DPInterface Canon EOS 5D Mark II Outline
Brad Soo - October 7th, 2008 (Updated October 9th, 2008)

One of the most talked about digital SLRs of 2008 has gotta be the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is the long awaited successor to the 3 year old Canon EOS 5D announced back in 2005.

Let's go; Canon EOS 5D Mark II tour!

In the box

Open up the box and you'll find the basic box contents of the average digital SLR:

  • Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR body
  • LP-E6 rechargeable lithium-ion battery
  • Battery charger
  • Neck strap
  • USB cable
  • Stereo video cable
  • Canon software CD
  • User's manual
  • Body cap and viewfinder eyecup; both already attached to the camera

There's the new rechargeable lithium-ion battery and charger over here, which is the LP-E6 battery. This is different from the old 5D because this new battery packs more power than the BP-51X series that the old 5D/XXD cameras use - supposedly this is good news since live view and movie mode both tend use up more power. The new battery unit also enables the very precise display of battery status and overall charge performance that you can view on the camera itself.


The EOS 5D Mark II is Canon's first camera with
the model make imprinted onto the neckstrap

The camera's neckstrap has changed slightly in the sense that, now Canon has the camera model (a big 5D Mark II) imprinted onto the neckstrap (Sorta like how Nikon does it with their cameras). Whether this is a good or bad thing, or you don't care, is up entirely to you.

I do know some photographers who may not like the idea of putting camera model (Especially in large font!) on the neckstrap as they say it makes the camera more conspicuous and identifiable; to thieves especially. But whether the average thief would steal (or even know about, which I doubt) a camera based on its model or because it's a 'big black camera' has not yet been proven. For some, this may be a good thing as so to 'show off' their camera wherever they go, while others will simply not be bothered to something as insignificant as a neckstrap. A quick fix if you don't like the 5D Mark II's branded neckstrap is to swap it out with another one (either 3rd party, I heard Optech makes good ones, or from another SLR you may own).

By default, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II does not come bundled with a lens. There's a 'kit' lens bundle available, adding the EF 24-105 mm f4L IS USM lens, the same as the original 5D's kit lens, for an additional $700. But of course if you're buying an $2800 camera, you should be able to make your own lens-buying decisions.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II doesn't come with a memory card either. The 5D Mark II supports Compact Flash Type I and Type II cards, and also UDMA-enabled cards which are blazing fast. My recommendation is to get a big, fast memory card, at least 4 GB, more if you're planning to shoot in RAW or record movies. A BIG and FAST memory card is important, I must emphasize again... in fact, it's almost a must-have. Here's why: The HD movie mode devours 5-6 MB per second, RAW files take up at least 18 MB per file and even a regular photo is about 5 MB on average (and that goes up to almost 10 MB at higher ISOs). Don't be shocked, this IS a 21 megapixel digital SLR!

Camera Tour

The front of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II makes it look like a 1D with the battery grip part cut off,a short 1D basically. Compared to the original 5D, the Mark II is of similar size but its design features more curves and smooth lines – take the viewfinder prism top for example, which slopes upwards to the hotshoe. Take a close look and you will notice some subtle differences compared to Canon's other cameras – there are now two circles between the camera grip and lens mount (one is the visual self-timer countdown while the other is the Infrared remote receiver) and a little microphone unit below the 5D logo (that's for the camera's HD movie mode).

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is very well constructed and as you'll expect from a semi-pro digital SLR, has a nice big grip for your right hand. Most of your camera where your hands are likely to go (ie the grip, the back of the camera) are covered in a rubberized texture and Canon says the EOS 5D Mark II has improved weather sealing compared to its predecessor, although not as superior or tough as the 1D-series cameras. Owners of the EOS XXD and the recent XD series of cameras will feel right at home with the 5D Mark II's controls placement. Size wise, the EOS 5D Mark II is big: a little larger than mid-range crop cameras and significantly bigger than entry-level digital SLRs. Here's a little illustration of the full-frame Canon EOS 5D Mark II versus the entry-level 1.6X crop Canon EOS 450D aka Digital Rebel XSi:

Of course, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a full-frame camera, which means there's no crop factor here. A 50 mm lens is a 50 mm lens. Whereas on a crop camera, your lenses won't be nearly as wide so a 50 mm lens would be equivalent to 75 mm on 1.5X crop and 80 mm on 1.6X crop.

