Well that works then!

I, like many photographers using Canon kit have been eagerly anticipating the replacement camera for the Canon 5D. The 5d had been around for a lot longer than most cameras for two main reasons: it was a good design and it had little competition. I wanted one but it hardly seemed worth buying one if Canon were going to bring out a replacement model as soon as I bought it. Finally Canon announced and released before Christmas the cunningly named Canon 5DmkII.

Dragging the Chains
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The main attractions of the new camera for me was 21 mega-pixies*, integrated cleaning system and most of all full-frame. Live view is an added bonus as it is something I really miss from my days of using a Fuji S602, I don't often shoot using the back as a viewfinder but it can be really handy when setting up a tripod in awkward positions. Apparently it also can shoot HD movies but I doubt I will be using that.

Frost on the Beach
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Well it arrived on Friday; I had a quick play after it arrived, then a few shots on a dull Saturday. Sunday morning I had agreed to meet up with with two fellow Essex photographers, Kevin Goodchild & Clive Burrow. Kevin had recommended Thorpe Bay in Southend, we got there well before the dawn and the light was fantastic.

Thorpe Bay lasso
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So what is the verdict on the 5D?
The big viewfinder is great, it is bright and clear, I actually feel like I can see what the picture will be. The 20D viewfinder seems a bit dark and vague in comparison!
The other unexpected feature I like is that when you press the focus selector button twice the back displays all the shooting info: mode, exposure, bracketing, wb, ISO. Even better you can change them there too. Hopefully that should save me mornings of shooting at ISO3200 with a florescent white balance.

The only downside so far is that I have had to change to 8bit tiffs as the file sizes for 16bit tiffs were so huge that Photoshop and Capture One ground my PC to a halt. Though with 8bits everything seems back to speed.

Light and Lock
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* Mega-pixies are the small creatures who live in the camera. When you open the shutter they quickly view the scene and make a sketch of it. Obviously the more pixies you have the less sketching each needs to do - giving them more time to make a better job of it.