Best & Worst of 2008

@CYRN

I read several available reviews on the 50D before buying. But now I can base my opinion on my own experience with the camera.

(Your attached link was a good read…thanks)

I guess the bottom line is that every camera model has its requirements, but if you know what you’re doing, you can make each work for you. I make the 50Ds work for me. It fits well in my hand. It’s comfortable and well built.
Are there better cameras for the work I create? I don’t really think so. I really think Canon did a good job with this model, and fortunately, I have several great lenses that make it the perfect tool for me. It’s small, light, fast, tough, inexpensive and handles all my best lenses.
I’ve sold my two 1DsMkIIs and replaced them with 50Ds. They ‘ve done the job. Is the 5dMkII a better camera? Maybe, but with these two little cameras, I don’t ever have to find out.

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BTW, I used the Canon 24-105 with the 1DSMkII for three weeks several years ago and had to sell it at a loss. It was terrible on the corners. Don’t bother using that lens on a 50D either. The camera will just show it up for what it is.

Good grief… I’m so tired reading about the “crappy AF” on the 5D.

All the people who keep commenting on how disappointing the 5DmkII is should actually use it for a bit, rather than simply regurgitating what they’ve read in various forums on the Internet.

You’d think that everyone suddenly became an extreme sports photographer overnight with all the moaning about the shortcomings of AF system. Was there such an uproar over the original 5D’s AF system? Not a bit (and see for yourself – search through the archives of the gearhead photo forums, and you’ll find precious few complaints from actual 5D owners until a couple of months ago – odd considering the 5D has been out for over 3 years, isn’t it?) But now? Suddenly it’s a “deal breaker” on the camera? Gimme a break.

If you’re shooting still life/portraits/weddings/street photography/concerts/etc., the 5DmkII AF works like a charm. If you’re having trouble with the AF system in these situations, you’re either using a horrible and slow lens, you’re shooting with the equivalent of the light from a single candle 5m away, or your focusing technique just really sucks.

On the other hand, if you’re shooting Formula-1 races from track side, or cheetahs chasing down antelopes in the Serengetti with AI Servo, then sure, a 1D series is your best choice for AF. So just buy that instead of a 5D. Sheesh.

I’ve been shooting with the original 5D for 3 years, and the only time I’ve grumbled about the AF has been in extremely low light. Any camera will have trouble with that. But the solution is remarkably simple: slap a Canon speedlight on the hotshoe, and use the AF assist (whether you engage the flash or not – those little red lines of the AF assist work magic in low light).

Oh, and use fast glass. It’s right there in the owners manual: the best performing AF algorithm is only available with lenses of f/2.8 or faster. If you’re using an f/5.6 lens, you’ll get crappy AF results. And if you’re unsure as to why the lens choice makes a difference, you probably shouldn’t be discussing AF publicly until you do…

On a less-ranting note, if you’re an existing 5D owner, and happy with that camera, you’ll be thrilled with the 5DmkII (as I am – over the years, in the digital realm, I’ve upgraded from the 20D, to the 5D, and now the 5DmkII). I’ve had the mkII now for 3 weeks, and it has been a fantastic upgrade. The new menu system is a welcome upgrade. For casual shooting in varying lighting, auto ISO is surprisingly liberating.

Now, concerning the new LCD and Live View… if you use tilt/shift lenses, you will be in heaven. If you don’t use T/S lenses, you won’t know what I’m talking about, but believe me, this alone is worth the upgrade. There’s no need to shoot tethered anymore to check the focal plane adjustments. It’s now a joy to use T/S!

But the best part is the image quality. I did a studio shoot two weeks ago that involved a dry ice fog with a black seamless background (for an 80’s style heavy metal band – yeah, they wanted pure cheese… :-). In post, I was absolutely stunned at how much detail I was able to tease out of the fog. Just with the highlight recovery and black sliders in Lightroom. I was able to get it to look like cotton candy, there was so much fine tonal detail. There is no way I would be able to push it nearly as far if I took that with the original 5D. It was jaw-dropping. I was expecting to get just a typical fog look, and was completely surprised at the amount of detail in the RAW file. Considering 90% of the test shots out on the Internet right now are of Christmas trees, no wonder people are not impressed with the IQ improvements – there’s no “wow” details to tease out (that, and if anyone posts a test shot that isn’t “non-sharpened, straight RAW conversion” they’ll get hounded out of the forums with pitchforks and torches). So, yeah – the test shots look just like, well, boring test shots, and pretty much look the same as the original 5D. All I can say is that you have to shoot a subject with a lot of tonal subtlety (like fog or clouds), and then explore the details in your favourite RAW converter. Absolutely stunning amounts of detail. I’ve been staring at the original 5D RAW files for 3 years now, and I can tell you, the 5DmkII has a lot more detail in the tones.

