. All that’s missing is manual controls in video mode to really open it up to the inde film-maker. However it’s rumoured to be coming. [...]
March 7th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Since no ones mentioned it… exFAT (CFII cards > 64GB) file system support would be nice.
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March 13th, 2009 at 9:43 am
[...] verdichten sich die Gerüchte, dass Canon bereits im April ein weiteres Update der Firmware anbieten wird (derzeit ist die Version 1.07 aktuell, auf die man [...]
March 15th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Please give us 24/25p shooting with full manual controlls, i love its visuals
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April 6th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I guess this was a salty hoax :( x12,000,000
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April 9th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
So second week? Third week?
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April 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Spoke to Canon Netherlands today about 25p firmware fix for the 5DMk2. They’ve had numerous calls about the issue but say they know of no plans from Canon HQ to develop / release any such firmware update. They even agreed with me that it was bizarre to miss out on many thousands of units potentially sold in Europe, but they had no information that anything is in the pipeline. They did mention that such a change might come in a new model, but again, speculative. I put the phone down mystified and stunned.
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