Canon 5D mk II official owners/users thread, anything related to the 5D2

Thanks Tim. I asked because some macros can be a bit sluggish with servo-AF. That Canon is a fab lens though :)
 
All, I have recently moved from a 550d to a 2nd hand 5d MkII after a bit of a kit juggle. I love the weight/feel of the MkII in comparison and realise I have a bit of a learning curve now to get used to full frame. From some initial shots though I’ve had a few issues and wondered whether it’s something obvious I’m missing.

For example, shots indoors without flash I have to set the camera to overexpose by almost a stop and the WB is always very “Orangey” when using AWB (Granted my house lights are quite orangey but the camera seems to exaggerate this). Shots outdoors, some are bang on and quite a few I had to underexpose by over a stop. This was mainly when focused on a blue/white gnome in the garden about 15ft away, every shot was way over exposed – evaluative metering, centre point focus etc

I took a few shots of my daughter (Stationary for once!) and found the exposure to be a lot better, I found when I got it just right they were as good as I have taken of her, but there wasn’t a lot of keepers. This I realise is where it’s just going to be practise and a learning curve for me. It took me by surprise the first shot I took how strong the shutter/mirror action is compared to my little 550d ! Do people tend to find they use faster shutter speeds when moving to a camera like this to counter act camera shake and the shutter motion ? Or at the point you hear that click is the picture taken so it makes no difference.

Steadier hands definitely needed from now on ! Curious to see how other people found that initial experience moving from one camera to a MkII ?

Cheers everyone !
 
Johnny, there is a very similar discussion over on POTN regarding the 7D. It might be worth a look. By and large the issues involved are more about photography and cameras generally and not specific to one body such as the 5D2.

POTN THREAD

If you want more specific analysis it would help to post an unedited example to illustrate the point, especially where unusual exposures are concerned.
 
Comparing my shutter on my 5D with my 1D, the 5D sounds very clunky ????
 
Ruffy said:
Comparing my shutter on my 5D with my 1D, the 5D sounds very clunky ????
Click to expand...

I have just run a few tests and if I set them to the both the same shutter speed, the 5 feels much slower and the whole camera moves and you can really feel the mirror flick up and down where my 1D feels smooth !!!

Is this normal ?
 
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Ruffy said:
I have just run a few tests and if I set them to the both the same shutter speed, the 5 feels much slower and the whole camera moves and you can really feel the mirror flick up and down where my 1D feels smooth !!!

Is this normal ?
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the 5D, but the 5D2 is exactly like that, even compared to a much cheaper camera such as a 40D. It really is a sloth by comparison. Everything is slow about it - slow FPS, slow mirror, big mirror thunk, long viewfinder blackout time. It's the nature of the beast. It wouldn't surprise me for the 5D to be worse.
 
tdodd said:
I can't speak for the 5D, but the 5D2 is exactly like that, even compared to a much cheaper camera such as a 40D. It really is a sloth by comparison. Everything is slow about it - slow FPS, slow mirror, big mirror thunk, long viewfinder blackout time. It's the nature of the beast. It wouldn't surprise me for the 5D to be worse.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I am on about the mk2
 
I think I may need too get some help, I seem too be getting much sharper shots with my 1D3 than with my (new to me) 5D2 even when using the same lens, I can achieve a much better result straight out of camera on the 1D than the 5D although the colours are more vibrant on the 5 ?

What's going on, getting a little stressed with it now :(
 
Ruffy said:
I think I may need too get some help, I seem too be getting much sharper shots with my 1D3 than with my (new to me) 5D2 even when using the same lens, I can achieve a much better result straight out of camera on the 1D than the 5D although the colours are more vibrant on the 5 ?

What's going on, getting a little stressed with it now :(
Click to expand...

Post examples. 5D2 is a clunky thing, but you get used to it and it's the mirror dropping down that you can feel. Maybe check AF micro-adjust, but let's have a look first, preferably side by side with 1D.
 
HoppyUK said:
Post examples. 5D2 is a clunky thing, but you get used to it and it's the mirror dropping down that you can feel. Maybe check AF micro-adjust, but let's have a look first, preferably side by side with 1D.
Click to expand...

Ok, will get on it
 
I've found that my 5D MkII does need some processing out of camera.
I'm not sure if your 1D has better in-camera processing in comparison?

If we see the side-by-side we might be able to offer some thoughts.

The 5D MkII is a fantastic camera so don't be dis-heartened with it. It just requires a little change to workflow etc.
 
5D2 SOOC vs 1D3 SOOC with same lens and vaguely similar settings....

