Canon Announces Firmware Update For 5D Mark II

Craig
2 Min Read

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.

5dmark2vid

It's here

LONDON, UK, 27th May 2009:  Canon announced today it will release a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II allowing users to manually control exposure when shooting video.  The new firmware will be available for download from 2 June 2009 on Canon Europe’s support web site.
Following the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II in September 2008, Canon’s Research and Development team has listened closely to customer feedback to develop additions to the camera’s movie recording functionality.

Allowing EOS 5D Mark II owners to achieve even more stunning video results with the camera, the firmware update will include the following manual controls when shooting video:

* Full aperture selection
* ISO speed: Auto, 100 – 6400 and H1
* Shutter speed: 1/30th – 1/4000th second

The EOS 5D Mark II integrates full HD movie capability into a high-end 21.1 Megapixel camera; opening a multitude of new possibilities for photojournalists and news photographers.   Since its launch the camera has proved its appeal to professionals working in diverse fields, from studio and wedding to nature and travel.  Now, following customer feedback, Canon has improved functionality for professional video users, further unleashing the potential of the EOS 5D Mark II for cinematographers and photographers alike.

CR's Take
Great work Canon, you listened and it looks like you have delivered.

Still no 24p it looks like.

Download (June 2, 2009): http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html

cr

Share This Article
Follow:
Craig is the founder and editorial director for Canon Rumors. He has been writing about all things Canon for more than 17 years. When he's not writing, you can find him shooting professional basketball and travelling the world looking for the next wildlife adventure. The Canon EOS R1 is his camera of choice.
168 Comments
  • I think the dramatic drop in profit margins, loss of market shares must have convinced Canon they better listen to customers. Hopefully, this is the first, and not the only, sign of a positive change in Canon marketing. The consumers have spoken with their wallets. ;)

  • Come to think about it… is this the first time a MAJOR feature has been added in Canon’s DSLRs through firmware update? Most of Canon’s firmware updates have always been used to address specific failures and shortcomings.

  • Ah Ah!!! Seems like my source was right after all… Lets see if the Real time edit in FCP will be true too! ;-)

  • WOW! now the 500D crowd better start yelling and jumping up and down too. i want manual control!

    i can see canon have fixed this because it’ll stop owners buying nikon or other non-canon lenses. that’s my guess as to why there’s no 24p update. if buying a nikon lens gave the 5DmkII 24p, you can bet canon would have fixed that too.

    ha, i’m such a cynic.

  • Omg, I can’t believe this is happening! Hope the next step canon will do is 24p. Great work canon!

  • wow, this was the reason I kept visiting canonrumors everyday! I can’t believe the day is here when the announcement was made! Even better than I thought too, I thought they were gonna leave out aperture control!

  • Who said there wasn’t worth all possible efforts???

    REALLY GREAT GOOD NEWS.

    Thanks to Canon to REALLY listen to customers huge demand.

    AND THANK TO ALL THE PEOPLE who helped to encourage Canon to do so, in every possible way, from signing a simple petition, to calling them directly.

  • Now watch as the never-dwindling price goes up a couple hundred more dollars.

    Just kidding. (I hope.)

    Variable FPS would be nice, and is more likely to happen with the latest firmware hacks than manual support would be.

  • As a 500D owner, I’d be EXTREMELY ECSTATIC if it had manual exposure controls as well..

    BUT…

    Would Canon do this? Or try to make it an exclusive feature for the 5DMKII?

  • guys this is a joke. Look at the URL… And do you really think canon would make a poster with Rated A for awesome??? Nope. I want to believe, but not this time.

  • well we already have manual control now eh? Cant at least be happy for a moment and don’t mention bout the fps thing?

  • This is excellent! I’m pleasantly surprised – I had hoped, but was expecting less. If this is a sign of things to come, Canon is definitely the company for me. (shocking – a multinational corporation actually listening to customers!)

  • huh, is this a Nikon user disappointed? Well, I don’t think so, yea the poster is abit questionable but it is posted in Canon official website, so this is a legitimate news.

  • Unbelievable! Well done Canon for listening to your customers! This is incredible value-add to such a great product! I’ve greatly enjoyed the extra functionality that Sony provide for the PS3, and now I can say the same about Canon. You’ve got my support – I can’t wait to download it! Well done again, and keep up the great work!

  • OK..lets talk about 25fps then
    The only reason left for me (not) to buy the camera
    Why do I only read about 24fps all the time?

