Canon EOS 5D Mark II Full Frame DSLR Camera (Body Only) (Old Model)

I am an enthusiast photographer. I understand the relationship between aperture, shutter and ISO; I understand the basics of composition, rules of thirds and all that; watches youtube constantly and try to learn more; and I process my RAW in Lightroom because I am not a professional and just a bit lazy to learn layers and Photoshop. I am budget conscious, not rich or anything. Therefore it is a bit hard for me to justify buying over 3000 dollars of equipment for mainly weekend and vacation shooting. I've used it for almost 2 weeks and I would say overall I don't regret buying it. I will list some pros and cons from my perspective. Pros: A lot of detail is available from the RAW files. A bit of brushing and those blown out while sky comes back to life easily. Just tweaking with LR, I can get those HDR looking photos where everywhere is exposed without doing bracketing. Its not perfect HDR of course, but pretty good and amazing in my opinion. And of course, the details in the images are very crisp, a big upgrade from my old camera. The rate of 3.9 is pretty good in my opinion. I use a 600x card and shoot RAW only; the camera shows 13 shots continuously at that rate before clogging, which is pretty good. The weight of the camera makes shooting at slower shutter speed easier. When I was hand holding my old camera(I rather not say model), I usually have bluish image at 1/15, but this one seems to do it pretty well. Some people probably can hand hold 1/15 easily with any camera, but this is just something I noticed. I think the extra weight gave me this extra stability or maybe there is something going on inside. Knowing that this is a Full Frame camera with the ability to capture pretty much the best quality images is satisfying. I travel whenever my finance allow, and some of the destinations I probably will never go again or just simply change from time to time. Therefore the biggest justification for myself buying this camera is to be able to capture images without later regrets. Before, I had images with the sky fully blown out or the face of my subject poorly lit and by recovering from LR, I just loose a lot of detail and make everything look unpleasant. Professionals probably can shoot better I know, but I am not pro and the comfort of not paying so much for my mistakes and no regrets is the main reason I am happy with my decision. now onto the Cons: Like everyone said, the focus is the downside of 5DII. Maybe I am overshadowed by all the other reviews; but from what I feel, I just think its a bit slow, more noticeable during darker situations. I have not used a lot of cameras so maybe I am just nit-picking. When I mount the 50mm 1.4 on the 5DII, the focus is a bit slow, and also the minimal focus distance for the 50mm 1.4 is quiet long at 0.45m. I was inside a museum, and sometimes I'm just too close to the subject, or sometimes its just too dark, so the focusing seems to be confused once in awhile. I don't have anything technical to back this up, just my feeling. The lack of focus point don't bother me at all since I only use the central one and rarely shoot birds or sports. Its not a problem when I'm outside, I hardly notice it, but when I do, it bothers me. The weight adds stability while shooting, but is definitely not good for walking. Having this magnesium alloy brick hanging on my neck without support is not pleasant. Shutter is a bit loud and lower pitch. I think each and everyone have a different preference for shutter sound. I actually like the sound of short higher pitch, for example the Rebels. Vignette and Light fall off. Coming from a cropped, the vignetting and light falls off at the corners is much more noticeable. I know different lens behaves differently, but this is definitely more noticeable. Build-in Mic is nearly useless during recording. It is very noisy. Even if you want to record something simple, the quality of sound coming out of the mic makes me mute it all together. The large megapixel makes my Lightroom 4.1 a lot slower. I have an Acer Laptop, i5-2410, 8GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce GT540M laptop. No SSD, just regular 640GB, 5400RPM Hard drive. The laptop is not something blazing fast, but I had no problem with 10 Megapixel RAW files. Now the full 21 Megapixel RAW files from 5DII are making my LR a lot slower. I already rooted my comp to clean out the bloatwares and tried to render 1:1 when importing and all the other tweaks I can find on the internet but it is still quiet slow. It is noticeably slow while editing (applying different presets and brushing) and slow when exporting. Its not anything bad for the camera, but something every buyer should consider, as I am now planning to dropping more money to buy a better desktop. Recommendations: I think for those non-professionals, this is probably the best pick for the money. The new 5DIII is obviously better, but the price is a big factor for me. For people who have the money, buy it; but I don't, so I rather save that extra dollars and spend it on a vacation. The focus is good enough in my opinion, probably because I don't shoot sports or things that are moving like crazy. All the other nitpicks such as power switch position, dop preview position, slow rate are completely irrelevant in my opinion. 5DII is a solid camera, and I think its best buy for the money since the ability to produce good image is the most important factor. For those who wants to buy a full frame, I would say make sure you know why you want to buy it. The desire of getting better gear is always with us, and I recommend for anyone buying anything really, make sure you justify your purchase. Please don't buy a good camera like this and simply put it away in your closet after the first few month. It pains budget conscious people like me who have invested so much time to find the best pick. If you have the extra cash, knows that photography requires lots of hard work, and want to advance in photography, I would say its worth it.

