The Canon EOS-5D isn’t the ideal camera for everyone and there are some minor compromises as well as some excellent features. It isn’t a point and shoot camera by any means and both the body and the price tag are substantial - but it’s smaller and better priced than many full-frame sensor cameras.
If this is your first foray up the chain of D-SLR’s and you don’t want to spend too much first time round, the EOS-5D is a good starting point. Performance is neither exceptional nor lacking: for example whilst it doesn’t compete with extra-fast models designed for sports photography, you won’t find it slowing you down even when you’re shooting in RAW.
It should be viewed as a very good prosumer camera rather than a professional one - many pros use it but they are generally happier to work within its limitations than spend 3 times as much on a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II.
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The Canon EOS-5D is a very capable camera, which produces silky smooth images right up to ISO400 and beyond that, noise levels are still very well controlled thanks in part to the full frame sensor.
Sensor size is also to blame for another trait, vignetting with wide angle lenses is a real problem if you like to shoot wide open. Value for money is the EOS 5D’s weakest point.
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Before the Canon EOS 5D was announced, I wrestled with the idea of “upgrading” from the Canon EOS 20D to an Canon EOS 1Ds II but decided against it. The EOS 20D with its 17-85 IS lens is a brilliant travel camera and lens combination. Wide zoom range and image stabilisation together with the camera’s low noise make for a very flexible but lightweight, compact and unobtrusive combination. An EOS 1Ds and 24-70 f2.8L would take better pictures, but at a significant cost. Compared with the 20D system, the 1Ds II with 24-70 would be about twice the size and weight with about half the zoom range and no IS. Potential street candid subjects would most likely run a mile at the sight of such an obvious “pro” camera.
For me, the 5D and 24-105L combination is better than the 20D and 17-85. No surprise there. Really, the results of my tests are that there are no surprises. The 5D is as good as I expected it to be, and I expected it to be amazing. For my travel purposes, as an all-round compromise, it is better than the chunky EOS 1Ds, making it the best camera currently available, indeed (for my purposes) the best camera ever. But in some respects (ie telephoto shooting) the 20D is still superior, for half the money.
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Canon’s latest D-SLR, The Canon EOS 5D is, according to Canon, set to create a new D-SLR category aimed squarely at the photojournalist, on to wedding and reportage photographers. Looking briefly over the specification and having an introductory play at its recent launch, it looks as though Canon is indeed building a new niche for itself. The camera sports a full frame sensor and enough resolution to create very high resolution images and balance the speed of the camera and the sped of capture with a burst rate up to a claimed 60fps for its JPEG Large capture setting.
Startup takes around 0.2-seconds and the fact the camera can use all of the company’s EF auto focus lenses without any magnification factor being needed as focal lengths remain the same due to the sensor being the same size as a frame of 35mm film.
What we have here is a very highly specified machine indeed, but given its professional bent, there are a couple of surprising omissions. There’s no water or dust resistance and there’s no sound memo feature. While the latter is a minor omission, the former may be off putting, particularly for any professional that regularly shoots outdoors. However, given the projected pricing of the new camera of around £2540 it is still very temping, we’ll just have to wait until the review sample arrives to see just how well it performs in earnest rather than the hands on look we got while at the launch.
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You can get a new EOS 20D for under $1350 if you shop around and you can now find used ones for quite a bit less if you are lucky. The 5D will start selling in mid-October at $3300. The price may well come down after a few months but my guess is that it will probably stay over $3000 for most of it’s lifetime, so the price difference will be around $2000. That’s not insignificant by any means. Cost will be a factor for most people who are looking at either a 20D or a 5D.
The price difference is $2000 which isn’t insignificant! Though the 5D is a breakthrough in pricing for a full frame camera, it’s still out of the reach of many photographers at $3300. For those doing studio work or landscape and editorial shooting, the 5D will be a great camera and I’m sure it will sell very well indeed. For anyone shooting a lot of action, the slightly more expensive ($3999) EOS 1D MkII N, with it’s 8.5fps frame rate and 48/22 JPEG/RAW buffer will still probably be the camera of choice. For penurious amateur wildlife shooters who never have a lens long enough to capture their subjects, the 20D probably remains the camera of choice due to its higher pixel density and significantly lower price. The 1Ds Mk II will still command the attention of those wealthy enough to buy it and who need the durability of a fully weather sealed camera with the ultimate in full frame image quality. However I’d guess that the 5D might well eat into 1Ds MkII sales as the $4700 price difference is more than a lot of people will be able to justify.
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