Canon Unveils Anxiously-Awaited 21.1-megapixel EOS 5D Mark IISept 17, 2008 By Dan Havlik, PDN Technology Editor
Along with nearly doubling the resolution of the 5D, the 5D Mark II adds a slew of new features in a body that looks very similar to the older camera and weighs approximately the same. Most notably, the 5D Mark II can shoot High Definition (1920 x 1080) movie clips at 30 frames per second. That's a step up from the recently released 12.3-megapixel Nikon D90 which shoots 1280 x 720 HD clips at 24fps. (The D90 was the first DSLR on the market with a HD movie feature.) Other key upgrades on the Canon 5D Mark II include: • 21.1MP Full-Frame CMOS sensor with 6.45-micron pixel size • Digic 4 image processor • ISO 50 to 25,600 shooting range • High ISO noise reduction feature • 920,000-dot VGA, 3-inch LCD screen • EOS Integrated Cleaning "Dust Reduction" system • 3.9 frames per second shooting speed (note: CIPA guidelines have changed, forcing manufacturers to quote with a tenth-of-a-frame accuracy. No more rounding up or down for frame rate.) • Unlimited Large/Fine JPEG buffer with UDMA CompactFlash cards, letting you shoot bursts to the limit of the card • 14 RAW buffer with a UDMA CF card; 13 RAW buffer with a standard CF card • Variable RAW sizes including 10MP sRAW 1 and 5MP sRAW 2 The 5D Mark II will sell for $2699 (body only), or as a kit with a 24-105mm f/4 IS lens for $3499, and is slated to ship by the end of the November. "Obviously this has been a very intensely anticipated camera," Canon Technical Advisor Chuck Westfall told PDN. "It's definitely a product that has a very wide appeal to lots of different segments of the market. We think advanced amateurs and prosumers will be interested and we're hopeful the camera will be accepted in the wedding and portrait market for professional photographers and other fields as well." Better Than the 1Ds Mark III? Westfall noted that while the 5D Mark II's image sensor is the same resolution as the top-of-the-line Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, it's actually an improved version with lower noise. Meanwhile, the 5D Mark II's 50 to 25,600 ISO range makes it three full stops more sensitive than the original 5D. "What we're saying is that because of the improvements to the sensor and the Digic 4 image processor this is going to be the highest image quality of any EOS digital SLR ever released," Westfall said. "We're raising the bar for EOS." He added that image quality from the 5D Mark II should even surpass what is offered from Canon's flagship 1Ds Mark III, a camera which costs approximately $5,000 more. "Image quality is going to be a generation ahead of whatever else is out there right now," Westfall said. Same Old Autofocus One area that has not changed on the 5D Mark II from the original is the autofocus system which still uses the same 9-point selectable AF with 6 additional assist points around the center point. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Canon did not decide to go with the 19-point/16-assist point autofocus system which is used in its Mark III cameras. That system has faced fierce criticism from some photographers for providing allegedly unreliable autofocus. In discussing why Canon's camera designers decided to stick with the older autofocus system on the 5D Mark II, Westfall said: "They felt they had a good working system and they didn't necessarily want to get involved in changing it at this stage." One interesting new addition to the 5D Mark II is a new "lens peripheral illumination" feature which is designed to eliminate vignetting. "One of the knocks about full-frame cameras is that it's tough to get rid of darkened corners but now it's not tough anymore, it's automatic," Westfall said. Movie Mode Along with the improved image quality, what photographers might find most intriguing about the 5D Mark II is its impressive HD video capability. In addition to the higher HD resolution and faster frame compared to the Nikon D90, the Canon 5D Mark II also appears to let you capture longer high-def video clips. Where the Nikon D90 maxes out at 5 minutes per HD clip, the 5D Mark II will let you capture clips of up 29 minutes and 59 seconds. (The reason for the strange time limit is that if video capture capability is 30 minutes or longer, the 5D Mark II would have to be classified as a video camera.) Westfall noted that movie clip length is also governed by file size, with the camera allowing you to capture up to 4GB of footage. Audio is captured by a built-in monaural microphone in the camera. The 5D Mark II also has an input if you want to add an external stereo microphone. Film clips are captured as .mov files and software