http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2008/...ark-ii-review/

Another review I found on POTN... esp. interesting are the comparison shots to the Nikon D3/D700.

oh snap, nice comparison pics. You can see the 2 very different approaches to noise handling huh?

So is it just really hard to find the 5dii body at the moment? I've seen they have the 5dii Kit @ amazon and other places, but I'm after the body only.

Jared

Originally Posted by jared703

So is it just really hard to find the 5dii body at the moment? I've seen they have the 5dii Kit @ amazon and other places, but I'm after the body only.

Jared

yup, body only is pretty difficult, I havnt seen anyone with the body only for sale. Prob still have a month or so til is semi available.

Thanks- I figured getting the body was going to take some time. I'm trying to figure out if I should backorder from somewhere like Adorama since B&H isn't taking any more orders (for just the body). I'd like to avoid picking one up locally bc I'll get hit with 5% sales tax. I just picked up the 24-105L a month or so ago, and don't feel I could even sell a new one for $800 to cover my my purchase price if I bought the kit. I wouldn't mind the wait, but I'm in the middle of selling my xti off now and I'll be camera-less for a bit it sounds.

24-105s are worth more than $800 typically. Yes, the market is a bit saturated right now, but I've seen some go (from Kits) for $800 pretty fast. Something to consider, but just be honest and list it for $800. Also, if you offer a BIN ebay auction the live cashback might help.

Pulled the trigger yesterday on the 5dii kit. I'm very excited. Since I just picked up a used copy of the 24-105L a little while back, I'm going to try to sell or trade it (plus some cash) for a 17-40. I'd keep the new 24-105 I get with the kit.

if you got the box with the old used version, as long as it's "sharp", selling the brand new kit lens with a real box (kits don't come with the retail box) might make it an easier sell for more money. But yeah, trading one for the 17-40 is a very smart move.

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

if you got the box with the old used version, as long as it's "sharp", selling the brand new kit lens with a real box (kits don't come with the retail box) might make it an easier sell for more money. But yeah, trading one for the 17-40 is a very smart move.

Yeah, I do have the box from the 24-105L that I bought. It seems very sharp so far. Do you know if there is any difference between the 24-105's? I haven't researched the date code from the one I have now, but the guy I picked it up from claimed it was very sharp and referenced the date code several times.

the very early copies had an issue I think? not sure, but I remember them mentioning something on PotN. Not sure if canon made a change though.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...ig-three.shtml

Noise comparison between Sony A900, D3x, and 5DmkII... here is the statement that everyone should repeat to themselves several times:

Originally Posted by Luminous Landscape

Though some fans of each of these cameras may turn out to be disappointed by these results, they shouldn't be. All three cameras are remarkable.

IMO, the results he found clearly point to the 5D being the champ since it holds up to the D3x and is significantly cheaper.

5dii arrived today, loving it so far. It's quite an upgrade come up from the xti. Went down to the Potomac and snapped off a few shots Here's one I liked.

nice! I bet it feels HUGE coming from a XTi right?

and my second battery finally arrived today. The screen came in Friday, so now I'm just waiting on my L bracket.

Even compared to my gripped xti, it feels much more solid. Are you going to grip yours? I think I will will mine so I can go back with the hand strap. Any idea when when the RRS L bracket is going to come in? I'd like to go with a RRS setup similar to yours sooner than later.

RRS has made the first batch, but it was 150 and they had 300+ orders already... So I placed my order and should have one from the next batch in January, but who knows.

I WILL NOT be gripping my 5Dii. I don't like grips unless I need them to hold the body comfortably, and since the 40D I haven't needed one. FYI, your L-bracket needs to be for a gripped or NOT gripped camera, the brackets won't work for both.

Also, you can do a hand strap w/o a grip, so don't buy one for that (especially because the RRS brackets have the lug on them for the hand strap anyway).

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

RRS has made the first batch, but it was 150 and they had 300+ orders already... So I placed my order and should have one from the next batch in January, but who knows.

I WILL NOT be gripping my 5Dii. I don't like grips unless I need them to hold the body comfortably, and since the 40D I haven't needed one. FYI, your L-bracket needs to be for a gripped or NOT gripped camera, the brackets won't work for both.

Also, you can do a hand strap w/o a grip, so don't buy one for that (especially because the RRS brackets have the lug on them for the hand strap anyway).

Thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by porschewrx

Saw this over on potn Canon 5D Mark II video
Cool stuff both footage wise and quality.

That was one of the best I have seen so far. Really makes me want one even more. It would make it really easy to make some nature/landscape vids for the website and blog to bring in more potential customers/clients.

