Half a year after the camera's debut, Canon released promised firmware that updates its vaunted EOS 5D Mark II SLR with the ability to manually control camera settings while shooting video.
The much-desired feature lets users set aperture, ISO sensitivity, and shutter speed manually. It was the first Canon SLR to support video, and the only one so far that can shoot 1080p video at 30 frames per second, but previously it only could shoot video in a fully automatic mode.
The firmware 1.1.0 update is available from Canon's Web site, as are update instructions (PDF).
The omission led to much carping among those who expected more control over their imagery from a 21.1-megapixel SLR that costs $2,700 with no lenses. For example, people couldn't specifically set a wide aperture to attain a shallow depth of field that blurs the background behind the video subject, a cinematographic effect that's hard to attain with standard point-and-shoot video.
The new video mode is activated using the standard controls for setting ISO, aperture, and shutter speed after the camera dial is set to the "M" mode for manual shooting. See the excerpt from the user manual update below for details.
On my camera, the update took about two minutes to install and my testing showed that the feature worked as advertised. The firmware fixes five other glitches, too; the full list is at the bottom of this post.
Update 8:30 a.m. PDT: Contrary what I found earlier, aperture and shutter speed can be changed while you're shooting. Of course doing so shakes the camera and adds audible noise if you're using the built-in microphone, and exposure changes in fixed steps, not smooth transitions, that are pretty glaring in the video.
You also can set ISO to "auto," in which case the camera makes its best guess about exposure while leaving shutter speed and aperture alone.
(Credit:
Canon)
Aside from the video feature, here's what Canon says firmware 1.1.0 fixes:
• Disables the function of the depth-of-field preview button when images are played back or when the menu screen is displayed on the LCD panel.
• Fixes a phenomenon where the peripheral illumination of images cannot be properly corrected, even if the images were captured with the lens peripheral illumination correction function set to Enable. Digital Photo Professional software version 3.6.1 or later (for Windows and Macintosh) can be used to automatically correct the peripheral illumination of raw and JPEG images that were captured in the Peripheral Illumination Correction setting with cameras that have Firmware Version 1.0.7 or earlier.
• Fixes the algorithms of the Auto Lighting Optimizer function when Custom Function C.Fn II-3 Highlight tone priority is enabled.
• Fixes incorrect indications on the Arabic, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukrainian menu screens.
• Changes the battery information displayed on the camera when using the optional Battery Grip BG-E6.
Updated 7:16 a.m. PDT with further details from Canon in Europe, and 9:20 a.m. with further details from Canon USA.
Canon plans to release firmware June 2 to address a common complaint about its EOS 5D Mark II, a $2,700 digital SLR that's generally been lauded for its image quality but criticized for its lack of manual controls when shooting video, the company said.
SLR cameras give photographers close control over settings including shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity, and the enthusiasts and professionals who buy high-end cameras often understand and use those options. Since the 21-megapixel 5D Mark II was introduced a half year ago as Canon's first SLR to feature video abilities, the video operated in a fully automatic mode in which the camera selected those settings.
Manual control over video will arrive with Canon's 5D Mark II through a June firmware update.
(Credit: Canon)That became a common cause for complaint. For example, people couldn't select a wide aperture, or F-stop, to ensure a shallow depth of field that would direct attention to a video's subject while making the background an undistracting blur. The lack of manual controls contrasted with two big video advantages of the 5D Mark II, the ability to shoot 1080p video at 30 frames per second, and a large, full-frame sensor that's particularly good at dealing with difficult low-light conditions.
"This new firmware will accommodate a great number of user requests for manual exposure control in the EOS 5D Mark II video mode. Manual exposure control while shooting video on the EOS 5D Mark II is expected to make a big impact with cinematographers and videographers using the 5D Mark II for high-end HD video production," Canon said.
A customer newsletter said the feature will permit control over ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Canon's European press release was more forthcoming, saying that shutter speed would range from 1/30th of a second to 1/4000th and that ISO would include the camera's regular span of 100 to 6400 and also the extended H1 setting of 12,800.
