Blown away by 5D mki

*KungPOW* · 10-06-2009, 11:53 PM

I spent today shooting a couple of boats on the water for a company I work for. One of the other shooters was using a 5D mki. I have to say I am blown away with the image quality, colour and sharpness of the 5D with the 17-40 f4.0 L at ISO 1000.

Sure I've seen images in reviews, but this is the first time I have seen the Canon RAW files side by side with my K10D files.

I know the 5D setup was more then 4 times the cost of what I was using... So there should be a difference. But wow.

Maybe next time I'll get to use the 5D.

Sorry I can't post the images yet.

Substitute · 10-07-2009, 12:42 AM

Yep, no surprise here, that a 5Dmkii at iso 5000...close-ups are K10 or 20d at iso 800
erol_alkan

But then you have to admit the built quality really sucks, I hate the ergonomics, it's not a keeper since you upgrade once a year.

legacyb4 · 10-07-2009, 06:54 AM

Great lens, btw.

Originally Posted by KungPOW

I have to say I am blown away with the image quality, colour and sharpness of the 5D with the 17-40 f4.0 L at ISO 1000.

Gooshin · 10-07-2009, 07:51 AM

dynamic range...

the full frame sensors tend to maintain the DR all way to 3200+++

a Pentax camera will still capture detail, but the Dynamic range becomes worse than that of a Slide, the only difference is that a slide is BLACK and pentax is a green-blue-purple-banded-noise instead...

EDIT:

as for ergonomics, sorry guys, Canon wins here, it is the only camera that doesnt force me to curl my fingers, and allows me to actually hold it with my palm, reducing overall stress on the hand, it also gives me a place to put my pinky finger, with pentax it just sort of has to hang there for dear life, again, increasing stress on my hand.

and i dont have large hands either...

but thats a personal opinion.

Gruoso · 10-07-2009, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Substitute

But then you have to admit the built quality really sucks, I hate the ergonomics, it's not a keeper since you upgrade once a year.

I wonder where all this built quality crap comes from. Last time I checked, the body was magnesium alloy. They might have had some problems with quality control in some items but it is not like Pentax can be considered the king of quality control anyways.

Samsungian · 10-07-2009, 09:01 AM

When I bought my 5D the K20D sat at $1299 and 5D brand new was $1750.

So for me 5D aquistion was $450 than 3 month old K20D.

The prices I compare are prices I'm faced with paying.

Nice thing about Pentax is they always drop their issue price by half in 8 months after release, if you are willing to wait. I wasn't willing to wait for K20D to drop at that point & I thought the K20D launch price of $1299 was RIDICULOUS, so in response to Pentax , I bought & own two 5D Classics and a variety of lenses I may have never purchased.

So the 5D build quality "sucks", & yet, all these dslrs are disposable in my mind. I don't read of an abundance of Canon 5D owners complaining of failures. My two 5D haven't gone "KAPUT". No green line sensor defects. No switches broken off, No failure to power on, ect...

What is any dslr worth in 5 years? Look at Pentax ist*D, $1800 new and thesedays its hard to sell for $200 used.

Originally Posted by KungPOW

I spent today shooting a couple of boats on the water for a company I work for. One of the other shooters was using a 5D mki. I have to say I am blown away with the image quality, colour and sharpness of the 5D with the 17-40 f4.0 L at ISO 1000.

Sure I've seen images in reviews, but this is the first time I have seen the Canon RAW files side by side with my K10D files.

I know the 5D setup was more then 4 times the cost of what I was using... So there should be a difference. But wow.

Maybe next time I'll get to use the 5D.

Sorry I can't post the images yet.

*nostatic* · 10-07-2009, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Gruoso

I wonder where all this built quality crap comes from. Last time I checked, the body was magnesium alloy. They might have had some problems with quality control in some items but it is not like Pentax can be considered the king of quality control anyways.

