Canon EOS 5D Mark II Full Frame DSLR Camera (Body Only) (Old Model)

Name: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Full Frame DSLR Camera (Body Only) (Old Model)
SKU: 39471
Availability: InStock

4.3 | 654 ratings

Price: 1084.95

Last update: 07-07-2024

About this item

21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, 14-bit A/D conversion, wide range ISO setting 100-6400
Body only, lenses sold separately,1-Year Canon U.S.A. Limited Warranty
DIGIC 4 Image Processor; high-performance 3.9 fps continuous shooting; Live View Function for stills
Full HD video capture at 1920x1080 resolution for up to 4GB per clip ; HDMI output
Updated EOS Integrated Cleaning System specifically designed to work with a full-frame sensor

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Top reviews from the United States

TYZ

Review from an enthusiast

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2012

I am an enthusiast photographer. I understand the relationship between aperture, shutter and ISO; I understand the basics of composition, rules of thirds and all that; watches youtube constantly and try to learn more; and I process my RAW in Lightroom because I am not a professional and just a bit lazy to learn layers and Photoshop.

I am budget conscious, not rich or anything. Therefore it is a bit hard for me to justify buying over 3000 dollars of equipment for mainly weekend and vacation shooting. I've used it for almost 2 weeks and I would say overall I don't regret buying it. I will list some pros and cons from my perspective.

Pros:

A lot of detail is available from the RAW files. A bit of brushing and those blown out while sky comes back to life easily. Just tweaking with LR, I can get those HDR looking photos where everywhere is exposed without doing bracketing. Its not perfect HDR of course, but pretty good and amazing in my opinion. And of course, the details in the images are very crisp, a big upgrade from my old camera.

The rate of 3.9 is pretty good in my opinion. I use a 600x card and shoot RAW only; the camera shows 13 shots continuously at that rate before clogging, which is pretty good.

The weight of the camera makes shooting at slower shutter speed easier. When I was hand holding my old camera(I rather not say model), I usually have bluish image at 1/15, but this one seems to do it pretty well. Some people probably can hand hold 1/15 easily with any camera, but this is just something I noticed. I think the extra weight gave me this extra stability or maybe there is something going on inside.

Knowing that this is a Full Frame camera with the ability to capture pretty much the best quality images is satisfying. I travel whenever my finance allow, and some of the destinations I probably will never go again or just simply change from time to time. Therefore the biggest justification for myself buying this camera is to be able to capture images without later regrets. Before, I had images with the sky fully blown out or the face of my subject poorly lit and by recovering from LR, I just loose a lot of detail and make everything look unpleasant. Professionals probably can shoot better I know, but I am not pro and the comfort of not paying so much for my mistakes and no regrets is the main reason I am happy with my decision.

now onto the Cons:

Like everyone said, the focus is the downside of 5DII. Maybe I am overshadowed by all the other reviews; but from what I feel, I just think its a bit slow, more noticeable during darker situations. I have not used a lot of cameras so maybe I am just nit-picking. When I mount the 50mm 1.4 on the 5DII, the focus is a bit slow, and also the minimal focus distance for the 50mm 1.4 is quiet long at 0.45m. I was inside a museum, and sometimes I'm just too close to the subject, or sometimes its just too dark, so the focusing seems to be confused once in awhile. I don't have anything technical to back this up, just my feeling. The lack of focus point don't bother me at all since I only use the central one and rarely shoot birds or sports. Its not a problem when I'm outside, I hardly notice it, but when I do, it bothers me.

The weight adds stability while shooting, but is definitely not good for walking. Having this magnesium alloy brick hanging on my neck without support is not pleasant.

Shutter is a bit loud and lower pitch. I think each and everyone have a different preference for shutter sound. I actually like the sound of short higher pitch, for example the Rebels.

Vignette and Light fall off. Coming from a cropped, the vignetting and light falls off at the corners is much more noticeable. I know different lens behaves differently, but this is definitely more noticeable.

Build-in Mic is nearly useless during recording. It is very noisy. Even if you want to record something simple, the quality of sound coming out of the mic makes me mute it all together.

The large megapixel makes my Lightroom 4.1 a lot slower. I have an Acer Laptop, i5-2410, 8GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce GT540M laptop. No SSD, just regular 640GB, 5400RPM Hard drive. The laptop is not something blazing fast, but I had no problem with 10 Megapixel RAW files. Now the full 21 Megapixel RAW files from 5DII are making my LR a lot slower. I already rooted my comp to clean out the bloatwares and tried to render 1:1 when importing and all the other tweaks I can find on the internet but it is still quiet slow. It is noticeably slow while editing (applying different presets and brushing) and slow when exporting. Its not anything bad for the camera, but something every buyer should consider, as I am now planning to dropping more money to buy a better desktop.