  • Since they gave this feature to us which was by popular demand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Canon’s next firmware update would be include 24p. =) Canon is taking baby steps at a time. hahaha

  • Hmmm, the 5d2 returns to my “possible upgrade” list
    24p via firm hack? not that I need it, but options are cool.

    thanks for listening canon :-)

  • epic. i lol forever….. calling something epic that should have been in the camera right from the start. they don’t give us something better, they only deliver now what should be normal when you include video mode. and still i can’t do anything i could sell to a client since they don’t include 24p…. canon hates europe, that’s more than obvious!

  • :-), :-), :-), :-), :-), :-), :-), :-),

    Best news I’ve got in days! Cant wait to try it out.

  • And the Hollywood studio rumors were b.s.?

    Good job canon, good job canon rumors.

    Now lets just hope if works..

  • I’m not sure I quite get it. If you can control shutter speed in video mode I guess it would be to control stuff like motion blur from frame to frame. Now, I haven’t held a 5D mk II yet, but I would doubt that the shutter actually moves during video (it doesn’t, does it? :-) – hence it must be an electronic shutter. If this is true, then wouldn’t it be nice to add that capability to ordinary photos also, giving us x-sync speeds well beyond the current 1/200?

    Someone please enlighten me? :-)

  • Can someone explain to me what controling the shutter will do for shooting video? I understand why aperature and ISO are important to control, but shutter? How does that relate to video?

  • Unbelievable! My 5D mkII just became the GREATEST camera on EARTH !!!

    I can’t sleep!

    J-Dog

  • hahaha, great joke:) I’m not an owner of a 5D and I really hope for all of you, it’s not a joke! I’ll keep an eye to this web site and the announcment it was a joke (I expect there is something wrong with the link or they hacked the canon site).

  • This is not a joke. If you’ve registered with Canon, you should have received an email from them. I got one today.

  • Stunning. I’m stunned. I truly did not believe this day would come. Full marks to Canon for actually listening and responding.

    Of course, there goes my last excuse for not taking video…

  • – There are 30 frames per second of video.
    – All frames have equal shutter time.

    With those constants, the “largest” frame exposure possible is 1/30 of a second. 30 frames at 1/30 per second each = 30 frames for 1 second of video. At 24fps video, you could take 24x 1/24 second exposures for each second of video…

    Anyway, you always have 30 frames per second, but whether those frames are best captured each at 1/30 or 1/4000 of a second exposure (or anywhere in-between) depends on the situation, hence the value of manual control.

    Hope that helps!

  • Congrats to all you 5D2 users or future users.

    Now since this appears to be the wish-come-true year for some Canon users, where is my 7D (a 50D with old 5D’s sensor and better than D700 in almost every respect)? I hope that Canon will start listening to those expecting a great PHOTO camera from them to…

  • Nice!

    Can’t wait to load this firmware.

    This is going to be major.

    Canon listening to it’s customers, what a breakthrough!

    Can we have 25p next pretty please.

  • good job?????????????????

    still no bkt for at least 5,7 images

    still no 24p

    canon is hopeless

  • Time to start saving for 5Dmk2 then! Better AF is still badly needed for stills.

  • Actually, what is the best zoom better lens for video: 24-70L, 24-105L IS or 70-200 f/? IS (non-IS)? Does IS even matter?

  • it depends on what you want to do. freehand is better with the shorter focal lengths and IS really helps. i use the 24-105, tried the 24-70 but it has no IS. the 70-200 2.8 IS works great, especially with a stand.

  • Humm….

    Good Start for Canon…

    But we still miss the AF working while shooting video ?

    Am I missing something or what ?

  • Good job for adding the Manual controls.
    …..mmm
    I don’t understand why Canon could able to do the tough things like manual controls BUT not the simple sensor sampling at 24 Hz (would result in less data compare to current 30 Hz, well 29.97 Hz)

    Come on Canon. You CAN do it. Stop BSing the market strategy crap and deliver the 24P feature every body is craving for.

    DON’T end up loosing faith from us, the customers.

    Why don’t you(Canon) SURPRISE us by sneaking this feature when we start downloading the firmware on June 2nd :-; How is that?!!!!!

    Solomon.

  • I cant wait, but cant understaind why canon made that flyer. It resembles to nothing ive seen from canon. It hasnt even got a Canon logo on it. Thats weird dude’s. I didnt believe it at first. But seeing it on the canon official webpage really confirmed it.

  • Canon has done a very non canon move. The firmware, the poster. Very good for them, this may show a whole new approach to reaching out to it’s current costumers and future one’s. Nice to see.

    This is the Canon I’d like to see more often.

  • The 5D2 can shoot at 3.9fps, but you do not want to be limited to a 1/4sec shutter speed do you? Same concept.

