CalevPhoto

Canon 5D Mark II and microstock

I have owned my Canon 5d Mark II for about four months now and have taken around 3500 shots.  Overall I am very impressed with it but I had not yet truly tested it in terms of microstock.

Lately I have taken the attitude that I will not waste my time with the microstock sites.  I take the shots that I like to take, and later on figure out if something may sell.  This works out the best for me, as I do not feel pressured to take particular shots that I would not have taken other than to sell them.  When these shots are not accepted or are accepted and do not sell, I have wasted my time.  However, if I take the shots I like in the first place, my time is never wasted.

I went through my shots and found a bit over forty that looked stock ready.  Now was the moment for the true test of the 5D Mark II – what would the editing experience be like?

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5D Mark II and Video

While I’m without camera and waiting for my 5D Mark II to arrive, I thought I would share some of my ideas on how to take advantage of the video feature in it.

First of all, I have never really bothered with video that much.  I tend to not enjoy watching videos of weddings, events, and vacations that others greatly enjoy.  I do enjoy videos of my kids, so we purchased a Canon HF10 some time ago.  This is a very nice video camera, though we still do not have a good decoder for the AVCHD format.

However, the Mark II offers some new perspectives on video previously unavailable to me.  For one, the quality is considerably better than the HF10.  While it is certainly missing features present in top video cameras, the raw quality of the video is on par with the best video cameras.  Therefore, I plan to use it for the following purposes.

1. Video of kids.  I’m not sure how much we’ll take with the HF10 and how much we’ll take with the Mark II.  My guess is the HF10 will still take the lion’s share of the video.  However, when I feel that the video is very important, I will likely use the Mark II.
2. Macro video.  In particular I hope to take macro stock video.  I am still working out a number of the details on how I plan to go about this, as lighting and stability are significant issues that I have not yet fully addressed.  Once I do start creating these videos, I will obviously post them here along with my technique.
3. Real estate videos.  I have gone back and forth about the need and use of video in real estate.  The truth is I have yet to see a real estate video that does a good job.  However, I have some ideas on how this may work and I plan to do use an upcoming listing of Nelya’s to test my theory out.

So, yes, the HD video feature of the Mark II is useful in my opinion.  It is not a replacement for a full video camera, but I suspect if you understand it’s limitations it makes a great tool for those of us unable or unwilling to spend tens of thousands on a professional video camera.

Why autofocus on the 5D Mark II wasn’t improved

For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past several weeks, there is a new camera coming out that replaces the current Canon 5D.  Although the new camera introduces a number of improvements over the old one, a lot of people have been voicing strong concerns that the autofocus wasn’t improved at all over the one from the original 5D.  In a recent interview a Canon exec stated that the reason is due to size.  He stated that it is not possible to fit a newer AF in the 5D without expanding the size of the body.  For some reason, though, Nikon engineers managed to figure out a solution to the same problem.  In my opinion, and in the opinions of pretty much everyone else out there, his answer was complete BS.  However, I disagree that the reason why the 5D Mark II does not have an improved is because Canon doesn’t want to reduce sales in their 1D line.

First though, I do think that for the majority of uses the AF on the 5D isn’t so bad.  I took the picture below recently in poor lighting and with AI servo.

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Oh Canon! Thou dost disappoint me!

Well, Canon has finally announced the new 5D Mark II and my initial thoughts are of disappointed.  I had waited for this camera so long and all they did was release a 21MP full frame 50D.  While this camera is certainly a step up from the 5D, I’m not entirely sure that it’s worth the upgrade.  I don’t intend to use my SLR for video – that’s what I have my video camera for.  At first, the thought of creating macro videos would be interesting, but I would then need a new lighting source as a flash won’t cut it for video.  Really, for me video is not a very useful feature on a professional camera.

In particular I am very disappointed with essentially the same AF as the current 5D and a paltry 3.9 fps.  The fact that the camera is 21MP isn’t very helpful.  I would have preferred a 15MP camera with a higher frame rate and even better noise handling in high ISO cases.

While the UI certainly appears to be an improvement over the current 5D, they still haven’t added the features I most desire.

1) More than 3 shots in exposure bracketing

2) One button mirror lock

Right now I find myself at a bit of a crossroads.  The better ISO handling will help my travel photos, but I’m just not sold on the upgrade.  I am also incredibly disappointed in Canon’s lens announcements.  I had really hoped to see a Canon 100-400 4-5.6 IS and I was considering a 24-70 2.8 IS if I could figure out how to fit it in my bag.

My current thoughts are one of the following.

- Save my money for a real professional camera or in other words the successor to the 1Ds Mark III.  At least this camera will be guaranteed to have top notch AF.  This is probably where the 5D Mark II disappoints me the most.  If they had significantly improved the AF, I may have jumped on it.

- Purchase a 24mm tilt shift lens for real estate photography.  Currently I have not been actively going after agents, but I am considering letting the word out more (currently I only work with my wife and other agents she knows).

- Consider again getting into photomicrography, which will cost more than the 5D Mark II any ways.

To be honest, I am currently undecided, but I do have to wonder what exactly is going on at Canon.