canon 5D MK1

jockwav

jockwav

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James (Retired)
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Anyone who has one of these i would like your thoughts on it,good & bad as i am possibly looking for a FF camera.:)
 
Superb mate.

Still holds its own in resolution. I bloody love mine :D
Chances are you know most of the good - especially the FF goodness.

Bad points:
No Video
Sensor attracts dust and has no anti dust shake
No pop up flash (if you ever need one)
ISO performance

Not really experienced any others apart from those :) IMO it is a bloody brill camera - and superb value for second hand. Holds its own fully against the 1D's with only the FPS and ISO letting it down in comparison. For portraits it has been simply awesome. I cant see myself changing it anytime soon...

HTH
 
I sold mine in March after three years with it and I'd still recommend it :)

May not quite cut the mustard in the high ISO race but if you don't NEED high ISO then it's still a wonderfully capable camera.
 
Thank you guys for your input.:thumbs:
The iso does not bother me,i rarely use high iso,the anti dust shake is my main concern though.:)
 
By hight iso, what do you consider high?

I asked a similar question here recently and high iso is what everyone was saying was a good point, which sold it to me. Is this not the case then?
 
May I also add some questions, about focusing, how does focosing compare to a 30D or xxD series? And how does 40D @ ISO1600 compare to 5D at same ISO? Is the 5D better?
 
Asked the same question recently and bought one about 6 weeks ago.

Very pleased - the dynamic range on images is nothing short of spectacular.

It can be a little slow - the buffer can take an age to clear and you seem to wait forever for the image preview to appear - but that's really just me being picky.

Despite it being a 5 year old design; I reckon it'll be five years before I look to change it!
 
I survived for three years without it and the frequent lens changing at weddings did mean a bit of cleaning but if you can clean a sensor then it's nothing to worry about. Would not put me off :) I still have to clean the D700's even with all the new fangled dust reduction stuff going on, just not quite so often.

High ISO I consider to be above the 1600/3200 mark.

The 5D can shoot quite OK at ISO 1600 so long as you get the exposure right, underexpose and it's noisy.

Focus is OK but not spectacular but if you are shooting something that requires lighting quick AF in dull conditions you won't be considering a 5D ;) It's real strengths are landscape and people pics :)
 
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Focusing - I find it quicker and more accurate on the 5D. I did pay for it to be calibrated with my 85mm lens though.

Dust wise - I only keep the one lens on it so I don't have to worry. The camera is no worse than the other non vibrating sensored bodies - just stock up on swabs and do it every six months or so. Overall I wouldn't let it put you off of the FF goodness it delivers for a great price.

Richie - Will take two shots at ISO 1600 for you - my bodies are the 5D and 40D!
 
The best plaudit I can give it is that I sold my original one about 18 months ago but bought another one last week for a casual lightweight option.

Bob
 
Deleted - not a very good test. Will do it in a few mins. :)

IMO the 5D wins hands down for ISO...
 
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Thanks guys,i am now going to seriously look for one.:):thumbs:
 
I have one and love it... love it... love it....

Ideal camera for me as i'm a landscape/ travel/ day out walkabout photographer.

I just wish it had the better backscreen of my wifes 450d but that is my only gripe.

I dont need high ISO or video etc etc... so I dont have it... I think its one of the last photographers cameras... the rest try to do ... and they do it fine i'm sure... tooo much. There wont be many of us on here really that want an SLR that takes videos... maybe im wrong ... but just my thought
 
Thanks for your input there Mark i think i am sold on it.:)
 
smoothedit said:
Deleted - not a very good test. Will do it in a few mins. :)

IMO the 5D wins hands down for ISO...
Click to expand...

Having had but not exhaustively used both I would have come to that conclusion. Interesting that you took them down, the 40D shot looked much cleaner, and the 5D shot didn't look underexposed from memory (which could have accounted for the cleaner 40D shot).
 
Indeed. My initial test was less than scientific! I have now shot them one after the other both using same lens etc.

They are uploading now as full size jpegs so you can get a good idea :) Will link in a mo.

Using the office door as it has lots of different tones in it. Not pretty but hopefully I have got the job done.

PS - you guys are lucky - I broke my 'nevertakethe85mmlensoffofthe5d' rule :D
 
Ok.

These files are full size jpegs from a raw file. They are 10 megs each so download and pixelpeep to your hearts content.

This is the 40D.

This is the 5D Mk1. UPDATED.

Hope these are ok. Sorry for the watermark - left it turned on when exporting from LR :bonk:

Both were shot within 2 mins so lighting fairly constant.
ISO 1600
f/1.6 @ 85mm.
1/1600 sec.

Don't usually use them with the same lens - the crop factor is surprising!

Let me know if you want any others...
 
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Different elements are in focus in each shot, I'd say the in focus part of each shot gives pretty similar results.
 
*** an eeejit. Crud. Hang on.

Flipping missed the focus on second. Will redo...
 
Updated the 5D to get the focus sorted. Fingers crossed the lighting hadn't changed to drastically.
 
Thanks for the test pics smooth, to my untrained eyes the noise on both are identical.
 
Yep my thoughts too. It really needs controlled conditions such as in a studio to test without any minor light changes. But the shots do show an everyday situation :)
 
Great stuff smooth.:):thumbs:
 
FWIW, here's a shot at ISO 1600 with my 5D.

I'd whacked up the ISO for some hand held shots a few frames before and forgot to knock it back down. I barely noticed the difference when looking at the preview on the camera and it was only when I noticed I was getting very fast shutter speeds that I realised what I'd done. :D

Tripod mounted, 0.6s at f/7.1. I ended up leaving it at the default noise reduction in Lightroom 2 IIRC.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybertect/461164194/sizes/o/in/set-72057594057693785/

With the correct exposure, I'm still occasionally gobsmacked at the results I can get.

1024x682 only, I'm afraid. I'd dig out the full size version, but my own server's offline this afternoon while I'm moving it to a new computer.

Edit: full res, I think this should work: http://www.cybertects.co.uk/gallery2/d/59156-2/200704_4514.jpg
 
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Thanks for that Rob it looks really good.:thumbs:
 
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