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Canon 5D MkII Thoughts // Stop The Madness
November 4th, 2008
I pre-ordered my 5D Mk2 while I was still in Nepal. I sent an email to my drug dealer camera shop of choice, which is Leo’s in Vancouver. I begged them to put me on the list. I am very excited about the 5D Mk2. Why? This upgrade to my current tools means I can better serve my clients, and continue to shoot in rough environments with greater ease, allowing me to focus on my vision and my craft.More durable, better weather sealing, bigger files for stock clients and others who think they need them. An LCD screen that doesn’t make my images look like 50 year old faded polaroids will be nice. As will the better low-light performance as long as it doesn’t affect the gorgeous colours that come out of my current 5Ds. And I like that there’s that self-cleaning sensor thingy, if it works, it’ll be great. Live view? Might use it. New menus? That’s nice too.
Oh, and it shoots HD video. While everyone else’s reaction seems to be a fanatical euphoria, mine is closer to stiffled yawn, if not down-right annoyance.
I’ve just spent an hour (still jet-lagged) in the wee hours surfing through reactions to the 5D in hopes for some objectivity. What I’ve found instead is a feeding frenzy of quasi-video-enthusiasts who were once sane still photographers.
Yes, some people will get alot out of this. Yes, it’s cool and nifty. Yes, the future of professional photography seems to include more moving images and the line between still shooters and videographers is beginning to look blurry.
BUT.
Video is a completely different medium. You know all those annoying neighbors who rushed out to buy a sub-$1000 dSLR only to proudly proclaim that “they’re a photographer now too!”? Remember how your first thought was that it takes more than a Nikon d40 and a Dummies book to master this craft? Well, we’re about to become the video equivalent of the annoying neighbor. I spent weeks working on my Final Cut Pro certification, only to abandon it when I realized how monumentally different moving images are from still images, how much more I preferred the still image. They share a great deal, but they’re worlds apart. Let’s not get distracted here. And let’s not for a moment think that now that our cameras shoot HD video and our MacBooks come with iMovie, we’re suddenly become videographers.
Not once have I yet read a pre-release review of this camera that talks about the benefit to our craft. They are legion, I know. New technology always brings new benefits that make it easier for us to accomplish a vision that was once impossible. Every time a new camera comes out, it’s exciting. I get that. But am I the only one that looks at this feeding frenzy and thinks photographers love their technology more than they love their art?
It’s just a rant, don’t take it too seriously or mistake it for a balanced perspective. But if you need to react, or send hate mail, the comments are open.
First I was quite annoyed by the distraction of video in the 5D MkII. But now I can imagine that it could be quite useful to have video to get the right “still image” . There might be cases where it is impossible or just harder to trigger the right moment – whereas HD video gives you the possibility to “trigger” during post-processing. But maybe that’s just cheating
Perhaps it will allow you to make a few tutorials while you’re in the field… ?
LOL on your closing comments – Welcome back too. Love reading your adventures and thoughts. Looking forward to your Africa trip.
Creative folks have a way of exploiting new technologies in new ways, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile…
Canon is trying to market the 5D to a wide audience, amateurs as well as pros. Professional cinematographers probably won’t be using the 5D2 for their production work, but that doesn’t mean photographers won’t be using the video feature. I’d love to have the feature; it’d be great to be able to do video with a wide range of lenses. (I know, I shouldn’t have switched to Nikon.) I’ve seen a few demo videos on-line that were done with the 5D2 and they look pretty slick.
On a slightly different topic, I have a proposal… I’d like to see bloggers everywhere give up their rants (okay, how about for just a year? A month?). They’re off-putting and they seem to serve no purpose, other than those of the blogger. The only worthwhile “rant” I ever saw was the one Scott Kelby did a while back, asking people in photo classes to stop talking over the instructor, so others in the class could listen and learn. Now that I think of it, Kelby is one of the few bloggers who doesn’t do rants. Here you go…
“Rants are Bad. Gear is Good. Vision is Better.”
My room-mate is a professional video guy, and he is excited about the 5D2 as well, and understandably so.
I’m excited also, and hope to get one in about a year, but the only reasons I would get it rather than another 40D are the full-frame sensor (small reason) and the high ISO performance (bigger reason). I would probably leave it on small RAW (10mp) most of the time and only touch the video for personal use, but I currently cringe a little when I use iso1600, which is quite often, so getting noise like my current iso400 while shooting at iso6400 would be a game-changer for me.
Ron – LOL. You’re probably right, but it’s not going to happen. We all need a place to rant and so long as it’s not mean-spirited I think expressing with passion the things about which we are passionate, is often a good thing. My blog is not a business blog, it’s a personal one and as such you get me honestly, and that means the odd rant or reaction piece.
