5D admirers, assemble!

If the 1D classic and 1DII get their own threads about how great they are, the 5D certainly deserves one too.

So for all the 5D owners out there, let's talk about how amazing this camera is and why you love it!

And for all the newbies and non-5D owners out there who are undecided, may this thread help you in making your decision .

Three little words.

High Dynamic Range (without poncing around with HDR).

I love how the full frame makes Canon's lens lineup make so much more sense, and the viewfinder is a real treat and the biggest reason I got one. The moment I looked through that big viewfinder, I knew I had to get rid of my cropped body and revel in that full frame goodness that I hadn't felt since the film days.

The 6 invisible AF points are often overlooked, but when enabled, they really make AI Servo tracking work wonderfully in a lot of situations.

And it certainly says a lot about the camera when it is still used as the standard for IQ. One of the first questions that came up with new bodies like the Nikon D3 and 1DIII was always 'how does it compare with the 5D?', with the D3 actually losing in most reviews.

The wonderful high ISO performance is just icing on the cake. Whether or not it's hugely significant is a side issue to the psychological freedom one experiences when one can switch to ISO3200 without hesitation.

The biggest draws for me:

The viewfinder. Best prosumer dSLR viewfinder available anywhere.

The 85L for people shots. The closest 1.6X equivalent is the 50L, which has the focus shift problem.

The 135L for people shots. There is nothing equivalent for tight portraits on the 1.6X, as the 85mm lenses have longer MFDs.

And then there is the total IQ. Despite being the same generation as the 20D, the 5D is still outperforming the XXD line (by a smaller margin, to be sure) for resolution and noise two generations later.

Overall the 5D is an excellent performer.

Pete wrote in post #5027730
Three little words.

High Dynamic Range (without poncing around with HDR).

You know the 20D has more measured dynamic range than the 5D, right?

And price too! The 5D price has come down so much since it was released. It'd be awkward if there were a replacement priced at the original price of the 5D (I still am not convinced that a replacement is coming or even in the works).

I'm often bemused by the mythical quality attributed to the 5D by some folk. Whilst I certainly understand why this is the case, it does seem sometimes that the 5D is talked about as though it's a magic, legendary camera with strange, indescribable qualities to its images . Having said that, I'm PP-ing a lot less shooting with the 5D because the colours and shots look so damn good out of camera.

Pete, your eagle shots with the 5D and dusty trombone on your gallery are FANTASTIC! I'm working on my birding setup right now and I'm just simply unable to make up my mind on what I want to be using, lol.

Pete, I think the word that you were looking for was "putzing" rather than "poncing". Think it's a New York word.

I mentioned in my misunderstood "broken gray card post", that a gray card isn't necessary with the 5D.

I love that the ON switch doubles as the POP enabler.

TheHoff wrote in post #5028202
I love that the ON switch doubles as the POP enabler.

LOL oh man that made me laugh SO HARD! It's so true though .

I almost sold the 5d because I wanted to get the 100-400 back, so the plan was to get a 40D as the backup to the mkIII.....I got a guy who wanted to give me $1900 for it...This morning he called and wanted to meet up to do the deal.....
Right then my wife says to me,,,,Don't do it, I'll get you the 100-400, just don't sell the 5D, you'll just end up wanting it again, you always talk about how muh you love it.
Needless to say, I told the guy "sorry, no deal."
Slapped the 50L on the 5D and felt really, really good. Something very special about the 5D, hard to quantify, but it's a certain something about the images that even my mkIII doesn't replicate.
Man...I got the best wife on the planet. Took this image right afterwards
5D, 50L, 1/80th, f2, ISO800, cropped about 50%

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thatkatmat wrote in post #5028256
I almost sold the 5d because I wanted to get the 100-400 back, so the plan was to get a 40D as the backup to the mkIII.....I got a guy who wanted to give me $1900 for it...This morning he called and wanted to meet up to do the deal.....
Right then my wife says to me,,,,Don't do it, I'll get you the 100-400, just don't sell the 5D, you'll just end up wanting it again, you always talk about how muh you love it.
Needless to say, I told the guy "sorry, no deal."
Slapped the 50L on the 5D and felt really, really good. Something very special about the 5D, hard to quantify, but it's a certain something about the images that even my mkIII doesn't replicate.
Man...I got the best wife on the planet.

Aww that's a great story! And a lovely shot as well .

I too am madly in love with this camera. I have thought about what other kind of stuff I could get if I sold it, but then the thought of being without a 5D is really quite horrific. I notice the difference too, not when I'm processing, but when I look at my 5D shots compared to my older photos, there's something about the 5D images that just looks better.

Thanks Perry....I'll admit, the story is ...well...a bit sappy, but it's true so....what the hell

AdamLewis wrote in post #5028095
Of course the 40D has more than both of them...And this is only with JPG. 14-bit raw > 12-bit raw for dynamic range

The DR of the JPG is relatively unimportant - you're throwing away data to get there from the 12 or 14-bit RAW image. In this case, the 8-bit medium does effectively limit the DR to a certain extent. You won't be seeing any huge DR stats from the JPG because you're limited by the number of brightness graduations available at the dark end of the spectrum.

Both the 40D and the 5D easily have a stop or better of headroom at the high end of the exposure spectrum when shooting in RAW. At the dark end, the 5D exceeds the capabilities of the 40D in terms of noise control by at least 1/2 stop. I have a little more room to work with an image from my 5D than I do with the 40D. Both are good, of course, but the 5 still has more latitude. These are my findings based on comparison tests with my 40D and 5D.

I might go out tomorrow and chase snowy owls with my limited birding equipment right now.

And by limited, I really do mean limited. 5D + 200L + 1.4x TC.

We'll see how this puppy performs at this type of thing .

If the 5D was released today instead of 2 years ago, I believe it would be a hit, even compared to todays cameras. A few features are a little dated, but the results it produces are amazing. The fact it's selling at such a reasonable price is a great opportunity to pick up a classic. This is going to be one tough camera to upgrade. I was lucky as I was waiting for the 30D upgrade to come out a year ago, and when it didn't I pulled the trigger on the 5D. Glad Canon was slow on the release.