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View Full Version : Canon 5D mark II in hand


Upitnik
12-23-2008, 03:59 PM
I just tried it today after a long wait and some troubles, but here is a quick pic to show what it can do hand held in available light, see the EXIF data :)
Will do a full review if anybody wants and post after X-mas.

Cheers.


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g141/upitnik/_MG_0356.jpg

P1X4R
12-23-2008, 04:09 PM
sweet! how about some HD video from it? :D

let us know how the RAW files are to download. i hear they're a lot bigger now. 21MP!!

Upitnik
12-23-2008, 04:18 PM
sweet! how about some HD video from it? :D

let us know how the RAW files are to download. i hear they're a lot bigger now. 21MP!!


Riiiiiight :D

Usually about 25 MB in size but my tower has a built in card reader so its about a second per file. I haven't shot anything except full RAW but I'll test everything on this camera and post here with the score :thumbs2:

geto10
12-23-2008, 05:38 PM
Upitnik, you'll have to do better than this ;)

HoldyourfireAl
12-23-2008, 06:10 PM
I look forward to seeing more!

Mandragora
12-23-2008, 06:15 PM
gawd i want one

Upitnik
12-23-2008, 08:31 PM
Upitnik, you'll have to do better than this ;)


Will do :) , I'm taking the wife and kid to her parents and will be alone for a couple of days. A good chance to open some stuff up and take pics.
But can you believe this pic is ISO 3200?? :eek:

Averone
12-23-2008, 08:37 PM
Love to have one!

Kujo
03-30-2009, 06:50 AM
I took the plunge and traded in my 400D for one of these (plus my 60mm macro lens, as it no longer fits :()

I've not had much chance to play around with it yet, but from what I've seen so far its an awesome camera. A HUGE step up from my old one. Its so weird seeing my 24-105mm L lens on the FF sensor and how much more you get in frame.

So far, well worth the money and an easy choice over Nikons D700.

Upitnik
03-31-2009, 11:55 AM
I actually sold all my zooms and am only a prime man now :)
At this point no zoom can give the resolution this camera can record except in certain settings but thats not something I'm fond off.
Anyway if I can be of assistance please feel free to ask. I've been testing this camera with some cross processing, tritoning and quadtoning in photoshop and it really gives amazing prints especially when big prints are made.

Upitnik
03-31-2009, 11:56 AM
Cheers.

e side
03-31-2009, 01:14 PM
Upitnik,

Seriously........you must be a pro. And, I have to say WOW.

You have captured beautiful moments of this young child.

I love all the photographs, but the I like RED roses best.
It just leaps right at you, grabs you and never lets go.

These are brighten up your day, kind of photographs.

Thank you very much for sharing them with us.:buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:

e side,

Averone
03-31-2009, 01:22 PM
This is beautiful!!!

I have to get my hands on one!
What fantastic photos you have here!

Batman29
03-31-2009, 04:53 PM
Will do :) , I'm taking the wife and kid to her parents and will be alone for a couple of days. A good chance to open some stuff up and take pics.
But can you believe this pic is ISO 3200?? :eek:

Are you sure you read the ISO right, 3200? That is freakin incredible if that is true!

Upitnik
03-31-2009, 06:16 PM
Thank you all for your kind words, photography is my way of finding out how beautiful the world really is through my daughter's eyes.




And yes 3200 ISO are some of these.
I've made gorgeous prints A3+ easy on ISO 3200. I even got away with some journalist black & white style photos on 25,600 ISO but small prints like 5*7 inches. The camera is that good.

thx217
03-31-2009, 06:58 PM
BEAUtiful pics! Thanks for sharing. :thumbs2:

Kujo
04-01-2009, 09:11 AM
Wow Upitnik - those are incredible pics!

Wish I had more time to take pics. I've hardly had the chance to use mine. Amazing camera though!

Trilogy
04-01-2009, 09:35 AM
Incredible photography, Upitnik.

Bullseye
04-01-2009, 09:53 AM
Beautiful photography. Can you share how you get the black and white feel to your pics and then the use of some colour is over the top. What software do you employ?

Upitnik
04-01-2009, 11:30 AM
Thank you again, I know I get carried away with children pics, bare with me :D

Black & white conversion method without retouching: this is just one of the methods I use as it gives me the most consistent results for child photography.

