Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

Due to the release of 5D MK3, the price of this kit has dropped and become more acceptable. I use it mainly for portraits, events and street photography, especially under low-light conditions. This is my first digital full frame camera, I have to say I'm really impressed by the image quality.

The good includes: good high iso performance, long battery life, great video capability, solid built etc.

The major weakness of this camera is the focusing system, however it works just fine for my type of photography, as I don't do sports shooting.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

Fantastic camera with great depth of field.
Brilliant for portraits.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

I wanted to upgrade to full frame for documentary/portrait/travel photography after many years of using a cropped sensor DSLR. I had dreamt of owning this camera for ages. I held off waiting for Mark iii to arrive but in the end could not justify paying double for that particular model.
However, I am not disappointed in the choice I finally made, the IQ of the jpegs alone is simply stunning, the dynamic range in low light is awesome, exagerated DOF a wonderful surprise at f/4 and the focussing is perfectly adequate in low light (something I was concerned about after reading the mark iii had been improved drastically). Being a female the compact size and weight suits me well which is on a par with my old cropped DSLR, even with the 24-105mm f/4 zoom lens attached.
It has a lovely hands on good secure grip feel to it, solid and substantial but not weighty.
The menu interface is very intuitive and not too difficult to find your way around even though I am used to Pentax.
The only thing I was surprised with was the noise of the shutter release which is not very discreet and a bit clunky.
For the current price upgrading to full frame there really is no other choice. I love this camera.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

I bought this because I needed to take some gear on a plane for a cheap shoot abroad. The video functionality is generally good BUT I found it dropped frames if the ISO was above 640. I haven't had the chance to test it methodically or find a workaround. This problem has been reported elsewhere but had supposedly been solved by a firmware upgrade; I was on the latest firmware and still had the problem.

The 24-105 image stabilized lens is great for handheld video!!!!

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

The 5D Mark II body and the EF 24-105 f/4L IS lens are both superb products which are individually reviewed elsewhere - usually with well-deserved high praise. The comments here apply to the combination of the camera and the lens.

A superb camera deserves a superb lens. You get both here. 24mm is wide enough for most applications most of the time - 105mm gives a useful moderate telephoto length with the benefit of image stabilization. F/4 throughout the range is also good enough for most applications most of the time. Wider apertures in a zoom mean lots more weight and lots more cost - both are avoided here - and any good prime will give several stops more aperture than the heavy f/2.8 zoom. This lens is light enough to feel comfortable on this camera and that is important.

Needless to say, this combination takes great photographs and that's important too.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

This is truly a beast of a camera - Coupled with the 24-105 F4 L IS it is so sharp you could cut things with your photos. I 'upgraded' from a 1D Mark 2 to this and can honestly say that I will never look back - the burst shutter speed of 8 frames per second that the 1D had I never needed, and this is the one area the 5D falls back on. I can't see myself ever needing a better body than this, and will only buy L series lenses now to complement what I have.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

Use it every day and find it a joy to use

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

Excellent - no regrets about trading up from my 400D, despite this being bigger and much heavier.

Exposure control and metering accuracy isn't reliably 100% though, and even after several months of use I find myself having to bracket to be sure I get the exposure spot-on. Hence the 4 stars rather than 5.

The 24-105 mm lens is excellent. I wasn't a fan of zoom lenses, but this one has converted me (despite its weight).

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

I purchased this camera about a month and a half ago. Since recieving it I have been out and used it in various weather and light conditions, All of which it has handled superbly. I really couldn't be any happier with my purchase.

Firstly, the camera is ergonomically designed. All the controls are in easy to use places and some of the buttons allow you to quickly change the settings that are most used, such as iso, Drive and White balance. This allows the user to capture those all important shots instead of missing them whilst fiddling about in bottomles menus.

The rear LCD is large and bright. I often find myself grinning from ear to ear when reviewing images on it. The colour and contrast reproduction is good and your ability to check accurate sharpness is also very good.

The relatively slow shutter speed will be a hindrence to some, if so, buy a different model. This camera will deliver every time if the application is right. I shoot landscapes and candid portraits almost 100% of the time and i'm never left wanting more. The depth and realism that this camera produces are quite simply outstanding.

The viewfinder is big and bright. Upgrading from a 1000d the increase in brightness and coverage for me was markedly better.

I'm sure you are bored of hearing it but the low light performance is brilliant. especially the long shutter speed noise control. When i'm using this feature during seascapes, etc, it really comes into it's own.

I think i will cut it short here. I'm in danger of exhausting the english language of it's adjectives. In summary, if your into portraits, landscapes, want to print really big or crop in close then this is the camera for you. Once recieved and used you will quickly forget the price you paid, I did.

Comments about Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM Lens:

Bought this camera and lens a couple of months ago to replace my Nikon D300 and have to say that the Canon is pretty noise free upto ISO 800. Granted this is a full frame sensor. I would also like to say that the lens is dated March 2010 which is great to know that you are getting 'new' equipment. I recently bought a lens from a retail park store and it was dated July 2008 - almost 2 years old! Not much else to say but this IS a great camera and lens, from a greate retailer. Jim.