Discussion
From what Ive read: Being full frame, you need to use good glass, but even the most expensive L lenses still show up soft spots at the corners, and slight vignetting at the wider end.
All SLR's are subject to dust penetration (to a greater or lesser degree) and the 5D suffers in this way more than any other digital SLR on the market.
The 5D wont "do" much more, or perform a whole lot better than the 30D, but it costs twice as much.
And you will also loose out on the 1.6 crop factor (as well as the sweet spots in your lenses) which your 10d provides, and it only has a continuous drive mode of 3fps, so its probably not the best camera for sports photographers in that respect.
You will also need to replace any EF-S lenses you own.
There seems to be a general consensus (again, just going by what ive read) that the 5D 'feels right' and "as it should" (to film users) having a bigger, brighter view finder, and with image quality being ever so slightly better than that of the 20d. The 12.7 mp sensor will give you plenty of cropping power and print resolution.
I'd like one. Either a 5D or the 30D. Ive not yet made my mind up though. Read some opinions at FredMiranda People are already speculating on a 5Dn, if you feel like waiting till photokina(sp?)
All SLR's are subject to dust penetration (to a greater or lesser degree) and the 5D suffers in this way more than any other digital SLR on the market.
The 5D wont "do" much more, or perform a whole lot better than the 30D, but it costs twice as much.
And you will also loose out on the 1.6 crop factor (as well as the sweet spots in your lenses) which your 10d provides, and it only has a continuous drive mode of 3fps, so its probably not the best camera for sports photographers in that respect.
You will also need to replace any EF-S lenses you own.
There seems to be a general consensus (again, just going by what ive read) that the 5D 'feels right' and "as it should" (to film users) having a bigger, brighter view finder, and with image quality being ever so slightly better than that of the 20d. The 12.7 mp sensor will give you plenty of cropping power and print resolution.
I'd like one. Either a 5D or the 30D. Ive not yet made my mind up though. Read some opinions at FredMiranda People are already speculating on a 5Dn, if you feel like waiting till photokina(sp?)
I've recently bought one to replace my 20D and it's ficking brilliant 
I'll do more of a write-up when I get a chance - due to work commitments I've not had much chance to have a play yet. Sticking my 17-40L on it has resulted in a few funny shots. Full frame + true wide angle lens =
IMO the 20D was a worthy 'upgrade' from the 10D. The 5D is a whole new level
There's currently a £200 cash-back on the 5D as well, this is what pushed me over the edge
I'll do more of a write-up when I get a chance - due to work commitments I've not had much chance to have a play yet. Sticking my 17-40L on it has resulted in a few funny shots. Full frame + true wide angle lens =
IMO the 20D was a worthy 'upgrade' from the 10D. The 5D is a whole new level
There's currently a £200 cash-back on the 5D as well, this is what pushed me over the edge
ukBob said:
You will also need to replace any EF-S lenses you own.
Which will be none as Shady has a 10D.
Full frame is nice if you like really wide shots. The view through the viewfinder is a different world to the 10D. If I were getting a new body it'll be a 5D if I wanted it for landscapes and non-moving car shots. If it were speed it'd be a 1D mk2 (which is the route I went).
ukBob said:
From what I've read: Being full frame, you need to use good glass, but even the most expensive L lenses still show up soft spots at the corners, and slight vignetting at the wider end.
which they always have, even on film, but the difference is that it was not so easy to zoom in to a pixel level degree of magnification with 35mm. In the real world with everyday subject you'll not likely notice much corner softness. Wideangle, brick wall square on, wide open, then maybe - but who photographs that?
I got a 5D as my first digital SLR and I like it a lot. I chose this over the 20D as I wanted to continue to use the lenses I had accumulated with my EOS 30 without multiplying by 1.6. I also prefer the nice bright viewfinder and larger LCD, though the 30D may have the latter anyway (?).
The camera handles well for me and the body size draws less attention and is easier to carry than the 1 series. I haven't had any real problems with dust on the sensor, an occaional blast with a blower is enough.
I have been very happy with the sharpness of the 5D but a little concerned with the vignetting with wide angles, like the 24-105 f4L I bought to go with it. It's easy to fix in software but my lens is currently back with Canon to see whether it is a fault. I suspect not as I have swapped it once already...