The body on my 5D2 started creaking on about day 3. The way the plastic overlaps near the battery compartment is a poor design, and I won't be surprised if it breaks off at some point. Also there is a bit of general flex and "hollow" feeling compared to the Pentax.

That said, my K20d body finally started to creak just a bit in the area under the right thumb.

By comparison, the D700 feels more dense and solid. BUT, the port access door on the K20d is far superior to the flimsy rubber jobs used on both D700 and 5D2.

*nostatic* · 10-07-2009, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by Samsungian

When I bought my 5D the K20D sat at $1299 and 5D brand new was $1750.

So for me 5D aquistion was $450 than 3 month old K20D.

The prices I compare are prices I'm faced with paying.

Nice thing about Pentax is they always drop their issue price by half in 8 months after release, if you are willing to wait. I wasn't willing to wait for K20D to drop at that point & I thought the K20D launch price of $1299 was RIDICULOUS, so in response to Pentax , I bought & own two 5D Classics and a variety of lenses I may have never purchased.

So the 5D build quality "sucks", all these dslrs are disposable in my mind. I don't read of an abundance of 5D owners compaining of failures. My two 5D haven't gone "KAPUT". No green line sensor defects. No switches broken off, No failure to power on, ect...

What is any dslr worth in 5 years? Look at Pentax ist*D, $1800 new and theseday its hard to sell for $200 used.

Do you ever talk about anything other than price and what you paid for your cameras? There was not a single mention of cost in this thread. Not everyone is obsessed with purchase prices...

*DanLoc78* · 10-07-2009, 09:59 AM

my buddy just got a 5Dmk2 for his birthday...and checking out the images on the LCD I was quite amazed. How they'll look out of the camera, can't say (although I'm sure they'll be just as good)...but i did what seemed to be about a 1000% crop on someone's eye, and it was still tack sharp. The high ISO quality makes this camera very enticing. For now, I'm happy with my K10D...but I'm not going to lie to myself and say I wouldn't rather have a 5Dmk2.

Although...shooting RAW i noticed the file sizes were 25MB each...yowzer.

wasim_altaf · 10-07-2009, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by Gooshin

EDIT:

as for ergonomics, sorry guys, Canon wins here, it is the only camera that doesnt force me to curl my fingers, and allows me to actually hold it with my palm, reducing overall stress on the hand, it also gives me a place to put my pinky finger, with pentax it just sort of has to hang there for dear life, again, increasing stress on my hand.

and i dont have large hands either...

but thats a personal opinion.

I agree, Canon ergonomics is better in this regard -- deeper, thicker front grip; shutter-realease placed a little lower to allow the forefinger to gently rest on; thumb goes across the back of the body towards the viewfinder -- all make it easy and stress-free to hold.

I wish the K20D had wider and thicker front grip, so that one can fully extend and curl fingers around it. I'm holding the K20D with the tip of my fingers only, my palm providing no support. With heavy lens it feels like the camera will slip right thru my fingers. I also have a small hand but had to get the battery-grip to rest my pinky on.

*opianstate* · 10-07-2009, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by wasim_altaf

I wish the K20D had wider and thicker front grip, so that one can fully extend and curl fingers around it. I'm holding the K20D with the tip of my fingers only, my palm providing no support. With heavy lens it feels like the camera will slip right thru my fingers. I also have a small hand but had to get the battery-grip to rest my pinky on.

me too. That's one thing that always bothered me. I think the K20d is just a bit "short"....and the depth of the grip could be just a *bit* different, allowing you to manipulate the camera quickly

*KungPOW* · 10-07-2009, 11:50 AM

I went back and looked at the photo that reallt blew me away, and Gooshin nailed it.

It was the dynamic range that really made the shot. At ISO 1000, I would not have expected to see the very dark blues, up to the bright whites.

I didn't think the 5D body was cheaply built at all. The door covering the CF card could be better maybe, but I really did not think the camera deserves the rap it has.

