First Look: Canon 5D Mark II

Looking Ahead

Looking at the Canon 5D Mark II for a day hardly provides enough data to reach conclusions regarding the 5D2. However, the initial results are truly impressive. Unlike the exaggerated claims for the 50D, the 5D Mark II appears to perform as Canon claims. Resolution is as good or better at the same ISO as the original 5D, but the range is extended somewhere between one and three stops in a sensor with 65% more pixels.

ISO performance appears to match the current ISO champion Nikon D700 up to 3200, and the 5D2 reaches lower to ISO 50. We would not hesitate to use either camera for most anything in this 50/100 to 3200 ISO range, which is saying quite a lot. At ISO 6400 there is some noise in both the 5D2 and D700 images, but they are basically equivalent. At 12800 and 25600 the Nikon D700 appears to have somewhat lower noise, but the image also appears softer, which is often a processing tradeoff for reduced noise. This range of the top two ISO speeds needs to be examined in more detail so we understand what is going on and what tradeoffs can and can't be made with each camera to lower noise.

When you also consider that the 5D Mark II has almost 75% more pixels than the Nikon D700, the above comparisons become much more remarkable. To say that a 21.1MP camera is the equal in low noise to a 12.1MP over most of its range is high praise. To see both reach to ISO 25600 with more similarities in performance than differences is icing on the cake.

Our initial testing still points toward the Sony A900 as the resolution champ at normal ISOs, but there is no doubt that the Canon 5D2 is much better at high ISO performance while achieving resolution nearly as good as the A900. It should also be pointed out that if you want high resolution shooting combined with a brisk continuous shooting speed, the Sony at 5FPS matches the just-announced $8000 Nikon D3x at 5 FPS, That is much better at high ISO than the 5D2 specification of 3.9 FPS. Still, it is almost as if the 5D2 combines what is best about the Sony A900 and the Nikon D700 in a single package.

It is too early to draw final conclusions, but there is much to like in what we have seen so far with the Canon 5D Mark II. The high performance we have seen over a 10-stop ISO range will make the rest of the 5D2 testing journey even more fun. Users looking to upgrade from the original 5D will almost certainly be pleased.