Recommendations:

I think for those non-professionals, this is probably the best pick for the money. The new 5DIII is obviously better, but the price is a big factor for me. For people who have the money, buy it; but I don't, so I rather save that extra dollars and spend it on a vacation. The focus is good enough in my opinion, probably because I don't shoot sports or things that are moving like crazy. All the other nitpicks such as power switch position, dop preview position, slow rate are completely irrelevant in my opinion. 5DII is a solid camera, and I think its best buy for the money since the ability to produce good image is the most important factor.

For those who wants to buy a full frame, I would say make sure you know why you want to buy it. The desire of getting better gear is always with us, and I recommend for anyone buying anything really, make sure you justify your purchase. Please don't buy a good camera like this and simply put it away in your closet after the first few month. It pains budget conscious people like me who have invested so much time to find the best pick. If you have the extra cash, knows that photography requires lots of hard work, and want to advance in photography, I would say its worth it.

Elder Law Prof.

The Best DSLR So Far

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2009

The 5D Mark II represents the future of digital SLR photography/videography. I was fortunate to purchase my kit with the EF 24-105 f/4L at its actual list price of $3,499 through Amazon and sold by 6 Ave Electronics on December 29, 2008. That offer was only available for about 6 hours. Now that I have used the camera for 6 months, I would even now pay a significant premium over the list price to have it. In my opinion it is worth much more than the list price in terms of advancements in low-light, low-noise and quick exposure setting features. It also has markedly improved picture quality over all other Canon DSLRs with the exception of the 1Ds Mark III ($7,000 street) which it at least matches.

This camera isn't perfect. The 5D Mark II does have a lower frame rate than some other very fine cameras at 3.9 frames per second. Nevertheless, this frame rate has been fine for my purposes, including wildlife and bird photography. I am able to catch hummingbirds in flight. Unless you are a professional sports or action photographer there is simply no need to consider the much more expensive 1 series camera bodies.

I would have preferred more focus points than the 9 visible and 6 invisible points this camera provides, though in normal lighting conditions there has been no problem getting fast, accurate focus. In very low light where the shot requires an ISO of 3200 or 6400 and no flash, the camera does sometimes have trouble, especially with moving or flat, low-contrast subjects. But considering that we wouldn't even be able to get an essentially noise-free image with another camera at these settings it seems a small criticism.

This camera also lacks an internal flash. Some people may feel this to be a loss, but with the extraordinary low-light capability of the 5D Mark II I haven't missed this feature at all. When I want to use a flash I can easily attach one, and that seems to be a rare event now. The ability to capture low light images without the exposure problems flash often causes is an enormous improvement for me. And when I need a flash I always have my 580 EX II available, though it does add some weight to this body.

The high resolution of this camera will show up flaws in any attached lens. Thus, you are going to have to use high quality glass to get the most out of the body. Those who are not able or willing to make an investment in "L" quality lenses would probably be just as happy with a 50D or similar bodies from other manufacturers. On the other hand, this camera's ability to register most Canon lenses and eliminate problems like peripheral illumination has proven remarkable during my use.

Notably, there are many other improvements over the original 5D, which was a wonderful camera that many people would still be very happy with. The Mark II's new display is outstanding; while a few other cameras now offer the same 3 inch high resolution LCD, the new display allows the user to enlarge the image enough to get a very good idea of what the final image will look like in print. When using auto ISO settings the camera makes very good choices to capture the best image possible. In fact, the algorithms this camera's DIGIC 4 processor uses for all its settings seem superior to any of the others I have looked at. And if you don't like the choices the camera makes, it is completely customizable, including 3 user settings on the main control knob.

Then too, you do have to read the manual and take time to learn the many controls and settings that are available. I am convinced that several of the negative reviews on this site are simply the result of not understanding the full capabilities of this camera. For example comments about the "sharpness" of photos fail to take into account that the camera comes with certain sharpness settings by default, but that these can be changed and images sharpened to an almost garish degree. Other comments about supposed failings of different portrait mode settings or white balance adjustments likewise seem not to recognize that nearly every setting on this camera can be modified to match the operator's desires. This is a highly advanced instrument which requires some study before taking it out into the field.

One way to judge a camera body is by the people who choose to use it. The outstanding professional photographer and professor of photography, Pete Souza was named official Whitehouse photographer earlier this year; his history-making first digital official Presidential portrait of President Obama was made using a 5D Mark II. Numerous photo journalists, wedding and event photographers and others who make their living with their equipment are using 5D Mark II bodies. I am also seeing this camera being used more and more by sports photographers, despite its 3.9 fps rate.

I have said nothing about the video capability. This was not a reason for my purchase, but I have been impressed by the quality of the videos this camera produces. I did not at first recognize what a game changer high def video capability in an SLR would become. It is interesting that Canon has now issued a firmware upgrade to allow full manual exposure control during videography which in my experience works very well. You must, however, have a good quality computer with a fast processor and high end video card to be able to edit the high def output.

Like any other camera, there are a few small things Canon could have done to make this an even more remarkable improvement over the original 5D. But taken as a whole, for my money this is far and away the best, most feature rich and useable DSLR available for professional and serious photographers.

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