supplied with the camera will let you perform basic editing. There's also an HDMI out port if you want to connect the camera directly to an HDTV. The 5D Mark II's movie mode is accessed via the Live View function on the back of the camera. Once Live View is engaged via a button on the back, pressing the "Set" button is all it takes to begin shooting an HD clip. You can also capture a still image while shooting your video by just pressing the shutter button. Though the camera won't autofocus dynamically in movie mode, it can autofocus using the slower, contrast detection autofocus function that's already available in the Live View mode. Similarly to the Nikon D90, one of the biggest benefits photographers will find with the 5D Mark II's movie mode is that they can use all of their Canon photography lenses to shoot video. "Because the 24x36mm full-frame sensor is a much larger format than a typical video camera's sensor, you will get a far shallower depth of field which gives the experienced photographer a lot more creative control while shooting a movie," Westfall said. PRESS RELEASE
CANON U.S.A. INTRODUCES THE
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED
EOS 5D MARK II DSLR CAMERA
FEATURING FULL-FRAME HD VIDEO CAPTURE
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II Escalates
Full-Frame Digital SLR Photography to the Next Level with
HD Movie Recording Capabilities, DIGIC 4
Imaging Processor, and 21.1 Megapixel Resolution
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., September 17, 2008 – Canon U.S.A.,
Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today introduced the EOS 5D Mark
II Digital SLR camera, the long-awaited successor to Canon’s highly
popular EOS 5D, introduced in 2005. Building upon the
qualities that made the EOS 5D camera so successful, Canon has
coupled the creative power of a full-frame CMOS sensor in a
relatively compact and affordable camera body, together with
groundbreaking HD video capture that opens the door to a much wider
range of imaging possibilities for photographers. Along with the
ability to capture full HD video clips at 1920 x 1080 resolution,
Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera features a 21.1-megapixel
full frame 24 x 36mm CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 imaging processor and
significantly lower noise, with an expanded sensitivity range from
ISO 50 to ISO 25,600.
“The anticipation surrounding the launch of this camera model
has exceeded our greatest expectations, and we believe our loyal
customers will be awed by the level of innovation and features
built into the new EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR. Once they have the
chance to experience the camera, we believe they will agree that it
was worth the wait,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president
and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon
U.S.A.
Among the many advancements in Canon’s new EOS 5D Mark II
camera is the Company’s proprietary DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor that
powers the camera’s fast 14-bit analog-to-digital conversion for
smooth color tones and exceptional gradation. The Canon EOS 5D
Mark II Digital SLR offers a full-frame 24 x 36mm, 21.1 megapixel
CMOS sensor and continuous shooting at 3.9 frames per second (fps)
for an unlimited number of full-resolution JPEGs to the
capacity of the memory card or up to 14 RAW images in a single
burst when using a UDMA CF card. The camera includes a 15-point
Autofocus (AF) sensor with nine selectable AF points plus six
additional Assist AF points (three center AF points sensitive to
f/2.8 lenses) with enhanced light source detection and AF
microadjustment for greater autofocus performance. The EOS 5D Mark
II camera also features a large, clear 3.0-inch Clear View LCD
screen with 920,000 dot/VGA resolution, four times the pixel count
of the EOS 5D camera’s 2.5-inch screen, for enhanced clarity and
color when viewing images. The new camera is equipped with a
high-performance, high-magnification optical viewfinder providing
98 percent coverage, giving a new dimension to the saying, “what
you see is what you get.” Professional photographers will also
appreciate the enhanced 150,000-cycle shutter durability of the EOS
5D Mark II camera.
Canon, the first company to introduce a full-frame digital
camera, has improved the EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera’s newly
developed full-frame CMOS image sensor. Utilizing proprietary Canon
technology, the Company has reduced noise and expanded the
sensitivity of the CMOS sensor up to ISO 25600, which is three full
stops higher than the ISO 3200 limit of the original EOS 5D camera.