Time to forget about Nikon as an overly hyped "has been" who have just sat on their laurels too long banking on their reputation as Canon has moved forward. Seems that they were strong competitors and Nikon just stopped "playing" while Canon pushed ahead. Anyway... your loyalty should be to your art and your photos... not some brand name. Right? Look at this... the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) (in Canon lenses)... a theory on paper till Canon took it and implemented it in a practice in their cameras... "dead silent"(Public candid shots -- no one can hear you are focusing on them). This camera even has a silent shutter mode! Just think... no more constitutionally clueless people thinking they have exclusivity to their own image in a public setting trying to infringe on your 1st Amendment asking, "Did you just take my picture?!!" LOL Biomimetics... reverse engineered nature--God's design... Canon does this... the L series II lenses are based on reverse engineered Moth eyes to counter flaring! This camera is a piece of the same... incredible. I got one... have used it for 6 months and I am totally FLOORED. Focus is dead on... features are incredible and I am striving to learn and use every single one! A few I will mention... custom white balance reference (get the Mennen white cap or cheaper model her... as low as $2). Digic 4 processor can do some darkroom work on-the-fly... lightening (burnishing) dark area to bring out details. Lens distortion compensation... the camera knows what Canon lens you have attached and if you are using a wide angle, etc. it can automatically compensate for vignetting (darkening in the corners) and barrel/pincushion distortion! The camera can do various types of "bracketing"... here is something that blows me away: Say you want to take a long depth of field shot and keep the foreground and background all in focus. Say... your kids on the playground with other kids... you want to get all the kids in focus from just a few feet away to infinity. Impossible you say? What you do is set focus bracketing to take a shot every so many meters... I use Hyperfocal Distance calculations to do this based on the 6.4um CMOS CCD pixel size... may take 10 shots or so and "stack" them to get a paradoxical photo where the entire photo is in focus. The impossible can be done with this camera! Great bokeh (soft out of focus backgrounds) when you want them too. I put the 24mm L-series f/1.4 USM II lens on this camera as a "leave on" walkabout lens. It is prime focus... edge to edge sharper than anything I have ever seen. I also put a Hoya DMC 77mm UV filter on that to protect the "eyeball" lens on the front. Comes with a tulip hood and great post production processing software that is amazing in itself. Now... you might read about Auto Focus (AF) problems... naught! (unless you get a bad copy... then send it back). But the AF is dependent on your settings and light conditions, the lens attached, and also the target you are focusing on. High contrast lines that are brightly lit focus faster and how fast depends on the lens you are using. When you get the camera test this to get this question behind you. Put a lousey lens on this camera and you may have slow focus. At f/1.4 the camera will AF on things I can't see with my own eyes (ISO to 6400...and beyond). I think it is always best to buy the body... then the lens that fits your particular need. Full frame... 35mm CMOS format and the camera will do 1080p video too at 30 fps (with fast CF Flash Memory). Incredible... simply incredible. I don't do Nikon anymore... they have a lot of catching up to do... oh yeah... one more thing: Canon has open sourced its scripting language so that there is a Canon Hacker Development Kit (search CHDK on Google). There is talent world wide working on very very cool scripts (custom programs that run inside your camera) to customize your camera to your specific application! One I saw recently was a script that looks for pixel changes and reacts. You can set your camera on a tripod on a flower bud about to open and instead of taking a shot ever hour... take shots only when the camer recongizes pixels changes of X amount. I have goose bumps...

