I Wanted to Love it - Canon 5D Mark II Review

Today, I am reviewing the famed Canon 5D Mark II. For years this was pretty much the best Canon Camera to buy if you wanted a great all-rounder full frame that recorded 1080p video. Now-a-days? Well...

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[danncorbit]

I have two of them, a standard one and an infrared converted one. The standard one is used as a vacation camera. I use the infrared one for changeup special effects looks. I also have a 5Ds that I adore and a couple Canon 1N HS cameras for when I want film. I have big hands so I always use the battery grips. The feel in your hands of any of these cameras is pure joy. If you don't need to crop, 20mp is plenty. Most of the pixel peeping with a magnifier is totally missing the point. If you can't make a breathtaking image with 20mp, then you simply can't make one.

[creativevisiongaming]

You wanted to love it? I have 3 and have used these for years, and I still love it. Hundreds of thousands of shutter clicks, fallen on the ground and still going strong.

[philrmcknight]

I've currently got a 5D Mark II and a 7D, both are fantastic cameras. I want to add a 5D Classic and a 6D in the near future, after which I doubt if I will ever buy another camera. I keep an EF-S 18-135 nano USM on the 7D, truly a do-it-all lens. My primary lens on the 5D Mark II is a 40mm f/2.8, but I'm looking at adding some other options to my kit. For a 40+ year amateur photographer, I've got zero complaints.

I have been doing photos for 4 years, not as primary job, but learning a lot and improving my own style with a very old Rebel T1i, shooting concerts and social events. Almost 10 months ago I purchased my 5DMII with a nifty 50 and started to feel a real upgrade to my work due to a better low light performance. Suddenly I began to make videos, and there it was what I consider the only true downside, which is the lack of stabilization of any kind. I expect to overcome this with a recently acquired gimbal. I haven't tried yet, but I bet I will not need stabilization in postprocessing.
Thank you for this video. I love my 5DMII.

[polosandoval]

Mirror sticking to the foam bumper is common with older film and digital slrs. You can try cleaning the edge of the mirror where it contacts the foam to remove any residue or better yet replace the foam gasket altogether. Search for a camera gasket kit and video on how to do it, if you feel so inclined to repair it yourself. Cheers

[tammanaq]

Autofocus on the 5Dmkii is horrible. I use a SD-card adapter and run a 128GB SD card in my 5D. A cheap fix. It gives me around 4000 photos in L + raw. The battery can last around 500 shots.

[rkgaustin]

I just picked up a 5D Mark II with 29k shutter count from MPB for $220. Just for stills. I'm looking forward to the Canon experience.

[jwhs]

for the video you were showing the cfast 2.0 cards, which are pretty expensive per gb, but the older compact flash cards that the 5d2 can use are way cheaper and very affordable.

[jacopoabbruscato]

I'm thinking about getting one for photography jobs. Touch screen on my R7 aggravates me to no end and no one can notice any difference between my pictures and my colleague's anyway. And he uses a 5Dmk3. Might keep the mirrorless for sports events where autofocus and burst are actually useful

[rickvsworld]

dude: u deserve waaay more subscribers, your voice is so relaxing, u do really great videos and you’re funny: editing, setup, general quality, you have it all! keep up the work! :))

[sagescarab]

This video was great! You’re such an underrated channel.

[TW-tnvg]

Obviously you won't buy a 15 year old DSLR for video in a generation where 4k videos are the norm unless you are going for a certain look for the videos that you are shooting. This "review" is just misleading.

[Experternas]

Dude!! You have to stop adding those black frames in the vidxall the time, its like a strobe light. What are you thinking

[quazisanjeed]

Yes, I bought one in 2018 and hope to retain it as long as I live. It had 5k shutter count at the time of purchase, now it's 42k. So, no worries for many years to come. Excellent still photography camera. I use dedicated video cameras for video purposes.

[zoranvaskic]

I'm not sure why video capability...yes, of a camera...needs to be brought up or mentioned. It makes zero sense to complain about video caoability of yes, a camera. If one is really interested in video, then go to products where video is the prime rather thasn additional purpose. Yeah I get where the gripe comes from since camera manufacturers decided to throw that in as part of the package. Butr the griping about it still gets no sympathy with me. I appreciate videography but I'm looking at the camera's photography ability.The video feature addition in cameras was always first and foremost about selling the camera. It remains that while having now become an entrenched feauture in cameras.Camera manufacturers do things for the same reason most of us do what we do, for money. If one also thinks about digital versus film, there is no good reason why film in all it's stocks and cameras couldn't continue unhampered and unthreatened in the world.There is only one reason why film is threatened and diminished and that is money. It is easier for manufacturers to keep rolling out digital cameras to make money: why bother with film and film cameras when you have a perfect foil for making lots of money? So back to video on cameras, it was about making money and it remains so to this day. So please, don't gripe about video capability on a damn good camera that takes great photos

[rares]

Hello and congratulations for this video and for you channel! I have started to learn professional photography on this camera in 2017 and I still own one that has just over 100.000 shutter count and it works great. I want to share some of my experience with this camera. The camera is great, the RAW files are gorgeous and a pleasure to post process them, the JPEG files if you want to shoot JPEG are just fine and you can use them straight out of the camera. I am using this camera for outdoor photo sessions with my prime lenses Canon 24mm 1.4L MK II, Canon 35mm 1.4L MKII, Canon 85mm 1.4L IS and Canon 135mm f/2L lenses for weddings or fashion or corporate photography and I just love it.

It is not my main camera but backup or secondary camera but I still use it professionally and I use it personally when travelling all the time in my backpack. My main camera is Canon 1DX (first version) which is out of this world superb (but I wont get into describing that camera here) but I wouldn't shy to take only the 5D MKII with the prime "L" lenses to a professional contract.

The one major thing I don't like about this camera in this day and age is that it has only ONE card slot and I want always redundancy for my photographs in case something bad happens to a card or to a card slot. I have also started to film some small footage 2K with MagicLantern software and its amazing how much quality you can get from it - but it is way more buggy than on the 5D MKIII.

In my personal experience I believe that the highlight recuperation is not that terrible nor the dark area recuperation but you have to keep working with a low ISO. I am not using this camera handheld professionally at night for example, at the restaurant during the wedding party ceremony I would use it only by day professionally at an event. I wouldn't go pass ISO 1600 maybe 2000. The focus points in low light on moving subjects such as for a party or during wedding at the restaurant are OKI but not great, the center point works well but you have to be careful. The central focus point I find it great and workable.

My obvious choice of upgrade and more logical would be Canon R6 in the future because it has that small 20 Mpx file which can be easily be processed and delivered to the customer. Personally I find the 18Mpx of the 1DX and the 21 Mpx of the 5D MKII ideal for my workflow.

[ballkeeper]

might as well throw it in the post to me then

[Brett.Hatfield]

I could outshoot a Sony a7s3 bride prep with a mark 2

[sasukecruz]

you could also get a cffast card adapter into an SD card. it’s what i’ve been doing for the past 7 years

[the-entertainment]

how do you keep this old camera looks like in excellent condition?