1. Full frame DSLR.
2. 12.8 MP.
3. Stainless Stell Chassis.
4. 2.5" wide LCD.
5. ISO range.

1. No ISO display - a major flaw.
2. LCD sreen cannot be covered - I've fixed a 'Scratch Guard' over it.
3. The Direct Print button should have been for 'Mirror Lock Up'.
4. Built in Flash? For this DSLR? Who ever needs a built in flash can opt for the less professional DSLR.
5. Miss the positioning of main command & sub command dials that exist on Nikon SLRs. Not an issue here though, have got used to the features on the 5D.

The past 15 years I've been a Nikonist and was a strong advocate of film based SLRs. The past one year has been quite literally a tumultuous period as I was in a dilemma on whether to buy a digital SLR or not. Then after taking a decision to go ahead and purchase one, came up the issue of sensor size and the crop factor - an issue which did not find favour with me. And to top it, Nikon did not manufacture a full frame sensor DSLR.

Was aware that Canon had manufactured 2 DLRS, the 1Ds and the 5D; but could I switch over to Canon, after having used Nikon products all these years? Not an easy propsition, but a decision had to be taken - a final decision! And after checking out all the review sites and finding very favourable reviews of the 5D my new found DSLR kit was in focus. The 1Ds was out of favour, considering its cost; the 5D too was not exactly within my reach; but my mind and heart vouched for it. And now I am the advocate for Canon's 5D.

I have bought the Canon 5D from Canon India which gives an additional 1 year warranty and a host of other freebies. I've also piched Canon's 580 Ex II speedlite which has just been launched and have coupled Tamron's SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di Macro Lens.

To cut a long story short, I emphasize that I have taken the right decision in buying the 5D and having read the reviews on this sites, in the 5 days that I've the 5D, I've noticed the huge potential in this DSLR, minus a few missing benifits.

As I use the 5D, I will update my review; which I'm sure will be praise and more praise for this DSLR. Have given 5 stars for value and 4 stars for overall considering the first three wealnesses I've listed below.

Customer Service

Not needed as yet.

Similar Products Used:

Have used Nikon products, including their flagship the F5.

FF sensor
Bright viewfinder
Controls intuative and easily used while composing
All controls are positive in action
Construction seems very tough - but we'll see how it goes.

The status line in the viewfinder is not always visible in bright light. There may be an adjustment for this but not found it yet. Time to read the manual for the second time.

Recently bought the 5D as an upgrade from the Powershot Pro1 and I am as pleased as punch with it. The pictures are sharp and colourful.

I have hardly read the manual as almost all the controls are intuitive. Some of the menu options I needed to read up on and setting the manual speed and aperture foxed me to start with. All the controls are easily used while viewing the subject. I have one critisicm is that the status, e.g. speed, aparture,... in the viewfinder can't always be seen in bright light.

The viewfinder is bright and clear for composition and its nice to have a full frame sensor again. Its as bright as my old AE1 which I still use.

I was concerned about weight initially but have not noticed it in its use.

I haven't noticed dust as a problem yet, even though I change lenses a lot.

Customer Service

Jessops in the UK which is where I purchased the camera were outstanding in helping me decide on lenses... They also price matched with other company.

-High Resolution
-Low Noise
-Low Light Shooting
-Ease of Use
-Changeable Focusing Screens

-Haven't found one yet

I love this camera! The full frame sensor is the most fantastic feature, I cannot believe that nobody else is using them.. The larger pixels on the sensor reduce noise, and my wide angle lenses are still wide angle! I especially love that my 8mm circular fisheye is still circular (you still get awesome pictures with an APS sized sensor). Imag quality is fantastic with the 12.8 MP sensor. I have made some huge enlargments, even up to a 36" by 60" print that looked fantastic. It was a bridge that was lit up at night, shot at 50 ISO, with a 12 minute exposure, and no noticable bitmapping from the size fo the print. Low light shooting is exceptional.