Although the individual pixel dimensions of the EOS 5D Mark II
camera are the same as the 21.1-megapixel CMOS sensor used in the
EOS-1Ds Mark III digital SLR, the new sensor incorporates an
improved output amplifier and a more advanced color filter that
improves light transmission while retaining excellent color
reproduction. By applying the same kind of advancements in sensor
design and image processing technology as the recently introduced
EOS 50D camera, but at higher resolution and with larger pixels,
the EOS 5D Mark II achieves the highest level of image quality of
any EOS Digital SLR released to date.
With the combination of its improved CMOS image sensor and the
powerful new DIGIC 4 image processor, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II
camera provides ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 6400 in 1/3-stop
increments, along with two high-speed settings – H1 and H2 – of ISO
12800 and ISO 25600, respectively, as well as a low-speed setting
of ISO 50. The full-frame sensor maximizes the performance of Canon
EF lenses, the world’s largest selection of autofocus lenses.
HD and SD Video Capture
Canon has taken its expertise in imaging, photography and
video capture technology to a new level with the EOS 5D Mark II
Digital SLR. Answering the question of where SLR technology is
going next, the EOS 5D Mark II features 16:9 Full HD video capture
at 1920 x 1080 pixels and 30 fps as well as 4:3 standard TV quality
(SD) video capture at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 fps, both
capabilities appearing for the first time in a Canon SLR
camera. Video capture is part of the camera’s Live View
function, using the Picture Style that has been set for Live View
still image shooting. This allows skilled photographers and
cinematographers to adjust image sharpness, contrast, color
saturation and white balance, and have those settings apply to the
movie image. When recording video, the camera’s rear LCD screen can
be letter-boxed by a semi-transparent border to match the aspect
ratio of the movie recording size. Moreover, the EOS 5D Mark II
camera’s HD video capability enables new levels of creative
expression through its unfettered access to the complete line of
more than 60 Canon EF lenses, which provide an incredible variety
of visual effects including everything from ultra-wide-angle and
fish-eye to macro and super-telephoto, including many
large-aperture L-series professional lenses that can keep the main
subject in razor-sharp focus while blurring the background beyond
recognition.
The EOS 5D Mark II will record video up to 4GB per clip or a
maximum continuous movie capture time of 29 minutes and 59 seconds,
whichever comes first. Depending on the level of detail in the
scene, a 4GB memory card can record approximately 12 minutes of
video at full HD resolution or approximately 24 minutes in standard
definition.[i]camera
includes an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) output to
display crisp, clear images on a High-Definition TV.
Video clips are recorded in .MOV format using an MPEG-4 video
compression and sound is recorded using linear PCM[ii] without
compression. The new camera features an input terminal for external
stereo microphones as well as a built-in monaural microphone for
convenience. To help show off those fantastic movies as well as
still photos, the EOS 5D Mark II
Live View Shooting
For both still images and video, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II
camera features Live View, one of the most sought after features in
digital SLRs today. The 5D Mark II features three Live View AF
modes – Quick, Live and Face Detection Live mode – for capturing
either still photos or video, each with its own
attributes. Quick mode automatically sets One-Shot AF using
the camera’s phase detection AF system. It also allows users to
select the AF point, even while the Live View image is displayed.
Although the camera’s reflex mirror must be lowered briefly to take
an AF measurement in Quick mode, it is the fastest way to set focus
automatically when the 5D Mark II camera is set for Live
View.
Live mode uses contrast-detection AF with the image sensor and here, as with Quick mode, users can change the AF point using the Multi-controller. Face Detection Live mode uses contrast AF to recognize human faces. When multiple faces are detected, the largest face closest to the center of the frame is targeted as the AF point. While Live View is engaged users can still change settings including the AF mode (Quick, Live, Face Detection Live mode), drive mode, ISO speed, Picture style, White Balance, and more.