If you're going from a 10D some of your acessories might not work - remotes and such. Not a big deal but something to bear in mind.
The camera handles well for me and the body size draws less attention and is easier to carry than the 1 series. I haven't had any real problems with dust on the sensor, an occaional blast with a blower is enough.
I have been very happy with the sharpness of the 5D but a little concerned with the vignetting with wide angles, like the 24-105 f4L I bought to go with it. It's easy to fix in software but my lens is currently back with Canon to see whether it is a fault. I suspect not as I have swapped it once already...
If you're going from a 10D some of your acessories might not work - remotes and such. Not a big deal but something to bear in mind.
shadytree said:
I've currently got a Canon 10D and I've been offered a great deal from a friend in the photography business for a new Canon 5D.
Has anyone got one or used one?
Opinions please.
I have one. Short answer, it's excellent. Bit busy now, but will try to post more tomorrow...
srider said:
I've currently got a Canon 10D and I've been offered a great deal from a friend in the photography business for a new Canon 5D.
Has anyone got one or used one?
Opinions please.
I have one. Short answer, it's excellent. Bit busy now, but will try to post more tomorrow...
You'll find that owners love them, yet reviews aren't quite as glowing. Don't know why this is, but my personal belief is that they're a lot more special than reviewers would have you believe.
I'm just trying to find out why the pop-up flash isn't working on mine
I've been meaning to post my first thoughts on the 5D for a while now so here goes.
The majority of the shooting I do is of motorsport events, macro, and nature photography. For some time now I've been using a 1DMk2 for the action stuff, and a second body for static shots in the pits etc. Last year that body was a 20D, with either the 17-85 mm ef-s or the 10-22 mm ef-s. I really didn't have much to complain about with the 20D. It's an excellent camera and was fantastic in that role, especially as it was significantly lighter and easier to use than a second 1D. The 10-22 is a stunning lens, the 17-85 is ok, but a bit soft. The one thing that having those two lenses did show me was that the effective ranges that they cover (16-35 mm, and 28-135 mm) are much more suitable to real-world conditions than most zoom lenses are on a cropped sensor body.
So, there I am at the end of the motorsport season last year thinking "finally, I have a camera set up that I'm happy with". Then Canon brought out the 5D. Objectively, I really didn't have any need to replace my 20D with a 5D. The only real advantage was that I would get a noticeably better quality print that 19 x 13 inches, and the 24-105 mm lens which I had ordered anyway would work really nicely on it. To test out the theory about better prints, I borrowed Matt Gravy's 1Ds Mk2, since the resolution difference between that and the 5D is very small. I was shocked at how much better the prints were than from either of my eight megapixel bodies. So, now having the reason I didn't really need to justify an upgrade, I sold the 20D and ef-s lenses, and bought a 5D, 17-40, and 24-105.
First impressions were excellent. The build quality of the 5D is probably slightly better than the 20D. The new LCD on the back is much bigger and nicer to use. The viewfinder is huge, bright and a joy to use. The 24-105 works really nicely on the 5D. I haven't really seen any of the often reported problems with vignetting (dark corners) and soft corners that full frame detractors often mention. Of course, these are going to be apparent where they weren't on a cropped sensor, but I haven't noticed these issues without actually going to look for them. The resolution increase over the 20D is very noticeable. The pictures are much closer to the 1Ds Mk2 than the 20D. I haven't noticed much in the way of chromatic aberration (purple fringing). Most of these problems only really happen at very wide angles with wide apertures, not a very common situation in real life.
As I'm very much a warm weather photographer, I haven't used the camera in anger much yet so these initial opinions may change, but at the moment I really like it. It's difficult to put your finger on what it is, but it's just a really nice camera to use, and it tends to get good results. I think that's why reviewers are not giving it rave reviews, because it does have obvious failings as a do it all camera. I don't think I'd be happy with it as a single body for the type of shooting that I do, as it's not particularly quick, and doesn't have the fantastic autofocus that the 1DMk2 has, but that's hardly a surprise. As a general use camera for anything other than serious fast action work it's great in my opinion.