The rest of you – you’re absolutely right. the uses for this are legion, although Mischa and I will have to respectfully disagree on the use of video for making the choice of a decisive moment easier. That just makes me cringe. Why? Not sure. I recognize cognitively that the difference between a high fps rate on a still camera and a 30fps video camera is really a matter of degrees. It just feels like cheating to me. But maybe that’s me just getting a head-start on being an old codger with opinions that don’t make 100% sense. Let me think on it some more…
I think video features in slrs is a simple way for canon and nikon to turn another generation without firing a neuron. I’m willing to bet that most people would much rather have things like a flip out lcd or a built in IS… or maybe, and this will sound crazy to some, canon might actually improve the strap holders. Of course, world will collapse on itself if canon updates their flash system with something like a built in PW… i have a 40D with 6 flashes, only one of which is made by canon.
this release is just for the sake of not falling behind instead of driving forward… which is always sad to see. Not saying the camera isn’t good, but instead of putting in features few have asked for, how about they try listening to customers?
Not gonna happen, Alex. Neither is improving their customer service. If that’s all they did for one year – is release a new customer service policy that was over-the-top helpful, reliable, and user-friendly, they’d win pros over in a heartbeat. Not all pros, Nikon fans love their cameras for a reason, but it would give Nikon some serious competition in an area no one seems to be looking to improve while consumers are screaming for it.
And we’d pay, that’s the thing. I would gladly pay another $200 to have my camera repaired or cleaned and returned to me pristine and fast, on a guaranteed date, by Canon.
David, not to worry… We all have opinions that don’t make 100% sense. I baffle myself sometimes. I’m doing well if I can break 50%.
LOL. Indeed. Somedays even 50% would be nice!
Completely on. I haven’t seen that review either.
Capability does not create ability.
Video is going to a dividing line in the future, I think: time to start thinking now which side we’re each going to be on.
I enjoy the rants and hopefully I won’t end up going off on one of mine, but whilst I can see an occasional use for the video option so i’m not totally against it, it really annoys me that i’ve got no choice about having it! Why?!
I’d quite like a nice new 5d too, but if I just want to take pictures then why should I have to pay for a feature that i’m not going to use? Surely (and maybe i’m being unfair and it’s something they have planned for the future) there has to be a massive market for a cheaper version, sans video? At £2000 for the current model, a £1500 version without video could really be attractive and a more logical upgrade from my 40d.
Thank You!
David, the rant just shows the artist within. Shows your passion for your art.
Like you I look forward to the new 5DMKII but I wish Canon had improved the autofocus rather than added the HD Movie feature. It’s hard to understand why a new $2700 body in 2008 still uses a five year old autofocus system when the $1000 less costly 40D/50D uses a one year autofocus system that’s much better.
Has Canon really lost their (no pun intended) focus that much?
Is it time to look at the Nikon D300 or D3?
Sadly,
Jeff Lynch
Sugar Land, TX
PS: If you look up the word “rant” in the Irish National Dictionary you’ll find the word “blog” right next to it. (Yes, that’s my writing) I may rant a wee bit but you’d rant too if someone asked you to trade a year’s worth of Guinness for a bloody camera body.
Cheers!
Still looking for some ideas for using your new video camera?? Be sure to check out the Moose Cam (see Moose Peterson’s blog of Nov 4)
It’s going to be alright. When people try to render one of those full-res HD videos for the first time, reality will hit. Or try and store one on the web somewhere. Just ask Canon — Vincent Laforet’s Reverie incurred a 100+TB load on the company servers while they were storing it. Your average vlogger is going to feel that!
David,
While I am sympathetic with the emotional place that your rant is coming from, I have to take serious issue with the underlying judgement present in your statement that a “subpar” i.e., under $1000.00 dslr, supposedly gives lie to the neighbor’s declaration that ‘ they are a photographer now too…’
I continue to stand on the principle–and I’m posting because I think that we must take every opportunity we can to reiterate this–that that it is the person (+ time, effort, creativity, talent, etc) behind the camera, NOT the camera itself, no matter WHAT the price tag, that makes a photograph, and therefore a photographer.
The $3000.00 5d is nice, I love mine and wouldn’t work as a portrait photographer without it, I’d like a 1Ds MKIII even more ( I agree that the video feature on the 5II is quite silly. I don’t see a puporse for this particular bell&whistle other than as a lure to the ‘lawyer-doctor daddy’ segment of the camera buying public), however, the fact remains that ’sub’ 1000.00 camera does not equal ’sub-photographer’. Skill, talent, and effort are not proportional to how deep your credit card company allows you to get into hock for top-of-the line tools. Tools help, but do not define. (Sorry P.I. sponsors…)
Every ‘real’ photographer needs to shout this fact from the rooftops because until this is universally recognized we will continue to get the following deflating evaluation of our professional work: “That’s a great picture…you must have a REALLY NICE CAMERA…”
Ugh.
Aj – I think you’ve missed the spirit of my words entirely. This blog is full to bustin’ with my contention that gear does not make the photographer, pro or otherwise. In fact, that’s precisely what I am saying here – buying a camera, sub-$1000 or $5000, does not suddenly make you a photographer. Nor does having video capability in your dSLR make you a videographer.