First ever presidential photo taken with a digital camera? Yep, of Obama, using the 5DII:

http://i.gizmodo.com/5131532/the-fir...digital-camera

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/find/n...5D-Mark-II.jsp

another review...

I am now sorta leaning towards a 1D instead of a 5D, but having a hard time choosing. They both have elements that I really want, but not all together. Time to put them in a room alone together!

Seriously, though, I'd have to have money first for these things, I guess--stupid resolutions!!!

Originally Posted by Markitos

I am now sorta leaning towards a 1D instead of a 5D, but having a hard time choosing. They both have elements that I really want, but not all together. Time to put them in a room alone together!

Seriously, though, I'd have to have money first for these things, I guess--stupid resolutions!!!

I was thinking about the same as well for awhile Mark, I decided the 5d2 was the camera for me, ISO alone puts it over the top, but there are a bunch of features on the 1d3 that id love to have.

Scott can help here, actually. Scott--what are the worst conditions you've had your 5D out in, how were you shooting with it, and was it totally exposed to the elements or not?

Weatherproofing isn't a deciding factor one way or the other, but I am still curious.

both have 6400 that's usable, so I wouldn't pick the 5Dii on ISO alone....

and yeah, I've decided a 1Dii of some flavor will be my "back up" but after selling the 40D last week for Nikki's XSi I'm going to sit it out for a while and see how bad "just" a 5Dii is this summer. I'm with mark in the not having funds department, so while I wait for them to accumulate, I'll see how one body actually works for me.

For me it's resolution, size, and video vs. weatherproofing, AF, and overall durability. ISO is a wash for me, and I am not enthusiastic about losing FF if I go the 1D route. I don't really abuse my 5D, but I don't feel great about it being out in the elements, either.

I would love better focus tracking/speed, esp. in low light, and the customizability of the 1D is really appealing.

Honestly, for me the 1 series is about FPS more than anything else. Then AIservo tracking, but NOT both at the same time (when I do sequences I try to use MF whenever possible to avoid 1 blurry shot in the middle). Yes the sealing is nice, but I can honestly say I've only shot ONCE when I wouldn't have used the 5D and I didn't keep any of the shots.

the 5 series is more than durable enough and sealed enough for me.

Every time I really reason through it I come back to the 5D as the more logical choice, but the AF speed and some other things really sing a good siren song.

Originally Posted by SubieBoobie

Logical why?

It's form factor is smaller, which I like; I don't use my gear in bad weather all that often, so the weather sealing isn't really a factor; I'm not a pro, so having the SD card as backup is not essential; having a choice of higher resolution and about equal high ISO performance is appealing; 3.9fps is enough for me; the AF on the 5D is usually adequate for me, if not great in low light; FF is preferable for me so that I can have my wide angles...

those are the main things... the form factor is pretty important to me, as is having FF. I don't want a 1DsmkII because the high ISO performance isn't on par with these bodies, though most of the other specs are appealing.

Basically, a 5D type camera fits my needs better overall.

yeah, I'm with you mark. The one thing that has me wondering is the sigma 20mm would be ~26mm on a 1.3.. But the whole size issue is what kills it for me. Lugging a 1 series around some times is fine, but as your only body on a trip? **** that. So I'll always keep a 5D for FF and portability, then maybe a 1 series as backup for when it's specs are better (not very often honestly for me).

I'm seriously considering trading my 1DIII for another 5DII. I shot a track day on Friday, and found the 5DII to be fast enough, and the IQ to be superior to the 1DIII.

Originally Posted by mkfotos

I'm seriously considering trading my 1DIII for another 5DII. I shot a track day on Friday, and found the 5DII to be fast enough, and the IQ to be superior to the 1DIII.

this is good to hear from you... thanks for the input!

yeah, good to know. I'm half tempted to try a 1Diii (rent) to compare it to my 5Dii, but I'm afraid I might like it.... but seriously, there's nothing I need it for -vs- the 5Dii, just things I want.

a 5Dii with Nikon's grip to boost FPS would rock my world. Especially if they could do sRAW and cRAW for faster FPS/deeper buffers.

Here's an idea I had months if not years ago. Instead of binning the extra pixels, why not utilize them to expand the dynamic range, in a sort of one-shot multi-exposure, meaning that some of the photosites could be set at +/-3 stops from the "main" photosites. 22MP images could be dropped to 11MP, but with, say, 15 stops of dynamic range, 5MP with 18 stops, etc. I'd love that...

yeah, that seems harder than what they're doing now though as the pixels aren't all for all colors... So maybe you'd have to cut in in thirds? Not sure.