This camera was an upgrade from the original Canon EOS 5D 12.8 MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) which I loved. I never thought the image quality could be improved upon enough to warrant $2,500 to upgrade, but I was wrong. It was still painful to plop down this much money since I am only a serious amateur, but it turned out to be SO worth it. I'm not ready to completely give up my old 5D though and still use it as a 2nd camera body. First off, the image quality has to be seen to be believed when coupled with "L" quality lenses (non-L lenses will show numerous flaws). Low light performance alone makes the upgrade worth it: Virtually noise-free up until ISO 800 (barely noticeable), starting around ISO 1000 (acceptable) and really doesn't become bothersome until around ISO 4000 or so. If you use a good noise control program like Noise Ninja or others, you can get away with even higher ISO's. I coupled this camera with a Lexar Professional Series 16 GB 300x UDMA CompactFlash Memory Card CF16GB-300-381 and the write speed is almost instant, even though the camera is moving 20+ MB of data with each shot. I would recommend a card reader though, because going directly from camera to computer can be slow. The new menu system is 100 times better than the old one, very easy to go from tab-to-tab rather than all the scrolling of the old menu system, and you can find your selection much faster. The true VGA LCD screen on the back is a VERY welcome change. Larger and brighter, you'll notice it self-adjust the brightness when you're outside too. Live-view is awesome! I've been using it in my macro and studio work for razor sharpness and it's made my poor eyes much happier than all the squinting. I had a pirate eye-patch for doing that work with my old 5D. The dust-reducing facilites are another welcome change. I had to clean my sensor before every important shoot with the old model. I've had the 5D MK II for about 3 months now and have yet to clean the sensor on it. Dust will still adhere to the underside of the focusing screen, but easily blown off with your Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster Large (Black) . Finally the resolution. I've been able to take wildlife shots at some distance, and crop out the subject and still have a superior quality photo. It's really added a lot of flexibility for composition in post-production. I have successfully printed up to 24x36 with absolutely no distortion at all using Alien Skin's Blow-UP 2 Software. It's my belief you could easily do a perfect 11x14 or 12x18 straight out of the camera though. Some people love the Digital Photo Professional software that comes with it, but my personal preference is Photoshop. Note that if you're still using CS3 or before you will need to convert the CR2's from the 5D MK II using Adobe's DNG converter (free download from Adobe) or upgrade to at least CS4. I am currently using this camera with the optional Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip for Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR and 2 batteries in the grip. Battery life with this combination is amazing. I can easily go weeks between charges, and an easy menu on the camera gives detail on battery life. The incremental battery life indicator on the top window is a lot more accurate than the old 5D. It's just my preference but I disagree with the reviewers who say there should be a pop-up flash on camera. This camera is pro level quality and as any serious amateur or pro will tell you, built-in flashes are useless. In combination with my Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras it's a winning combination for flawless flash photographs with no red-eye and no harsh shadows when bounced. If you're going to spend this much on a camera, a good speedlight is a must. The latest firmware version 2.0.4 fixes some bugs and improves movie performance so if your new model doesn't have that version, it's a free download from Canon. I do not have experience with movie mode yet, so I will update this review later on that. I'm still have a bit of sticker-shock, but after using this camera awhile, it seems more an investment. Once you see the quality, it should alleviate your pain.

I was coming from a T1i, which I purchased back in 2009 and sold it to buy a T3i. Nonetheless, I longed for the 5D Mark II forever and finally convinced my wife to justify the purchase. (I told her it helps me take better pictures, but who doesn't?) My wife reluctantly agreed and we took a deep plunge to purchase this with the 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens kit. Shipping from Amazon was fast as usual and upon opening the box, I felt the golden glow around the new device. Immediately I attached the lens and took a few test shots. Upon looking through the viewfinder, I noticed a very big difference. The viewfinder was large and bright as the viewfinder from the T1i or the T3i even didn't come close. Shutter noise sounds much subdued (and better) when compared to the T1i and T3i. I will not go in to technical details as the other reviewers have done that. The construction is solid and I felt right at home with the controls. Although I am used to the directional buttons on the right side of the LCD display on the Rebel series, I felt right at home with the Quick Dial and joystick. The ON/OFF/L switch takes some getting used to as the Rebel series has the on-off lever right next to the Main Settings Dial. The screen is the same as the Rebel T1i as so it seems. The metal construction blows the Rebels out of the water. Lack of a pop up flash is a con, but I really didn't use the pop up flash on the Rebels anyway so it really doesn't bother me. The main things I love about this camera is the amazing build quality, full frame, large and bright viewfinder and the pictures the L lens takes. The camera is nice and large and is perfect for my big hands. The most amazing feature is the amazing image quality. The image quality has blown me away and this camera can do amazing things like shoot in low light, produce amazing bokeh even with the f/4 and the IS helps to reduce camera shake. The top LCD is SO convenient as I have been using Rebels without it. However, the most satisfying aspect of owning this camera is that people around you notice it and ask you about it. Either way, you purchased this camera to take great pictures and be envied! Believe me, I probably read all the reviews before I pulled the trigger and debated for months before finally deciding to take the plunge. I was torn between the 7D and the 5D Mark II for a very long time and I decided to go with the 5D Mark II because of the Full Frame although the 7D was MUCH newer and contained newer technology. For the type of photography I do, the 5D was perfect for me as I didn't have a need for a 19point AF system or a need for a blazing continuous speed shooting. What decidedly got me to get the 5D Mark II was Kai W's review on Digital Rev TV and boy am I glad I did. PROS: +Amazing build quality/construction +Image quality +High ISO capability +Full Frame +Comes with L lens! +It's a 5D Mark II! What's there not to like? CONS: -Price (but all the features make this camera a worthwhile purchase) I have bought the BG-E6 Battery Grip, Extra LP-E6 Battery Pack, B+W Haze MC Filter 77mm and a EF 70-200mm IS f/2.8 II L (will have a review for that soon) to compliment the Mark II. I haven't regretted purchasing the 5D Mark II for a bit. Now if the 5D Mark III comes out, then it is a different story.

