[Christopher M.W.T]

Whilst waiting for my flight to Sth Korea I spent a hour in an electornics shop at Heathrow and played with:

1. Panasonic G1 & GH2
2. Samsung NX10
3. Olympus EP-2
4. Canon 5D MK2

Had a play with these cameras and initially I was impressed with the size, feel and ergonomics of the units, especially the NX10 which in photos looked downright unpractical and uncomfortable. I loved the feel of the 5D Mk2 in my hands.

I really liked the build and design of the EP-2, not sure what it is but I definitely loved that little camera and want one.

To my big surprise the AF was a lot faster than I'd expected.

My MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR gripe with the NX10 & Panasonic was the absolutely terrible viewfinders, they have miles and miles to go before they can even match a real viewfinder, can't comment on the EP-2s attachment as I didn't have one to sample. To my eyes all I keep seeing is rainbow flashes to which is really annoying. Worse it just looks like someone got an LCD and put a magnifier on it, doesn't feel right and very uncomfortable for long periods.

Now the 5D MK2..............I am disappointed. I loved the feel of it in my hands but totally hated the ergonomics and button layout, maybe because i'm use to the K-7 which I find to be fantastic with the front and rear e-dials.

I found the AF on the 5D Mk2 to not be anything special, the camera had the Canon 24-105 USM lens attached, I found the AF to be sloppy at times, a tad slo and the AF-C to be at times inaccurate. To be honest I feel the K-7 with the SDM 50-135 is much faster.

So would any of them cameras make me leave the Pentax for another brand? nah not really I wasn't really wowed by any of them. I mean yes the 5D is full frame and does 1080p video but to use it, it just didn't feel right.

[ilya80]

I found the AF on the 5D Mk2 to not be anything special, the camera had the Canon 24-105 USM lens attached, I found the AF to be sloppy at times, a tad slo and the AF-C to be at times inaccurate. To be honest I feel the K-7 with the SDM 50-135 is much faster.

Now this is shocking. 5D mk2 faster then sdm lens on k7.

[dylansalt]

You mean "shocking that 5D MK11 is slower than Pentax SDM" - Don't you??

[dylansalt]

on another note try compare the nIKON D90/D300s autofocus & tracking - kinda blows away the Pentax af.

[Shashinki]

I guess Canon bought the last of the stock of SAFOX VIII for use in their 5D mkII.

[Mike.P®]

on another note try compare the nIKON D90/D300s autofocus & tracking - kinda blows away the Pentax af.

Or even the 7D. Watching the subject being tracked in those little points through the viewfinder is mind boggling. If the K-7 and 50-135mm is faster than the 5D MKII then there must have been a problem with the Canon because probably the only lens slower than the 50-135mm would be the DA* 55mm f1.4.

[thibs]

My experience is about the same. Lat Sunday I had the opportunity to try the 5D of a friend of mine.
UI is acceptable?better than nikon IMO) but way behind pentax.

5D is BIG, af was noisy as hell but lens was.Sigma 24-70 non HsM.
Viewfinder is pretty cool butnot as good as I'd thought. Still I'd be happy to have such a VF.
AF in plain sun, no tracking was OK, a tad faster than 50-135 and a lot faster than my sigma 28/1.8 but no faster than usual pentax screwdrive af.
I Didn't test tracking I suppose it s way better than pentax but couldn't test. Too hot for running around
the exposure when moving the camera was way more reponsove on my k7, buy a long Margin.

5d ISA bit old of course.
of course the 5D is a little old.

[Parallax]

This is not news or rumor. Moved to Non-Pentax Cameras forum.

[pxpaulx]

I really liked the build and design of the EP-2, not sure what it is but I definitely loved that little camera and want one.

To my big surprise the AF was a lot faster than I'd expected.

My MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR gripe with the NX10 & Panasonic was the absolutely terrible viewfinders, they have miles and miles to go before they can even match a real viewfinder, can't comment on the EP-2s attachment as I didn't have one to sample. To my eyes all I keep seeing is rainbow flashes to which is really annoying. Worse it just looks like someone got an LCD and put a magnifier on it, doesn't feel right and very uncomfortable for long periods.

I just purchased an olympus e-pl1 to replace my panasonic gf1 (couldn't live with lack of image stabilization in body - guess I've had too much of a good thing with Pentax!). I had the viewfinder for the GF1, but it was abysmal, something like 122K dot resolution (only useful in bright light where the LCD was washed out). I wasn't keen on buying the olympus vf-2, though I had read it was much better. Well, I tried the olympus VF in-store on monday night. Ordered it on ebay yesterday (they are sold out everywhere, with good reason). Here is was dpreview had to say about the oly VF (which is 1.44MP, 10x the resolution of the GF1 VF I had) compared to those in the G1/GH1:

The VF-2 offers the same 800x600 pixel resolution as the unit that appears in the Panasonic G1, GH1 and G2 but makes each pixel up of three dots (red, green and blue), rather than the Panasonic's field sequential display that draws each color one after the other. This gives the Olympus the advantage that it doesn't suffer from the 'tearing' that can occur if you move the Panasonics quickly (meaning that the camera is trying to draw a slightly different scene by the time is updates each different color, giving vertical objects a red, green and blue edge for a split second).

