Daily Giz Wiz 742: Canon 5D Mark II

Episode 742 of the podcast

Subject:	Review of Canon 5D Mark II
Released:	Tuesday 13 January 2009
Length:	about 11 minutes
Download file:	742.mp3 (5.3 MB)
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Detailed information

Leo was going to talk about this gadget last Tuesday but he forgot.  It's the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a full frame digital SLR camera.  Leo bought the 5D for his wife Jennifer, which he ended up using, including on this trip to Tasmania.  Canon had been leading the field for a while until Nikon caught up by vastly improving low light performance on its D3 through advances in noise reduction and eschewing pixel count increase.  Canon has now released the 5D Mark II which has bridged the gap with Nikon in terms low light performance, although it can be imagined that the improvement must have been limited by the increase in pixel count to 21 MP.

The biggest buzz of the 5D Mark II, for the time being, is its capability to shoot 1080p H.264 Quicktime HD video at 30 fps, up to a maximum file size of 4GB (usually about 12 minutes), with HDMI output - one up over the Nikon D90's 720p video capability.  Automatic White Balance and Autofocus work during recording.

For sample videos, go to Canon's website for the Vincent Laforet video (scaled down resolution), or Digital Photography Review for full resolution short clips.  For Leo's interview of Vincent Laforet, check out The Tech Guy Episode 495, starting at 1:39:58.

(source: insidedgw.vox.com)