20121231_151759_.JPG
20130101_174603_.JPG


Other than the DOF being very thin at 100% viewing I can't see a problem with sharpness at the plane of focus in either shot. It would be very easy to sharpen these further or just print instead of staring at individual pixels.
 
I've just joined the ranks of 5D mk2 owners... nothing else to contribute at the moment though apart from I agree with the person talking about how clunky the mirror sounds on the 5D! I actually quite like it, I guess the mirror is a lot bigger than on my 7D
 
HI guys - I have a 5d2 and am looking for a back up. What do you suggest?
 
I bought a 60D as a backup / second body.
Overall capabilities are remarkably similar to the 5DII (focus and configuration), and I found it easy to swap between the two.
The crop sensor also gave me a bit of extra reach, very useful in a second body. I used a 24-105 on the 5DII and 70-200 on the 60D which gives seamless coverage from 24m to 320mm all at f4 without having to swap lenses.

Since then I swapped the 60D for a 5DIII, and the 5DII is now my backup / second body.
When using both bodies, I do miss the reach from the cropped sensor.
 
My first experience of having two bodies was a 30D and 40D. Quite similar you might think, but Canon saw fit to rearrange the button layout between the two and that was irritating when I had to look to see what to press each time rather than knowing immediately which control lay where.

I've owned or still own five DSLRs since then (50D, 1D3, 7D, 5D2, 5D3) and not one of them has the same button layout. Christ, there are at least three different ways to start live view, depending upon which model it is. So, if it's a backup you're after I'd advise you to consider things like that. IMO the best backup to a 5D2 is another 5D2. Of course there might be advantages to choosing a different sensor format, or for your needs possibly not. Then again perhaps a 6D or 5D3 would be better additions to your kit, perhaps demoting the 5D2 to backup duties.

Is it actually a "backup" you want or a second body so that you can shoot two up? i.e. is it more important for the "backup" to be similar in features, operation and results to the 5D2 or are you looking for something which offers a different feature set and capabilities?
 
Chipper said:
HI guys - I have a 5d2 and am looking for a back up. What do you suggest?
Click to expand...

If it's a back-up that you need to have in case of failure, but hope never to have to use, then almost anything will do.

But if it's also to run alongside a 5D2, then the 7D makes a good choice. Compliments the 5D2 in lots of ways, covers its weaknesses and adds stengths of its own - mainly the extra pixel-reach of the cropped sensor, excellent AF, 8fps frame rate. Tim makes a good point about control layout and operation and the 7D is as close to the 5D2 as you can get. Same layout, controls look the same, feel the same, and do the same things with very few exceptions

It's also a bargain right now (as is another 5D2 for that matter) which is why I've just bought a 7D - to both back-up and run alongside my 5D2.

PS Morning Tim :wave:
 
Can't let this thread drop too far down the forum, eh? ;)

Question for you lot (and I hope tdodd will chip in...) I'm shooting an event (an enviroment/sustainability seminar) in a relatively small venue this week; about a 60-seater conference room. The lighting is pretty low in there, and, although I will be using bounced flash, my shortest prime at 50mm is a bit too long for wide shots. I will therefore need to use my 24-105 f/4. Question is, although the IS will be handy, one way to be sure of cutting out subject motion blur will be to bump the ISO up from 1600 (which is the highest I ever usually go) to 3200. Is this advisable? Bearing in mind I will PP the shots in LR4, and they will only appear on webpages and in news print. What are other's experiences of using iso3200 on the 5D2, and is it usable?

Cheers

:cool:
 
My rule of thumb on the 5DII is that I can create an A3 print from ISO 3200 with no noise reduction.
Auto ISO tops out at ISO 3200, so providing you only want to print to A3 or smaller then let the 5DII get on with it!
 
Marvellous Duncan! I thought that may be the case, but having NEVER used my 5D2 above 1600, I have no clue as to how much the IQ deteriorates at higher ISOs, and I wanted a real-world opinion rather than just looking up some pixel-peeping website comparisons. Cheers.
 
Just one caveat...
You have to get the exposure bang on as any attempt to up the exposure in PP will show the noise.
I find the 5DII (and most cameras) tend to underexpose slightly in low light, you need to watch the histogram and compensate as needed.
 
Spot on, thanks. I am mindful to make sure I don't underexpose for just that reason. The lighting at the venue is low but consistent, so I'm going to use a handheld light meter, then bump the exposure settings up a fraction of a stop or so, keeping my eye on the histogram. Thanks again.
 
I'm still very impressed with what can be done with just a little PP and simple NR

blackgolds.jpg


Main Light source: LCD Monitor at the right, and a gold reflector on the left. ISO 6400. Next time must remember to use the tripod...

