Couple of Q's about using the 5D

Well, I finally made the piggy bank squeal and bought the 5D. It's very different than my XT, and I've got a few Q's for those of you who have been using one for a while.

1. I've heard the 5D has a very dynamic ISO range. What do you usually use for landscape shots? How high can you go before you see noise.

2. Why does the large dial on the back not always change the aperature in manual mode? What am I doing wrong? I spin it, nothing happens. I look at the manual, no help. This seems like it should be obvious, buy my large dial is not changing the aperature.

3. When should I send in the warranty card? Now? At a future date when I need to use the warranty.

4. Anything I should know about Full Frame besides the obvious differences from 1.6x?

5. Should I get an extended warranty? If so, through whom?

My Likes: The muliple folder option is huge for me. Now I can shoot panos and keep them in seperate folders before stitching! The big LCD is awesome. The size is perfect. 12.8MP speaks for itself. The build quality is very nice.

My Gripes: What...no Flash (I know its not very useful for landscapes, but I could use it for a few other things. $20 wireless remotes now cost 300 bucks. 3K and no weather seal? My 17-40L must now be shot at 20mm to look good. The price makes me cringe...still.

My suggestion for 5D owners:
1. Go to Best Buy and buy the Fellows Brand Screen Protector sheets. Cut them to size to protect the big LCD on the back and the glass settings viewer on the top. It will cost you 16 bucks but you get the equivalent of at least 20 protectors. Then, buy the Delkin Pro Pop-up shade so that your LCD is actually usable in bright conditions. Also, it will keep your button labels from getting rubbed off from too much use.

Scott,

Please keep me posted as to your findings as I am in a holding pattern til early April when I will buy the 5D. Things like the "fellows" findings is great stuff.

Thanks.

RichieV

1. I usually shoot in 100 or 200 ISO, although there have been times that 400 was required, and the images were none the worse for it. I've heard that you really don't see noise problems until 800, and more so at 1600, but I've never seen a reason to go that high with typical landscape shooting.

2. The on/off switch on the back has two settings. Click it once and the dial doesn't change the aperture in manual mode. Click it to the next step and BINGO! I'll have to look at the book to remember why they did it that way. There is a reason, I just don't remember what it is.

3. I think you send it in now, but I was just looking at the card for my new 70-200 and I now don't remember whether or not I sent in the card for my 5D. I think I did.

4. Nope.

5. I generally think extended warranties are a scam. (reaches over, knocks on wood...)

I don't think there are NO weather seals, I think the camera is just sealed to a lesser degree than 1-series cameras.

I said long ago that they need to up-armor humvees with whatever plastic Canon makes the LCD outer material out of. I've had many chances to scratch mine, but haven't yet. (reaches over...you know the drill.) But that Fellows stuff sounds excellent. I can't be lucky forever, after all.

And I hear you on your 17-40 being more like a usable 20-40. My biggest, and really only frustration since going digital has been the discovery that my camera is out-performing my lenses. Chromatic aberration was a vague, abstract concept until I bought the XT. If Canon or Zeiss or anybody can design lenses that don't suffer from CA, I'm theirs.

Just looked at the manual. The control dial is meant for changing the aperture in manual mode when you select the second click-stop position, but for everything else it's used for selecting things, like scrolling through the menu, or changing ISO when you push the button on the top, etc. If you're shooting manual, which I do about 90% of the time, just leave it on that second setting. Although I will say that I've been shooting some aperture-priority lately, and the metering on the camera has done an excellent job with exposure in this automatic mode. Besides, it's not like chrome film, where there's very little exposure tolerance. As long as you've got a healthy histogram, you've got a good image. But one very important thing to remember is that it's better to expose closer to over- than underexposure. The photosites have logrithmically more levels at the highlight end than at the shadow end. You can make many more adjustments to higher values than lower ones.