The users that claim you must use top quality glass must not have used the camera with less than such. I only carry one L series lens in my bag, and get fantastic pictures that clients love! I even use the $70 50mm 1.8 with great success. Don't be fooled out of buying this camera because you don't own any professional grade lenses, your pictures will still be fantastic.

I have not found dirt to be a problem as some other users have, so I cannot attest to that, except the dirt in the prism. The prism isn't sealed so that you can change the focusing screens, a huge plus! If there is dirt there, pull the screen out and clean it off!

Customer Service

I've never used Canon's service for this camera, but for my 30D it was fantastic.

Similar Products Used:

-30D
-Played with D-Rebels (never owned one)

low light operation
fast focus
long battery life
very low image noise
bright sharp view finder
doesn't push the center of the lens
rich colours
huge dynamic range in raw mode (with little or no noise in the dark areas)

Magnet to dirt and dust
Daily cleaning of CMOS sensor when on field trips
Viewer prism also collects dust and can't be cleaned

The perfect Camera?
No, but it does some things extremely well. Moving from a Cannon 350D to the 5D was quite a jump, but not a two and half times price jump! The first thing I notice was large bright clear view form the view finder. For the first time I could manually focus accurately. The view finder on the 350D was near imposable to focus fast lenses as it was too small an too dark to see the object clearly. Where the 5D excels, particularly in low light situations. The focus in night time events is precise and fast, much better than the 350D. The image noise is noticeably lower, enabling me to take low light shots where I wouldn’t consider taking them with the 350D. Places like music events and parties are not an obstacle for this camera. Even when set 3200ASA it produce low noise photos, far better than any CCD cameras I have used shooting at 800ASA.
A lot of reviews I have read stated that only L lenses are the only suitable lens to get the most out of this camera. From my experience the 50mm f1.4 is used most of the time, as was the 30mm f1.4 when I used on the 350D. The extra pixel and not pushing the center of the lens (If the 5D sensor was cropped to the size of the 350D is would only be 5Mega pixel in size) allows an incredible increased cropping range. This allows using the same lens over a much greater range. The larger pixel size also seems to give richer colours when the results of the two cameras are compared.
This camera doesn’t come without its problems. It seems to be a magnet for dirt. The CMOS sensor needs to be constantly cleaned when out on field trips. The blower doesn’t always remove the dirt from the CMOS sensor so a soft lens cleaning bush needs to be used. The viewing prism on the 5D is not sealed against dust either, and if too much air is forced to clean the mirror or the inside of the cavity the dust settles inside the prism and can’t be removed. You would think Cannon could have put a little more effect in this area. Maybe there is a lot less dust in Japan than Australia or is the camera only to be used in a studio? The 350D, in the 10 months I have used it, only once collected a speck of dust on the CMOS sensor and needed cleaning.
Overall I am enjoying using this camera, in particular its low light capabilities and its precise focus. If it wasn’t for the $AUS 500 cash back I wouldn’t have bought it, even at $AUS 3500 I still think it is too expensive when compared to 400D and the 30D.

Customer Service

Will need a clean shorly

Similar Products Used:

Canon 350D
Canon 400D

Full frame sensor .....fantastic image quality....huge buffer.......fast acurate focus...
value for money ......light weight.....

Direct print button pointless......no ability to iso shift leaving apature and shutter speed alone..needs the best quality glass.....

Fantastic camera excellent quality pictures and quite a light body.
I use mine with the optional battery grip that holds 2 batterys which is good enough for at least 2000 pictures...thats a full day wedding shoot..The focus is fast and acurate and the exposures are nearly flawless...It has an excellent range of features
and coupled with the wirless transmiter studio work has now become wireless for me....Build quality isn't as good as the 1 series but it still stood up to a shower at a wedding i photographed ....I don'w understand why they put a direct print button on such a high spec camera as i can't see who would need it...also the frame rate isn't very fast.Coupled with my eos 1dmk11n i think i have all bases coverd .....

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Eos 1dmk11n......eos 10d.....eos30d....

