Canon’s marketing department is brilliant. They get pre-production cameras into the hands of pros in the industry who always seem to rave about the new piece of equipment. So far we have 2-3 “reviews” from some professional photographers around the world:

Metro Photo:

http://www.mymetrophoto.com/2008/10/must-see-metrophotos-review-of-new.html

Steve and Jen Bebb:

http://bebbblog.com/index.php?link=94

Vincent Laforet:

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/#more-1085

I say “review” in quotes because all the pros are definitely saying very clearly “we’re no technical junkies, this is not a technical review, just an initial *reaction* to the camera after shooting with it for ONE shoot…” And if you read the reviews, they are definitely just “reactions”, indeed, consisting of not much more than “we really love this camera, we really can’t wait to buy one!!!”

But anyway, SO FAR:

1.) It is unanimous that the image quality is insanely good and that the high ISO performance is again world-class. I cannot stress a couple points enough: The 100% view, at high ISO’s, is about equal to Nikon’s FX sensor in the D700 and D3. So in reality, the high ISO performance is nothing new. But also, keep in mind that you’re at 21 megapixels, not 12, so with the down-sampling of images from 21 to a comparable 12, or less, you WILL get another bit of edge in the category of low noise. It might give you as much as a 1-stop advantage over the Nikon sensors.

So to simplify- combination of *equal* noise performance at *greater* resolution can be translated to *greater* noise performance at *equal* resolution. But we’re already talking about clean ISO 6400, and seriously, I lost count when ISO 3200 got clean on my D300!

2.) No mention of the autofocus points, or any issues with autofocus. One can only hope that no news is good news, and that most pros will be able to shoot the 5D mk2 without any focusing frustrations. (Oh wait, there WAS that other link I posted with sample images, where the guy had to defend a couple blurry shots… But the Bebb review also had some super-shallow DOF shots, and their images were all pretty accurately focused, (and some subjects were off-center!) …so like I said, one can only hope! T’would be folly to think the 5D mk2 can catch the D700 for speed and accuracy, but I’m just hoping that the 5D mk2 will make a fine tool for those who need 21 megapixels…

Either way I’m done posting my opinion on this for a while. We’ve got a month or two before the 5D mk2 hits the shelves. And I’ve got a LOT of work to catch up on, and new events to shoot. (And the D700 is begging to be rented!)

So unless there are any other major announcements between now and christmas…. peace OUT Napoleon!

=Matt=

Something was pointed out on the fanboy forums that has always been lurking in the back of my mind- What about venues that have previously NOT allowed video recording but have said OK to still images? (Baseball games, I hear?)

DSLR’s may soon be on the list(s) of UN-allowed recording devices at venues. My biggest fear is that it would be a blanket rule that doesn’t allow ANY DSLR in, period, because it will be impossible for the average security guard to discern which camera can record video and which cannot…

BUMMER, BUMMER, BUMMER!!!!

=Matt=