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Canon 5D Mark II Reviewed by Forestwander extreme nature photographer

Canon 5D Mark II Review

I started in photography with a Canon PowerShot A50. I had bought the camera in 2000 because that's when my first son was born. I did not want to miss anything as it grew and had never had a camera before. I had heard about digital cameras but had not ever used a reality. This Canon PowerShot A50 was a 1 megapixel camera there were some interesting features for the cameras at this time. No video or anything like that, but I learned to use some of the characteristics of camera quite easily. Was too expensive for my wife and I to buy this camera because it was about $ 250 and when just been married a couple of years and have a baby newborn is a lot of money.

This camera lasted until my son was 5 years old. I started taking him fishing and hiking locations with me and we took pictures along the way when we went hiking. So we decided to drop in 2005 for hiking and exploring in the mountains of West Virginia, when I say I mean mountain forests Monongahela. There were so many areas to see and was not really sure where to start, so he started the falls of hills creek and immediately knew I was in love with nature photography and nature photography waterfall particular. We finally headed up Seneca rocky area north of the Monongahela Forest and toured the caverns of Seneca, who was a great place to visit and has a few photos of the caves of bats and various rock formations. However, when we left I put my camera on the top of the car and doing our things ready in the car for the preparation of our drive and inadvertently left the camera on the top of the attention. We started down the road and after about half a mile I heard something going falling toward the rear of the car window. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw my $ 250 camera bouncing up and down the road and flying pieces everywhere. This was very disappointing as I had planned to continue to control spruce West Virginia is the highest point in the state.

I managed to gather the pieces of my Canon PowerShot A50 road and made the idea of not going to put more pictures on our trip. This was very disappointing, but I was convinced that the trip was not about pictures, but rather about my child and his father to spend time together. So we went to Spruce Knob, and while there I decided to look up to the camera and see if they could use even though he was in a lot of parts. I began to find parts and believe it or not managed to get the camera to activate the tamper switch to the top of the flash card. Although the screen was broken in many places that really came on and actually was able to take pictures with this camera you are stuck, literally, with a couple of small sticks and tape. From this point on I not only realized that I loved the picture nature, but Canon is the best camera I could have.

Once I started looking in other pictures cascade of nature on the Internet, I began to hunger for a new camera. I thought I should be able to figure out how he became the waterfalls look so soft and silky. This gave me the anointing to save and buy a new Canon Rebel 350D early 2006. This camera was in my opinion the best camera you could have, but many others were much more expensive and had many more features, this was the first SLR that had ever had in my hand. I learned about the different settings and was amazed at what aperture and exposure time could do to the appearance of a waterfall or stream. This is when Free Photo Image "> Free Nature Picture Photography Forestwander was inspired one day walking home from work singing the gospel song" How Great Thou Art. "

After obtaining a better camera I realized that the look and sharpness of a digital image depends not only on the body a camera, but it depends greatly the quality of the lens. This is when she determined to get a better fixed focal length lens and noticed the difference quality of a lens and a zoom lens cheaper. I was wondering the picture can be better and if so what is needed to make the best images. Although I lacked funding for high quality professional digital camera full frame that had the passion to explore and take pictures even more and more refining my skills and principles of the document at issue in greater detail. I knew I had to start our adventures walking captured on video, but do not want to carry a video camera.

In 2007 he got a new Canon G9, which combines a high quality point and shoot with the latest lens technology video and audio capture built into a very small camera. This camera had the best of both worlds and allowed us to walk and take great wildlife photos and even a great macro photography of flowers. That's when I learned that the RAW image format is the best way to shoot so that I could manipulate the exposure and color in post processing. Wow! Jpeg I had thought was good until I experienced the benefits of the general recovery of the transformation of images used with Canon Photo Professional. The Canon G9 is really a great little camera, but lacked the detail super strong and broad that my 350D Digital Rebel could reach. For the next two years, I imagined what it would be convenient to walk and take pictures of high quality SLR, and take video adventure in nature to same time with the same camera.

