Canon EOS 5D MkII

I borrowed an EOS 5D MkII with the 24-105 f/4 and the Speedlite 580EX II flashgun to shoot a friend's wedding last weekend, and I couldn't possibly have chosen a better kit for the job. I kind of wish I hadn't though, because now I have got to get one myself by any means necessary. Anyone want to buy a kidney?

Well that's a co-incidence as I was shooting a friend's wedding with the 5D2 that weekend too.

I agree, it's a great camera. Full frame is something I've craved for so long and it's just beautiful - suddenly my 24-70mm lens becomes pretty much the only lens I need for most situations.

Got some nice shots of the occasion despite the locations, a dingy registry room, basement restaurant and the total cloud cover (nebulous). I was using a Metz 45CL4 digital flash (or trying to) and tried to keep ISO at a maximum of 1600, which is definitely still very good. 3200 is acceptable for some shots but beyond that, you'd be hard pushed to salvage a decent colour shot I think.

I find its frame rate plenty good enough and have the 40D as a back up. The 9-point AF worked well in group situations, allowing me to just concentrate on getting a decent shot so no complaints about that. Also took a little video, using an external Rhode shotgun mic, but that was pretty awful really. All that kit weighed a tonne so things were very shaky! Didn't have opportunity to set up a tripod despite having one with me. Looked the part (a prat) at least.

Don't know anyone needing a kidney right now, Cliff. If I find someone I'll let you know. I wasn't paid for the day and it'll be a long while yet before I can afford any more tasty camera or a/v gear, or even beer come to think of it. Yup, plenty of sacrifices made in the pursuit of photography, taking it and viewing the work of others (mostly motion-photography of course). So, I hope you find the funds soon or otherwise get hold of one without needing to sell body parts first!

I would like to know why Canon is trying to combine an HD video in this outstanding piece of equipment! Either you shoot photos and it's already hard enough to get the right one or you concentrate on making a movie. It is absurd to combine both. Maybe for the low entry level but not at this level which is a professional level. That's why I won't buy this camera to replace my aging EOS. I have got a fantastic SONY HD camera. Why must I pay 2000 odds pound for a camera who is not going to help me shooting movie.
It's ridiculous and Canon should NOT mix pleasure and professionalism. Great great mistake from Canon.

Alex, many professionals are using this camera to take video, be it wedding or more theatrical. With the wide range of professional lenses available and (almost) full manual control of depth of field etc, they're getting very good results which far exceed anything but dedicated professional video-cameras that you'll really only see very serious video-photographers use.

Canon were mostly just responding to the competition in providing video and live-mode shooting but there is a great deal of sense in keeping up with consumer demands even on a more professionally featured camera like this. Photo-journalists, capturing news reportage or sporting events can also process high quality (2 megapixel) stills from a video sequence, this resolution (1920x1080) being more than high enough for web usage and good enough for most typical print mediums.

The limitations of using an SLR is again in having the right accessories - a better professional grade microphone (on shoe or off) and something to support such a heavy piece of equipment since you can't just rest it on your shoulder. Something like the fig-rig (from Manfrotto) would really help stabilise shots. My own limited experience shooting video has been mostly candid. I did however take some macro-video of a tiny garden spider and I can see, if you're determined and good at it, a proliferation of genuine creative uses for DSLR captured video - tilt and shift, fish-eye, lens-baby etc which you can already find on such sites as Vimeo and YouTube.

Until Canon catch up with the makers of such unoffical firmware as the Magic Lantern team and provide additional much-needed features for this camera such as gain control and timestamping, then the camera will still best serve for stills use. The video function doesn't interfere or diminish the rest of the camera's functions or performance and so I myself am very glad it's included though I don't see myself ever using it for creating any serious video.