Exploring The History of Innovation: The Canon EOS 5 Series

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Who Dey
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Jul 20, 2010
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Since its introduction, the Canon 5D line has had a significant presence in the professional and prosumer photography segment. The 5D line was first introduced in August 2005, and its release stunned the photographic world by offering a full-frame sensor at an affordable price for photographers. After the introduction of the 5D, more people could afford full-frame cameras, whether they were working professionals or hobbyists.

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Since its introduction, the Canon 5D line has had a significant presence in the professional and prosumer photography segment. The 5D line was first introduced in August 2005, and its release stunned the photographic world by offering a full-frame sensor at an affordable price for photographers. After the introduction of the 5D, more people could afford full-frame cameras, whether they were working professionals or hobbyists.

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Yep. Thanks, Richard!!Great article!

My first camera was a Kodak 126 Instamatic, cost $0.85 (?,lol) at goodwill. Got an Olympus OM-1 in 1974-ish, then a 2-S. Small, light! My first Canon was the legendary, for its time, T-90, which may have been the first camera with a polycarbonate smoothly rounded body. Sold my first pics to magazines with it, downhill skiing and a few other individual sports. First EOS was the A2E, mentioned in this article. Progressed to the EOS 1N, and the 1D II, circa 2005. From there, progression has been 5D II, 7D and II, 5D III and IV, R5 and II...
 
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Thanks to Richard Cox for this great article.
I've owned the 5D Mark II, III and IV. I would have bought the Mark V.
I couldn't justify the much higher R5 price. So I went the R6 Mark II route.

I really loved and still love all these cameras.
 
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The remarkable thing about Canon drip feeding the R5 specs over 6 months was the hype/disbelief of 8k video. It will be remembered for being the first hybrid camera with 8k let alone 8k raw without codecs (which the A1/Z9 still can't record). The only real disappointment was that the overheating impacted 4KHQ recording as well as 8k and 4k120.

Internet: Canon could never put 8K full frame in to a mirrorless camera. They don't have the technical capabilities to do that. The last time they innovated was when 5d mkii was born.
Canon: Our next 5 series will have 8K and demonstrate what we are capable of.
Internet: (spits coffee on screen) Yeah right. Maybe 8K timelapse mode
Canon: No, 8K video
Internet: Er no, 8K like 15 second movie burst mode then, because you know overheating would happen in such a small body. Do Canon engineers not know anything about physics? That's why refrigerators exist....
Canon: No full 8K video
Internet: Yeah right.... hahaha. It's not possible. So no AF or IBIS then. You won't be able to use the full technologies of the camera/
Canon: No. 8K Full frame, AF and IBIS enabled.
Internet: It's not possible, because you know.... overheating is a thing with technology in such a small package. If it was possible then Sony would have done it.
Canon: Hold our beer.....

Post launch
Internet: I demand a full unconditional apology from Canon. I demand immediately that they give us unlimited 8K full frame video for $4.99 and stop hiding behind this "overheating" scenario to protect their other cameras. I’ve never felt so personally insulted by a camera company as I have by Canon. To me honest behaviour is very important. I recognize that the only person that is perfect is me and people make mistakes. The important thing is to admit that and not to sell us totally unusable technology like this…

=> Canon made their first error by using timers for the video before the first firmware update to make the shutdown based on actual temps.
Youtube videos of putting their R5 in the fridge after shutting down were popular. Smallrig talked about having a peltier fan for the rear panel.
=> IMO, the biggest error was not including a HDMI 2.1 port. Yes, it would have meant slightly higher cost but being able to remove sources of heat from the CFe card would have removed all discussion about overheating.
 
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Excellent article--loved this one and the one about the 1 series cameras. I also like how these pieces tied in the EOS film past.

One editorial note--the 5D Mark IV section has a 5D Mark III review appended to it. Just an observation--I loved both of those cameras and really appreciated the blast from the past.
 
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I feel stills color science has gotten much worse. The first 5D and the 1DSIII were the last marvels when it comes to pleasant colors imo
You should try some older CCD MF digital backs... my P1 IQ180 has plenty of quirks and limitations but the colors (when the exposure is correct) are something to behold
 
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I still have the EOS 5 and EOS 3 with grips in my cupboard. Got them both new atop d release time. The EOS 3 came with a free EX550 flash gun that Istill occasionally use today on R system. I continued using the EOS 3 up until the 30D was launched as its AF and metering were better than almost any digital body for quite some time into the digital era.
 
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My first Canon AF body was an EOS 5, not a bad mid-tier film body back in the day. I later added the much improved (though very loud) EOS 3.

I don't think the "3" was a replacement for the "5" as Wikipedia now claims. The "5" stayed in production for several years after the 3 came out. The "3" was considerably more expensive and was a far more advanced camera. It was the best camera Canon had on sale until the 1V arrived a couple of years later (2000).
 
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In 2018, I bought an early EOS R model, hoping for a very new camera to be quite reliable, after an EOS 5D III and and EOS 5D IV. My expectations in terms of an identical reliability were not one single time exaggerated.
In 7 years, not one single freezing or mechanical failure.
 
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