But the cropped deal Nikon already does on it's FF bodies would be sick. cRAW and sRAW both in the same body. Then let those rip through at a higher FPS. Yes, I realize this would mean a different more expensive mirror and AF...

I haven't read up much on the extent to the weather sealing on the 5d2, but I think it has some. Needless to say It worked flawlessly in the snow today, I had a blast shooting the dog goofing off in the snow. Granted I didn't get it very wet, but I wasn't nervous about it either.

Thought i'd pose a couple questions about the 5dii to you all since some of you've had yours for some time. I'm in the market for one now that i've sold my primary body and am assuming i'm going to have to upgrade some of my gear like CF cards and storage/backup.

My biggest CF cards are 4 gig'rs and are all sandisks. I was thinking i'd probably have to step up to a couple 16's to get thru wedding days. Have you tried the kingston pros? they are cheap but prolly slow . . . I hate buying $100 memory cards

From what i can tell ben has been editing his movies with imovie, any windows guys here? I'm familar with premiere pro, but have heard there are some issues with the h.264 files and windows? can anybody shed some light on video editing on a vista machine besides windows movie maker?

I'm shooting with 3x4gb cards. But weddings are another ballgame. FYI as the ISO goes up so does the filesize, so if you think you'll be shooting RAW and 3200+ expect ~30mb files if not more. I'm seeing 12~19 depending, but I'm shooting 3200 and sRAW1 or 2...

check here for speed:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/cam...?cid=6007-9784

IB$2700cameraandyou'rebitchingaboutcardprices?

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

I'm shooting with 3x4gb cards. But weddings are another ballgame. FYI as the ISO goes up so does the filesize, so if you think you'll be shooting RAW and 3200+ expect ~30mb files if not more. I'm seeing 12~19 depending, but I'm shooting 3200 and sRAW1 or 2...

check here for speed:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/cam...?cid=6007-9784

IB$2700cameraandyou'rebitchingaboutcardprices?

What is sRAW? small RAW? Are you not utilizing the full 21mp resolution then? If that is the case, what rez are you shooting?

yes, there are two levels of small raw res files you can choose from and to be honest for a wedding i'd probably stick to one of those smaller sizes.

whatever ben! - i hate buying high capacity mem cards until the price drops, i finally got 4 gig's this summer when they became realistic in price. That chart scared me away from those kingston's avg speed was around 9mb/sec - i don't think that's fast enough for videos.

Originally Posted by purd002

yes, there are two levels of small raw res files you can choose from and to be honest for a wedding i'd probably stick to one of those smaller sizes.

whatever ben! - i hate buying high capacity mem cards until the price drops, i finally got 4 gig's this summer when they became realistic in price. That chart scared me away from those kingston's avg speed was around 9mb/sec - i don't think that's fast enough for videos.

Why is CF so spendy anyways? SD cards are so much cheaper. It is weird to me, I cannot believe it costs that much more to build a CF card.

Originally Posted by purd002

whatever ben! - i hate buying high capacity mem cards until the price drops, i finally got 4 gig's this summer when they became realistic in price.

the IB is because someone else is bound to come in and say it. I'm cheap as **** when it comes to memory and buy usually one new card with each camera that fits my budget at that time. That's why I have 3x4gbs now and not more/better/faster.

Originally Posted by thomps6s

Why is CF so spendy anyways? SD cards are so much cheaper. It is weird to me, I cannot believe it costs that much more to build a CF card.

maybe because SDs are cheap and break?

and shawn, with the 5D it's 21mp RAW, 10mp sRAW1 and 5mp sRAW2. The noise goes down as you use the smaller files as does the file size. a 21mp RAW @ 3200 ~30mb. sRAW1 is ~20mb and sRAW2 is 15mb... Yeah high ISOs are great, but they do make for very large files.

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

maybe because SDs are cheap and break?

Where is that Bitch Slap Smilie?

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...9-worked.shtml

Thought this article was interesting... more food for thought in my camera deliberations...

I'd be very curious to know how many of the weather issues were on bodies with grips... Let's just say mines holding up to ****ty conditions just fine.



I even changed lenses (on the lift) to get that shot. Maybe another reason grips suck (since the new one has an additional data port that's maybe not as well sealed?)?

the longer i wait i'm getting tempted to spend my money on a used 5d, 16-35 & 135L . . .

I still have my 20D as a backup and have my 24-70, 70-200, 28 & 85 and lust after those other two lens. I also considered unloading my 20D and putting those funds toward a used 40D. Hmm.

which camera, the mk2, the mk1, or the 40d?

believe me i'm super tempted by it, it is just getting hard with the crazy low prices on the mk1's add that to the fact that i'm a believer in buying second hand and saving $$.