One day in late 2008 I read about the new Canon models that would be released and that this camera is combined super quality 21-megapixel full frame Canon technology not only high resolution video, but the quality of 1080p HD video. I said to myself, No doubt this camera would be far beyond my reach and, indeed, can cost $ 5,000 or more. However, I learned that this new camera could purchased for just under $ 3,500 with a large aperture of f4 zoom low quality that seals moisture also sports weatherproof. This was undoubtedly the answer to all my needs and desires as a novice adventure nature photographer. After several months of savings of a plan that was blessed with a new Canon 5D Mark II and F4 accompanying 24-105mm zoom.

Now I've been the proud owner of this wonderful camera for almost a year and I am convinced that this camera is all what ever need. Although new technologies may be emerging as 3-D holographic picture (I think I'm kidding, watch and see.) The Canon 5D Mark II will always be my favorite camera. This camera was the camera that I brought in the full frame market professionals. This camera takes the picture with little incredible light in the higher ISO settings, often taking the picture in low light in the forest and even take some pictures of the night landscape of high mountain heights, is imperative that the noise from these images are kept to a minimum.

Recently I learned that I can connect my Canon 5D Mark II to my laptop and store images directly from the camera to my 500 GB hard drive. This gives me hours of recording high quality video and thousands of pictures of 21 MP. There is no doubt that they much to share with this new camera and I only began to experience the wonderful quality of this camera provides. So far they have published at least 100 new 21 MP images in Nature Photography "ForestWander> and I have to say are some of the best pictures I've taken and only continues to improve As I learn more about the 5D. The automatic transmission features brackets are really great and helping me to experience resolution wide range possible with HDR.

The live view function is really amazing because I can set my 5D on a tripod to close the field for a macro shot of a mushroom, for example. Otherwise it would be impossible to focus on a very small fungus near the ground looking through a viewer. Then can press a button and the focus and see actual results on the screen of 3 inches. This is not only ideal for live viewing in real time, but ideal for viewing after the image, as I literally zoom in on a particular area of high image resolution and verify that you have perfect focus before that even the transfer and processing of the image in my local laptop. Also, the automatic sensor cleaning system is ideal for a nature photographer frequently changing objectives in the area where dust and pollutants are inevitable.

Below I've listed some of the features of the Canon 5D Mark II, but not just compare the specifications to take account of other cameras that Canon has a great product and that their cameras are durable, long lasting and even if other specifications in other cameras that start with a slightly higher N will always be a die hard Canon fan of real world experiences that I have lived Over the past 6 years as a photographer of nature adventure.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II specifications

Price List
(Body only)
U.S.: $ 2,699
EU: € 2499
United Kingdom: £ 2.299

Price List
(EF 24-105 Kit L)
U.S.: $ 3,499
EU: € 3299
United Kingdom: £ 3.049

Body Material
Magnesium alloy

Sensor
36 x 24 mm CMOS sensor
Full 35 mm frame size
RGB color filter array
Built in fixed low-pass filter (with self-cleaning unit)
22.0 million total pixels
21.1 million effective pixels
3:2 aspect ratio

Lenses
Canon EF lens mount (Not compatible with EF-S)
No field of view crop (1.0 x)

Dust Reduction
"EOS Integrated Cleaning System"
self-cleaning sensor unit (filter in front of sensor vibrates at high frequency start and stop – can be disabled)
Dust Delete Data – Data of a test firing points used "map" of dust and can be later removed using Canon DPP Software

Image Processor
DIGIC 4
Conversion A / D of 14 bits

Image sizes (JPEG)
5616 x 3744 (21.0 MP)
4080 x 2720 (11.1 MP)
2784 x 1856 (5.2 MP)

Sizes image (RAW)
5616 x 3744 (21.0 MP)
3861 x 2574 (10.0 MP)
2784 x 1856 (5.2 MP)

