Brief: The Canon 5D Mark II is Canon’s prosumer Full Frame digital SLR. Announced on September 17th, 2008 with an MSRP of $2,699 for the body and $3,499 for the kit with Canon’s EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens. It was the first Canon SLR to ship with 1080p HD recording capability. In short supply since release, the 5D Mark II (or 5dmk2, or 5DmkII) has been widely adopted by the independent/experimental filmmaker community due to its high image quality, shallow depth of field and excellent low light performance. The 5D has also seen use in Hollywood productions, generally due to its compact size and lighting flexibility.
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On September 16th, 2009 Tramm Hudson announced that he’d cracked the 480p monitoring issue and had the camera outputting 1080i while recording. This should make it into a new release of Magic Lantern soon.
On June 22nd, 2009 the first Magic Lantern firmware was released, allowing for more filmmaker specific control over the features of the 5D, including zebra stripes, audio meters and manual gain control for audio.
On June 1st, 2009 Canon released a firmware update allowing for manual exposure control. Prior to the release of the firmware the only options for manual exposure control were using non-Canon lenses via an adapter or half-disconnecting Canon lenses.
The 5D has an exceptionally strong feature set for still photography work, as well as a high image quality and excellent depth of field for video work. Its sensor size is unmatched at its price point. Many filmmakers have used the 5D successfully for short films, narrative work and documentaries. Workarounds for many of the limitations exist and a strong ecosystem of aftermarket modifications and other accessories has grown up since the camera was released.
The 30p Limitation
The Canon 5D Mark II only records in a 1080/30p or 480/30p mode. The framerate is exactly 30p, not the 29.97 fps broadcast standard, and does not support PAL framerates (25p) or the filmmaker friendly 24p. Originally designed for news gathering and destined for the web shooters, Canon has not released any modifications to allow alternate framerates. The Canon 7D, released a year after the 5DmarkII, has multiple framerates and resolutions. It is currently unknown whether Canon will release a firmware update for the 5D to add this feature, or whether a third party modification is possible.
There are multiple options for taking the 30p footage to 25p or 24p, which are discussed in our 5D for HD forum.
The 12 Minute Limitation
In order for the 5D mark II to avoid being taxed as a video camera in the EU, the video recording limit is 30 minutes in standard definition (480/30p) mode. At HD bitrates this is roughly equal to 12 minutes of video, resulting in a 4 gig file. There are no overheat or sensor issues, but the maximum possible single shot is rougly 12 minutes. Once the shot is complete, another 12 minute shot can be started with a delay of only a few seconds.
The HDMI 480P Limitation
The 5D Mark II feeds the cameras HDMI output with a 480p signal while in live view mode. Unfortunately this is often inadequate for manually determining focus using an external monitor. Recently a Magic Lantern firmware modification has been demonstrated to lift this limitation, but it has not been released yet.
Modifications adding an eyepiece to the 5D’s LCD screen for more precise focus control are available and have been discussed in our 5D for HD forum.
Edge Aliasing Limitation
The 5D Mark II overaliases detail edges in cases of sharp focus. Generally this is not an issue, but when shooting very crisp, deep depth of field shots there may be issues in recompression stages with extra edge noise. The BBC has tested the camera and found it unsuitable for regular BBC funded production work due to this issue. For most users this will not be relevant, but it is something to be aware of.
The DVinfo.net 5DmkII for HD Forum
Official Manual and Firmware Updates
Magic Lantern Unofficial Firmware for Filmmakers
Trivia
The Canon 5D Mark II was the first digital camera used for the official portrait of the President of the United States.