Everything I shoot is in RAW so first I tweak it in Camera Raw in color mode because Raw is just that, unprocessed material which has to be manipulated somehow. JPEGs are processed in-camera and thats the reason they look better straight out of the camera.

When I open the pic in CS4 first I convert it with CS4s Black and white adjustment layer where you have 6 colors to mess with but it usually gives average results so then I apply the gradient map adjustment layer with the black and white option of course. Then I click on the gradient map bar and the "gradient editor" appears. There you have a bar in the middle that goes from black to white with some icons on the edges, you don't touch those but click beneath the bar in the middle to create one of your own. Then double click on the icon that appears and a "select stop color" appears. Drag the circle in the bottom left corner up and around playing with the colors until it gives the look you want. Click O.K. twice and that is almost there. I apply a little middle contrast curve layer and a levels layer in the end to up the contrast and give a deep black and white photo look if need be. Now just sharpen the photo, I usally use octave sharpening or high pass filter methods, and thats it.

If something is unclear feel free to ask.

Thats just black and white with a bit of color on top and just one method. An easy and quick one at that.
There are many more and this is just the one I prefer for child photography.

Duotoning, tritoning, quadtoning and cross processing are something different.


/TIP/

When shooting RAW convert to 16 bit as you'll have more headroom in processing but some tools can't be used in 16 bit mode like diffuse glow so do everything you can in 16 bit mode and then convert to 8 bit. And learn to use histograms and info windows(the one with color numbers), it will pay off.

Upitnik
04-01-2009, 11:41 AM
And now a couple of color photos. Next time it will be some statues I promise.

Upitnik
04-01-2009, 11:41 AM
.....

Zurbaran1
04-04-2009, 12:07 PM
Man, those are some beautiful pictures! I have only had my Canon 40D for a little less than a year but I am sold on this camera. I've been doing some research on it and it's an amazing piece of technology. I'm going to run off to B&H and get one.

Averone
04-04-2009, 12:35 PM
Man, those are some beautiful pictures! I have only had my Canon 40D for a little less than a year but I am sold on this camera. I've been doing some research on it and it's an amazing piece of technology. I'm going to run off to B&H and get one.

I agree, havent done any research on it. Where is the best place to get one? How much is it?

Upitnik
04-04-2009, 01:02 PM
Every piece of info on this camera ever.

I would just accentuate one thing: if you want the maximum out of the camera you need the best glass which, trust me, doesn't always mean the most expensive.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/Canon_5d2_3d_7d.html

Zurbaran1
04-04-2009, 03:42 PM
I agree, havent done any research on it. Where is the best place to get one? How much is it?

In my opinion the best place to get this from is B&H Photo. They are fantastic and they have everything and that really does mean, EVERYTHING. Their prices are great. I work around the corner from them so I can just walk over. They have an internet store. The 5D Mark II, camera body only, is $2699. The kit with 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens is $3499. The kit is an excellent bargain as the lens alone would set you back $1059, so you save over $200 with the kit.

Upitnik
04-04-2009, 03:54 PM
In my opinion the best place to get this from is B&H Photo. They are fantastic and they have everything and that really does mean, EVERYTHING. Their prices are great. I work around the corner from them so I can just walk over. They have an internet store. The 5D Mark II, camera body only, is $2699. The kit with 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens is $3499. The kit is an excellent bargain as the lens alone would set you back $1059, so you save over $200 with the kit.


Its a good bargain but not a great lens, I use to have it on my 30D and it performed adequately but on this monster it falls back quite a bit. I sold it.

Another review.

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/420-canon_24105_4_5d

Zurbaran1
04-04-2009, 04:05 PM
Upitnik, I am curious. What lenses do you use and recommend?

Upitnik
04-04-2009, 06:55 PM
As far as recommendations go its pointless since every lens has its purpose and its difficult to exclude one so I'll just explain what I use, why and when if thats O.K. Now that doesn't mean you can't use whatever lens for whatever intention and sometimes thats what happens but I'm simply telling what their usual objective is.


For full body shots, and indoor shots:

I use a 50mm f/1.4 prime not the 50mm f/1.2L since the former performs better from f/2.8 and on and prior to 2.8 its a marginal difference but I do not exclude the posibillity of testing a poor copy of the L lens but my 1.4 is quite astonishing in every aspect. It only needed a small microfocus adjustment via the 5D.