Oh, and the extra resolution is, of course, very welcome. The pixel density is still low enough to not be a diffraction problem with softening at small apertures, so that’s not an issue. The nice bit is that you can get an apparent stop or two of even better high ISO performance if you’re resizing down for the web.

As for the “black-dot” problem, I haven’t seen that myself, but I then I don’t think I’ve taken any photos yet that would trigger the problem. I’m trusting that the new firmware will be out before I run into that problem (and if not, I’ll guess I’ll have to deal with it using a despeckle filter in PS).

I’ve only messed with the video a little bit to see what it’s like, and quite frankly, I don’t really “get” how to shoot video (I’m a stills photographer, after all). When I get some time (and inspiration), I’d like to try my hand at a 5 or 10 minute short, however video is such a different beast than stills, and I’m pretty intimidated to even try… But I have noted with amusement, again on the gearhead sites, complaints of the sound capabilities of the 5DmkII. From what little I know about shooting video (I’ve been the stills photographer on a couple of film sets, so my knowledge is just from observing what was going on and a few chats with the crew), sound is never handled by the cameraman. There’s a soundman who, well, does the sound. Audio is captured by the camera, but it’s only used to sync the “real” audio captured by the external equipment in post-production. I think people complaining about the audio capabilities of the 5D are probably not familiar with how video is shot.

Anyway, sorry for the bit of ranting. I’ve been reading too much of the gearhead forums lately, and I’m tired of reading all the “the 5DmkII is total crap” from people who haven’t even held one in their hands, let alone used it. Specifically, this whole “the AF is crap” meme that’s floating around. Could the AF be better? I suppose – however, it works 99% of the time for me, so that extra 1%, well… I doubt it’ll change my shooting. But then again, I’m pretty new to auto focus (I only had manual focus until I went digital with the 20D a few years ago). Maybe I’m more forgiving of AF errors given my background, but really – the AF on the 5D/5DmkII gets it right for me virtually every time (shallow DOF or not). For what it’s worth, I typically use the centre AF point to achieve focus, then re-compose the frame – same way I did it when I had manual focus screen with a ground-glass ring. That, and I occasionally use the olde timey “pre-focus” technique – anticipate where the action will be, focus appropriately, and hit the shutter at the right moment…

In short, if you liked the original 5D, you’ll love the 5DmkII. I’m finding this upgrade even more satisfying than the upgrade from the 20D to the original 5D. Seriously. The 5DmkII rocks. I can’t wait to shoot more with it…

@ Peter T.

Nice post. I’m also sure that all the people trashing the 5D Mk II haven’t used one yet. I’ve had mine for just under 3 weeks and I am amazed with the improved image quality and low light capability over the original 5D. Last night, I did night shooting after dark shooting at ISO 2500 hand held at 1/15 sec F4 and was astounded with the results. I use to try this with the 5D and got perhaps 30% keepers. I now get 90-95% keepers and the color, saturation, noise, and image quality is WAY ahead of the 5D.

As for the AF, I think it might be better than the 5D with improved processing from the Digic 4 but I won’t be sure until summer when I do my wild bird thing. The old 5D use to have some problem doing fast focusing on fast erratically moving objects with an irregular background. This was probably not the preferred application for the 5D AF but all the same I got over 50% keepers.

On top of the above, the LCD screen is a big improvement over the 5D. The sensor cleaner should be great as my old 5D use to catch dust particles. I’ve only scratched the surface of the video feature but friends are already appreciating the 1080p I’ve shot. I’m also looking forward to the increased frames per second for the wild bird stuff in the summer. I’ve tested it a few times and yes, the extra .9 fps should make a difference.

For all the trashers of the 5D, I bet dollars to donuts they haven’t even laid eyes on a 5D Mk II, let alone trying one out. For anyone who has one, it’s the Camera of the Year and I’ve only had it for under 3 weeks. Simply amazing!