I was looking into buying a Canon 5Ds (not the R) for the last month.
I read a lot of info about the camera, like for example, that I will need to use higher shutter speeds because the high resolution.
I was almost sure, that I would want to buy the Camera, but was not so sure if the 85mm prime would be a good choice.
So I asked Canon, if I could test the camera, and they said: Yes
I got a 5Ds and an old 85mm 1.2 L (Mk.1) lens, and I asked a nice little model to let me shoot some pictures of her.
Here is my review:
GEAR:
- Canon EOS 5Ds (not the R)
- Canon 85mm f/1.2 L USM (The old Mk1, 1989 design, discontinued in 2005)
- Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS USM (borrowed it from my friend for a few shots, to compare sharpness)
EXPECTATIONS:
- Very high resolution.
- Great AF system
- Not really sharp pictures, because the old lens, and the AA fiter in the camera.
THE SHOOT:
We met around 10:00 am, had a nice little talk with the modell till she was prepairing herself, and started off in the studio of my dear friend, Szilárd.
I explored the camera in the mean time, and compared it to my 5D mark II.
The things I noticed prior the shoot:
- Lack of the battery grip, I reall missed that one (of course I can buy one).
- Very intuitive to use, basicly it has the very same basic functionality as any other higher-end Canon DSLR.
Only thing I had to think about is how to change the AF system to single focus point. I solved that in like 5 seconds.
- The Camera feels very good in the hand, is even better then the 5D2, you can grip the camera more stable.
- The rear LCD gives a beaufitul picture, it has a big view angle, you can see it even in sunligh very good, and has amazing colors and contrast.
Once our dear model was ready we started with some glamour like shots in the studio, with constant light, before a white backround on a bed.
First things I noticed at the beginning of the shoot:
- Lens focuses really slowly at the beginning, but is actually not an issue at all when you shoot a model, as you rarely change your distance drasticly, and the micro-focusing is fast enough. From Infinite to minimal distance its a loooong time, but adjusting the focus a few centimeters is as fast as with any other lens.
- 61 AF points is amazing to have... Especially after I had 9 in the 5D2.
I did not have any situation during the shoot where I was not able to select a focus point exactly where I wanted to focus, and did not have to recompose.
- The prime lens is a good excersize, as I have to foot-zoom the whole day, and I noticed how lazy I have become with the zooms 
- f/1.2 is amazing to have, I tested the lens wide open, or at large apetures, stoped down just a little bit, more on that later.
- My 25MB/sec CF cards had a hard time writing data, as I was shooting in RAW. --> Deifnately need a fast card.
Anyway back to the shoot, I reviewed a few pictures during the shoot, and I was really surprised.
- The camera, when you zoom in to the picture, actually zooms to that point where the AF point was selected, this is a very nice feature, to review the pictures.
- To my biggest surprise the pictures were super-sharp, even wide open at f/1.2 with the old lens, the amount of detail is incredible.
- Color accuracy in Auto White Balance was a bit off, with those aprox 5500k fixed lights. I think they were not 5500K really, and had some variations in them the pictures turned out to be a tiny little yellow (nothing to worry about tough)
I did shoot a few pictures of the studio interior, to be able to show it to you guys.
So, here is my 1st picture:
(Sorry had to censore out the top left picture)
This was shot at f/2.; 1/80s, ISO 400
Here is a 100% crop of the old camera on the right side, around the middle:
And here is another of the painting to the left:
I think, that you can clearly see, that even that old lens, designed in 1989 can resolve at this quality, and that is what really surprised me.
And here is another picture: - It continues to the right, but tought I better censore that out.
Shot at f/1.8; 1/125s; ISO 100
Here is a 100% crop of the eyes: (These pictures are SOOC RAW files with Sharpening at 0
And another one of her mouth:
I still think, that for such an old lens, this is a very-very nice sharpness, I was expecting much less.
Speaking of witch...
Another surprise was waiting for me.
I switched the lens out to the 24-105 f/4 L IS USM, and what I found shocked me.
Most of the pictures taken with the 24-105 were not sharp at all, I can't really show a full picture with the 24-105, as they are nude pictures, but here is a 100% crop, focus was set to the eyes: Also note: For some reason all pictures with the 24-105 were a bit under exposed (I used Auto-ISO, and did not have any issue with the 85mm)
Then we palned to go have a nice dinner. but before that I wanted to test the HIGH ISO of the camera, so we swiched the light off, and here is a 100% crop at f/1.2 and ISO 3200: (Again can't really show the full pucture, as there is too much clothing missing.)
* I think the focus here was slightly off, due to the lack of light in the room
To summarize up my findings for indoor shooting:
- With large apetures like f/1.2 ... 1.8 there is really no issue with the camera, you can use ISO 100 most of the time.
- High ISO of the 5Ds is a bit better then that of the 5D Mk.2, but is not as good as that of the 5D Mk.3
- 85mm indoors: I had no problems using it, really there was no situation where I had to go even more back, to frame the Model properly, that was one of my fears before the Photoshoot, that I will need more distance to the model indoors. Most of the time I was 1-4 meters from the model. Really any room is large enough for that.
- I still did not have any situation, where I did not find a focus point on her eyes.
- The Shutter sound is very-very silent, I did not measure it, but to me it feels like less then half the noise of the 5D Mark II. - It was NOT in silent mode.