I think if folks read this blog even semi-consciously, they’ll see that I am shouting this from the rooftop. Photography is not, nor has it ever been, about the gear. it’s about vision, and heart, and the gear only makes it easier to make the photograph itself.
Hey David
First, Wow! Cool that you responded so quickly. It’s like 4 am in your part of the world! Great to hear from you. Hope you are staying well
Second, my last comment was not a referendum on your blog. The nice thing about rants is that they inspire discussion. I was adding to the discussion.
Ironically, PI: the blog, proportionally often IS about gear– not gear at the expense of vision, but definetly gear. That’s fine though. Photographers need gear. Full stop.
This PI blog (probably my favorite on photography, next to The Storobist) is a mix–just like digital photography as a medium is a beautiful melange of technology (gear), skill, and inspiration.
My little luddite “shout from the rooftops…” doesn’t in any way denegrate your manly efforts to put in word for sheer inspiration and craft, in the midst of all the glorious gear there is out there to facilitate our passion for imagemaking. Think of is as an echo in keeping with the spirit of this space you’ve created on your blog.
While admittedly there aren’t a boat-load of articles here on ‘Making Do with What You Have: Why NOT to Buy that Gooey-BookahDelicious 85/1.2 lens’. I love the fact that your site has both: ‘Get the Gear!’ elements and “It’s NOT about the GEAR” elements.
You are a star David. And as I said, this blog is hands-down one of the BEST in the cybersphere on photography, both in its gearhead elements as well as the philosophical.
]
Thanks for letting me hitchhike on your rant with one of my own and especially for facilitating this really excellent forum.
[Hugs!
~A.J. Coots
thanks aj. We’re home now, been back just over a week. I head back out to Africa on the 14th.
I must admit I wax hot and cold on this. When I first heard it had video I thought “Cell Phone”. Then I saw what it was capable of and was impressed. Now I wonder if I have the time (and computer power) to invest in acheiving the capability to use it. So I guess I’ll wait and see. I think I would have preferred an updated AF. Video is an unknown to me but on the other hand it still seems to be pretty good still camera and judging by what Jeff Ascough is saying holds colours well (he says he feels better than the D3 does) at high iso’s.
After reading Jeff Lynch’s comment about the “five year old focusing system” in the 5D2 I became concerned. I have a 40D. How does the 5D2 focusing system differ with the 40D?
Bill
Believe it of not, the 40D (and new 50D) have a four year more advanced autofocus system than the original 5D and the new 5DMKII. According to Canon they didn’t adopt the newer autofocus technology for the new 5DMKII because no one had complained about the existing autofocus system in the 5D. While that may or may not be true it’s very strange that Canon’s newest “pro” body would have an autofocus system less sophisticated than their newest “prosumer” body (50D). But the real kicker is the placement of the autofocus points on the 5D/5DMKII are heavily center weighted on a full size sensor which makes absolutely no sense at all. Compared to the 1DsMKIII’s 45-point system the new 5DMKII’s 9-point system looks terribly inadequate. This was understandable five years ago for the 5D but given the technology available today it just doesn’t make any sense.
BTW – Yes I do rant and rave upon occasion. Just another hot tempered Irishman!
PS – I think I’d best cease and desist ranting on David’s blog. I’d hate to use up his goodwill as he’s promised me a pint (or two) of Guinness they next time he passes through Texas.
Cheers!
I’ve been happy enough with mine. Perhaps it’s only because I don’t know any better. After the focus fiasco of the latest 1D body, I was really hoping they just left well enough alone!
Still, ya gotta wonder at the decisions – clearly too much Guinness (or not enough!) at the board meetings!
[...] Check out the Akihabra video on the Canon 5D MKII Check out David Duchemin’s Post on The Pixelated Image [...]
I, for one, am with David on this. Photo & Video need to be separate. HOWEVER, I’m hoping that this technology helps bring new technologies to the video camera realm and brings the costs down.
About the MOOSECAM. This was a cool idea on his part. We were out shooting this past week and I have to admit, this is a reason I was glad to work with a still camera for video. It started as experimental and we tweaked it through the week. He has a few preliminaries on moosenewsblog.com, but you’ll be able to see more in the near future on Kelby Training.
scriv, video guy.
I’m a filmer an am buying one of these because of the low light performance and shallow depth of field. But only as a b roll camera though as it doesnt have pro audio inputs- 24fps would have been nice 30fps is frustrating. oh and i guess I can take great stills with it also.
When has a camera ever been responsible for a good photograph? 21 MP may give you improved resolution but if this is how you judge a good photograph it probably answers the question “Why are 99.9999% of photographs absolute crap!”
Anyone catch the video footage of RC on the Moose Cam the other day, at mammoth Lake? Here’s the thing about the Moose… If you give him some new technology, he finds ways to put it to good use.