File Formats
RAW (CR2;. 14 bits)
JPEG (EXIF 2.21) – Fine / Normal
RAW + JPEG (separate files)
sRAW1, sRAW2 (see above)

Auto Focus
9-point TTL CMOS sensor
6 "Invisible Assist AF points"
Centre point cross type F5.6 or faster
Central point also sensitive with lenses of F2.8 or faster
AF working range: -0.5 to 18 EV (at 23 ° C, ISO 100)

Focus Modes
One shot AF
AF AI Servo
AI Focus AF
Manual Focus

AF micro adjustment
Adjust all lenses by the same amount (in fact, the body's adjustment)
Set up 20 lenses individually

AF point selection
Auto
Manual

Predictive AF
As about 8 m (with the target of 300 mm f/2.8L to 50 km / h)
AF assist No (only with external flash)

Measurement
TTL full aperture metering 35 zone SPC
measuring range: 1.0 – 20 EV

Metering Modes
Evaluative 35 zone (in relation to any AF point)
Partial (8% at center)
Spot metering (Approx. 3.5% at center)
center-weighted average

AE
Auto: One Shot AF with the evaluation of measurement
Manual: Button AE lock

Exposure Compensation
+ / -2.0 EV
0.3 or 0.5 EV

Exposure bracketing
+ / – 2.0 EV
0.3 or 0.5 EV

Sensitivity
ISO 100 – 6400
0.3 or 1.0 EV increments
Auto ISO (100-3200)
Expansion options:
ISO 50 (L1)
ISO 12800 (H1)
ISO 25600 (H2)

Shutter
Focal plane shutter
150000 exposure durability
30 – 1 / 8000 sec
0.3 or 0.5 EV
Flash X-Sync: 1 / 200 sec
Bulb

Opening values
F1.0 – F91
0.3 or 0.5 EV
real aperture range depends of the lens used

White Balance
Auto
Daylight
Shadow
Cloudy
Tungsten
Fluorescent
Flash
Custom
Kelvin (2500-10000 K in steps of 100 K)

WB Bracketing
+ / -3 Points
3 images
Blue / amber or magenta / green

WB shift
Blue (-9) to Amber (9)
Magenta (-9) to Green (9)

Picture Style
Standard
Portrait
Landscape
Neutral
Faithful
Monochrome
user definition. 1
user definition. 2
user definition. 3

Custom image parameters
Sharpness: 0-7
Contrast: -4 to 4
Saturation: -4 to 4
Color tone: -4 to 4
B & W filter: N, Ye, O, R, G
B & W tone: N, S, B, P, G

Image processing options
Highlight tone priority
Auto lighting optimizer (4 settings)
Long exposure of Noise Reduction
High ISO noise reduction (4 positions)
Automatic correction of lens peripheral illumination (vignetting)

Color Space
sRGB
Adobe RGB

Viewer
At eye-level pentaprism
98% frame coverage
Magnification: 0.71x (-1 diopter with 50 mm lens at infinity)
Point of view: Approx. 21 mm
Interchangeable focusing screen (3 other types optional)
diopter adjustment: -3.0 to 1.0 diopters

Mirror
Quick return mirror half (transmission: reflection ratio 40:60)
Mirror lockup (one or more exhibitions)

Information Viewer
AF information:

AF Points
Focus confirmation light

Information exposure
Shutter speed
Aperture Value
ISO speed (always displayed)
AE lock
Exposure level / compensation
Spot metering circle
Exposure warning
AEB

Flash information
Flash ready
High-Speed Sync
FE lock
Flash exposure compensation
Image Info:
Balance Correction
CF card information
Monochrome shooting
maximum burst (two digits)
Highlight tone priority (D +)

LCD Monitor
3.0 "TFT LCD
920,000 pixels
Automatic 3 level brightness adjustment plus 7 manual levels
170 ° viewing angle
Double anti-reflection ('Clear View')

