Sorry, I think I am going to offend owners of the 5D MKII's here, but this is my personal experience. I am an electronic engineer by trade and photography is a hobby. I purchased a 5D MK II and regretted it as soon as the "Flaring" issue was found. It's like buying a brand new Porsche and the factory recalls it because there's a "Slight Hiccup in the Engine Management system, it's really not the engine, Honestly". As an engineer, as soon as I heard of the Flaring issue, I couldn't wait to off load the camera. As soon as the 7D came out I dropped the 5D MII like a hot potato ! All Canon did was use smoke and mirrors to cover up an inherrent problem the "Engine" has. They used the FW to "Cover up" the fault. I Guarantee if you take a picture with the original FW and then take the same picture with the "Fixed the F#^$^ng flaring issue" firmware, you will see a large degradation in the picture. I have seen it with my Digital CRO. These type of problems MAY have gotten picked up on earlier models like the 40D, 1D etc BEFORE they released them to the market so consumers NEVER know about problems built into the Cameras, but because they want to beat the opposition, the Sales people try to get the product to market B4 us engineers can iron out all the problems. The time span from development is getting shorter and shorter to the detrement of the poor consumer. The 5D MKII is a classic example of BEAT Nikon to the market with a more fully featured "Gimmicked" camera. I can just imagine the Engineers pulling their hair out saying "We need another 4 or 5 months testing ! So for me, the MK II was tainted from day one and I couldn't wait to off load it.
I did (Thank goodness) and grabbed 2 x 7D's instead. As for the 1.6 crop factor, I love it. I have all L series Lenses and the pictures I get from the 1.6 factor KILL full frame sensors. Don't forget, the BEST, SHARPEST part of the lens is the centre. By using the smaller
CCD, the image comes from the prime meaty part of the lens rather than the sinewy edges (Excuse the analogy, but I am passionate about this fact). The bonus is a 100 - 400mm becomes a 160 - 640mm. A 16-35mm becomes a 25-56mm, so what ? Move further back or get a 10-22mm ! FF owners, try cropping a picture by 1.6 and closely inspect toward the edges of the photos. Is the focus / Sharpness better ? Is the Chromatic Abberation less ?
It's amazes me when I see people in forums touting "Full Frames" as being the be all and end all and as an Electronics engineer it makes me laugh.
To all the 5D MK II owners I know you are happy with them but have a look at this, it says it all;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ERMu825m4
Need I say more !
I have had / Have the following cameras and the 7D / L Series kills them all;
350D x 2 (Gone) My Rating 7/10
40D x 2 (Gone) My Rating 8/10
50D x 2 (Going Going....) My Rating 7/10
5D MkII (Gone !) My Rating 2/10
1D Mk II (Gone !) My Rating 9/10
1Ds MK II (Gone!) My Rating 8/10
7D x 2(Keepers !) My Rating 10/10
3.9 FPS VS 8FPS..........mmmmmm now which do I prefer, or which do you prefer ?
It's not the camera that take the photo's, it's the person holding it.
Simon