Peripheral Illumination Correction
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera automatically
conducts peripheral illumination correction when shooting JPEG
images, a function that previously could only be accomplished
through post-image processing using software such as Canon’s
Digital Photo Professional, which Canon supplies at no extra
charge. Peripheral illumination correction evens brightness across
the image field, making an image of a blue sky even toned
throughout and reducing light fall-off at image edges. This
new feature essentially eliminates one of the limitations of
previous full-frame digital SLRs.
Auto Lighting Optimizer
Canon’s enhanced Auto Lighting Optimizer technology helps
ensure each picture’s subject is clearly visible by analyzing image
brightness and automatically adjusting dark areas in images so that
they appear brighter. This function is ideal in high-contrast
situations such as urban landscapes captured on sunny days, where
the tops of buildings are brightly lit while street level details
are obscured by heavy shadows. In this type of scene, the 5D Mark
II camera’s Auto Lighting Optimizer technology preserves accurate
exposure of the highlights while opening up the shadow areas for a
more pleasing tonal rendition.
Canon’s New Creative Auto Mode
Recently introduced with the new EOS 50D, Canon’s “CA”
Creative Full Auto setting can also be found on the EOS 5D Mark II
Digital SLR camera’s mode dial. This setting allows users to
make image adjustments such as aperture or shutter speed through an
easy-to-understand navigation screen on the camera’s LCD menu,
allowing them to “blur the background” or “lighten or darken the
image.” These easy-to-understand image options allow
photographers to experiment with image options while still shooting
in an automatic mode.
Two Small RAW Formats
For photographers seeking the flexibility and creative
possibilities of shooting RAW format images, without the large file
size, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera offers two more
manageable file size options with sRAW1 and sRAW2 recording
formats. At the sRAW1 setting, resolution is 10.0-megapixels
with a file size that is approximately 25 percent smaller than a
standard 21.1-megapixel RAW image. With the sRAW2 setting,
resolution is 5.2 megapixels at less than half the file size of a
standard RAW image, retaining all of the flexibility and creative
possibilities associated with full-size, conventional RAW images.
Wedding and portrait photographers, in particular, will appreciate
the options of variable resolution and file size which allow them
to fine-tune the 5D Mark II’s operation for their specific
needs.
Silent Shooting in Live View
Canon has equipped the EOS 5D Mark II with two Silent Shooting
modes in Live View which will prove particularly helpful to law
enforcement officials, and for behind-the-scenes shooting on movie
sets. In Mode 1, the camera will shoot with the mechanical
shutter open at the beginning of the exposure, using the electronic
1st-curtain function of the CMOS sensor and a reduced
shutter-cocking noise, allowing multiple shots to be taken with
minimal noise. In Mode 2, to minimize shutter noise during
single frame photography, shutter cocking does not occur until the
shutter button returns to the half-way position after
shooting.
EOS Integrated Cleaning System
With the introduction of the EOS 5D Mark II camera, the entire
Canon EOS system is now equipped with the highly acclaimed EOS
Integrated Cleaning System. The Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit for the
Canon EOS 5D Mark II has been upgraded with a fluorine coating on
the low-pass filter for better dust resistance.
Pricing and Availability
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera is compatible with
Canon EF lenses and is scheduled for delivery by the end of
November. The EOS 5D Mark II will be sold in a body-only
configuration at an estimated retail price of $2,699[iii]. It will
additionally be offered in a kit version with Canon’s EF 24-105mm
f/4L IS USM zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $3,499[iv].
New EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Lens
The new EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens is the successor to Canon’s
EF 24mm f/1.4L USM professional wide-angle lens released in
1997. Targeting professional photographers, the new EF 24mm
f/1.4L II USM lens has been introduced to address the advancements
high-resolution digital SLR cameras with re-designed optics and use
of a new anti-reflection lens coating called SWC (Sub-Wavelength
Structure Coating) to minimize ghosting and flare. Features
such as dustproof and waterproof construction that have been
adopted make this a high-performance lens with specifications that
respond to the demands of professional users. A welcome
complement to the EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera, the EF 24mm
f/1.4L II USM lens is scheduled to be in stores this December at an
estimated retail price of $1,699[v].
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