Canon EOS 5D | sample images
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Details at a glance
Megapixels: 12.8
Lens Mount: Canon EF
FPS:3
LCD: 2.5 inches
Storage: CF I/II, M
Size: 152 x 113 x 75mm
Weight: 810g
We clicked with
35mm-equivalent sensor produces excellent high-resolution images with exceptionally low noise
Shots in the dark
Neither the convenience of consumer camera controls nor the locked settings of high-end pro cameras.
Links
More Canon information
www.canon.co.uk
Price Comparison:
Canon EOS 5D
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The first digital SLR to combine a full-frame sensor with an affordable price tag, the Canon EOS 5D looks the part with a textured black case and a slew of controls. Pricier SLRs are heavier too; the lighter weight and grooved grip make it comfortable to hold for a long session (although hefty lenses will cause more imbalances).
Full Control
Most of the controls work with the two wheels that fall under your forefinger and thumb. Press the Drive-ISO button and you can change the ISO with your thumb or the drive mode with the finger wheel. You can use whichever control wheel is more comfortable to navigate the menus but the Set button is on the thumbwheel. There's a separate joystick for selecting autofocus points and fine-tuning the white balance. Not all of the controls are logical. You can lock the exposure and the main control wheel but not the exposure mode dial next to the flash shoe and one button is devoted to printing, which is an odd choice on this level of camera.
If you're shooting in JPEG, Picture Styles give you a quick way to switch settings and you can customise the contrast, sharpness, saturation and colour tone or create three of your own Picture Styles. This will often save you delving into the menus, and is more functional than the “mode” settings on lower-spec cameras.
The status LCD shows most of the settings, though you have to press a button to see the current ISO here or in the viewfinder. As with many DSLRs, there's no built-in flash and no AF-assist lamp (the EOS 5D will use the beam from an external flash and this would improve focussing in poor lighting conditions). The autofocus system has nine visible zones and six invisible zones; you can pick one of the nine or make all of them active for less predictable shots. This gives excellent performance for this level of camera, though it doesn't match the best high-end SLRs.
Obviously you can't preview images on the 2.5” LCD screen but the display quality is bright and clear for reviewing photos, although it does wash out in bright sunlight compared to the transflective screens on consumer cameras. One of the trade-offs for a smaller body size than other DSLRs is the smaller battery, but you still get over 300 shots from a single Lithium Ion battery.
Superb sensor
The strengths of this camera - and some of the weaknesses - are in the huge sensor. Attach a 50mm lens and you get a 50mm lens. Equally, the sensor will show up any issues in your lens; some lenses won't give you enough detail at the edges of the image for the sensor resolution, so you'll need to invest in quality optics to make the 5D worthwhile (as well as the storage cards to fit 12.8 megapixel images on). The fact is, a full-frame sensor gives you full frame results, and there have been claims that the 5D suffers from dramatic vignetting. (See our note below on vignetting). The sensor or the 5D allows for incredibly sharp and detailed pictures but is very unforgiving on lower quality glass. For what it's worth, Canon's 24-105 L IS lens has the thumbs-up as a good workhorse solution. With the right lens you can take superb pictures with this camera once you master the controls. However, some lenses that would give great results on, say, a 350D will start to show problems on a 5D. On a lower spec camera, even a moderate lens can out resolve the sensor. On a high spec camera like the 5D the sensor will start to show up the flaws of any lens that isn't top notch. This doesn't mean that you will get poorer pictures but if you delve into them at a pixel level they may look worse. Use good glass and they will look stunning at any level.
The automatic white balance for artificial light is an improvement over the EOS 20D but you'll often get better results with a preset or manual setting. The high resolution means excellent detail in your images, with wide dynamic and tonal range. Choose the right options and you can get natural skin tones, striking colours, strong contrast or night shots with virtually no false colours.
Noise
The low level of apparent noise on this camera is astounding. There's very little noise even at ISO 800 and 1600, so you'll be able to print your images at large sizes or crop into details without having to shrink the print size too far. Set the camera to ISO 800 and the files look like those shot on some other DSLRs at ISO 400. ISO 1600 starts to get a little noisy but no worse than many competitors at ISO 800 and even ISO 3200 could be considered “usable” for some purposes
Notice I said “apparent” noise. The 5D employs a fair amount of noise reduction to attain such smooth results but it does results in beautifully clean images. There's also a big debate on “good” noise vs “bad”noise. The 5D displays mainly chroma noise which is the multi coloured specks. The higher end Nikons (which cost 3 times the price) generally display very little chroma noise but more luminance noise, which shows as a black and white pattern. Many photographers prefer luminance noise to chroma noise since it looks more like film grain. That's an argument that will probably never be solved but the Canon 5D shows the lowest noise in its jpegs of any camera we have looked at so far. I'd happily use the ISO set to 800 and not worry too much if I had to push it to 1600 for the odd shot.
Vignetting
Vignetting is a darkening of the corners of an image. There can be many reasons for it - a badly designed lens hood, fall off from a flash unit, a poorly made lens etc. Many photographers actually add vignettes to portraits since it focuses the viewer's attention on the subject. For a very extreme example, remember the “old time” portraits that had an oval picture on a rectangular print.
Vignetting due to lens or camera design usually manifests itself at extreme wide angles and when using wide apertures. A full frame sensor is much more likely to show vignetting than an APS sized one since all of the lns will be used in creating the image - any darkness in the corners will be punished mercilessly.
Canon supplied the 5D to us with a 24 - 85mm f3.5 - f4.5 USM lens. This isn't classed as a pro lens but it retails for around £250 and on one online site it has 93% of users “recommending” it. It's not a great lens but a good one and it's the one Canon sent for us to try their 5D with.
It vignettes. A lot. On pictures taken at all focal lengths at up to f8 darkening to the corners was visible on the thumbnails on my screen. In some cases it was just about visible on the LCD on the back of the camera. To me that says that this camera/lens combination is unusable for any real purpose.
Unfortunately, all the other Canon lenses we have in the office are EF-S and so won't fit a 5D so we were unable to test vignetting on other lenses. I did some extensive research into this and as you'd expect some lenses are better than others. The 17 - 40L for example is reckoned by most people to have no vignetting on a 5D - that's a pro grade lens with a pro grade price tag. Canon have made it clear that they do not consider the 5D a pro grade camera - for that you need the 1DS Mk II and so it's disappointing that you need to invest in pro grade glass to avoid issues with this camera. It's true that you will get fabulous results from the 17 - 40L but it's a shame that you have to buy a lens that costs half as much as the camera to get usable pictures.
After extensive research I decided that although the 5D appears to vignette with a number of lenses, it is particularly bad with the 24 - 85. I have ignored the vignetting issue in the image quality mark but I would recommend against using the 5D with the 24 - 85. If you buy this camera then check the lens you choose carefully.
Camera specification
| Mega-pixels: | 10.2 |
Photo: | JPEG, RAW |
| Lens Mount: | Canon EF (not EF-S) |
RAW: | Yes |
| LCD: | 2.5 inch |
FPS: | 3 |
| Dimensions: | 152 x 113 x 75mm |
Shutter: | 30 sec to 1/8000 |
| Weight: | 810g |
Exposure: | ISO 100 to 1600 |
| Storage: | CF I/II, M |
Movie: | No |
| Battery: | Li-Ion BP-511A |
Microphone: | No |
| Interface: | USB 2.0, AV |
PictBridge: | Yes |
