5D in my hot little hands
It has arrived and my first impressions were “holly S#$T that is one awesomely average looking camera. Might as well have a 1000D, looks the same. But delving further into it I soon realised this was no toy. The thing that struck me the most was the lcd on the back. I have never seen anything like it. It looks like a tv not the piddly thing I’m used to seeing on the 1Ds. Michael and I went out to do some video tests against his XH -A1. Lets just say it blew it out of the water. So easy to use and fun. The live view, some say is a gimmick I found particularly helpful. You can actually focus with that thing it is so good.The image look to be full of detail but have yet to really look at them closely. Why?………. because Camera raw can’t read the raws from the 5D mark 2. I will need to update to Camera raw 5.2. No problems, unfortunately means I have to upgrade to Photoshop cs4, pricks, more expense. If anyone has a solution to this please let me know. I have to use the Canon raw converter which is completely useless. Stand by for some pics and videos from this baby!
Christian Fletcher Photography - Australian Landscape Photographer 
did i ever mention that i hate you!!! 😉
If you do some serious research you will read that the 400D blows the mk 2 away mate!!!
JEALOUS!!!!
Lucky you !!! I’ve been told by my dealer (BIG pro shop in Copenhagen) that they’ll receive 1 … one … copy this week. Dunno when they’ll get more in stock. I’ve preordered and paid deposit months ago and am about no. 10 on their list.
As for reading the RAW files – convert the raw files to DNG using the free converter here: http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/
Adobe updated the DNG converter, and it can read 5D Mk II raw files.
You can then open this DNG file in Photoshop CS3, lightroom etc!
Liveview is awesome on my 40D with 3″ screen. A lot of photographers said, “what do you need that for?”. But That’s all I use, its great, plus I will have better eyesight in the future.
Try this link.
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4213
Good stuff…like a kid at Christmas , you should have wrapped it and put it under the tree , then you could have walked past it everyday for the next 3 weeks and cracked a …..anyway enough of that.
It’s only a small point but one of the reasons I gave up my early order Mk2 ( which you could have had) was the raw file reading problem. Upgrading CR means upgrading to CS4 and I hate being held to ransom. Then I need software for the HD video and on it goes. I’m still on the list to get one but I will wait and see. I’m not sure that I really need the mk2 I think i will get the 50d as my second body as I want the 6 fs. The Canon DPP software is CRAP don’t even bother wasting disc space with it, but you will have to for a while I suppose. I’ve only just started using live view on my camera ( had it for 18mths and never turned it on) its good, in fact it’s very good, but not something I really couldn’t live without.
From your discription I take it the camera is small or is that just a comparison with your 1Ds? The LCD, that’s the impression everyone gets when you use a 3in screen, you wonder how you ever used the old one and THAT alone will be enough to put you off using your 1Ds forever.
I look forward to your early impressions and I have no doubt that they will be fantastic.
Now back to the crisp cold white for me. ( well it is Fri night after all )
Damn you and your 5d. WHERES MINE!?
im sure its gonna be a great cam. I wanna see that screen!
On my dads 450d live view is awesome. with the 300mm lens its like a farken telescope. BTW i think a lightroom update might be out that supports the mk 2’s raw. Switch to that if you haven’t already.
Congrats on the Mark II …. Looks like this weekend with be full of location shoots. I should of stopped off and picked up mine friday, will have to wait till I get time on Monday.
Live view from what I saw someone use at Tahoe in 2007 is awesome for low light focus.
Enjoy the camera, I know you will and don’t feel too bad for the 1d Mrk II, it’s seen more and done more than a whole ton of cameras so its had a good life. Although in saying that when I part with my 5d Mark I it will be a sad day as well.
looking forward to seeing your examples, havn’t seen many good landscape samples, I think this camera will be special just like the first 5d was, It has a a lot to live up to, Im happy to continue using my 5d for a little while longer(till I can afford a mkII), Must be nice to have the mkII just before christmas!
I too have had the joy of this new baby for a week. I love it and so will you.
Only disappointment is not being able to choose aperture in video mode.
And I agree LiveView is now actually useful!
Congrats on the MKII Christian ,
Ill probally be waiting for the second shipment to come in before look at getting mine .
was reading today, some people are having issues with black dots on the right side of blown out highlights might be something to check out, probaly fixed by a firmware update though.
Dylan, it isn’t the camera, it’s the photographer that makes the difference, you have done some pretty amazing stuff with what you have got, god help us when you get a kick arse DSLR. Then we will be jealous!
