5D mkII at ISO6400
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under GEAR
So I’ve had the 5D mkII for a week now and have had the opportunity to shoot assignments as well as test shots with it. My first impressions remain strong – the AF is great, the big screen makes it much easier to resolve whether you’ve ‘got the shot’ in run-and-gun situations and the image quality and level of detail is extraordinary.
As we know, pictures speak a number of words, so following are some photos I took last weekend on the second evening of having the camera. Some were taken at the astronomically high ISO 6400 to resolve how well the camera performs at this level. As such, these images are only for testing purposes. Click on each to view them on flickr where you can see them at full size.
First up, a couple of unsharpened images at ISO100 run straight through Adobe Camera Raw at its default settings.
View the images taken at ISO6400, after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5D mkII, camera, canon, GEAR, street, test photos
Canon 5D mkII – 100% crops – ISO 6400
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under GEAR
I should really be sleeping, but I couldn’t resist…
I was just going through some of the shots I took this evening on the production 5D mkII i picked up from the shop in Perth (Western Australia) this afternoon and after casually checking them out – I decided to take a look at some of the ones taken under more adverse lighting conditions.
Boy was I impressed.
Following is a 100% crop of an image shot under the lights of a gaming arcade (most of the illumination in the photo is provided not by overhead lighting, but by the screens of arcade gaming machines!!!!). It is amazing to see what the camera can capture – beyond the scope of the human eye!
Shot at f1.8 (wide open) on a Canon 85mm 1.8, I wasn’t expecting much, but not only did the 5D mkII nail focus on the eye (AF seems really reliable and accurate!), what impressed me so much was the level of detail and sharpness resolved at such a high ISO.
Check it out after the jump…
Tags: 100% crop, 5D mkII, low light, test
5D mkII available in Perth, Western Australia – first impressions
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under GEAR
Today I got the call…the one I was expecting though didn’t believe until I heard it for myself.
My 5D mkII was in store in the most isolated city on earth – Perth, Western Australia – waiting for me.
Picked it up at 2:30pm and have been playing with it ever since. Unfortunately the battery just died as I only charged it half way and have been playing non stop with live view and video mode – so much fun.
First impressions are great. Wonderfully robust build quality – very solid. AF is very accurate, even in very low light – a big step up from my 30D it seems. Auto ISO is another big advancement – very handy. The gorgeous 3 inch VGA resolution screen is a much more important advantage than I had anticipated. You can now see whether you got the shot, at least in terms of focus and sharpness. Makes getting great, technically sound images all the more easier.
Apparently I’m pretty lucky, Canon Australia have only released a small number around Australia – some estimate less than one hundred!
My thanks to the guys at Team Digital, in particular Ben Walton and Peter Clarke for putting up with my constant questioning as to when the camera will be available – great guys to deal with – highly recommended.
I’ll get up some sample pics and hopefully video tommorow – I need to sleep.
First impressions of high ISO are very, very good – better than I had anticipated based on the samples across the web!
WOOHOO!
5D mkII Shipping – More HD video love
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under GEAR
So, the much awaited 5D mkII is now available in China and Hong Kong, and is beginning to to ship to those who put their names down first on the uber long preorder lists in the states.
Australia isn’t far behind, with rumour being that Canon is shipping a handful of units (some say as few as 150) around Australia as soon as today.
I’m hoping to have mine at least by early next week!
Since my last post, a number of new, well produced films shot with the 5D mkII have surfaced. First up is a large production Korean adaptation of Reverie and secondly we have some journalistic stlye footage of Beijing.
Enjoy!
EOS 5D Mark2 Movi – Prism from chador on Vimeo.
Canon EOS5DmkII, One night in Beijing. from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Both of these movies allow Vimeo members to download the originals for closer inspection, which is worth doing as Vimeo tops out at 24 fps for HD. That means these 30 fps movies are getting a crappy 24p conversion when Vimeo compresses them, which hides some of the 30p smoothness, but not in a good way.
Tags: 5D mkII, Multimedia, News, video
