5D II Review

Brief 5D II review from Anantech here for anyone who's interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcame...oc.aspx?i=3470

5D II looks good, even @ ISO 6400. That said, it's a shame that they didn't
put the AF points in more useful locations. So, even though the AF point
spread on the D700 is not as good as on the cropped D300, Nikon still seems
to have a much more versatile AF system than the 5D II.

"Allen Smithee" wrote in message
...

Brief 5D II review from Anantech here for anyone who's interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcame...oc.aspx?i=3470

5D II looks good, even @ ISO 6400. That said, it's a shame that they
didn't put the AF points in more useful locations. So, even though the AF
point spread on the D700 is not as good as on the cropped D300, Nikon
still seems to have a much more versatile AF system than the 5D II.


Speaking of Nikon D700 AF, does anyone know how it handles lenses with a
maximum aperture of f/8 (for example a tele with a converter on it)? Will
it still autofocus with relatively decent light? If it does, is it only
with the centre point or all points?

"Allen Smithee" wrote in message
...
Brief 5D II review from Anantech here for anyone who's interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcame...oc.aspx?i=3470

5D II looks good, even @ ISO 6400. That said, it's a shame that they
didn't put the AF points in more useful locations. So, even though the AF
point spread on the D700 is not as good as on the cropped D300, Nikon
still seems to have a much more versatile AF system than the 5D II.
Thanks Allen!
I'm waiting for mine to come...
I find this review quite encouraging after I followed another thread on the
possibility of the 5DII being far noisier that the 5D because ot its more
numerous pixels. I'm looking forward to more in-depth testing while I wait
for my camera to arrive (January?)
Regards,
Marcel

"Celcius" wrote in message
...

"Allen Smithee" wrote in message
...
Brief 5D II review from Anantech here for anyone who's interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcame...oc.aspx?i=3470

5D II looks good, even @ ISO 6400. That said, it's a shame that they
didn't put the AF points in more useful locations. So, even though the
AF point spread on the D700 is not as good as on the cropped D300, Nikon
still seems to have a much more versatile AF system than the 5D II.

Thanks Allen!
I'm waiting for mine to come...
I find this review quite encouraging after I followed another thread on
the possibility of the 5DII being far noisier that the 5D because ot its
more numerous pixels. I'm looking forward to more in-depth testing while I
wait for my camera to arrive (January?)


I think this is the calm before the storm. As the 5D II bodies are being
released, there will inevitably be a huge amount of in-depth reviews coming
out soon.

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 12:00:41 -0000, in rec.photo.digital.slr-systems
"Allen Smithee" wrote:

Speaking of Nikon D700 AF, does anyone know how it handles lenses with a
maximum aperture of f/8 (for example a tele with a converter on it)? Will
it still autofocus with relatively decent light? If it does, is it only
with the centre point or all points?

Maybe Paul F. can give a more definitive answer. The D700 uses the
CAM-3500FX focus system, the D300 the CAM-3500DX. With decent light
and a good contrasting subject the D300 focuses OK at f/8 max.

Ahum, don't want to burst your bubble, but my D300 focuses even at f/22 in
total darkness. It's called the AF assist light?


--
Focus

Allen Smithee wrote:
"Celcius" wrote in message
...

"Allen Smithee" wrote in message
...
Brief 5D II review from Anantech here for anyone who's interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcame...oc.aspx?i=3470

5D II looks good, even @ ISO 6400. That said, it's a shame that they
didn't put the AF points in more useful locations. So, even though
the AF point spread on the D700 is not as good as on the cropped
D300, Nikon still seems to have a much more versatile AF system than
the 5D II.

Thanks Allen!
I'm waiting for mine to come...
I find this review quite encouraging after I followed another thread
on the possibility of the 5DII being far noisier that the 5D because
ot its more numerous pixels. I'm looking forward to more in-depth
testing while I wait for my camera to arrive (January?)


I think this is the calm before the storm. As the 5D II bodies are
being released, there will inevitably be a huge amount of in-depth
reviews coming out soon.