Fabricante da Câmera: Canon
Modelo da Câmera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lentes: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Data da Imagem: 2013-01-22 11:28:11 (nenhum fuso horário)
Distância Focal: 82.0mm
Distância Focal: 0.58m
Abertura: f/4.0
Tempo de Exposição: 0.050 s (1/20)
Equivalência do ISO: 6400
Bias de Exposição: nenhum
Modo de Medição: Matriz
Exposição: prioridade de abertura (semi-automático)
Balanço de Branco: Automático
Flash Disparado: Não (executada)
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
 
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Can i ask if anyone notices a purple patch in the bottom right hand corner of higher ISO shots? Ive been noticing it in dark shots recently and after a quick Google search couldn't find out much, but there is a few mentions about it on POTN, something to do with amp noise i believe.
At first i thought it was light creeping in to the image (not on to the sensor) but im seeing it quite a bit at the moment.
It seems to show more when the corner is dark, it sometimes shows at say ISO3200 but much more at the higher ISO's. Not every shot though.
 
I've had a look through a bunch of 6400 and 12800 ISO shots from my 5D2 and none of them exhibit a purple corner. All were shot raw and I checked in both LR 4.3 and DPP 3.12.52.0. Sample at 6400 ISO....

20120804_220629_3209_LR.jpg


I did try a 3200 ISO shot and gave a ridiculously big push to shadows and mid tones (exposure +0.95, shadows +100, blacks +74), when everything in the deepest shadow regions took on a purple hue, not confined to a corner....

20130214_211051_.JPG
 
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Thanks for taking the time to post those. The type of shots i notice on the most are street shots, where its very dark in the corners. It is that purple look that your second shot has, i can make any of my shots look like that by upping the exposure but the patch i see is before i do any PP with the raw shots.
Ive just looked through a lot of my shots but cant find a sample to post, i think ive deleted most of the offending shots, and have cropped the ones i haven't deleted.

Actually ive just noticed ive posted this in the wrong thread, i miss read the II and thought it was for the 5DMKIII lol. Sorry about that.
 
On the 5D3 it seems even less susceptible to purple peril, even with a strong shadow push. There is a hint, but far less dramatic than the 5D2.

Are you using fast glass at wide apertures - anything faster than f/2.8? Do you get the same phenomenon when shooting at apertures nearer f/5.6 and slower? Are you using ALO, HTP or LPIC?
 
I am using fast glass as im shooting streets at night. Id say i was shooting between f/2 and f/3.2.
Im shooting raw and have ALO etc turned off. It happens with both Canon and my Tamron lens and i have tried lens correction in camera turned on and of for the Canons and of course its off for the Tamron.
 
When shooting a black frame (lens cap on, eyepiece blocked) at 1/8000 and 6400 ISO there is a predominance of purple hue visible throughout the frame when very aggressively pushing the shadows. In fact the purple is evident from the histogram in Lightroom, prior to the shadow push, even if the image appears black to the naked eye.

20130214_224900_.JPG


In the extreme bottom right corner there is indeed a more strongly defined purple hue, but we're talking about an enormous push to reveal it and it's not something I have ever noticed in normal photographs - indeed not until just putting it to the test this evening. I even tried a range of apertures from f/1.4 to f/8 just to test a little theory about light falloff at large apertures.

20130214_225116_.JPG
 
Well I'm sticking my head in here to have a wee browse :D Just sold off all crop setup and bought myself a 24-105, borrowing a 5Dc to play about with with the intention to buy but now decided to skip that and get a 5d mk2... Looking forward to it is an understatement!
 
tdodd said:
When shooting a black frame (lens cap on, eyepiece blocked) at 1/8000 and 6400 ISO there is a predominance of purple hue visible throughout the frame when very aggressively pushing the shadows. In fact the purple is evident from the histogram in Lightroom, prior to the shadow push, even if the image appears black to the naked eye.

In the extreme bottom right corner there is indeed a more strongly defined purple hue, but we're talking about an enormous push to reveal it and it's not something I have ever noticed in normal photographs - indeed not until just putting it to the test this evening. I even tried a range of apertures from f/1.4 to f/8 just to test a little theory about light falloff at large apertures.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for testing this out. Funny enough i dont see it much when doing a lens cap test, it seems to be more when there is shadow detail in the shot, and definitely before any PP
I dont want to derail this thread but ive posted a sample of what im talking about here. Its ISO8000 so yes, very high, but i have seen it at lower ISO settings.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davebass5/8477462972/
 
Had mine for all of two days now, and what a joy to go "back" to full frame - and for focal length to be just what you expect when looking through the viewfinder. More than that I can't say just yet :)
 
I wonder if anyone else has, like me, gone from a 5Dmk2 to 5Dmk3 and then back again?
 
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