Long, long overdue, Canon has announced it’s follow up successor to the aging Canon EOS 5D with the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It’s certainly exciting considering that Nikon has been one (two, three) upping Canon consistently the past year or so. What are the specs?

• Full frame with 21.1 MP, certainly quite a bit of megapixels
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• Digic 4 with 14 bit A/D conversion
• Max JPEG sizes of 5616 x 3744
• 9-point TTL CMOS AF sensor with 6 “Invisible Assist points” (a bit disappointing that they didn’t roll the 45 point AF sensor into the new 5D Mark II)
• ISO 100-6400 with 50, 12800, and 25,600 with expansion (YES!)
• 3.0″ TFT LCD with 920,000 pixels
• Live View with 30 fps
• Movie recording capabilities of 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps
• No built in flash (I’m sure a lot of people are disappointed given that Nikon did it in the D700)
• 3.9 frames-per-second continuous burst for 78 frames (310 with UDMA card)

So Canon has certainly heard Nikon’s challenge (but not apparently heard it loud enough), but is this enough to win back some of the pro who switched? I’m not sure. Some of the biggest draw back for photographers who shoot in low light (wedding photography) and/or sports (and the likes) is the weak auto focus (seems like the same exact AF as the 5D) and weak frame rate (3.9). Certainly for landscape photography, 9 auto focus points is usually fine. Also being able to shoot at ISO 25,600 is certainly very, very appealing. I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be and at this point, I don’t think I would purchase the new 5D Mark II. But once we start seeing some actual production model images, who knows. A lot of us are still waiting for a 1D series that actually works right, perhaps this is one of the reasons why it has the older generation auto focus? Read more about the 5D Mark II with sample videos and specs at DPReview.com. You can also read Canon’s press release here.

Also a new Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens was released.

Comparison Chart

SLR Cameras	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	Nikon D700	Winner
Year Introduced	September 17, 2008	July 2008
Cost	~$2,700	$3,000	5D Mark II
Sensor Size	36 x 24 mm	36 x 23.9 mm
Viewfinder	98%, 0.71x magnification	95%, 0.72x magnification	5D Mark II
Max Resolution	5616 x 3744	4256 x 2832	5D Mark II
Megapixels	21.1	12.1	5D Mark II
ISO rating	100-6400 in 1/3 stops, with 50, 12,800 and 25,600 as options	200-6400 in 1/3 stops, with 100, 12,800 and 25,600 as options	5D Mark II
Auto Focus type	9 focus point TTL CMOS sensor with 6 “Invisible Point Focus Assist” with 1 cross-type	51 focus point CMOS sensor with 5 cross-type	D700 (by a big margin)
Metering	Evaluative, partial, spot, center weighted average	3D Color Matrix Metering II, partial, spot (center), center weighted
Crop Factor	1.0	1.0
Continuous Drive	3.9 fps for 78 JPEG (310 with UDMA card) or 13 RAW (What?! Only?!)	5 fps (8 fps with battery pack) or 20 RAW	D700
Storage Types	Compact Flash (Type I or II) with UDMA support	Compact Flash (Type I or II) with UDMA support	tie
LCD	3.0 inches	3.0 inches	tie
LCD Pixels	922,000	922,000	tie
Battery	Canon Lithium-Ion LP-E6 battery	Nikon Lithium-Ion EN-EL3e (7.4V, 1500mAh) battery
Weight	810 g (1.8 lb) with no battery	995 g (2.19 lb) with no battery
Dimensions	152 x 114 x 75 mm (6.0 x 4.5 x 2.9 in)	147 x 123 x 77 mm (5.8 x 4.8 x 3.0 in)
Live View	Yes	Yes
Video	HD1080p with 30fps	none	5D Mark II
Built-in Flash	No	Yes	D700
Mirror Blackout Time	145 ms
Shutter Lag	73 ms	40 ms	D700

Looking at the side-by-side comparison, the 5D Mark II certainly looks promising, but can it compete or even beat the Nikon D700? It’s got more megapixels, which isn’t always a good thing. The viewfinder is bigger, which is always nice, but it’s still not quite like the 1Ds Mark III and D3. It can do video, which I’m not sure is a good thing. Only time will tell.

Tags: Canon, Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Nikon, Nikon D3, Nikon D700, photography

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