Now I'm really excited.....Canons New EOS5D II

[AlexN]

Congrats Humayun! Do let us all know how it performs!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Alex,

Thanks, mate!

I'm pretty excited.

It would appear that now is the time to place deposits/order because they're not going to get cheaper for a while yet.

Regards,
Humayun

Originally Posted by AlexN

Congrats Humayun! Do let us all know how it performs!

[acropolite (Phil)]

It would appear that now is the time to place deposits/order because they're not going to get cheaper for a while yet.

I was also told by the guy at Saades Camera house that there will be no more until January, but the price will stay the same. $500 deposit is required to secure one. I'm tempted, but I think I'll wait and see what the independant reviews say.

[RB (Andrew)]

Congrats H, looking forward to see your report once you get the camera.
I'm like Phil, I'm very tempted but I'll wait.
I'm a bit reluctant to buy any 'just released' gear in case there's any initial problems they haven't sorted out yet.
The 1D MkIII was a disappointment to a lot of photographers and some are still having probs.

I'm sure the 5D II will work flawlessly, from the samples I've seen it is superb, not to mention the movie quality it can produce.

Cheers

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by RB

I'm like Phil, I'm very tempted but I'll wait.
I'm a bit reluctant to buy any 'just released' gear in case there's any initial problems they haven't sorted out yet.
The 1D MkIII was a disappointment to a lot of photographers and some are still having probs.

I hope this is not a major problem and can be rectified easily, but reports have surfaced that the 5D MkII suffers from a problem with black dots appearing within the highlights.
Apparently they show up along high contrast areas and look almost like blooming in reverse.

There's some examples here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=30222755

Some believe they only show up when converting the RAW using DPP but not ACR 5.2.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonds...57610807989572

There's even an example from someone imaging Orion.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5068637...19227/sizes/o/

Hopefully it is a firmware problem and can be rectified easily.

[Ian Robinson]

There's even an example from someone imaging Orion.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5068637...19227/sizes/o/

Some poor tracking too.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Some poor tracking too.

Where are your images so that we can critique them?

Why don't you post similar comments on photographs posted to the deep sky forum here? Afraid you'd get torn a new one?

[Octane (Humayun)]

Originally Posted by RB

I hope this is not a major problem and can be rectified easily, but reports have surfaced that the 5D MkII suffers from a problem with black dots appearing within the highlights.
Apparently they show up along high contrast areas and look almost like blooming in reverse.

I didn't realise that they were already for sale overseas.

By the time they hit our shores, I'm quite sure the issues would have been resolved. And, if not, then, fingers-crossed, as you've mentioned, it may just be as simple as a firmware upgrade. Otherwise, a warranty should take care of those problems.

Regards,
Humayun

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Octane

By the time they hit our shores, I'm quite sure the issues would have been resolved. And, if not, then, fingers-crossed, as you've mentioned, it may just be as simple as a firmware upgrade. Otherwise, a warranty should take care of those problems.

Regards,
Humayun

Absolutely and I agree, on all you've said H !
And certainly I hope it's fixable.
These sort of issues crop up especially with new cutting edge technology.
The advantage of buying local too is that if there is any issues then warranty will cover it.
It's very early days yet and I'm still very excited about this new camera.

[acropolite (Phil)]

I'm wondering if the 50D may have similar problems. I have seen some images of the smilie conjunction which had some odd corruption at the top of a highlight area, from what I've seen in the above sample images it looks like the same problem. I'll see if I can get the raw images and check them for the same corruption.

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Some poor tracking too.

With a 2.5 second exposure and a 70mm focal length he most likely used no tracking

[acropolite (Phil)]

Originally Posted by RB

the 5D MkII suffers from a problem with black dots appearing within the highlights.

I'm not sure if this works but found a post in one of the photography forums as follows.

Originally Posted by from photo.net forum

Looks like there is an easy workaround - turn off HTP, Lighting Optimizer and Noise Reduction - voila, no black dots. Sounds like an easy firmware tweak. Hope you didn't panic and cancel an order or return your camera.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by acropolite

I'm not sure if this works but found a post in one of the photography forums as follows.

If it hasn't been mentioned, here's another discussion about the problem:

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...548#post205548

Hope it doesn't affect you Humayun. I doubt that it's anything that firmware can't fix anyhow. It's just a little silly of Canon to let it out the door with it in this state.