Lastly, those nice big pixels mean that it is excellent in low light. Just after I bought it, I sneaked it into a Doves gig at Reading Hexagon. I was on the wheelchair platform, which is behind the crowd and a long way from the stage. Luckily, I brought the 70-300 DO IS. It was so dark, I could hardly see anything through the viewfinder. I cranked the ISO up to 3200, shutter speed about 1/60s, 300 mm, and held it very carefully. I was really surprised at the results, there was quite a lot of noise, and they weren't pin sharp, but they were easily good enough for web use and even some really good 6X4 inch prints, with no sign of noise on them.
I really think I'll be keeping this for quite awhile (how many times have I said that before!). I love the combination of high resolution, small size, and great viewfinder. The only thing I do miss is the pop-up flash which was handy occasionally for fill-in on my 20D.
The majority of the shooting I do is of motorsport events, macro, and nature photography. For some time now I've been using a 1DMk2 for the action stuff, and a second body for static shots in the pits etc. Last year that body was a 20D, with either the 17-85 mm ef-s or the 10-22 mm ef-s. I really didn't have much to complain about with the 20D. It's an excellent camera and was fantastic in that role, especially as it was significantly lighter and easier to use than a second 1D. The 10-22 is a stunning lens, the 17-85 is ok, but a bit soft. The one thing that having those two lenses did show me was that the effective ranges that they cover (16-35 mm, and 28-135 mm) are much more suitable to real-world conditions than most zoom lenses are on a cropped sensor body.
So, there I am at the end of the motorsport season last year thinking "finally, I have a camera set up that I'm happy with". Then Canon brought out the 5D. Objectively, I really didn't have any need to replace my 20D with a 5D. The only real advantage was that I would get a noticeably better quality print that 19 x 13 inches, and the 24-105 mm lens which I had ordered anyway would work really nicely on it. To test out the theory about better prints, I borrowed Matt Gravy's 1Ds Mk2, since the resolution difference between that and the 5D is very small. I was shocked at how much better the prints were than from either of my eight megapixel bodies. So, now having the reason I didn't really need to justify an upgrade, I sold the 20D and ef-s lenses, and bought a 5D, 17-40, and 24-105.
First impressions were excellent. The build quality of the 5D is probably slightly better than the 20D. The new LCD on the back is much bigger and nicer to use. The viewfinder is huge, bright and a joy to use. The 24-105 works really nicely on the 5D. I haven't really seen any of the often reported problems with vignetting (dark corners) and soft corners that full frame detractors often mention. Of course, these are going to be apparent where they weren't on a cropped sensor, but I haven't noticed these issues without actually going to look for them. The resolution increase over the 20D is very noticeable. The pictures are much closer to the 1Ds Mk2 than the 20D. I haven't noticed much in the way of chromatic aberration (purple fringing). Most of these problems only really happen at very wide angles with wide apertures, not a very common situation in real life.
As I'm very much a warm weather photographer, I haven't used the camera in anger much yet so these initial opinions may change, but at the moment I really like it. It's difficult to put your finger on what it is, but it's just a really nice camera to use, and it tends to get good results. I think that's why reviewers are not giving it rave reviews, because it does have obvious failings as a do it all camera. I don't think I'd be happy with it as a single body for the type of shooting that I do, as it's not particularly quick, and doesn't have the fantastic autofocus that the 1DMk2 has, but that's hardly a surprise. As a general use camera for anything other than serious fast action work it's great in my opinion.
Lastly, those nice big pixels mean that it is excellent in low light. Just after I bought it, I sneaked it into a Doves gig at Reading Hexagon. I was on the wheelchair platform, which is behind the crowd and a long way from the stage. Luckily, I brought the 70-300 DO IS. It was so dark, I could hardly see anything through the viewfinder. I cranked the ISO up to 3200, shutter speed about 1/60s, 300 mm, and held it very carefully. I was really surprised at the results, there was quite a lot of noise, and they weren't pin sharp, but they were easily good enough for web use and even some really good 6X4 inch prints, with no sign of noise on them.
I really think I'll be keeping this for quite awhile (how many times have I said that before!). I love the combination of high resolution, small size, and great viewfinder. The only thing I do miss is the pop-up flash which was handy occasionally for fill-in on my 20D.
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