Canon 5D Mark II Review: Part I

Much has already been written about this camera – including in-depth reviews by Dpreview, Imaging Resource, Camera Labs, not to mention a long list of compiled resources that can be found at Planet 5D. These reviewers have access to sophisticated testing software such as Imatest, DXOmark data, and (have the enormous patience to) shoot real-life test subjects and resolution test charts in controlled and consistent conditions. If you’re looking for raw resolution, dynamic range, and high ISO noise data, or head-to-head comparisons on how this camera performs against it’s competitors, I would strongly recommend these reviews. This review (my notes) is from the point of view of a working photographer (creating still photographs in the more ‘traditional’ sense) , CG and VFX artist (I need to shoot HDR images), and cinematographer (I need to shoot RAW footage).

STILL CAMERA

As a still camera, it seems Canon made it specifically for my style of shooting – I’d still be shooting my work using my medium format Mamiya RZ-67 Pro II, if the editorial and commercial photography industry hadn’t gone digital. Being used to manually controlling virtually every aspect of the camera I’m using, how many shots a camera can take in one second isn’t much of an issue for me (it’s 3.9 fps is significantly slower than the Nikon D700s 5 fps or 8fps with battery grip), neither is cutting edge auto-focus performance (it’s 9 point AF array is at least a generation behind Nikon’s current 51 point AF system, albeit I find those 9 points perfectly adequate for my needs).

What makes the Canon 5D Mark II groundbreaking, is it’s sensor. It’s full frame (24x36mm) sensor with 21.1 effective mega-pixels delivers among the highest levels of image quality and resolution possible. Shooting at ISO 100, the resulting images have a  level of detail, smoothness of tonality, and lack of noise at low ISO that makes the resulting images have  that ‘creamy’, high-level of detail, lack-of-grain look normally associated with medium format (6×7 in particular). Technical image quality is, after all, the reason photographers go through the trouble of shooting medium format in the first place. However, there are a few things I’d suggest to Canon to improve it (hopefully through a firmware update when possible);

5 or 7 shot auto-bracketing while expanding the range to _+3 . A 3 shot bracket over the range of 5 stops is a bit limited when creating HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. Of course, it is possible to bracket manually, but since ideally the camera has zero movement between exposures, the more times I need to handle the camera to change settings, the greater the chance of movement. Which brings me to the next feature I would like to see.

With one press of a button, I need to activate the 2 second self timer, lock-up the mirror, and take 7 bracketed exposures (with the 7 exposures taken while the mirror is up).
* Note: HDR (High Dynamic Range) images are essential and functional elements in the visual effects and CG world, and they have been around long before they became popular with the tone-mapped and highly saturated images now associated with HDR.

Add a Luminosity Meter – A feature I miss from the Kodak Professional digital capture devices was called the ‘Luminometer’ – essentially it allows you to move a cursor around while reviewing the shot and the camera displays the specific RGB pixel values of the area under the cursor and where it falls in the histogram – essentially a super precise spot meter.

Eyepiece shutter – since most landscape and HDR photographers will have this camera on a tripod and trigger it remotely, or use the aforementioned 2 second-timer plus mirror lock-up method (which necessitates having the camera away from the body), it would make sense to have a convenient eyepiece shutter that can be flicked open and closed, as opposed to having to remove the rubber eyepiece and using the plastic eyepiece ‘blocker’ on the strap. This really isn’t a big deal and I’m probably just accustomed to the Nikon F5 eyepiece shutter on my Kodak DCS 760.

MOVIE CAMERA
Working on VFX projects, I’ve used Panasonic’s classic  AG-DVX100B, as well as the most controllable moving camera systems that exist – the virtual cameras built into Softimage XSI and Autodesk Maya. Because the Canon 5D Mark II  captures video on its full frame 24x36mm sensor, as well as allow the use  of a wide range of EOS mount lenses, in some ways, it comes closer the expensive full frame film movie cameras  than even some of the most advanced and recent video systems that a film maker on a budget would consider – such as the Panasonic HVX200 or Canon’s own XL-H1 (which don’t have ‘full frame’ 24x36mm sensors). Currently however, the Canon 5D Mark II’s video implementation is rudimentary and has a lot of room for improvement.

There are reasons why even relatively small film or video crews are necessarily larger than a photography crew – and becoming the next Akira Kurosawa or Vittorio Storaro will require much, much more than simply a still camera with a ‘movie’ mode. Even at it’s most basic, focusing and zooming while trying to dolly and pan/tilt the camera gracefully (which is an art in itself) is not easy. That being said, I can see the possible directions the next generations of the cameras are heading, and it can get really interesting for indie film (or small scale) makers. Hopefully Canon’s engineers and product development team realize what a wonderful opportunity it would be to completely think out of the box of traditional solutions – and think in terms of the budgetary and crew constraints future budding cinematographers will face – when developing future features for video in EOS DSLRs. A cinematographer has to…

Expose Properly

This camera needs the option for independent movie and still exposures. While shooting a movie, and a still shot is taken, the ‘still’ shot should respect the manual exposure settings (this can be built into a custom function).

Of course, full and independent manual exposure control of video (in either dark or bright situations) and stills would be ideal. One approach could be an internal variable Neutral density filter that can be used to reduce light from 0 to 5 stops while shooting video mode. Either that or have an ‘outdoor’ video me that is effectively ISO 12 or 6.
(Update: With Canon’s release of firmware 1.1.0, manual exposure control for video is now possible. What I would like to see next is the ability to set video and still exposures independently, such as having the video in Aperture Priority AE for video using ambient light, and shifting to the manually set exposure settings for stills using strobes.)

Pull Focus

Programmable focus with EOS utility, lock focus at 2 or more distances and allow racking the focus from one position to another over a set period of time (ideally with an ease-in and ease-out curve). This may not replace a skilled manual focus puller, but it can add a level of automation and consistency in small photography/cinematography productions.

Zoom In and Out

Power zoom in and out – controllable remotely. This is probably beyond the capability of the current EOS mount (or at least the current lenses). There is a possibility that Canon might be able to create lenses that can electronically zoom in and out (as they do with the ultra-sonic motor driven AF) in the future and incorporate that functionality within the current EOS mount hardware.

Change Frame Rates

24p video mode. While I don’t consider it to be absolutely critical, it would be nice to have. Also, allow 120 fps video capture (show us how efficient the .H264 codec is and what the DIGIC processor is capable of) for dramatic slow motion.

Control The Camera And View Footage Remotely

Allow all of the above to be controlled wirelessly from a workstation with the video being written via WIFI on the workstation’s hard drive and in-camera CF card simultaneously. This way the shot can be reviewed and reprogrammed from the workstation while the camera itself is on a dolly or crane.

- Tommy Zablan