  • A few L primes might be better, especially if you are serious about controlling DoF (which is the point of using an FF camera anyway).

  • again guys, I’m not believing it. Look at the link carefully. Why is there andresoncreativeaz.com in the link? I’m on my iPhone right now. But if someone could click on the link and see the URL where that flyer image is stored on the webside we would know.
    Still feels like a joke. Especially the flyer. Rated A for awesome? Since when does Canon have a sense of humour? The graphical style and wording is nothing like where Canon does. No canon logos.

  • Might be problems with the H.264 hardware encoder (or some other component along the imaging/encoding chain) being fixed to 30fps at hardware level. That would be next to impossible to correct without replacing the circuit boards.

  • Ok I checked on my mac and the image is stored on the canon webside. Starting to believe…. Good job canon :)

  • Looks promising.

    But why not get it good in one update.

    *Bring us 24p, since half the world can’t use video mode now.

    *And also bring us a way to control the volume.

    That would be great.

    You CAN

  • well, why not? the 5d2 already has two exclusive features: a full-frame sensor and a pro-level build.

  • “And do you really think canon would make a poster with Rated A for awesome???”

    Yes.

  • It s an amazing news, but here in europe without a 25fps we still are extremely limited!
    I hope they will take care of that as well!!

  • why do so many people think this is a joke? it’s on canon’s freakin’ site.

  • Though not a MAJOR update, Canon gave the 1D Mark III the ability to control wireless flash through the 580EX II in a post-FCS firmware update. I figured it was coming when the 40D had it and then the 1Ds Mark III had it, and I’m glad they did!

  • Subscribe to canonrumors via RSS. Makes life easy when you have favorite sites that update irregularly. :)

  • Shutter speed matters because it’s part of the exposure triangle. In bright light, shutter speed likely needs to be faster than 1/30th to limit the light at the shutter, but I suspect there are drawbacks from a motion/blur perspective. Some folks might find that controlling shutter speed (admittedly never slower than 1/30th) is key to their work.

  • Does every Nikon have 5 or 7 shot bracketing? At least some Canons have 5/7 shot bracketing, if it’s that important to you go buy the right camera for your needs.

  • correct, the one series bodies have an option for 2,3,5,7 in AEB. the entry nikons don’t have AEB at all, and only the D300 and up bodies have the 5/7.

    btw phil, STFU, they finally listen to something, we let them do their thing, say thankyou, and then ask for more.

  • Re Better AF needed:

    It’s not. Really…

    I used to think that until I bought one. AF is fast and accurate. To me, that’s an awesome combination.

  • You are right, the url is clumsy at best. The url for the flyer image (composed of three separate cuts) is very reasonable. The centre one is :

    http://www.usa.canon.com/app/images/EOS_2009/5Dfirmware/eos5dmarkii_02.jpg

    My guess would be that it is legit but that they do did not intend to advertise quite yet. The link is a preview link used by a web designer (andresoncreativeaz.com?) working for canon to test the appearance and functionality before it goes truely live. Not uncommon practice. Despite this a search engine could have found it. Perhaps the real flyer will not be as hideous as this tester, should that be what it is.

  • GREAT?????

    IS EVERYBODY FORGETTING 24 25 FRAMES PER SECONDE?

    I also would give Canon a compliment when they at least tell me why they are not giving us 24/25.

    If it is indeed a coding hardware complexibility then tell us, if not then again it is just no more then what they are forced to marketing.

    Why isn’t Canon not seeing that this item isn’t a way back to extremely big expansive pro camera’s?

    Television will have its own camera’s for a while, but technique isn’t to be stopped.

    I can tell you that being an expert in old fashioned analoque photography.

    (Now I am in digital photography, I also just as Canon couldn’t stop this.)

    I suggest now an new action off us all like we did before to aske politely for frame rates: all! And sound control.

    How about you all??

    Greatings! Onno Nugteren.com

  • there is also a pretty easy way to do 6 AEB on the 5D mark 2 by setting up a custom function. You shoot 3 in manual and switch the C1 and shoot 3 more. Not as convenient as 6 or 7 off the bat but it works.

  • People that are not from japan or americas need…

    25 FRAMES PER SECOND.

    Ok manual control first! NOW 25p PLEASE

  • Maybe Canon will do several updates. Maybe the first is to give it this set of manual controls. And now they might be working on 24p.

    I wouldn’t mind being able to slow the shutter down to 2 seconds as well. But that’s probably not going to happen.

    Either way this is a great update, and now I will definitely start doing some video work with this camera.