[RB (Andrew)]

OK there's some good news about the black dot problem.

Even though some people have tried the 5D MkII with a work-around by switching Highlight Tone Priority off along with other settings, the problem still surfaces in some situations.

Also the problem has existed in previous high end models like the 1D Mk II apparently, see Jerry Lodriguss' Astro link here: http://astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/EQ_TESTS/1DMII_A.HTM

Now, some 5D MkII users have complained to Canon and Canon has acknowledged it and is working on a fix.
See below.

Thank you for your inquiry. We value you as a Canon customer and
appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We appreciate your inquiry
into the EOS 5D Mark II.

We appreciate your inquiry into the EOS 5D Mark II. Canon Inc.
recognizes this issue, and is preparing a countermeasure. We will
provide further details as they become available.

We hope this information is helpful to you. Please let us know if we
can be of any further assistance with your EOS 5D Mark II.

Thank you for choosing Canon.

Sincerely,

Tim
Technical Support Representative

[StarLane]

Forget about the Canon, get a Nikon D700 or a D3.

Clean smooth files with no white/black dots, performs well at high ISO and long exposures.

******Remember,...... the more pixels that are squashed into the same space, the more noise occurs. That's why the new full sized 12MP sensors produce a cleaner file than the APS-C smaller sized (1.5) 12MP sensors.

Why are so many people concerned more about the number of pixels????

12MP can print an acceptable photo up to 20x30inch no dramas, and can be pushed larger with a few tricks in PS, who needs to go larger than that???. Why are 20+MP sensors necessary???

I have used the new 5D recently and I compared the files to my D700. I showed a number of pros I work with the files that were captured, and they all agreed that the Nikons files had a smother more noise free appearance.

Nikon has recently announced the D3x (24+MP), just a marketing gimick to keep on the heels of Canon. Real Nikon fans know that it's really not needed.

For me, cleaner, lower noise files are what it's all about.

[Benny L (Ben)]

Originally Posted by StarLane

Forget about the Canon, get a Nikon D700 or a D3.

Clean smooth files with no white/black dots, performs well at high ISO and long exposures.

******Remember,...... the more pixels that are squashed into the same space, the more noise occurs. That's why the new full sized 12MP sensors produce a cleaner file than the APS-C smaller sized (1.5) 12MP sensors.

Why are so many people concerned more about the number of pixels????

12MP can print an acceptable photo up to 20x30inch no dramas, and can be pushed larger with a few tricks in PS, who needs to go larger than that???. Why are 20+MP sensors necessary???

I have used the new 5D recently and I compared the files to my D700. I showed a number of pros I work with the files that were captured, and they all agreed that the Nikons files had a smother more noise free appearance.

Nikon has recently announced the D3x (24+MP), just a marketing gimick to keep on the heels of Canon. Real Nikon fans know that it's really not needed.

For me, cleaner, lower noise files are what it's all about.

indeed..

Genuine Fractals will more than make up for the 'lack' of resolution.. I've seen billboards done with that software with 3 megapixel images

[Octane (Humayun)]

All,

For anyone interested, Canon will be making a firmware upgrade available for the 5D Mark II which should resolve the black dot issue.

The firmware will be found at the following URL:

http://cweb.canon.jp/drv-upd/eosd/farm.html

There's nothing there at the moment.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane (Humayun)]

Canon acknowledges black dot problem.

I'm not worried. Mine arrives in the second week of January, for the best price I have seen it, anywhere.

Regards,
Humayun

[acropolite (Phil)]

I'm not worried

I wouldn't either, Canon can't afford any problems, I'm sure if it's an issue with the sensor they'll be recalling and replacing. I have reasons for holding off but theye aren't related to the black dot problem. Apparently the 5D II doesn't perforn all that well as a sports photography platform, apparently the focus is a little on the slow side and of course the frame rate is down compared to the 2/3 sensor bodies.

Given Paul's statements on his comparisons between the old model 5D and the D700 it may be worth looking at this review, the 5D, at least in that reviewer's opinion, is a much better performer than the D700.

[Octane (Humayun)]

In case any one is interested, Canon today released firmware 1.0.7 for the 5D Mark II which has fixed the banding issues in sRAW1 and the famed black dot problem.

Go, team!

Mine arrives very soon.

Regards,
Humayun