Canon EOS 5D Mark II
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a digital 21.1 - megapixel full-frame CMOS camera. It is the successor to the EOS 5D and was announced on 17 September 2008. The launch was the end of November 2008. Was the first SLR that can record movies in full 1080p HDTV resolution. This combined this unit until then strictly separated areas of film production and photography. On 2 March 2012, the Canon EOS 5D Mark III has been announced as his successor.
Technical Features
Compared to the at the time of the show about three years old EOS 5D, the resolution has been increased from 12.8 to 21.1 megapixels. The camera also works with a DIGIC 4 image processor; in the precursor model EOS 5D was still the Generation II are used.
The with the EOS 5D Mark II for the first time possible in this quality moving image recording with 1080p resolution at 24, 25 and 30 frames / second caused a significant proliferation of the device with filmmakers. There can be up to 4 GB of video sequences produced and during which additionally included still images in full resolution.
In addition, the ISO sensitivity of 50-3200 was (by default, 100-1600 ) is increased to 100-6400 ( through special functions 50-25600 ).
Properties
Compared to the previous model, Canon EOS 5D, the EOS 5D Mark II, the following changes:
- 21.1 megapixels
- Live View mode
- Video mode at 1080p resolution at 24, 25 and 30 frames / second ( Full HD, 1920 × 1080 pixels). Up to 4 GB of video sequences and during which an additional still images are generated in full resolution.
- Continuous shooting 3.9 frames per second
- DIGIC 4 image processor
- 7.62 -cm (3.0 " ) LCD in 4:3 format with 921,600 RGB sub-pixels ( 640 × 480 pixels × 3 sub- pixels), which corresponds to 307,200 pixels ( VGA resolution )
- ISO 100-6400 ( expandable via special function of 50-12800 or 25600 )
- Self-cleaning sensor unit
Firmware and Software
Since the firmware update to version 1.1 (Sep. 2009), a manual control of shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity in video mode is possible. In October 2009, Canon announced the future to support the refresh rate 25p and 24p. A corresponding firmware was released in March 2010. Additional assistance manual record level, as well as an RGB histogram for video recording with manual exposure has been added. The sampling frequency of the sound recording is changed from 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz. The Bildabtastfrequenzen of 24p and 30p were adapted to the typical 23,976, respectively, 29.97 frames per second. The current version is 2.1.2 on 22 February 2012.
After the success of the free firmware enhancement Canon Hacker Development Kit for Canon compact cameras, a third-party firmware upgrade for the EOS 5D Mark II under the name Magic Lantern was developed in 2009.
Magic Lantern offers additional features that are useful primarily for video and film art, but also for photographers, including a "Zebra " mode to ensure visibility over - and under-exposed areas, a follow focus, audio level control, disable the automatic gain control of the microphone input and much more. Some of these functions have been added in the meantime in the official Canon firmware.
GPS connection
About the Data Transmitter WFT - E4 a GPS device can be connected to the camera to record the exact recording location of each photo. The GPS receiver must NMEA data to send via USB. The coordinates are stored in the EXIF data of the image ( Geo - Imaging).
Use in television production
The ability to record 1080p Full HD video, the small size and economical price make it the 5D Mark II for interesting television compared to film cameras. One example of many is the last episode of the sixth season of the television series House MD. Especially scenes that are rotated in a confined space can be coped well with the 5D, so also in said sequence of Dr. House.