  • Epic news canon can.
    This will be a great tool for film-makers everywhere. We should have an award for companies that listen to customers, Canon gets my vote this year.

    24p/25p can be done ok in post so if the issue is hardware then that will have to do until the mkIII/1DsIV. (and I wouldn’t be suprised if they go variable upto 60p)

  • And I’m just sad that I don’t have the money to own the greatest camera on earth period. The 5D Mark II just became a legendary camera and a worthy successor to the 5D albeit the old AF system that surprisingly didn’t get an update :(

  • cuz if you use Apple and Apple got some major achievement, that MS didn’t do, MS fanboys will start trolling Apple forums, same as this, it seems Nikon fanboys ain’t happy with the news and trolling the sites by saying its all just a lie. LOL

  • Hmm, what you mean for stills? Portraits? If for Portraits, the 5D Mark II AF is already good enough since you only need to focus on the eyes, the problem comes when you need to capture fast action cause the AF points is smacked closely in the middle.

  • “..24p/25p can be done ok in post … ”

    sorry but you have no idea how long it needs to render in HQsettings/plug on an average computer. You are asking for time trouble with a longer program containing 30 and 25fps material. I did many tests and I was cured. Its the only reason I dont ow it yet. Not because of all the other controls you are so happy about.

  • You need about one hour rendertime for one minute of footage – that can vary, depending on the footage, the software and your computer. Always edit in a 30p timeline and render final porjects, only! Detailed descriptions for this process you can find in http://www.cinema5d.com under the section 30p/25p/24p

  • Hell yea! This is the best feature since the Direct Print button!

    lol. seriously. I am impressed with Canon.

  • 10 seconds takes up to 20 to 40 minutes in HD/FCP-Nattress Converter which is the best plug Ive seen so far) Macpro Dual266-8Gb. I dont care how beautiful the footage looks: the workflow is a production killer with a fair amount of 5DII footage, normal HD and little time. But I dont believe this cheerful topic is about this frustrating hurdle. You simply cannot prospone the rendering when working with hybrid material in a normal (25fps) sequence. Thanks.

  • No, it works, it’s just very slow. Facial tracking is better than typical, but for every day use, I just manual focus for any sort of accuracy and speed.

  • By the way, I’ve a Canon DSLR with Video Mode and a Canon Full HD Camcorder and no Nikon device. So why should I be envious? :)) The faster Canon improves the video mode, the sooner I’ll buy my next Canon DSLR. I only think, it will take still some time till my future cam will record in 50p,24p with full automatic AF and manual controls, FF and in a smaller body etc…

  • It is a different target market. If the 5d is all the rage, people won’t care much for what the 500d can or cannot do – come to it, think of how little talk there has been about the 500d video capability, nothing like with the 5d.

  • Now if Canon would provide minimum ISO control in Auto ISO mode and minimum shutter in P and Av modes, then it would become the all around best camera for still photography, too. Can’t believe I have both those abilities on my LX-3 and not on the 5DMII…

    With the extra control for the video, I’ll now be paying a bit more attention, there.

  • Nikon would have probably charged a $250 fee or something like that to upgrade their camera. Now, will Nikon follow up and upgrade? Not likely, but it may be on the next new models coming up later this year.

    It seems pretty certain that it took a lot of development and testing, and likely is part of a new feature set developed for upcoming 1D series models.

  • Well, manual controls are actually pretty easy (only tricky thing might have been getting the fast shutter speeds since I didn’t think the sensor could do that), the coding is simple.

    24p, well it depends, it might be entirely trivial and marketing has told them not to, certainly possible they are holding it back on purpose

    BUT it might also well be a HW limitation, maybe the h.264 simply was hard set to only handle 29.97 input rate, or maybe something in DIGIC and the LCD refresh or some part in the chain something got hard-set in silicon for 29.97.

    Anyway hard to say maybe they are holding out for 1 series/new video cams, maybe it will be there and show up as a surprise in the final release, maybe it is not technically possible with the HW parts in the 5DMkII.

    Some hacking into firmware appeared to show toggles for 24hz display though, but that doesn’t necessarily prove anything one way or the other though, but might at least hint that it is not the LCD refresh rate being hard locked that is preventing it.

  • I can see full manual in 5d2 and 1d series,
    and possibly xxd series(not holding my breath),
    xxxd and xxxxd won’t have full manual,
    xxd and xxxd may have manual av mode.

  • Actually, if you want to touch custom functions, you can do AEB for any number. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and up to 9!

    Just set the AEB for each Custom function memory.