Live view LCD
Live TTL display of scene from CMOS image sensor
100% coverage
30 fps
real-time evaluative metering using CMOS image sensor
Best view or exposure simulation
Silent Mode
Optional network (x2)
Enlarge optional (5x or 10x at AF point)
Three AF modes – Live mode / Quick mode / Face Detection
Live histogram (Luminance or RGB)
Remote Live View with EOS Utility 2.0 (via USB or WiFi / Ethernet using WFT)

Recording movies
Optionally available in Live View mode
1920 x 1080 (16:9) up to 12 minutes (Quicktime 1080p H.264, 38.6 Mbits / sec)
640 x 480 (4:3) of up to 24 minutes (Quicktime 480p H.264; 17.3 Mbits / sec)
Max file size 4 GB
Quicktime MOV format (H.264 video, PCM sound)
30 fps

Record Review
Off
The (histogram through INFO button)
Similarly show that the last mode Play
2 / 4 / 8 s / Hold

Playback Modes
1. A photo exhibition, file number, storage slot
2. But also as having the image and quality
3. detailed exposure information, thumbnail and luminance histogram
4. Less detailed exposure information., Thumbnail, luminance and RGB histograms

Playback features
Optional blinking highlight alert
Displaying optional AF point
Magnified view (10x)
2×2 or 3×3 thumbnail index
Jump (by 1, 10, 100 images, screen, date, folder, movies, stills) *
Delete / Protect

Flash
No built-in flash unit
E-TTL II auto flash / manual measured
Flash compensation + / -2.0 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV
X-Sync: 1 / 200 sec
Zapata Hot and PC Terminal

External Flash
E-TTL II auto flash with EX-series Speedlites
In the flash settings of the camera (in the currently only 580 EX II)
Multi-flash support
PC Sync

Shooting Modes
Auto
Creative Auto *
Program AE (P)
Shutter priority AE (Tv)
Aperture priority AE (Av)
Manual (M)
Custom 1
Custom 2 *
Custom 3 *

Operating Modes
Individual
Continuous: 3.9 frames per second *
Self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds (2 sec with mirror lock-up)

Explosion buffer
Large / Fine JPEG: 78 frames (310 with UDMA card)
RAW: 13 frames

Orientation Sensor
Yes

Auto rotation
(Recorded and LCD display)
The (registered only)
Off

Custom Functions
25 custom functions with 71 settings in 4 groups
Languages menu
25 Languages
English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Finnish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic, Thai, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional Japanese Korean

Firmware
User upgradeable
Portrait grip
Optional WFT-E4 (WiFi / LAN / USB mass storage)
Optional battery grip BG-E6

Connectivity
High Speed USB 2.0
AV output (video and audio *)
HDMI connector
Mic
PC Sync flash terminal
Communication Terminal base for WFT-E4
Infrared

Storage
Compact Flash Type I or II (including FAT32)
Supports UDMA Cards
Copyright metatag support
Canon Original Data Security Kit supported ("Original Image Data")

Power
Lithium Ion LP-E6 rechargeable battery (included and charger)
CR1616 for date & settings
Approx. 850 shots at 20 ° C
Battery indication 6 levels and percentage (memorized)

Dimensions
152 x 114 x 75 mm (6.0 x 4.5 x 2.9 in)

Weight
No battery: 810 g (1.8 lbs)

Accessories
Viewfinder: Eyecup Eb, E-series Dioptric Adjustment Lens with Rubber Frame Eb, Eyepiece Extender EP-EX15, Focusing For example, screens, Angle Finder C
Transmitter Wireless WFT-E4
Battery Grip BG-E6
All EF lenses (excluding EF-S)
Canon Speedlite (220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 430EX, 430EX II, 550EX, 580EX, 580EX II, Macro-Ring-Lite MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2)
Remote control with N3 type contact, Wireless Controller LC-5, RC-1 remote control, RC-5 remote control
Data Security Kit OSK-E3 Original

About the Author

ForestWander Free Nature Picture Photography
http://www.ForestWander.com

Extreme Nature Photography Adventure Gear Store
http://store.ForestWander.com

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