A few days ago, Steve and I had the opportunity to test one of Canon's brand new cameras, the 5D MkII.  As one of the first people in the world, and the only wedding photographers in Canada to use the camera, we were very excited to get our hands on what we hoped would be a replacement for our current line up of 5Ds.

This isn't going to be an incredibly technical review - there are other sites where that information can be found. We know all that is important, but rather than debating the nuances of the technical data, we would rather tell you all about how it felt to use the camera, the kinds of conditions we were able to shoot in, what we think about the camera in general and the abilities this camera gives us to advance our craft.

The first thing we noticed about the 5D MkIi was the size of it.  It is definitely more sturdy than our 5Ds.  When the two cameras were placed side by side, you could really see the difference in how they were built.  The improved weather sealing and the matte texture of the 5D MkII make it a really solid looking camera, and I'm confident it will withstand our unpredictable Vancouver weather.  Officially, there is no difference in the weight, but it feels heavier.  Maybe that's just because it looks so much beefier.

How the camera feels in our hands is important to us.  It doesn't matter how fabulous a camera's specs are, if it doesn't feel good when we're holding it, we simply won't use it.  We were able to use the 5D MkII both with and without the grip.  Since I haven't used a grip since switching the digital, I definitely prefer my cameras that way, but I tried it with the grip and it was not cumbersome or difficult to hold at all.  Sure, it makes it a bit heavier, but after just a few minutes, I didn't notice the weight.

One of the reasons I prefer not to use a grip is so that I can handhold my camera in low light situations.  With the high ISO of the 5D MkII, that isn't really an issue anymore, so we may just go ahead and use grips again.

Aside from every other wonderful feature this camera offers, having the high ISO to work with already has me sold on it.  I push my current 5D to 3200 when conditions warrant, but I prefer not to go above 1600.  With the 5D MkII, I would have no problem at all regularly using ISO 6400 in reception settings.  In fact, we tried out ISO 12800 and 25600 (which I have dubbed 'supersonic') and were very impressed with the results.  More on that in a moment.

Personally, my favorite new feature is the Live View/Magnify combination.  I use my TSE lens a lot and it can sometimes be a challenge to nail my focus every time (although, I'm pretty good at it).  With Live View and Magnify, I was able to zoom right in on what I wanted in focus thereby ensuring every image was sharp.  And in fading light, what would have been difficult to focus right the first time, became extraordinarily easy.  We tried this out with the 45 TSE, the 85 1.2 and the 50 1.2 - the focus was bang on every single time!

Also, when shooting in Live View, the camera is silent.  You read that right: silent.  Think about the advantages we now have in dark churches where the officiant doesn't want you distracting the guests with your shutter noise. A silent shutter and high ISO is a wedding photographer's dream.

The screen is simply fantastic with a resolution that surpasses anything else Canon offers!  As you make an image and then review it on the LCD, it is simply stunning.  So stunning, in fact, that we were concerned that the images would not look as good once we downloaded them.  But, we didn't have to worry - they look great!  After using the 5D MkII for the short time that we did, it was hard to go back to our 5D screens as they felt really small.

For photographers that are not yet proficient in nailing their exposure every time, Live View will facilitate their learning.  You can adjust your Exposure Compensation and White Balance while in Live View mode, thereby taking any guess work out of the equation.  You no longer have to make an image and then review it on the screen, instead you can use Live View and make all those decisions without the added step of chimping to ensure you nailed it.

There is a different battery, which I've seen people complaining about on a variety of forums.  Personally, having another battery isn't going to deter me from adding this camera to our line up as soon as we can.  If we get improved performance with a different battery, then that is fine with me.

It's funny the way things work...for the past three years, Steve and I have been working on integrating short video with our stills.  For us, it's an additional creative outlet and something we have been exploring seriously.  We have no desire at all to replace videographers at weddings. None.  And this camera won't do that.  But what it will do, which is incredible, is allow us to shoot video with all the advantages of our current lens line up.

Think about that for a moment, you can make video with a TSE lens, at the ISO of your choice.  Wow.

