Canon 5D Mark II: Jelly? No thanks.

Vincent Laforet:

“This camera is the ultimate “equalizer” – you no longer need half-million dollar’s worth of high definition video cameras and lenses delivered by a truck with its own driver to shoot a high definition film in low light – you just need a $2,700 camera and a few lenses – and talented and dedicated friends that you can call on last minute at the drop of a hat.

Everyone has been waiting for the video camera that can also take stills… here’s a still camera that can shoot stunning video.”

And it doesn’t have the “jelly motion” when panning, like the Nikon D90.

Canon sure had some shrewd timing for launching this camera, right after Nikon was done with the launching of the D90 and the D700 (and I bet they were feeling pretty proud of themselves just a few days ago). Nikon’s been poking them with a stick and look what happened: they opened a can of techno-whoop-ass in the shape of the 5D MkII.

What Canon is doing is putting an amazing video camera in the hands of photographers and a stunning photo camera in the hands of videographers, they are blurring a line that was once very clearly drawn between video and photo equipment. The fact that they are actually producing quite nice video cameras while Nikon has no prior experience in this field might make a difference.

Now head on to Vincent’s blog and read the whole thing, the camera is simply… impressive.

Smile, you are on video! The Canon 5D Mark II

The photographer web’s a’buzz with Canon brand spanking new 5D, the Mark II. The key features include a new 21MP full frame sensor, DIGIC 4 processor, VGA screen and environmental sealing.

And of course, last but definitely not least, Movie recording. And not just any movie recording mode: the full HD 1080p of glorious shooting. For 12 minutes. (VGA resolution for up to 24 minutes). The clips are encoded in H.264 in both modes.

I won’t go into more tech specs than that, DPReview has them covered in devilish detail. I will however discuss two issues: (1) market approach and (2) sensor wear.

One

Market approach goes first. Canon decided to go with movie recording in their higher end offering ($2700 is no pocket change), while Nikon goes for the entry level with the sub $1000 Nikon D90. This is rather interesting because, personally, if the Canon 50D had movie recording, I would not even think about the new 5D MkII, I just want to shoot video through my sweet Canon glass. And Canon is forcing me into spending $1000 more for the privilege. What is certain is that the next 50D (60D?) will most certainly have movie recording (1080p or less remains to be seen.)

To me, the first generation 5D was always a weird animal. It had an amazing sensor (it had a surgical quality to details that I found staggering), a rather hefty price tag, and yet the body was not even near the 1D series. It had no environmental sealing, the finish was somewhat like a 30D/20D, and the ergonomics were surpassed by the “fits like a glove” Nikon D200. Yet many (myself included*) were quite happy with the compromise for the imaging quality versus overall price. (The 1D series is still double the price.)

And now the Mark II solves those body issues (except the ergonomics bit probably – it looks identical to the 1st gen) and adds a 21MP sensor, which, if continues Mark I’s tradition of surgical quality, Canon’s got one whopper of a camera here.

Two

And now for the sensor thing, the question I want to ask (which goes to the Nikon D90 as well) is how will the sensor cope with lengthy movie recording sessions. Considering this issue of sensor heating and wearing, Nikon’s decision to go after the entry level market makes more sense, as the pro users won’t want to thrash their camera’s sensor on movies and then have it underperform in important photo shoots. While this may indicate that Canon have something up their sleeve like a sensor cooling system or a new sensor design that is more resilient to extended exposures. But I find that hard to believe, as this is something that Canon would have branded with a cool sounding trademark. SensorCool™. Or Thermoshield™. Or SensorCoolKeepingThingy™ (SCKT™). Well, you get the idea.

All sensors age, and as they do, hotpixels begin to rear their ugly 1px heads while more noise taints the image. Having stuff like Live View and movie recording mode only accelerates this process. For now, only time will tell how Canon and Nikon’s babies will fare under the pressure.

*While I don’t own a 5D myself, I worked with a borrowed unit for a few photo sessions as well as seeing tons of images with it while I worked at a stock agency. When I don’t borrow expensive gear from friends, I am shooting away on my “mere mortal grade” 30D, which may not have that 5D surgical grade image, but still has some cool stuff going for it: the amazing responsiveness of the thing and the fact that I can use the EFS 10-22.

Another day at the races: Canon 50D vs. Nikon D90 [Updated]

 

Canon 50D

Canon released their successor to the rather anticlimatic 40D, and DPReview got their hands on one. Actually, Canon claims that the 50D is more like a brother to the 40D rather than a successor, which I find to be a strange strategy, as the 50D has been introduced at the same 1300USD price that all the X0D cameras entered the market. So this probably means that the 40D will see a price reduction.

I can’t say I agree with this strategy, the marketplace is already pretty crowded with all kinds of entry level DSLRs, bridge cameras, semipro compacts and all that fuzz, and this will only make a new comer more confused. I would have guessed that having less clutter in the lineup makes for stronger products, Canon however seems to believe in the “more is more” thing. But fortunately this is not the only place where they seem to have shifted to the “more” mentality.

Which brings me to the fact that the 50D is a much more impressive update to the line than the 40D was to the 30D (maybe these two should have stayed “brothers”). Some of the important ones are the new 14MP sensor (promising even better low light performance than the previous 40D), Digic 4 image processor (which gives it the ability to deliver 14bit RAW files at a speed of 6.3fps) and last but not least environmental sealing (which brings it closer to the pro table, even if there’s that “not full frame” thing).

Being a current user of the Canon 30D, I must say that this is a very compelling upgrade, unlike the 40D, which basically left me yawning.

Nikon D90

The race between Nikon and Canon is tighter than ever, now that Nikon announced the D90. Even though people pit the Canon 50D against the Nikon D90, I don’t really see them as such, the Canon having more resolution (OK, just marginally), faster frame rate, higher ISO settings, environmental sealing. The Nikon has that movie shooting thing though, which is quite nice, even though it uses the Live View sensor for it and not the photo sensor,* you can use some real nice lenses to shoot 720p video. And the Nikon is $300 less than the Canon.

*EDIT: Thanks to David Chin for pointing out in the comments a misleading fact (okay, error, whatever) in this post: the D90 hasn’t got a separate Live View sensor, and it’s using the main sensor for all three functions: photo, live view and video. (Nikon isn’t very specific about the way Live View is captured, but video certainly uses the full sensor). That being said, I will only add that the more I think about it, the more I find that this is a sweet feature. And I’m waiting for Canon to add something similar to their cameras. I know they will. Eventually. Hopefully sooner than later.

I’m glad to see that Nikon is pushing the envelope, and I think this is amazingly good for the supporters of both camps. One example of the fact that this race is being taken seriously by Canon is that even though Canon’s laterst flagship cameras, the 1D series, are still stuck in 230k pixel screen territory, they blessed their 50D with a 920k pixel screen, something Nikon had for a while now. And the way the new Nikons handle high ISOs and low light really gave Canon a run for their money.

All things considered, the new Canon is a worthy successor, erm… brother, to Canon’s double digit D series, and I can’t wait to pair my Canon 10-22 EFS lens (which already produces stunning results on my Canon 30D) with the new beast.

Now, on with the show! Can’t wait for the in depth review from DPReview.