In terms of weight, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, body only, is heavier than most other digital SLRs – only 'giant' cameras like the Canon 1D series and Nikon D3 weigh more than it. Fitted with a high-end lens, there isn't much to compare any more in terms of weight – I had the 5D Mark II and 30D side-by-side, both with EF 24-70 mm f2.8L lenses mounted, and both cameras felt quite hefty; and the it goes the same when comparing against other similar sized cameras.

Going on to the back of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II...The biggest change (no pun intended) is the big, bright, sharp 3 inch LCD. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is the second Canon digital SLR (the other one being the Canon EOS 50D SLR released in August) to feature this big, high-resolution LCD unit. I believe this is the same one found on Nikon's and Sony's recent digital SLRs as well. This 3 inch LCD has a total of 922,000 pixels, VGA resolution practically, which is four times the resolution of your typical 230,000 pixel LCD. And as you'd expect, it's sharp and very nice to view.

The screen is viewable both outdoors and indoors, and the visibility angle is very wide; allowing you to share photos with family and clients via the LCD. Coming from the EOS 30D whose 2.5 inch LCD is difficult to view outdoors, I was pleasantly surprised especially by the brightness of the 5D Mark II's screen which is certainly viewable outdoors without needing a shade or LCD hood. There are two settings for the LCD display in the camera's menu. It allows you to choose between automatic or manual brightness; the automatic setting was a little dim for my taste so I had to manually crank it up instead. There are ten steps for setting brightness manually.

To answer the question that many people have been asking about Canon's playback and photo review modes; it seems that the Canon EOS 5D Mark II does utilize the full 'real' photo, instead of a low-res version during playback. Thus, it is possible to inspect sharpness and even noise on the camera's screen. I used the Canon EOS 50D as well, and the same applies to that camera as well. My guess is the DIGIC IV processor makes the display of full-res photos possible on screen.

On the left side on the LCD is a row of five buttons. Their functions are similar to the ones found on previous Canon digital SLRs but the arrangement has been reshuffled slightly. Let's list down those buttons shall we?

  • Menu
  • Picture Style
  • Info
  • Playback
  • Delete photo

All of them are pretty self-explanatory. To the top left of the LCD unit, there's the (in)famous print button. Lots of Canon users have been whining about this button being almost pointless if one doesn't use the direct print feature of the camera. This time, Canon has addressed that by having the print button double as the live view button in shooting mode. Yes, live view used to be enabled/disabled via the SET button on cameras like the 40D, but that's changed now. Speaking of the SET button, it's now been reassigned as a start/stop movie record button in live view mode.

Then there's the usual Quick Control dial, the SET button seated in the middle of it and the power switch of the camera. For those who don't know, the three position power switch of the camera lets you turn the camera off and on, and the third 'click' position unlock the Quick Control dial. That's so to prevent accidental changes to settings if you're not using it.

Above the Quick Control dial is the 9 direction joystick: it can be center pressed, pushed up, down, left, right and diagonally in four directions. This is usually used to select AF points and navigating in a zoomed in photo in playback.

To the top right of the EOS 5D Mark II's back are three buttons. They are the AF-ON, AE lock and focus point selection buttons. The AF-ON button is used to activate autofocus separately from exposure. Then there's the AE Lock (also known as the 'star button') which locks exposure but can be reassigned via the custom function menu.

Did I mention that there's a speaker on the back of the 5D Mark II as well? It's used for playing back the sound recorded with your HD videos. The speaker is represented by the four holes located just above the right thumb in the photo (And no, those are not my hands).

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More details to follow later on today, so stay tuned for some updates.

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