ON GUARD! The 5Duel is here! 5D vs 5D Mark II ..part 1 of 3 Jan 16th | filed in: Photography tips

Wednesday was the big 5DUEL!

I've seen many reviews of the 5D Mark II (I call it the 5Deux for fun).
Most of them talk on and on about its great performance in low light.
The HD video is nothing to sneeze at, either, and it's been the subject of much praise.

I had yet to see, however, a side-by-side comparison of 5D vs 5Duex images in FULL SUN.
I've done sessions with each camera alone, and I would be there taking pictures
and think, "I wonder what the OTHER 5D would do in this situation?"

Whenever I'd get the images back to the computer,
I KNEW that the results from the other camera would have been different,
but I just had to imagine and guess what the differences would be ...
UNTIL NOW!

Wednesday was the big 5DUEL! 5D vs 5Deux!

It was CAREY STYLE in full sun at the beach with the 70-200IS f/2.8 lens, ISO 100.

Since I only have one 70-200 lens, ZAK SCHWANK proved his awesomeness once again
by letting me borrow his 70-200.
He also let me use his R-strap, which is AWESOME! I've got to get one of those!!

I had wonderful volunteers who brought their kids to the beach and let me
shoot shoot shoot away to my heart's content.

Me in Duel Action: (thanks, Lena, for the pictures!)



This will be part 1 of 3 of the 5Duel results.
Part 1 is a general overview.

Part 2 will come tomorrow, and I'll go into more detail
about how each camera handles the light at the beach in the sun.

Part 3 will come on Sunday with lots of info on how the cameras stackup when it come to focusing.

ONTO THE DUEL!
PART 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW

The first thing I noticed is how much nicer the view is through the lens.
Perhaps my old 5D needs cleaning, but there was a VERY noticeable difference
looking through the two cameras.
I cleaned the sensor on my old 5D, and I carefully cleaned the lens glass
before The Duel, so I don't think this can be blamed on a dirty old camera.
The quality of the view through the 5Deux kicks the butt of the old 5D.

Next was the LCD. I don't have to be jealous of 40D owners and their big bad LCDs any more!
The LCD on the 5Deux is PRETTY!

The controls for the two cameras are very similar.
I found myself spinning the wrong dial to change AF modes once or twice,
but that's not a big deal.

When I first got the 5Deux in December, I was disappointed by the auto focus.
I was missing some shots, and I didn't know if it was just that I had to get used to this new camera
or if the focusing system was worse than my old 5D.
The answer was NEITHER!
Once I got the camera back from Canon, the AF performance on the 5Deux
is much better than the original 5D. I first noticed it when I was taking pictures of Mat's team
at the David Beckham Academy a few weeks ago. I could tell the 5Deux was focusing
faster than the original 5D would have in the same situation.
That was confirmed on the beach Wednesday, too.
The AF on the 5Deux is much faster than the old 5D.
I'll go into more detail on the quality of the focusing in Part 3, so stay tuned for that!

You want to see PICTURES now, don't you?
(yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question!)

Here are side-by-side comparisons of 5D & 5Deux pictures.
The first picture in each pair is from the original 5D.
The second picture is from the 5Deux.
They were taken using the same lens, same settings
ISO 100
AF on one shot mode
Av mode @f/2.8
evaluative metering mode
auto white balance





I tried my best to get the same compositions, but it's hard sometimes with quick little subjects!
Even though some of the pictures vary slightly from camera-to-camera,
you can see, there's a HUGE difference in the images from the two 5Ds!
In parts 2 and 3 of my review, I'll show you bigger views of many of these images,
and I'll go into more detail with the shutter speeds that the camera chose,
the quality of the focusing, and the overall quality of the images.

Stay tuned!!

~Carey