From the Canon 5D Mark II.

Vince LaForet’s work with the new Canon 5D Mark II at 1600 and 3200 ISO confirms that, for all practical purposes, grain is dead.

Click the picture for large JPGs at high ISO speeds from the new Canon body. In many you will see color fringing near the corners suggesting Canon has some way to go to better Leica in its optics, albeit even L lenses are mostly chump change compared to those from Germany. The fringing (correctable in post processing in Lightroom or Aperture) is especially noticeable in the snaps taken with the 45mm TS-E and the 15mm Fisheye (which I own and love). High time Canon started adding in-camera processing to fix this sort of thing. Obviously, the body ‘knows’ which lens is mounted and it’s not like Canon is ignorant of the aberration patterns in their optics. Adding a lens ‘map’ for each lens doesn’t sound like nuclear physics.

What you will not see is grain.

It would seem that the resolving power of Canon’s latest sensor significantly exceeds that of many of its lenses. I would suggest that use of any of the consumer zooms on this body is a complete waste of time – the proverbial Coke bottle lens on a Hasselblad. The cheaper non-L primes are fine (I love the fisheye, the 50/1.4 and the 85/1.8) but ‘kit’ lenses are a no-no. Garbage in, garbage out.

So, if you want grain, you are going to have to add it at the processing stage!

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A real user – that I trust.

I haven written before of the exceptional commercial photography of Vince LaForet.

Click the picture to see LaForet’s first impressions of the still and movie modes of the 5D Mark II.

When a great commercial photographer extols the image quality of a camera, (“The 5D MKII camera produces the best stills in low light that I’ve ever seen – what you can see with you eye in the worst light (such as sodium-vapor street lights at 3 a.m. in Brooklyn) – this camera can capture it with ease.“) I tend to be somewhere between belief and skepticism. Is the writer conflicted? Does the manufacturer pay him with free gear or hard or soft dollars?

In LaForet’s case I trend to the belief end of the scale. He has too much great work out there to risk his reputation.

The intriguing thing about his blog entry is that he seems most enthused with the movie mode of the new camera. Who would have thought it? If he is right, then it is indeed a game changer – 1080p HD video from a DSLR! I don’t make movies (though the genre fascinates me) and don’t need the awesome low light capability, but for many these facets of the new body may put them on the upgrade path.

For a daily snap be sure to visit my photoblog Snap!

No more speculation.

Hop over to DPReview for all the details you could possibly want on the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

The new camera looks less well balanced than the old, looking top heavy to my eyes

I speculated about the features a few days ago and was dead wrong in some important ways.

• The sensor is 21 mp, similar to that in the top of the line 1Ds Mark III. Wonder how they are addressing the cannibalization of sales?
• Price. $2,700 in the US, not $3,000. This will clobber used prices for the 5D, making that a very attractive entry into full frame digital.
• Full weather sealing. Seems like they added it.

Here are some other features which add value:

• Movie mode. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. Nice to have.
• Highlight tone priority – cuts down on burned-out highlights.
• An allegedly improved LCD screen. Given how awful the one in the 5D is it’s hard not to believe Canon on this one.
• Three Custom modes, up from one. Great. Especially as that Print button is still there and still useless, though it now doubles for Live View.
• ISO 25,600 maximum, which may work well with the improved sensor. We will see. If so the expense of ultra large aperture lenses can largely be avoided, as this is three stops faster than the 3,200 on the 5D.
• Wireless file transmission using the new removable handgrip. Great for studio previews.
• The ability to fine tune the focus setting for up to 20 lenses – a great way of keeping lens cost down by forcing the user to tune the lens to the body.

And yes, Canon has still to Fix that flap!

All in all, a worthwhile update and a boon for those looking to get a 5D whose used price will likely head south of $1,500 with the glut of amateurs updating for the latest and greatest. Don’t knock them. These gear heads are your friends. If you can live without the new features (sensor dust removal is nice!) then save $1200 and get a 5D.

For a daily snap be sure to visit my photoblog Snap!

Rumors abound – these you can be certain of.