Thanks a bunch Todd I'll check out that second-click stop position thing. The manual makes it look like you're supposed to turn on the camera after it is already on. "HUH?" I shoot manual almost all of the time. Like you, I use Aperture-priority every now and then (especially if I'm in a position where I want to change both shutter speed and aperture at the same time and have the default metering for exposure. It actually works really well on the 5d. The metering never even moves to adjust. It's instantaneous! Todd- good point on the slight over exposure. I very much agree with you. It is far easier to tone down a highlight than resurrect something out of an dark object. Rich V- I'll keep you posted if I think of anything else on the 5D. I'm curious, why are you holding out until April? Rebate? Sale? Still saving up?

I had a chance to examine the Delkin "pop up" shade at the NANPA conference and wasn't real impressed. It looked a little cheap to install on my $3k body. Canon is aware of the dim display in daylight and that's one of the fixes in their new firmware download (version 1.0.3).

The Fellows protectors sound like a good idea.

I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of rubber weather seals. I had a chance to shoot my (similarly-sealed) Nikon D100 in heavy wet snow, where I actually had to brush it off the top on occasion to see the settings. No problems at all. Just don't drop it into the river!

I'm really starting to like my 5D a lot. It's the perfect travel camera! It does tend to allow vignetting, though - something I need to investigate further. Don't know if it's due to the shades I always have on, or something else. I DO like the fact I have a real (full frame) wide-angle back, though! One thing I did notice on my last trip was that the LCD displays a pretty accurate rendition of the actual scene - something I couldn't always count on with other digital bodies. Battery life also seems exceptional. Why Canon failed to add a voice recorder feature on a $3k body is beyond me, though.

Ken

A voice recorder? Hmm. I'll pass...

I'm glad Ken mentioned the firmware update, because I forgot to. He's right, it's meant to specifically address the dimness of the LCD, which was one of its more heralded features pre-release. I was surprised at how NOT bright mine is compared to my expectations. I haven't updated my firmware yet, mostly out of fear, having never done it before. But I plan to real soon, as soon as I sit down with the book and make sure I'm doing it right.

My camera came with 1.0.4, so no problems for me. Updating firmware is a breeze if you just follow the directions carefully. If not, I think that Canon authorized dealers will do it for you (probably for free) I've done it a few times on my Rebel XT. Make sure that you have plenty of battery power before doing so.

In case anyone did not already know this, you can adjust the LCD brightness via the Menu (at least on 1.0.4)

If there is any chance that you might not still be the owner at the end of 5 years, You can
increase the sale price by having a Mack 5 yr warranty. Look on E-Bay for one that covers
a digital SLR up to $3,000 in purchase price. You can get it for about $100. It adds 5 years
after the Canon warranty wears out. Also check B & H Photo for a genuine Canon extended
warranty. If you want to go this way, you have to purchase the warranty within 30 days of
the camera purchase.

Art Lund

Thanks Art. I've heard mixed reviews about Mack. I've heard that they take forever to repair your camera. Can anyone verify if this is true? Also, is the warranty based on retail or purchase price?

Mack's warranty is apparently on purchase price.

And one final question. Todd, I'm guessing you would know the answer to this one. What is the native resolution for the 5D? My XT was 240 dpi, not sure what my 5D is.

240 it is!

What devices output to 240 natively?

I'm really enjoying my 5D - the LCD, full frame....

I shot a medium size wedding Saturday night and my 20D was moved to a backup . The 5D did great! The one battery lasted until the reception, then I had to change... I love it when wedding guests come up to me and ask...How many MP does that thing have?

Photos are looking great! I shoot ISO - 100 for formals, 400 for general mix lighting, some 800 for low light, and even a few 1600 for really dark receptions. Although I try to stay away from 1600, I find that 800 is ok for me.

My 85 1.8 lens on the 5D is awesome for ambient light in church/reception, but my main lens now is 24-70 F2.8.

I really like the extra ISO settings and I am experimenting with them.

I can't wait to get some serious landscapes with this baby.

Kathy

Rich, 240dpi is one of the "magic" resolution numbers for most Epson printers. But native resolution isn't really important, since it's just as easy to change the resolution to whatever your output device requires.