    Say :
    i) -2, -1.66, -1.33 for C1
    ii) -1, -0.66, -0.33 for C2
    iii) 0, +0.66, +1.00 for C3

    And you have ‘somewhat’ a 9 shot AEB ! Or any of the combinations in between. Not perfect, but I think quite enough for most purposes?

  • the only reasion I can see Canon not adding 24p is to keep force you to buy a pro video cam

  • Lulz… Sorry to be pessimistic, but I think manual controls will be reserved for pro level cameras. I don’t think xxD and xxxD and xxxxD cameras will enjoy teh same benefit for some time.

  • and then it’s simply put discrimination, isn’t it? americans get video and europeans get stop motion!

  • That would be the 3D, but I would not mind the 1D AF in a 7D or even a 60D either…

  • There are 5D MII’s that are shooting 24fps now. It’s being beta tested in selected productions within the entertainment industry before release. I don’t know about 25P, but it’s got 24.. It will be here sooner than later.

    Mik

  • Yep, the 60p recorded to the card can be of a lower bit rate but I’m assuming the Digic processor would still have to deal with uncompressed RGB data captured by the sensor and convert it on the fly into the h.264 wrapper that’s recorded to the compact flash. I don’t know how much bandwidth the Digic processor can push through to the compressor.

  • Yes it’s a bit of a chore and a few extra steps in the production process but anyone who remembers dealing with HDV when it first appeared will be used to having a few problems getting the footage into a useful format to edit.

    Now we can all drop HDV into imovie or whatever so expect these small problems to be non issues in 3-6 months.

  • 24p and 25p will come and this camera is competing with film cameras that cost alot more than pro video cameras.

  • FF also means that the DoF is shallower for the same aperture when you frame the image the same way, so an f/2.8 lens is more like an f/1.8. Maybe you won’t need all of those primes.

  • I guess the reason why they added this functionality to the 5D Mk II is due to the release of the Canon 60D soon.

    The next 60D will most likely have the video specs the 5D MK II have currently before the update and this will be the method of differentiating both of them (besides the sensor).

    The important thing will be whether somebody will be able to hack the current patch to the Mk II for the 60D.

  • The whole world shoots 24p for cine film, that’s why you read about it. Not because of the US or any other country.

    But for video, it’s either 50i or 60i. However, interlacing doesn’t work to reduce the data flow for devices such as the 5D2.

  • So great, think I’ll be celebrating next Tuesday! So looking forward to downloading it! ;)

  • true, but the D800 won’t be around for some time. the D700 shares the D3 sensor, just with a self cleaning function. there’s no D4 for the D800 to share sensor with, so I doubt this unless there’s a D700s, as Nikon has been known to do, but that would be an increase in frame rate, and a couple other tweaks. I doubt that’s happening because that would hurt sales of both their battery grips, and the D3, since the frame rate is the chief difference between (besides body and dual cards, of course) them.

    probably will be on the D700x, the resolution variant that shares the D3x sensor, which will be a direct competitor to the 5D mkII, which the D700 isn’t. the D700x will have a slight edge on performance, I think, chiefly in terms of AF, but will almost certainly overprice the 5D mkII, if nikon’s pricing scheme with the D3x, holds true.

  • Just a thought.

    Canon talks about not having to use inferior work-arounds.
    Do you think the new firmware might only work using Canon EF lenses?
    They have chips after all.

  • +2, very non canon. I never thought I’d see this day, and here it is. Nice move Canon.

  • It’s already 2nd June in Japan now but the new firmware isn’t available yet, anyone knows what time it’ll be?

  • I’m guessing it will come out 2nd of June American time. Didn’t you know the whole world revolved around America?

  • yoxipeur its about the frequency of electricity in your area

    america has it at 60hz so 30 is divisible so when u play the video its smooth

    in the uk we have ours at 50hz so when we play the video with any lights on you get stobing

    24 is the framerate that most feature are filmed at but 24/25 are close enough for us

  • No matter what you change the link to it still only downloads the 107 version…

  • Oh wow.. looks like they changed it back.. 109 would download the 107 version (and still does), but 108 downloaded a 108.exe file around 1pm CST. But you are right it is back to 107 again.. odd.

  • So you change the custom between each 3 shots !?! First it takes at least 1 second to change the function and second, you’ll move the camera a little bit even if it’s put on a sturdy tripod! Not really an option! The camera being offered by Canon with 3,5,7 is not in the same price range. Even Pentax offer 3,5 on their K20d/K7 which would be the 50D equivalent. At the prices of the 7D and 5D, there is no good reason that AEB does not offer 3,5,7,9 !

Leave a Reply