The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon, the first Canon EOS camera to have video recording capabilities. It succeeds the EOS 5D and was announced on 17 September 2008.
On 2 March 2012, Canon announced the camera's successor: the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
On 24 December 2012, Canon Japan moved the camera to their "Old Products" list, effectively discontinuing the camera.
Improvements over original EOS 5D
New features
- Movie recording full HD at 1920 × 1080 and SDTV at 640 × 480 resolution.
- Monaural microphone for audio during video recording, speaker for playback and microphone jack for external stereo microphone
- Live preview with ExpSim LV "exposure simulation" live preview (full exposure preview control utilizing ExpSim LV, a first for video in a DSLR)
- Live preview with contrast-detect autofocus
- HDMI video output for live preview or playing clips and images on an external monitor via Type C MiniHDMI port
- Dust reduction system to perform automatic sensor cleaning
- Battery management software
The 5D Mark II is the first camera in the EOS line to provide video recording functions. Still photography during video recording is possible, but the camera suspends recording video until the final still frame is captured.
The Li-Ion battery for the 5D Mark II (LP-E6) has an 1800mAh capacity. Each battery contains a microchip with a unique identifier for reporting charge status and battery health for display on the camera. The 5D Mark II's "Battery Info" screen can track battery health and shooting history for up to six LP-E6 batteries.
Video recording
While the Nikon D90 was the first DSLR to shoot 720p high-definition video, and the Panasonic GH1, a MILC, was capable of 1080p/24 recording before the 5D Mark II officially gained this capability, the latter was the first full-frame DSLR to feature 1080p video recording. The Canon PowerShot SX 1 IS followed with 1080p video in a bridge digital camera soon after.
The 16:9 aspect ratio portion of the sensor used in video mode is similar in sensitive area to a VistaVision 8/35 frame. This large sensor allows videos to be recorded with very shallow depth of field for a "film look". The 21 megapixel sensor is downsampled to HD resolution by only using every third line and 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, leading to concern about Moiré patterns in recorded video.
Video clips can be up to 4 GB in size, approximately 12 minutes of 1080p HD or 24 minutes of SD (640 x 480) footage. These limits stem from the 4 GB maximum file size supported by the FAT32 filesystem format used on Compact Flash cards. The camera also imposes a hard maximum clip length of 29 minutes 59 seconds if the 4 GB limit has not already been reached. Video and audio is recorded to QuickTime (MOV) container files with H.264/MPEG-4 (Base Profile @ L5) compressed video and uncompressed 48Â kHz/16-bit PCM audio at . The bitrate for 1080p is approximately 38 megabits per second (4.8 Mbyte/s), while for SD it is approximately 17 megabits per second (2.2 Mbyte/s). Although the internal microphone is mono, stereo audio is supported through the audio input jack. When recording for long periods, especially in warmer climates, increased video noise may occur due to CMOS overheating.
Video functionality
The EOS 5D Mark II is capable of video recording in low-light situations and it is sold for a relatively low price, compared with professional video cameras. For the first eighteen months of its release, the camera only had a 30 frame per second (30p) video mode. On 15 March 2010, Canon released a firmware upgrade to add a 25p mode for PAL format compatibility and a 24p mode for compatibility with motion picture film cameras.
The firmware update also modified the 30p mode to record 29.97 frame/s and the new 24p mode actually records 23.976 frame/s to have frame rates compatible with NTSC. Lastly, the update added manual control of the audio record levels and an official way to disable the automatic gain control.
Following the success of the Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK) for Canon's PowerShot cameras, third party firmware was also produced for the 5D Mark II. The Magic Lantern firmware provides many additional video and cinematography related controls and meters such as false colors, and zebra stripes for exposure control, depth of field estimates via peaking filters, audio VU meters and disables the automatic gain control on the microphone input (although some of these features have since been added to Canon's official firmware, as noted above). Recent nightly builts have even managed to provide a stable output of uncompressed 14-Bit RAW video data onto fast UDMA 7 CF cards at almost HD resolution (1004p vs. 1080p at Full HD). Although the size of the files and high price of appropriate cards are considered moderate drawbacks and the 5D Mark III generally shows better performance regarding RAW video, the Mark II, being the oldest among them, still remains to be the next best among reasonable choices for DSLR RAW video output and showcases thus, that uncompressed HD RAW video on a DSLR was already theoretically possible with technology of the year 2008.
