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 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 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
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 container files with H.264/MPEG-4 compressed video and uncompressed
48 kHz/16-bit PCM audio at . The bitrate for 1080p is approximately 38 megabits per
second, while for SD it is approximately 17 megabits per second. 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 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 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. 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.
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: 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 – Canon USA
Canon EOS 5D Mark II – EOS website Specifications sheet – Canon UK
Canon EOS 5D Mark II In-depth Review – February 2009 at Digital Photography Review
Full-length review at DigitalCameraInfo.com Canon 5D Mark II video performance review