OK, need more opinions. 5D vs. 5D II?

I'm finally in the market to consider a 5D II seriously - under $2100 new, before batteries and another 16gb of memory...still concerned about buying 3rd party batteries because I don't like not being able to tell how much life is left, but oh well...

So $2300, offset by selling one 5D and battery grip...

My main interest is the high ISO noise control, with secondary interests in the video mode, live view on full frame (would be very useful), and the other little extra features.

Is it worth it to you? Do you see a big difference between your 5D and 5D II in performance for weddings? Are the features useful to you for weddings?

5DII is snappier, still not really fast though. The II is clearly better, nicer image quality, better high ISO, plenty written about that. It's up to you whether it's worth the money tho.

I'm in love with my 5D2. I presently have one FF and two crops but I want to move to two FF and one crop. I've been asking myself, especially since the price decrease, do I get a second 5D2 or cheap out and get a 5Dc. It didn't take very long for me to come down on the side of the 5D2 for just about a grand more. I think the IQ and noise handling is just that much better.

I'm still conflicted about it. New battery system, more memory needed, and the camera's base price combined with the fact that it does expose about 1/3-2/3 stops darker at the same ISO settings as my 5D classic (thereby negating part of its ISO advantage)...I may have to wait a bit longer.

Keep in mind 21 vs 12 MP (and what that means for file size/storage) and which version of CS you're running....

Aware of the file size, and I use the most recent lightroom for working with RAW files.

You can shoot sRaw for 10MP, I do that with the 7D.

I like the colors from the 5DII much better than the colors from the 5D classic. Most of the time they're pretty similar, but occasionally in really bright light the 5Dc images have a horrible magenta cast, like my old 20D does. The 5DII/7D don't seem to do that.

I think it's probably in my head, but I liked my SOOC files from my 5D better than my 5DII's. But the low light control is too good on the 5DII. I think I'm going to pick up a 5D original for outdoor shooting pretty quick here...

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Looks like I'm passing on it again. Maybe I will consider one when it drops in price a bit more. Investing in 580EX flashes instead.

The one thing I hated about the 5D is that it just attracted dust to the sensor. Very annoying. I love that the 5D II has the sensor cleaning on start up.

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Looks like I'm passing on it again. Maybe I will consider one when it drops in price a bit more. Investing in 580EX flashes instead.

I love my 5D classics but haven't shot a 5DII yet. A tip on your 580EX flashes: get the 580EXII, since the 580EX doesn't have a place for a pc cord (if you want to use it with a pocket wizard, or other such radio triggers, for off-camera flash).

I don't use the PC socket on the 580 II, I use this cord for all my flashes. I find it more robust and reliable.

I don't like the 580EX II enough to justify the price difference. I also use 1/8" miniphone to hot shoe adapters. I've been doing off camera flash for a long time and have had a chance to sort through various options and discover things that work better than others.

Update - Bought a 5D II out of fear that one of my 5Ds was malfunctioning (possible focus issue). It was probably a fluke and it did not show up during my last wedding. My 85L is in the shop again for focus issues also as a result of that same concern, but it was definitely backfocusing.

Will have it on Thursday sometime, a day after a night wedding and 3 days before my next e-shoot. I hope my spare batteries arrive promptly (already got the extra 16gb CF card).

I hope it is worth it and is a good camera. I played with one before at PMA, but that didn't tell me much except that the viewfinder was slightly larger and the file size is massive. If I don't like it, I may just resell it locally and recover my costs - it is by far the most expensive camera I have ever bought and is going to have to live up to some very high expectations to justify the price. Ergo, it had better come through in those dark situations where I need more light than my 5D allows for. I am probably going to enjoy the video function for personal use, and live view should be very useful for macro and any portriature I might do in the future.

Two things continue to bother me: Increased noise/banding in low ISO shadows according to reports, and a multitude of highly skilled wedding photographers who say that the color or contrast is "not as good as the original 5D."

The 5DMKII is the better camera, no doubt about it.

You'll get about 1 to 1.5 stops better high ISO performance, and all the other fancy features of a more modern camera. IMO, the files coming out of the 5DMKII are far superior to that of the 5DC. I had the same opinion about the 1DMKIII and the 5DMKII resembles those files.

The banding is there if you push the files hard. If you don't, then it's a non issue. As for color and contrast, I don't know. As I mentioned before, I always thought that the files coming out of the 5DMKII were much better. I will continue to say that the 1DMKIII pushed out the best looking files out of all the Canon cameras I used to own.

Congrats and good luck with it!