The Canon EOS 5D Mark II begins U.S. shipments to dealers Tuesday (Nov. 25) and may usher in a new era in digital imaging: one device that’s a first-rate digital still camera and a first-class high-definition video camera. As a digital SLR (DSLR), the Canon 5D Mark II has a 21-megapixel sensor with a resolution of up to 5,616 x 3,744 pixels. Quick math: That’s a 100 dpi wall poster 56 x 37 inches, or a 300 dpi color magazine page 19 x 12 inches. On the video side, the Canon 5D Mark II shoots 1,920 x 1,080 progressive scan video or you can back off to VGA resolution.
The Canon 5D manual was a bit confusing on the sensor cropping in video mode, describing a masked area for framing shots, but Canon technical spokesman Chuck Westfall explained, “A small amount of the total imaging area on the sensor has to be cropped from the top and bottom in order to account for the difference in aspect ratio between 3:2 [photo] and 16:9 [video], but the full width of the sensor is used. For this reason, there is no focal length conversion factor in HD movie mode.” That’s important because that allows users to shoot extreme wide angles using Canon wide-angle lenses. Most HD video cameras in the hands of consumers and prosumers only have modest wide-angle capabilities. When the camera ships and gets in hands of buyers and reviewers, we’ll learn the answers to some pressing questions:
– Photo quality should be nearly flawless but what about video? Early reports say video is very good, too. You must work around a built-in cap of about four minutes of HD shooting before you have to stop (ever so briefly) then restart. For most people that shouldn’t be a problem.
– Is the press here, there, then here protocol to invoke video going to feel complicated for some users? You can’t, unfortunately, just turn the exposure dial to a video setting as you can on most point-and-shoot cameras that offer very low resolution, low frame rate video.
– Who’s going to buy a $2,700 (camera body) or $3,500 (camera body and good lens) system? There’s a recession on.
$3,500 for camera and lens - too much for amateurs?
For a lot of people, price may be an issue. Good entry level digital SLRs from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, and others are $500 to $1,000. The premium prosumer DSLRs are around $1,500, such as the 15-megapixel Canon 50D and 12.3 megapixel Nikon D90. The Nikon D90 also does HD video, but most reviews say it’s good, not great HD video; our colleague Tony Hoffman on pcmag.com called the D90 video features “limited.”
The Canon EOS Mark II runs $2,699 suggested price for the body and $3,499 with a 24-105mm IS f/4 image stabilized lens. For those stepping up from a Canon Rebel DSLR, you’ll probably need the lens since this is a full-frame camera and the EF-S lenses sold commonly with Canon’s cropped frame DSLR cameras (Canon Rebel, Canon 20D, Canon 30D, Canon 40D, Canon 50D) won′t clear the internal mirror. (Telephoto lenses are no problem.) On the other hand, if you were in the market for a $1,500 DSLR camera and a $1,000 HD camcorder, you’re at essentially the same price, assuming you’ve already got Canon lenses. And the sweet spot for the 5D Mark II isn′t the amateur dying to spend an extra $1,000 and have the most megapixels among local soccer dads, but pros looking for a second or third camera body in case their main $7,000 Canon camera is in the shop. Or pros looking for two camera bodies for the price of one ultra-rugged camera. Actually, at 21 megapixels, no Canon camera has more resolution. The Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III also has 21 megapixels, but it’s $7,000, and the sports-oriented Canon EOS-1D Mark III is $4,500 with just a 10 megapixel sensor but a 10-frames-per-second motor drive. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II motor drive is rated at 3.9 fps.
Perfect for bloggers at high-paying websites?
If the camera has a perfect niche, it’s for bloggers working for websites paying enough to allow them to buy expensive cameras. (None currently exist.) Now you can carry just one camera for both stills and videos, switch back and forth, and in the middle of filming, press the shutter button to take a still photo. Video pauses then resumes about a second later. It will also likely find a strong following among wedding photographers.
By the way, the price hasn’t gone up. Some blogs reported a price hike since the camera’s announcement Sept. 17. No so, says Canon. In the U.S., at least, the prices are unchanged. Just don’t expect much of a discount initially since this camera will be in short supply. If you’re shopping and see prices below $2,000, you’re probably seeing the still-available Canon EOS 5D (not the 5D Mark II), a three-year-old 12.8 megapixel full-frame camera.
If you’re dying to know more about the 5D Mark II in glorious detail, Canon has had the 5D Mark II manual online for the past several weeks.
Original post by Bill Howard
Companies love rebates because consumers always believe they’ll fill out the rebate forms and get money back, but half the forms never get filled out. Now here’s another reason to be annoyed: The rebate processor for Canon went belly-up and some of the rebate checks bounced. Canon says it will make good on both the rebate checks and any bank fees you’ve incurred. Here’s what happened, according to a post on CanonUSA.com: 