Can anybody confirm that these cameras will actually autofocus *during*
a movie take? I can't find the source now but I recall reading that some
cinematographer who made clips for Canon or Nikon said "off the record"
that his only gripe was that the camera he used wouldn't focus while in
movie mode, he had to continually manual focus it.

When I look at many of the clips Canon have approved of, there doesn't
seem to be much focus going on during the shoots. I know there are
mirror types that allow focus during shooting but these would limit low
light ability.

I'm about to make some decisions regarding HD video capture and the Sony
and JVC camcorders are looking extremely price effective compared to
DSLRs with movie capabilities. I'm not looking to make feature length
movies, just 2 and 3 minute clips to splice into my ProShow presentations.

Maybe these initial release models might not live up to the promise? I
wasn't impressed with a D90 when I tried it and the D700 is out of the
question (for me). Anyone got any constructive information here?

On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 12:00:41 -0000, Allen Smithee wrote:

Speaking of Nikon D700 AF, does anyone know how it handles lenses with a
maximum aperture of f/8 (for example a tele with a converter on it)? Will
it still autofocus with relatively decent light? If it does, is it only
with the centre point or all points?

If it focuses at all, focusing performance will be significantly
reduced with a maximum aperture of f/8, unless the lighting is very
bright. If you have any experience using SLRs that focus using
split image focusing screens, you'll recall that beyond a certain
f/stop (whether because it's due to using a small aperture lens or
because the f/stop was reduced using the DOF preview), the split
image rapidly becomes extremely dark, even though the surrounding
part of the ground glass screen doesn't darken as quickly. The AF
sensors use tiny prisms similar to those used to manually focus
those old film SLRs. I believe that all of the AF sensors are used,
not just the central AF sensor. While I don't think your specific
questions are answered, this DPR thread has a wealth of AF sensor
information, especially in the replies posted by Marianne Oelund.
Note that there are slightly more than 40 replies, and each web page
(in Flat, not Threaded view) displays a maximum of 20 replies.


http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...9687488&page=1

In article , Allen Smithee
wrote:

Speaking of Nikon D700 AF, does anyone know how it handles lenses with a
maximum aperture of f/8 (for example a tele with a converter on it)? Will
it still autofocus with relatively decent light? If it does, is it only
with the centre point or all points?

nikon officially requires f/5.6 or faster, but unlike canon, it still
works with slower lenses. i've used a 1.7x teleconverter with f/5.6
lenses and the only thing i've noticed is that focusing is slightly
slower.

In article , Focus
wrote:

Ahum, don't want to burst your bubble, but my D300 focuses even at f/22 in
total darkness. It's called the AF assist light?

if you are using an af assist light, it's not total darkness, not to
mention that the lens is not at f/22 when focusing.

On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 18:23:16 -0500, Larry Thong wrote:

Speaking of Nikon D700 AF, does anyone know how it handles lenses
with a maximum aperture of f/8 (for example a tele with a converter
on it)? Will it still autofocus with relatively decent light? If
it does, is it only with the centre point or all points?

If it focuses at all, focusing performance will be significantly
reduced with a maximum aperture of f/8, unless the lighting is very
bright.

Total and utter nonsense!

My D200 focuses perfectly at f/8 in low light using the 500/4 Nikkor and 2x
TC. The D200 will lose AF focus ability at f/9 as I found out when testing
the 105/2.8 VR and 2x TC. This is the closest focus setting on that combo.
That said, my D3 doesn't have any problems with it nor should the D700.

The reason why it appears to be total and utter nonsense is that
you're unable to tell the difference between total failure and
reduced focusing performance. It's understandable though, since you
use the 500/4 for close snapshots of your mutt taking a leak and not
for distant BIF action shots. Attach your test charts to a swinging
pendulum and let us know how well the D200 focuses and tracks the
target with the 2x TC and 500/f:4 on it, preferably illuminated by a
single flickering candle. You don't have to add an ND filter.