Canon EOS 5D Mark II

The Canon 5D Mark II is an update to the venerable 5D (which we reviewed here), which proved to be a popular camera with serious amateurs, sports shooters and many other well-heeled photographers. But the original 5D was launched in 2005, making it positively ancient in digital camera terms. Now Canon has revamped the camera, boosting the resolution to an impressive 21 megapixels and adding the ability to record high definition video. Can the $2699 Mark II carry on the flame lit by its illustrious predecessor? If our impressions of a pre-production model that we tried out at the Photokina 2008 show are anything to go by, the answer is yes. Although we were not able to test the image performance, we did find a camera that was easy to use, powerful and packed with features for the serious shooter.

In particular, the new 21-megapixel full frame imaging sensor looks to be very impressive. The full frame nature of this means that it is the same size as a 35mm film negative. Lenses designed for 35mm film camera use will give their full focal length. On most cameras, the image sensor is smaller, which multiplies the focal length of the lens, usually by a factor of 1.5 or 1.6. Although this provides a boost for a zoom lens, it also makes your wide angle lenses less useful, since they shoot with a smaller angle of view. That won't be an issue with the 5D Mark II.

The video feature of the 5D Mark II also looks interesting. Canon claims that it shoots full 1920 x 1080 video, but the video appears to be interlaced, meaning that alternate lines of video are displayed every 30 seconds. This means that the videos it captures are at the same resolution as many high definition camcorders. So far, Canon has not provided any information on the bit rate for this video. This is a critical piece of information; the higher the bit rate, the better the quality. It is also worth noting that many dedicated camcorders can now capture video at the better 1080p standard, where the entire screen is updated every 60th of a second, providing smoother movement and more detail.