Had to return first one to Amazon as auto-focus was not working at all, this was replaced OK. Second one worked OK for a little while but with the poor low-light auto-focus and sharpness issues that are pretty well documented with this camera. After a few months started having power supply issues and the LCD screen stopped working so had to be returned to Canon service center for repair. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT CANON ABSOLUTELY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR WARRANTY and I now have a repair bill of one third the value of the camera (or a very expensive paper weight). They have now lost a long term customer who has spent many thousands of dollars on their equipment over the past few years, first time I try to use their warranty I get screwed over and totally stone-walled by their 'customer service' representatives. In my experience this has been a very unreliable piece of equipment and Canon a total disgrace in the way they deal with a loyal customer. My advice is to buy a Nikon, which is what I will be doing in future.

Having made the transition from medium format professional film cameras to cropped sensor digital (i.e. the T2i), I was looking forward to upgrading to professional digital equipment. Canon's 5D Mark II has dampened my enthusiasm for going into the full frame world. Fully understanding that the Mark II has a less densely packed sensor than do cropped frame sensors, it is natural to anticipate that the Mark II images will be a little less sharp. Of course, the trade off was supposed to be that the larger Mark II sensor would allow for greater enlargement without pixilation or noise while delivering a flattering portrait image. That was the theory. It must be assumed that my copy was defective and therefore not typical of Mark II quality overall, nonetheless the fuzziness of so many of the images was grossly disappointing. Originally guessing that maybe the 24-105 f4 L was the culprit I purchased additional lenses (e.g. 50mm f1.8, 70-300, 28-70). Some improved the sharpness situation (which did not speak well for the f4 L), and some did not. Even making the AF micro-adjustments did not help. Ultimately, I concluded that the AF was performing erratically. That problem coupled with an apparently very soft copy of the f4 L and the less-dense full frame sensor, the net outcome was a great number of unusable out-of-focus images. This was particularly acute on shots beyond 15 feet. What are my five Mark II disappointments? Defective AF, overly soft copy of the 24-105 f4 L, heavy weight of the Mark II, no real gain over the T2i in image quality when enlarging images, and the loss of my esteem for the quality control efforts of Canon on their professional line. However, Canon should get credit, in the form of 2 stars, for making a less expensive full frame DSLR. They also get some credit for the bright viewfinder on the Mark II and its large LCD. I have returned the Mark II and its companion f4 L lens (my appreciation to Amazon for their integrity and standing behind their sales). Instead of upgrading to the full frame line I am just going to buy another T2i (through Amazon) and hope that it will also be as tack-sharp as the one I already own. Of course the good part of this experience is that the EF lenses I bought for the Mark II are still useful on the T2i because of Canon`s foresight in making the EOS mounts substantially interchangeable.

