Useful guides for 5D mk ll

I haven't found a guide that did much more than paraphrase the manual. And they seem to do that quite badly with plenty of inaccuracies. Was there anything in particular you wanted to check out? I may be able to help and there are plenty of bods here who will pitch in with invaluable info.

You can download the manual from Canon to get a head start but coming from a 40D, you'll find the 5D2 to be very familiar territory.

Btw, congrats on your purchase!
 
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Magic Lantern guides are pretty good, I have one for my 5D2

Might try and get one for the 1d Mk3
 
paulcamcas said:
I haven't found a guide that did much more than paraphrase the manual. And they seem to do that quite badly with plenty of inaccuracies. Was there anything in particular you wanted to check out? I may be able to help and there are plenty of bods here who will pitch in with invaluable info.

You can download the manual from Canon to get a head start but coming from a 40D, you'll find the 5D2 to be very familiar territory.

Btw, congrats on your purchase!
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Thanks for that.....I'm particularly interested in setting up for shooting in poor light (gigs in particular): auto ISO useful???

ChrisH said:
Magic Lantern guides are pretty good, I have one for my 5D2

Might try and get one for the 1d Mk3
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Thanks, just the kind of info I was hoping for. :)

ShrubMonkey said:
I used to like magic lantern guides, but on reflection they are little more than rehash of the manual.

For the 5D2 I would recommend this http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Busch...1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1299883397&sr=8-2-fkmr0

Much better IMO
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Many thanks. Will order one ASAP.

Camera due on Monday....so excited....waited soooooooo long to be able to afford this. GOD BLESS KERSO!!!!!

xx
 
Did you get it? What do you think?

I don't do gig photography so I am probably talking out of my backside but auto iso may result in shutter speeds that are too low. The 5d will let the shutter speed drop towards the max you would use for a still subject (say 1/100 for 100mm) before it raises the iso. On the other hand, it ignores whether you have IS on or not so you gain a bit there. Btw, 5D auto iso ain't at all configurable - it's either on or off.

Suggest you give it a whirl. It could help with the changing light and let you get on with controlling dof and getting the shots.
 
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I've never even considered using Auto ISO! Does anyone use it?
 
EOS_JD said:
I've never even considered using Auto ISO! Does anyone use it?
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no - whilst the algorithm it uses to determine which ISO to use - lowest possible without clipping the highlights - there seems to be a huge safety margin in there - i left it on auto iso when i first got it, but quickly set it manually, it's the best bet and at least you know where your at otherwise it does tend to lead to much lower shutter speeds than you'd possibly desire (i shoot in AV mode most of the time with manual for only the tricky exposures)


another thing, is that that iso speeds other than 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 and 6400 (the full stop increments) are actually made possible with software interpolation of the raw data and not an adjustment of the sensor's gain so you're best off setting it to one of those values as you will get less noise/banding. somebody mentioned it on here a while ago and my own tests go along with it.

have fun with your 5d2 :-)
 
If the above us correct,in that you're coming straight from a 40D you'll have no problems.
I found the layout easier to pick up on my 5D II than the 7D after previously owning the 40D.
 
James.Thomas said:
I found the layout easier to pick up on my 5D II than the 7D after previously owning the 40D.
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Huh? The 7D and 5D2 controls are almost identical....
 
I don't find those guides very helpful. The standard manual is very concise but clearly written and covers most things. There are also good videos on the Canon website.

You can pick up the wrinkles from forums like this and POTN, and the usually quite long dedicated 5D2 user threads. Stuff like the intermediate ISO settings, how the auto-ISO works etc. I find that's a useful safety net, and certainly worth trying at a gig when you're on the limit and lights are changing faster than you can follow them - could be better than nothing.
 
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