I am guessing the rainbow effect was from the constant refreshing of different colored VF pixels in the panasonic (and probably nx10 too). Sounds like something similar to the rainbow effect people used to experience with DLP projectors - due to the refresh rate and some people's vision, it would creat an unwatchable rainbow effect (since fixed through higher refresh rates).

The VF-2 from olympus is simply put amazing. MF was spectacular and I can wait to use it with some legacy glass.

[Samsungian]

Canon 5D is 2005 technology, K-7 is 2009

In 2005 Pentax best camera was DS2 ?

People like to point out the 50-135mm SDM is the crop equivilent of 70-200mm 2.8.

I own a Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS and its stunning how fast and hunt free the autofocus is on my 2005 era 5D.

Sigma has a tough time counterfeiting Eos mount.
I would not suggest Sigma to any Canon owner though some do have sigma favorites they'll bring up.

I'm not sure if I'll buy K-7 as I'm unhappy with the new smaller platform.
My K20D Pentax is just a tad smaller than my 5D and I still like K20D

Thats nice Pentax is making smaller dslrs for people who want it.

Hopefully K-7 's replacement will be even smaller to please most Pentaxians

My experience is about the same. Lat Sunday I had the opportunity to try the 5D of a friend of mine.
UI is acceptable?better than nikon IMO) but way behind pentax.

5D is BIG, af was noisy as hell but lens was.Sigma 24-70 non HsM.
Viewfinder is pretty cool butnot as good as I'd thought. Still I'd be happy to have such a VF.
AF in plain sun, no tracking was OK, a tad faster than 50-135 and a lot faster than my sigma 28/1.8 but no faster than usual pentax screwdrive af.
I Didn't test tracking I suppose it s way better than pentax but couldn't test. Too hot for running around
the exposure when moving the camera was way more reponsove on my k7, buy a long Margin.

5d ISA bit old of course.
of course the 5D is a little old.

[B Grace]

Isn't the 5D Mk2 mentioned by the OP only 1 or 2 years old tech?

[Shashinki]

Canon 5D is 2005 technology, K-7 is 2009P

Thats why Pentax needs to upgrade its AF-system to crush the SAFOX VIII-like AF of the 5DII.

For action photography, weather sealing, fps etc. body-wise the Canon 7D is miles ahead of the 5D mkII. The 5D even creaks and makes misc. low-build-quality sounds in cold weather. Imagine that in a camera thats less expensive. You gotta love the FF hype.

Edit: I have to add the appalling AWB of the 5D... that's a real shame

[jct us101]

I hear a ton of good things about the VF-2 and the E-PL1. So much that when I can afford it, I'm probably going to get one. After all I do own the forum.

[cwood]

Well I just added the 5dII to the equipment list to go with K20D, K-7, 1DmkIII and Canon 30D.

After a week of shooting I can say the sensor in the camera lives up to the hype and the rest is a pretty big let-down.

It sounds like such a small thing but the difference between a 9 point (5dII) and an 11 point (k20D) Autofocus system is huge.

With the 24-105 the AF is slow and hunts WAY more than my 1DIII. It is much more similar to K-7

Menu functions are super annoying - even the manual does not provide adequate explanation for what some of these things are actually supposed to do.

But as I said - the sensor is nice and that's why I got it.

[Samsungian]

Have you downloaded, read up on the Canon White Paper for 5D Mark II?

Canon Digital Learning Center - Canon White Papers: Beyond the Manual

Supposedly 5D Mark II and 5D, which I own have same autofocus system.
All but one of my Eos lenses are f2.8.
I find the 5D autofocus system adequate, superior to K20D.
In lowlight my old Canon 5D takes shots where my Pentax K20D just simply hunts, & hunts & hunts till I put it away.

Well I just added the 5dII to the equipment list to go with K20D, K-7, 1DmkIII and Canon 30D.

After a week of shooting I can say the sensor in the camera lives up to the hype and the rest is a pretty big let-down.

It sounds like such a small thing but the difference between a 9 point (5dII) and an 11 point (k20D) Autofocus system is huge.

With the 24-105 the AF is slow and hunts WAY more than my 1DIII. It is much more similar to K-7

Menu functions are super annoying - even the manual does not provide adequate explanation for what some of these things are actually supposed to do.

But as I said - the sensor is nice and that's why I got it.