* Same control layout with EOS 20D/30D
* Usable results up to ISO 3200 !
* Excellent color rendition under all circumstance
* Use the same battery with EOS 30D/20D/10D/D60/D30
* Longlife battery performance

* No weathersealed like EOS 1 Digital series
* 3 fps (compare to 5 fps of EOS 20D)
* Has to use 1st class lens quality (prime lens or L Zoom lens)

The first FF D-SLR camera under USD 4000 price tag.
My impression about this camera is the bigger 20D with FF sensor.
It fits my big hand perfectly and nice big viewfinder like my EOS 1v.

Customer Service

- none -

Similar Products Used:

* EOS 1v
* EOS 30D

FF, size, feel, ergonomics, ISO in viewfinder, ISO in 1/3 increments, resolution, picture styles, increased buffer, bright viewfinder, interchangleble focus screens, nice battery grip, large LCD, control layout similar to 20D/30D, reduced shutter noise, improved AF

3 fps, useless direct print button (should've been mirror lock-up button), no easy access to mirror lock-up

I took me a couple days to really warm up to the 5D. I had mastered my 20D and felt quite comfortable with it. I also got spoiled by the 1.6x crop. After I spent a day shooting with the camera, I can honestly say that I made the right choice in acquiring the 5D. I appreciate the way my lenses are performing the way they were meant to, and I especially enjoy the FF perspective. The viewfinder is bright and eye pleasing and I like being able to adjust the ISO w/o removing my eye from the viewfinder. Although these features were implemented in the 30D it's nice to have spot metering, 1/3 ISO increments, RGB histogram, picture styles and of course the higher resolution. The larger LCD is nice, but I honestly could've done without it. I didn't mind the tiny viewing screen on my 20D at all. I prefer the slight increase in heft of the camera. It feels more like a pro camera in my relatively large hands. Can't complain about the battery grip. I can't imagine shooting without one now. It took a few days for the dust in the viewfinder to show up, but when it did it didn't bother me as bad as I thought. I also miss the 5 fps burst of the 20D. Man, does the 5D feel slow in comparison. But I won't be using the 5D for action anyway. I plan to also purchase a 1d mkIIn primarily for that purpose. Migrating from the 20D to the 5D proved easy enough since the control layout is the same. I immediately accessed the menu and proceeded to customize my settings and custom functions. I was pleased to see additional cfn settings available to me as well. Most people complain about the lack of an on-board flash. I prefer not to use a flash since all my lenses, save one, are fast primes (2.0 and larger and all but one are L), so the no fill flash doesn't bother me. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase and would recommend the 5D to anyone.

Customer Service

Outstanding from newegg.com.

Similar Products Used:

Canon AE-1
Canon s200
Canon Powershot Pro1
Canon EOS 20D

12 MP with large photo sites means for incredibly sharp images when you use a good lens. The thing that is also nice is that since the photosites are so large, you're not fighting your lens for every ounce of detail like when you're shooting 1.6 size sensors. As everyone here has said, use good lenses. I personally only use prime lenses, so this wasn't really a big deal. I am a 20D owner, so I have good grounds for comparing. Here are the things I was blown away by when compared to the 20D: the larger buffer (I got 19 RAW files continuous) which is great when doing a photoshoot, viewfinder (finally the size of a normal camera) so you can see what you're shooting a lot better, 2.5 inch screen makes for easier review when necessary, and finally the extra megapixels really do make a difference. The amount of detail this camera provides can be gross...especially on a persons face. On the 20D I would sharpen the images a bit, on this camera I actually blur the pictures when shooting people (you not only see pores like on the 20D, you see the very faint practically micro-cracks on the skin).

The only weakness, and what has me absolutely shocked by is that the auto white balance for indoor lighting is terrible. There is a night and day difference between this and the 20D. When shooting with Tungsten or Strobes, the 20D does an amazing color balance that creates really rich balanced images. All the 5Ds shots came out terrible with the Auto White Balance and I had to swich over the manual. I originally thought this was a production flaw and I had obtained a lemon, and after exchanging the camera twice at B&H, I know it's really justs the camera. Honestly, everything else about this camera if wonderful, including the white balance outdoors.

