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Pocket-lint Canon EOS 5D Mark II Steve's Digicams Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Trends Canon EOS 5D Mark II ReviewThe Digital Picture Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
The 5D Mark II looks physically much like the 5D, and in fact, much like every other mid-range Canon; there is the same mottled mock-leather plastic covering over much of the body, and the same style of contoured grip for the hand to hold onto.
Front
The major feature of the front of the 5D Mark II is the large EF lens mount. This is where the SLR lens goes, and you can see how the lens mechanism fits int the camera body. The others features include a 5D logo and the Mark II logo on the left, and the emitter used for focusing in darkness) for the focus assist and the receiver for the optional remote on the right ( and the shutter button nearest the top.
The 5D Mark II has a relatively clutter free front.
Back
Many of the controls for this complicated camera are on the back of the body. From the top right going clockwise, we have the AF-On button (which controls the auto focus function), then the playback zoom controls. To the left of the screen are the two main controls; the directional joystick and the scroll wheel. The former is used to navigate the different levels of menus, while the wheel is used to scroll through lists of options. A set button in the center of the scroll wheel selects the option. Below this is the camera on-/off switch which can also disable the scroll wheel; useful if you keep accidentally jogging it. Then we have the screen; a big, bright 3-inch LCD screen, with 920,000-dot resolution, that dominates the back of the camera. Above this is the viewfinder and live mode button; which puts the camera into live view mode. To the left of the screen are five buttons; from the top, these are for accessing the menu, setting the color mode, showing or hiding on-screen info, entering playback mode and deleting photos.
The back of the 5D Mark II is dominated
by the 3-inch screen.
The left side of the camera is where most of the action is for
ports and sockets
By comparison, the right side of the camera is rather uninteresting; the most exciting thing here is the cover for the CompactFlash card port. There is also the lanyard loop, which on the model we looked at, had a metal cable in it to stop people like us from walking off with the demo model at the Photokina show. This is not a standard feature, unless you don't trust yourself. The CompactFlash port cover opens with a simple push backwards, whereupon the cover flips out.
The only major feature on the right side is the cover for
the CompactFlash port
The top of the 5D Mark II has a number of interesting features, including (from the right) the shutter button, the control wheel and a series of function buttons. These control the metering mode and white balance, the auto focus and drive modes, and the ISO and flash exposure compensation. Each button has two functions because they use both the top control wheel and scroll wheel on the back; if you press the first button, the top control wheel sets the metering mode, while the back scroll wheel sets the white balance mode. Below these buttons is the secondary screen, which contains a lot of information on the current shooting mode, the metering mode, the amount of space left on the card, etc. Next we have the flash hot shoe, which is a standard type, but which also supports Canon's own Speedlite II range. Finally on the right we have the control dial, which has 10 spots for shooting modes.
The top of the 5D Mark II is the home to a
number of commonly used controls
The bottom of the 5D Mark II has its charms as well, especially for tripod users. In the center of the base is the solid metal tripod socket, which should grip tightly in pretty much all situations. To the left of this is the cover for the battery socket. The small plastic cover to the right covers a proprietary connector for the optional battery grip.
The bottom of the 5D Mark II is where the battery of the
camera fits, as well as the tripod socket
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