Teaser ad on the Canon site

With all that speculation about the iminent replacement for the Canon 5D, here’s my list of things I can pretty much guarantee will not be in the 5D Mark II:

• A 21mp sensor. No way. That would immediately cannibalize sales of the ultra-high margin 21mp 1Ds Mark III which goes for $8,000 a pop. And with the 11 mp in the 5D being as good as it is, reckon on no more than 16mp. Let’s hope they don’t muck up resolution in the process.
• Ultra-high framing rates like in the 40D and 50D. Same reason as above.
• Full weather sealing. No way no how. This camera is aimed at the advanced amateur snapper, not the pro in rain forests, even if a few rubber gaskets cost $1.50 to add.
• Eye controlled focus. That’s the fabulous technology available in some late Canon film SLRs. The camera focuses where you look. (This still seems like magic to me). For some reason Canon have never added it to any of their DSLRs. Just imagine using something like Helicon Focus with eye controlled focus. Sight down your subject – click. Look a little further – click. Oh! wow. But not to be in the Mark II.
• A smaller body. That would cost too much to re-engineer. Canon will add already mature and developed technologies like sensor dust removal and live view (ugh!) but a comprehensive re-engineering of the body would cost too much.
• A change for that dumb Print button to make it useful – such as a mirror lock-up control. Someone at Canon has a real axe to grind for their printers (surprise!), so expect more of this silliness.
• Lens aberration correction inside the camera’s software. See the first bullet point above.
• A permanently attached vertical hand grip. That would look too ‘professional’ and adds needless bulk to an amateur’s camera. Indeed, one of the appealing aspects of the 5D is that it does not look professional – especially if you add some electrician’s tape to all those gauche logos.

Expect the announcement in late September at Photokina in Cologne.

For a daily snap be sure to visit my photoblog Snap!

The law of diminishing returns kicks in.

A couple of years ago I wrote, with something approaching amazement, about the longevity of the Epson 1270 ink jet printer, dubbing it a Ten Year Digital Device. Indeed, that printer’s current owner will testify to the Epson’s longevity having just picked up a prize for one of his pictures printed on it. Sure, the nozzles clog if you don’t use it frequently and the inks fade in bright sun, but the quality of the prints cannot be disputed.

Canon 5D and friends. A ten year kit?

All of which prompts the question whether the Canon 5D has a similar life expectancy. Sure, it remains a current model and certainly it is not as fast or as slick as newer offerings from DSLR makers. It coasts along at a modest three frames/second, has no dust removal and lacks silly features like live previews. Now given that 3 fps is meaningless to me as I take one picture at a time and avoid sports photography, I can only question who really needs the insane framing rates available today, sports and fashion snappers apart? Live previews are a solution looking for a problem with DSLRs but, yes, dust removal from the sensor would be nice to have. But I can live without it, just as I learned to live with the 1270′s clogging nozzles.

Wear is not an issue for me. After 30 months with the 5D it reports that I am on frame 6,873. That figures to some 25,000 frames over ten years, well below the 100,000 life expectancy of the 5D’s shutter.

Definition is not an issue. The law of diminishing returns suggests that all those latest pixel-heavy sensors are running into noise issues, and that the modest 12.8 megapixels of the 5D make for a perfect compromise between definition and noise.

Sensor size is an issue. I like what I have. As I want my 20mm lens to be 20mm, not the 32mm that I would get with a cropped sensor, and I like the depth of field a standard lens offers on the big sensor, my alternatives are limited to full frame cameras of which there are but two from each of Nikon and Canon. It’s clear we will have more large sensor DSLRs (Sony is rumored to be releasing one soon) and choice is always a good thing but the bottom line is that the images from the 5D’s sensor are so crisp, noise free and well defined that trading for more pixels or a medium format sensor make no sense.

Build quality is fine, too. Doubtless the big Canon and Nikon offerings are tougher but I’m an amateur snapper, for heaven’s sake, and not a photojournalist in a war zone.

Lens choice is fine and will only get better. A really good 20mm would be nice, Canon’s wide primes being less than thrilling unless you get the ridiculously bulky and expensive ‘L’ variants. Unless Canon does something truly dumb – like changing the lens mount – I am set.

Dynamic range, the biggest bugaboo of digital cameras (as in they have too little), is something I have worked around. Under-expose 1/2-1 stop and bring things back as needed in Lightroom, and all is well. Further, there will have to be some serious breakthroughs in sensor technology before DSLRs start exhibiting enhanced dynamic range. So for now I watch the highlights and let the shadows look after themselves at the exposure stage. Much as in the Kodachrome days….

Given that digital was a joke ten years ago and has now plateaued at a level significantly higher than film, it’s foolish to try to predict what will be on offer ten years hence. That plateau was reached a few years back by the Canon 1Ds Mark I and the 5D. So until some shattering new technology comes along that offers the image quality of the 5D in a package half the size, weight and noise – and I’m not holding my breath – I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that maybe the Canon 5D really is a ten year digital device. That’s assuming I am not completely gaga 7 years hence and can still lift a camera to eye level without wetting myself. No calling that one.

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