Flemming move to Oz, it is your destiny! (said in my best Dark Vader voice)
Tom, my eyes are pretty average also, the zoom function on the 5D in live view is brilliant.
Merv I have just downed a few bottle of Woodsides best reds, wow, nice stuff. Just got back from a party at Peter Woods house, owner of Woodside Estate, hence the name. I need to sober up a bit before hitting the hay! Tomorrow is going to be tough!!!
Stakky, I haven’t got lightroom, the cost to upgrade to CS4 is less so I might end up doing that. Stakky this camera in the hands of a 14 year old would be lethal. Like putting you in a Ferrari!. Stick to the Kia till you get some hair on ya chest! 🙂
Neal, great comment, almost put a tear in my eye for the old 1Ds. I left it on my desk in the gallery, no lens, like it’s life is finished. I hope it will get used again, it is still an awesome camera, just not as awesome as the 5D mark II. I say, “give me more of that awesomeness” Out with the old and in with the new!
Will, I love new gear it fills me with energy and excitement. Reminds me of the day I met my wife, I new she was the one for me!
Steve I am hearing you. I couldn’t believe the aperture is set by the camera in video mode. Still this is only a problem in bright light. Low light with a wide aperture is awesome, (give me more of that awesomeness!!) We are going to experiment with a ND to see if we can’t get the wider apertures in bright sunlight. My bro said he had a quick fiddle but there seemed to be a bit of noise creeping in to the shots. Wil do more testing.
Kirk, you are going to wet your pants, this machine is has awesome awesomeness!!
Will, I’m too pissed to tell you about black spots, will check tomorrow when sober, hung over and able to open my eyes! Black spots don’t sound too bad, just take more night shots.
This camera ha awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!
Go to bed you fool!!
Are you sleeping with the camera?
Yeah… lethal to your competition.
I know this is old news, but I popped into your Dunsborough Gallery on Saturday and saw the massive print of the Lambs! I couldn’t help but chuckle, he can’t be serious, cam he? So I had a closer look, it’s awesome and well deserves the space:)
Wauv, what a long comment Christian, must be the Woodsides talking!
I’m always considering moving to OZ but a permanent visa is soooo hard to get. Anyone wanna marry me??? 🙂
I’ll join the crowd and be envious of your beautiful new toy too! I want to get one but fear my poor ole mac won’t cope with extra software needed. What a pain that is! I’ve only just managed to get CS3 for crikey’s sake!! Its all about ‘upgrades’ isn’t it?
Cheers Jules
PS Enjoyed reading your obscure comment on ma blog Christian LoL
ill pass Flemming.
Wauv ( what the ! ) it’s a big negative from me as well Flemming.
Whilst it is always about upgrades and I hate that as much as the next sensible person, I have been on CS4 for about 1 month and it is everything that the unreliable CS3 should have been with some significant improvements on existing controls and some amazing additional controls and tweaks in both Camera Raw and normal operation. Bridge also becomes reliable and useful. I could have upgraded from CS2 at the same cost, so I wish I hadn’t included the CS3 step. I had to wade through a few sales screens before I got to the upgrade of just Photoshop CS4, but it was well worth the upgrade fee (in my opinion).
Christian, a newcomer to your blog and I will meet you on Saturday, but I’ll add another voice to the “Check out Lightroom 2.2 (released) or 2.3 (release candidate). I’ve been using it since v1, before that it was RawShooter, and love it. I do 99% of my work in LR, rather than CS4.
Also, I assume you know about the firmware upgrade for the MK II from 1.06 to 1.07? It’ll help if you use sRAW at all. I just got my MK II on Friday, upgraded from a MK I and I love it too.
Looking forward to meeting you and chatting about photography stuff. I’ll now spend more time going through older gallery posts! 🙂
Hi Simon, thanks for the tips, I use Camera Raw in CS4 which does basically the same thing as lightroom, still love my photoshop though. See you on Saturday.
Hope you’re enjoying your new camera. Contrary to what was said above, DPP isn’t crap. It’s a very capable raw converter, which is easy to use and gives superior results to other converters. Why wouldn’t it? After all, only Canon fully understand their own CR2 format so it stands to reason that they would make the best raw converter for their own file format.
Many users out there have looked at the quality of DPP’s conversion compared to things like Lightroom and ACR and the general consenus is that if your shooting raw, DPP is the way to go, but if shooting JPG then there are certainly better solutions out there. See for example, http://www.dphotojournal.com/canon-dpp-vs-adobe-lightroom/ and http://robwouds.com/pages/RawRants.html