Independent film and television
Notable film and television productions that used the Canon 5D Mark II include (in order of release):
- The opening title sequence for the 35th season of NBC's Saturday Night Live, first broadcast on 26 September 2009. The camera, alongside the Canon 7D, was used due to its size, which allowed covert shooting on the streets of New York City, and depth of field capabilities, making it a suitable substitute for the series' usual 35mm film.
- The documentary film the Conquest of High Passes directed by Wout Conijn and filmed by cinematographer Jean Counet has been shot on the Canon 5D Mark II. The documentary, broadcast on 26 November 2009 by Dutch public broadcaster BOS was shot in Tibet, without permission. The Conquest of High Passes was the first high end documentary being shot on a 5D Mark II in the Netherlands.
- The House episode "Help Me", broadcast by Fox on 17 May 2010, was shot entirely on the Canon 5D Mark II, replacing the drama's usual 35mm film format. Portions of the seventh season were also recorded with a 5D Mark II.
- The BBC Two comedy series Shelfstackers, first broadcast on 4 September 2010, is the first BBC programme to use the camera. The corporation had initially refused its use due to "lack of quality" but were persuaded otherwise by the series' director, Dom Bridges. All six episodes of the series were shot on the camera for a total budget of £160,000.
- The Road to Coronation Street, broadcast by BBC Four on 16 September 2010, is the first UK television drama to be shot on the Canon 5D Mark II. The drama's director of photography was impressed and plans to use the camera on the seventh series of the BBC One drama Hustle.
- The resurrected Hawaii Five-0 TV series is currently shot using Canon 5DmkII.
- Dutch public Broadcaster VPRO's documentary series Backlight used the 5D Mark II for the first time on Bregtje van der Haak's award winning documentary California Dreaming. Cinematographer Jean Counet used both Canon's 5D Mark II and the 7D for the first time for this prime time documentary series changing its regular use of its Sony XDCAM broadcast cameras into DSLRs and EOS cinema cameras.
- Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi, a Turkish TV series is being shot on Canon 5DmkII.
- The 2012 film Act of Valor was shot with the use of the Canon 5D Mark II.
- Dimensions, a multi-award winning 2012 British period sci-fi feature film, was shot using Canon 5D Mark II for 'less than the price of Batman's cape'.
- Marvel's The Avengers is reported to have some Canon 5D MkII shots.
- Department, a 2012 Bollywood movie, is reported to have been shot using Canon 5D Mark II
- ParaNorman, a 2012 3D stop-motion animated adventure horror film produced by LAIKA, Inc., was shot on sixty Canon 5D Mark II cameras.
- Nirel, First International Tulu movie, directed by Ranjith Bajpe, is reported to have been shot using Canon 5D Mark II.
- Escape from Tomorrow, a 2013 feature film, was shot guerilla-style with two Canon 5D Mark II cameras at the Disney theme parks.
Third party production rigs and lenses
Several aftermarket vendors have developed professional video accessory packages, to take advantage of the large 35mm sensor, which provided cinema-like depth of field. Redrock Micro and Zacuto are two of these.
For 3D video shooting Anachrome 3D is offering several dual camera mount packages, which make use of several short focal length Canon prime lenses. Specialized "shifting prisms" compensate for the "too wide" spacing of the pair of cameras. By inverting one of the cameras, the spacing is further reduced. Sync issues are also addressed in these 3D packages, with a "sync comparator" as "gen-locking" two 5DM2s is not readily do-able at this early stage.
A company in Los Angeles, CA, Hot Rod Cameras, is offering cinema style PL lens mounts, which will allow a few of the larger cinema lenses used on Arriflex film cameras to be fitted to the 5DM2. The sensor is actually the size of two motion picture 35mm frames, similar to a 20th-century wide-screen process promoted by Paramount Studios, Called "Vista-Vision". This was 35mm film, run horizontally through the taking camera, using twice the area of a normal 35mm cine frame.
Software
The included software package contains the following software:
- Digital Photo Professional
- ZoomBrowser EX / ImageBrowser
- PhotoStitch
- EOS Utility
- Picture Style Editor
Firmware updates
References
External links
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II â€" Canon USA
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II â€" EOS website (Japanese)
- Specifications sheet â€" Canon UK
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II In-depth Review â€" February 2009 at Digital Photography Review
- Full-length review at DigitalCameraInfo.com
- Canon 5D Mark II video performance review