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November 15, 2005
[ REVIEW—CANON EOS 5D ]
CANON EOS 5D
Price: $5500 (body only)
Rating: 5
The lowdown: The Canon EOS 5D is a 12.8 megapixel digital single lens reflex. It uses a full frame CMOS sensor -- that is, the same area as a 35mm film frame. Lesser single lens reflex digital cameras have sensors that are approximately 2/3 the size of a film frame.
Body construction of the 5D is metal and the camera is heavy (810 grams) but well balanced in the hand. All controls are well placed and intuitive in operation for anyone who has used a digital camera. The viewfinder is large and bright with all the necessary exposure information displayed below the image.
Controls are well damped. Focus is quick and accurate. Images are well exposed and clean of noise, even using the 1600 ISO setting. In fact the H setting -- which is 3200 ISO -- produces remarkable photos with much less noise than there is grain in film of the same speed.
The Canon 5D sits between the 8 mp 20D, with the smaller sensor, and the 16 mp 1Ds professional range which also employs the full frame CMOS sensor.
In spite of the large image file size burst mode shooting is a joy and the files are written to the Compact Flash memory card almost as fast as they are taken.
There is no built in flash. The man from Canon tells us: “This is a real camera!” The implication being that pop-up flashes are for sissies. Anyway with such astonishing 1600 ISO ability a flash won’t be called for all that often.
Like this: The images from this camera are simply sensational. Fine detail is faithfully resolved. Colours, except under some artificial light, are true. More than 20 camera functions can be customised and there is fine tuning for colour space, colour and tone curves and so on. The only thing that the Canon lacks is a self-cleaning sensor filter.
Dislike that: The price!
Parting shot: The Canon EOS 5D gets a 5 star rating because, measured against its intended purpose, it is perfect. There is a feeling about this camera that no matter how fast the technology evolves this one is as near future proof as possible. At 12.8 megapixels the sensor now is probably close to the resolving power of any lens. Very highly recommended to the lucky few.
There are sample images from the Canon EOS 5D in the Gallery >>
Posted by terry at November 15, 2005 02:30 PM
Comments
I read about this page in The Age Green Guide and hoped to see sample images that might cause me to think about putting the Canon EOD 5D on my shopping list for when prices drop a bit. But sadly, the sample images don't show any useful information about the lens/es used. And they do not show any examples taken at high ISO or with wide angle lenses. If they do, the page doesn't exo=plain that. Or have I missed something?
Posted by: John T Hill at November 17, 2005 10:43 PM
But the price (body only) at www.d-d-photographics.com.au is $4,799. How do they do it!!
John Smith
Posted by: John Smith at November 17, 2005 11:12 PM