5 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.

Size and Handling
The 5D Mark II is a large camera, but it fits well into the hand and is comfortable to hold for extended intervals. The leather-textured plastic on the exterior help you keep a firm grip, and the handgrip is wide and big enough to make sure that your grip is unlikely to slip. That's a good thing for an expensive camera like this. Although the camera can be used single-handed, the more comfortable position is to use two hands; one on the grip and the other under the lens, bracing the camera.

The 5D Mark II is also a pretty heavy camera; Canon quotes a weight of 28.6 ounces, and that is without the lens. Most lenses will add another 10 or more ounces to the weight, so you are carrying around a significant burden with this camera. Even with the neck strap, it does tend to weight you down after a bit.

The 5D Mark II is a large camera, but it fits comfortably in the hand

We found the handling of the 5D Mark II to be generally very good; the index finger falls right on the shutter button and the thumb falls right on the controls at the back of the camera. Because of the size of the camera, it is easiest to use with two hands, but we did find that it was possible to carry out many common operations (such as changing the ISO) with the eye to the viewfinder; the index finger can reach the ISO button, then use the control wheel to change the setting.


 

The second menu screen covers playback settings, such as erasing and protecting images.





The third menu covers other playback settings, such as what the histogram on the information display covers and whether blown-out highlights are shown.



The last three menus cover the settings of the camera, allowing control of features such as image rotation, language and the battery.





The Live View/Movie func. set option is where the video controls of the 5D Mark II live; we'll get to those in a bit.

Ease of Use
The 5D Mark II is a professional camera, so the number of features and buttons on offer are always going to be somewhat overwhelming. But it does a decent job of breaking down the menus so that the features are easy to find. Our only real complaint is that Canon decided to put some infrequently used options right up at the front of the menu structure; one of the first things you see when you hit the menu button is the option that allows you to set the camera to shoot without a memory card being installed, which you are likely to use about one every 10,000 years. 

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Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR First Impression Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Components	Design / Layout
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