These ones are for outside shots and for isolation shots:

I use the 135L prime and this is the best lens I have ever used. Its simply great wide open. But indoors its a little tight unless you have a big home.

I have the 100mm f/2.8 MACRO as well which is also great but hunts in low light so its best for what its made - MACRO.



Next are not mine but I borrow them, because they are great, from my uncle until I gather up the doe for the first one, second one is further down on my list of acquirements, if ever.

The 14mm f/2.8 L II and the 70-200L f/2.8 IS version.

As far as the 14mm goes I would even like to get the Sigma 12-24 zoom for the extra 2mm in the wide end but its a gamble since QC with this one leaves to be desired. The 70-200mm is my necessary evil as it is frikin' huge and difficult to lug around but when time is of the essence end you're shooting events such as weddings you need the versatility it can offer.

I have used a lot of other lenses but this is my current line up.

I want to add that I don't care for lenses where you have to stop way down like 2-3 stops in order to get great pics which is a trademark for zooms but some zooms are not bad by any means but for this kind of sensor resolution you need the best glass. Please forgive me as I don't want to appear a snob who shouts only L glass unfortunately its usually true, for example my 24-105L lens gave great results at f/5.6 - 8 which is O.K. if you don't need wider but I do so it had to go. And lets take the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens, a super lens but at 300mm its 5.6 and if you want best results you have to stop to f/8 - 11 and that is just too much for my use.

So to summarize, zooms are great for their versatility and some offer very good image quality at the expense of speed but when you get further down the road its all about IQ and those are usually L primes.

And just one more thing: sharpness is not the most crucial thing, don't get too involved with that one, contrast, saturation, vignetting, aberrations of various kinds, speed, AF, even weight are all the things that in real life matter much more, at least to me. Hope this helps.

Upitnik
04-04-2009, 07:10 PM
To demonstrate what I mean about people getting obsessed with sharpness these pics are ISO 3200 wide open at f/1.4 out of the camera jpegs, NOT RAW! And this is way soft, trust me, so this is as bad as it gets. And still perfectly acceptable images, to me of course. People tend to lose themselves in technical crap and forget to just go out and take photos.

Zurbaran1
04-05-2009, 10:25 AM
Upitnik. Thanks for taking the time to go through the detailed description on your lenses. Very helpful information.

speedracer
04-06-2009, 04:17 AM
Those are beautiful shots up..I likewise have the 5dm2..its a beautiful piece of equipment. here are some of my pics from a gaming convention..=)

Tack Sharp isnt everything, But it's really nice to have..;)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3410909825_9e58fd1d59_b.jpg

I like wise use the 50 1.4..Love it!!!!
24-70, 70-200 2.8 IS is grrrrrrreat especially with full frame. =)

rxj71
04-09-2009, 12:09 AM
I have a quick qn. for the pros over here... I got myself last year the 5D (not the mark II) and I love it. So far I only have the 100mm Macro lens for it as I wanted to capture flowers. I've been looking at the 28-300 zoom and I was wondering if it's any good. I'd like to do some wildlife and nature fotography and I'm sure the the zoom is not as good as say the 300mm f/2.8 but I'm thinking the 28-300 would offer a lot of convenience???

Upitnik
04-09-2009, 04:50 AM
I have a quick qn. for the pros over here... I got myself last year the 5D (not the mark II) and I love it. So far I only have the 100mm Macro lens for it as I wanted to capture flowers. I've been looking at the 28-300 zoom and I was wondering if it's any good. I'd like to do some wildlife and nature fotography and I'm sure the the zoom is not as good as say the 300mm f/2.8 but I'm thinking the 28-300 would offer a lot of convenience???


http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/426-canon_28300_3556is_5d

Upitnik
04-09-2009, 04:53 AM
Tack Sharp isnt everything, But it's really nice to have..;)



Yes it is :)

rxj71
04-10-2009, 01:24 AM
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/426-canon_28300_3556is_5d

Thank you for the help. Instead of the 28-300 would you recommend the 100-400? The 5D doesn't have as high a resolution as the 5D MarkII and I don't know if I see myself shooting in RAW format and modifying the images afterwards.

Here's the second or third picture I took when I got the camera.