Truly, we can go on forever about this camera.  The more we thought about it, the longer we held it, the more ideas we came up with.  It has been a really long time since a camera instilled such a sense of excitement in both of us.  In fact, I am so enamored of this camera, that Steve had to fight me for a chance to use it.  That alone tells me that it is something special.

So enough of all that.  You want to see some images, don't you?

We only had the camera for a few hours, so we didn't get to field test it at a wedding.  Because there are only two pre-production models in Canada, and they both needed to be in Toronto no later than this evening, the margin of error was too small to take a chance on getting it back in time.  I can tell you that the entire time we were in Banff this weekend we were talking about how important the 5D MkII is going to be to us.  The light (or lack therof) at both the rehearsal and reception this weekend were very challenging, which we are accustomed to.  But knowing what this camera can do has made us very impatient to start incorporating it into our weddings.

Thanks to our incredible clients, Priscilla and Jason, we were able to put together a shoot for Thursday evening, at the last minute.  The weather was overcast and we didn't start shooting with them until about 6:30 in the evening. The light was dim, to say the least, which was perfect for testing the high ISO range of the camera.

Unless otherwise noted, all images were made on a Beta model of the 5D MkII.

5D MkII (beta)  ISO: 500, f2.8 Shutter: 1/160.  The interesting thing about this image is that it was made made while shooting video.  When shooting video, you can click the shutter at any time and create a still image.  When you do that, there is a very small (less than 1 second) gap in the video footage.  We can't show you any video until after October 1st, so you'll have to take our word on that for now.

Here is an image shot on the original 5D:  ISO: 1600, f2.8, Shutter: 1/100.  In this sort of lighting situation, we're fairly comfortable using 1600, although it would be nice to be able to push it higher

And here is one shot on the 5D MkII:  ISO 4000, f2.0, Shutter: 1/100

We also had the chance to test 12800 and 25600 (or supersonic ISO). These images were shot in our studio with mixed lighting.  Both were AWB and both are SOOC (straight out of camera), resized for the blog.

ISO: 6400, f2.8, Shutter: 1/200 on 45 TSE lens

ISO: 25600 (supersonic!), f2.8, Shutter: 1/1000

This image was shot from a moving car, in the dark.  We wanted to see if it was possible, and it is!

ISO 25600, f2.0, Shutter: 1.800

The following image is interesting:  this is actually pulled from the video.  Well, kind of.  We didn't actually pull the still out of the video, but rather used the opening frame of the video (as it shows up once downloaded) and pulled it into PS.  The image was not cropped - that's the way it was captured.  I couldn't pull out the settings because this is a video frame, but it should have the same specs as the first image above (that image was taken during the filming of this video).

And finally, here is a short video clip outlining exactly what Steve and I thought about the 5D MKII literally minutes after using it in real world conditions: (a huge shoutout to the folks at Still Motion who put this together!)If you have any trouble viewing the video below, you can always check it out here

So, to summarize:  in our opinion, the 5D MkII will quickly become the camera of choice for wedding photographers.  It has all the features that we need, allows us the freedom to advance our craft without constraint, and will likely act as a catalyst for the convergence of two complimentary mediums.

On paper, the 5D MkII is pretty impressive, but the written specs don't do it justice. This is the first camera, in a very long time, that is more advanced then Steve's and my current knowledge base.  And yet, in spite of the 'newness' of this camera, it is not difficult at all to adapt quickly to the new configurations, menu and features.  If you have used anything from Canon's line up before, you will be able to use this camera very quickly.  Although, we do recommend reading the manual thoroughly.

And while there might be some debate about the finer technical issues of the 5D MkII, we believe that once photographers have a chance to see, feel and use this camera, the benefits will far outweigh anything else.

Is it a revolutionary camera?  Well, that depends a lot of whether we, as a group, have the foresight to see the potential in what Canon has given us.  In my personal opinion, this camera changes everything - and I cannot wait to integrate everything it has to offer.  We haven't been able to sleep just thinking about the possibilities and where we can take this.

November can't come fast enough for me!