I'll leave the number crunching to the pocket-protector folks who do their thing much better than I could (or would care to). I just want to pass on my experience so far with this camera after about a year of owning it. The good: love the ergonomics of this camera, the solid feel and the overall handling. The build quality is high. The RAW files that come out of it have a hard to define quality to them that I find pleasing. Not to mention the files are very flexible for post-production. However, this camera has a few problems that result in 4 stars. First up, the evaluative metering almost always overexposes outside during the day. Sunny, cloudy or anything in between. Not a huge deal but it's annoying. And it does it so consistently you'd think it would be easy enough for Canon engineers to fix it. I never seem to have this problem inside shooting with available light. And the exposure is always spot on using ETTL flash. No matter, exposure compensation to the rescue. Still, just seems quirky for a $2k body for it to be off so consistently in the same situations. Next up, the notorious focus issue that has polarized so many online. Not sure if it is a QC issue or what but right out of the gate I noticed that the camera wasn't focusing correctly. I would focus on somebody's eyeball, either in autofocus or manual focus, then make my exposure. The resulting image would show the tip of the subject's nose in focus but their eyeball soft. Again and again. Using a lens target and a tripod to create a controlled environment, I concluded that the alignment between the lens, mirror and pentaprism must not be right. A simple way to prove that it has something to do with the relationship between the lens, mirror and pentaprism is to take them out of the equation. Focus in liveview works perfectly. That's because you're focusing directly on the sensor in liveview, bypassing the other components. So if you have this problem, no you are probably not the slack-jawed troglodyte that Joe Pro on the camera forum made you out to be. Although Canon has never formally admitted it, I'm pretty sure this is a common known issue. I told Canon support what I thought was wrong, sent the camera back and they repaired it under warranty. It's fine now. (BTW, you can calibrate your body to different lenses but in this case the camera was way off. Not only that, it seemed to be off by different amounts depending on if I was focusing in the left or right side of the frame. Also off by different amounts at different focal lengths along a zoom len's range.) With the focus issue now out of the way and enough experience to know I have to compensate for the goofy outdoor metering, I find little to complain about. I've run into a few little things here and most of them were simply the result of having not read the manual thoroughly enough. Also, I know some people find low-light autofocus to be either poor or not possible. I can't say I've experienced that. I can't speak highly enough of the image quality, especially how well the files hold up under low light. Overall I'm really happy with this camera. ~ The 24-105mm f4 lens is a nice walk-around lens. I'm not really a fan of zooms in general but they are handy and this one covers a really useful range. It may not seem like a big deal but the constant aperture is really helpful when you shoot manual, especially shooting available light in low-light situations. I'd say the image quality is a little better than middle of the road (again I'm not a numbers guy). Lightroom helps to smooth out some of the problems. It's a solid lens but nothing special. If I was to redo the purchase, I would probably get the body and a used 24-70 or just get the 35mm and 85mm primes instead.

The Canon 5D Mark II is far and away the single BEST camera on the market right now. $2500 might seem like a steep price for only a camera body, but the camera itself is worth its weight in gold and if you are serious about photography this is the only way to go. The 21.1 megapixel full frame sensor produces shockingly gorgeous images and perfect mural prints. Fine artists take note! This camera is the best digital alternative to 4x5 film. When paired with a premium piece of glass, there is little this camera can't do. The resolution is gorgeous and I have made prints at 40x50" that are absolutely flawless. Another significant benefit of this camera over comparable models is its performance in low-light conditions. You can make perfect images at an ISO of 3200 that look just as good as images at an ISO of 2000. This is great for shooting live music events (what I use it for) in dark clubs or bars. Noise is not noticeable in properly exposed images until you hit as high as 6400 and even then it is reasonable. The only major flaw of the 5D II is the auto-focus. Sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it seems to be possessed by the devil. I can't make any rhyme or reason out of it, but the beauty of digital is that if you miss one image, you can take another right afterwards and fix your mistakes (the exception is live event or photojournalism, of course). Some people have had no problems with auto-focus, though, so this flaw might be case-by-case. It's just something to be aware of, if you purchase, and I recommend testing this feature out shortly after you take the camera out of the box. This camera doesn't have a huge frames-per-second rate, though, at only four. If you are very much into sports or performance photography, this could be a downfall. For the average user this won't make a huge difference, but it is something to consider when making the purchase. If you need a higher frames per second rate, I would suggest taking a look at the Canon 7D (although it is a crop-sensor camera). I use this camera paired with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L as a walk around lens and I am consistently able to produce clear, sharp images, even in low light. This, however, is not a beginner's camera. If you are not familiar with the various camera settings and are not a fan of reading the manual, you'd be better off starting with a consumer-level DSLR before graduating to this body. I started off with a Canon XTi and then moved on to a Canon 50D before I bought the 5D II. There is so much you can do with this body in terms of exposure, but its best to learn how all the functions and features work properly otherwise it will be easy to be overwhelmed. All in all I think this camera is truly the best option out there in terms of quality and possibilities.