Pretty nice camera but not entirely what I was expecting. When you go to lay down $3000 on a camera you expect to be blown away. I was incredibly happy at first but then hit a few walls that made me incredibly upset. So I'm a bit on the fence with this camera. However I am keeping it, since my main issue with the camera if very minor, and may be fixed with a firmware upgrade later on.

Customer Service

I've called them twice between camera exchanges and I got different interpretations of the white balance problem. The solution was to do it manually, although they were shocked when I said the 20D was right on the money and that I was sorely dissapointed by comparison.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon D70, Canon 20D, Nikon D200

-Full Frame sensor -In camera color control -Light weight -The 2.5" LCD -Monochrome ala the 20D -Too many other things to like

-Large sensor attracts large dust -To get good results requires pro lenses -Requires fast cards to get resonably short write times -No on camera Flash (it's not a consumer camera after all) -Noise in shadows with high contrast settings

Where do I begin? This is the camera I've been waiting for ever since I first saw the 1Ds and my jaw hit the ground after finding out how much it cost. At the time of this review I believe the 5D (with exception of the 1Ds MkII) is the pinacle of digital photography. The full frame sensor, to me anyways is a god send. I can finally use my "L" lenses to their full potential again. (more about this later). The saturation and shadow detail are like nothing I've seen before in digital photgraphy. I'd go so far as to say (and I'll get an argument I'm sure) that it is as good as medium format. The new custom color settings are fantastic, the camera being capable of boosting or retarding saturation, sharpness, contrast & hue beyond anything the average photographer would ever need. JPEG quality differs little from RAW (again I'll get an argument on this count) which has always been a bone of contention for me in the past even with the 20D. Focus and sharpness are bang on every time. I won't quote on the camera's flash abilities as I'm still waiting for the 580EX I ordered to arrive. Of course with the good comes the bad. Not that there is anything major to complain about but there is a few things. The biggest one I've found is that in low contrast situations with the contrast boosted in the camera there is a fair bit of noise in the shadows even at 100 ISO. I'm sure this could be eliminated by dropping the in-camera contrast. Next is the cameras intolerance of less than professional lenses. Being that the sensor is full frame you will push the lens to it's limits. With less than professional grade lenses (ie: Canon "L" lenses) light fall of in the corners is noticable. Of course this is most pronounced with the wide angles. I haven't tried the camera with non-Canon lenses yet so I can't coment on the likes of Sigma,Tamron etc. The remaining beefs are minor. The camera arrived factory new with dust on the sensor. This may be a quality control issue but I'm putting it down to the fact that the bigger the sensor the more crap it will attract. I'm currently using a Lexar 40X and the write is slower than I'd like to see. This means higher speed cards to handle the larger file sizes. The last thing is the DPP software. I find it no where near as easy to use as that packaged with the 20D. Again I put this down to finger trouble. The more sophisticated the software the longer it takes to learn to use it, especially if your used to something else already. I also use a 20D and would I toss that camera in favour of the 5D? Not a chance. The 20D makes an excellent companion to the 5D as it will do things that the 5D won't ie: 5fps compaored with the 3 fps of the 5D and the FOV actually helps when shooting telephoto. In a perfect world a 1D MkII & 1Ds MkII would be perfect but I have no intetion of mortgaging the house to get that setup. All in all it's hard to fault this camera. No, it's not cheap but when you consider that it's closest competitor is more than double the price then it's a bargain.

Customer Service

None needed yet (but way better than Nikon in Canada)

Similar Products Used:

Canon 20D Fuji S2 Nikon D100

Full frame, Large viewfinder, Very high detail in your pictures, Easy to use, no need to keep up grading for the average amateur, the included canon raw software works somewhat good and easy to use.

Double the cost of average 1.6 cropped DSLR, for best results must use top notch glass, Full frame makes a very thin DOF the photographer must be on his/her toe's.

The Larger the sensor (not megapixels) the more detail in your pictures, if this was not true we all would still be happy with our point and shoot Digicams. The full frame is like being back to true 35 mm photography.

Customer Service

used once and all went well

Similar Products Used:

Canon 30D,60D,10D,20D