As for size and handleing, I had expected the 5D to be a much larger and heavier camera. It wasn't. I liked the way the grip was long enough that my pinky had somewhere to go. The dials and controls were all easily reached.

Does anyone know if the 5D, or orther Canon DSLR's for that matter, have AutoISO? In the short time I had the camera to look at, I could not find it. Nikon has AutoISO that works well in all 4 modes, including M. So on Nikon, AutoISO Plus M acts just like Pentax's TAV mode. Just wondering about Canon.

Gooshin · 10-07-2009, 12:02 PM

if you click on the "dynamic range" tab, you will see.

Compare cameras

i know alot of people feel weird about DXO, but i think they are doing a good thing.

as you can see, the K20D starts off with a bit over 11 stops of DR, which is more than enough for most situations, even on a sunny day.

then we start going downhill, and FAST

by ISO 1600,and 3200, pentax drops to ~8 and ~7 respectivly. All of a sudden you start to FEEL it, particulary when the DR of the scene goes up (such as a dark street with glaring street lights with light absorbing asphalt and reflecting windows) So you end up with having to sacrafice the dark areas for the highlights... and you FEEL IT, particulary when the blackness exhibits clear banding and blue dotted noise

the 5D and Mkii are a stop and a half better than pentax at 1600, by 3200 it approaches to 2 stops.

two stops of DR in the dark is alot, forget even about the noise, because its not a fair comparison

pentax gives you blackness with noise, while the canon will give you SOME information with noise, hence the perceived decrease in noise.

You can, ofcourse, make the Pentax work, i have done it many times, but the canon just makes it so much easier.

*nostatic* · 10-07-2009, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by KungPOW

I didn't think the 5D body was cheaply built at all. The door covering the CF card could be better maybe, but I really did not think the camera deserves the rap it has.

As for size and handleing, I had expected the 5D to be a much larger and heavier camera. It wasn't. I liked the way the grip was long enough that my pinky had somewhere to go. The dials and controls were all easily reached.

Does anyone know if the 5D, or orther Canon DSLR's for that matter, have AutoISO? In the short time I had the camera to look at, I could not find it. Nikon has AutoISO that works well in all 4 modes, including M. So on Nikon, AutoISO Plus M acts just like Pentax's TAV mode. Just wondering about Canon.

I don't like the creak, but am otherwise happy with the way it feels in my had - it fits me better than the D700, and as above I agree about having enough space for my whole hand. K20d was a little cramped both from height and more so from fingertip room when curled around the grip.

5D2 has auto iso, but you can't change the upper and lower limit (arrghh). It is set at 100-3200. I wish I could change it to 200-6400. Otherwise the controls are fine once you get used to them. I like the quick access to all settings by pushing the 8-way controller button. But I don't like the way the zoom works in playback. I want to be able to program that to jump to 4x or 8x instead of one step at a time.

No perfect UI. You can get used to most anything, but there are certainly some aspects of Pentax that I prefer to Canon.

*maxwell1295* · 10-07-2009, 12:53 PM

Gooshin's post pretty much nailed it. High ISO, low light performance is the only reason I gave up my K20D's, Limiteds, and DA* zooms. I have the 5D classic and it is night and day in terms of performance in those particular areas.

I agree that the ergonomics are not very good and the custom menu doesn't have much to offer either. Build seems fine to me. The camera feels good and solid in my hands. IQ is very similar in normal conditions, but there's no beating full-frame for DOF.

The one thing I miss DEARLY is a TAv mode. Having to constantly change ISO is a bit of a drag. I'd love to set it at 50-3200 and just leave it there. I find myself leaving it at 3200 indoors and dropping down to 400 or 200 outdoors, depending on aperture.

I'm impressed, but definitely not blown away. Blown away was seeing 5DMK2 images at 6400. Of course, my wallet would also be blown away given the asking price for even used 5DMK2 bodies...

Oh yeah, if you really want to drool, find a shop that has the 85/1.2L and take it for a spin. That will absolutely blow you away!