... Read moreThe camera industry and photographers, having just gotten accustomed to the arrival of video in point-and-shoot cameras, just now are beginning to grapple with its arrival in the more serious SLR realm.
Chuck Westfall, technical adviser for Canon's professional products marketing division and a 26-year veteran at the Japanese company, is in the thick of it. Nikon was the first to market with a single-lens reflex camera equipped with video, the D90, but Canon offers video in two SLRs: the high-end EOS 5D Mark II, with a large sensor the size of a full frame of 35mm film, and the Rebel T1i, a more affordable, mainstream model.
Chuck Westfall
(Credit: Canon USA)These cameras combine high-definition video--1900x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second in the case of the 5D Mark II--with SLRs' advantages when shooting in dim conditions and with a broad variety of lenses. But even though today's video SLR features offers hold some appeal to enthusiasts and professionals, they're something of an awkward afterthought. SLRs and those who use them that haven't yet had much time to adapt.
Welcome to the world of digital photography, where change is incessant. In an interview with CNET News, Westfall talked about not just video, but also OLED displays, the arrival of rival full-frame SLRs from Sony and Nikon, changing flash card and file format standards, wireless networking, and more.
Question: The age of the video SLR has begun. A lot of people in the high-end camera market are set in their ways, and video is a radical difference for a lot of them. How does that change the camera design, the marketing, and everything you have to do to sell a camera? ... Read more
Updated at 8:25 p.m. PST with preliminary test results, and at 10:36 p.m. PST with another photographer's results.
Canon on Wednesday released new firmware for its EOS 5D Mark II camera that the company said "improves and mitigates" the "black dot" problem that marred some images from the high-profile, high-end SLR.
Version 1.0.7 of the 5D Mark II firmware software is downloadable from Canon's Web site. (I encountered some dead ends on the site, but eventually found the 9MB download on the U.S. site at this address.)
I've just run some tests. My preliminary opinion is that there's grounds for optimism that the firmware indeed seems to have taken care of the problem. See the shots below taken at ISO 800 and 3,200, magnified to three times regular size.
This scene of San Francisco by night, taken with a 5D Mark II using the new version 1.0.7 firmware, shows no evidence of the black dot problem.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)
Canon's 5D Mark II full-frame SLR
(Credit: Canon)Apple has added support for raw photo files from Canon's vaunted if imperfect 5D Mark II to its Aperture 2 and iPhoto 08 software less than a week after rival Adobe did so with Lightroom.
The Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.4 also supports Canon's high-end compact, the PowerShot G10, and the Pentax K2000/K-m (presumably the white version, too), according to Apple. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later.
Also supported is Leaf's higher-end digital photography hardware, the AFi-II 6, AFi-II 7, Aptus-II 6, and Aptus-II 7, and Leica's M8.2 camera.
In addition, the update "also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability," Apple said.
(Via The Mac Observer.)
Updated 9:27 and 9:45 a.m. PST with further details from Canon USA announcement.
Canon has acknowledged the "black dot" problem that mars some shots taken with its new 5D Mark II camera and is preparing "correction firmware" designed to deal with the problem, the company said.
Canon's 5D Mark II full-frame SLR
(Credit: Canon)"We are currently investigating ways to improve and/or mitigate these phenomena. An announcement will be made on the Canon Web site when measures to address these phenomena have been decided," according to a statement dated December 17 that appeared on Canon's Australian support and service Web site.
A later Canon USA service announcement was largely identical, but also said Canon is "examining measures to reduce or eliminate these phenomena by providing correction firmware."
Firmware fixes can be downloaded and installed, a much cheaper and easier process than the physical repairs the company undertook to help with Canon 1D Mark III autofocus problem.
Canon described the problem the same way many who've complained about it have: "When shooting night scenes, the right side of point light sources (such as lights from building windows) may become black. The phenomenon may become visible if the images are enlarged to 100 percent or above on a monitor or if large prints of the images are made." For some examples, check farther down this post.
These magnified close-ups that Stephan Hoerold took with his Canon 5D Mark II show lights on a building at night. The dark spots appear to the right of the very bright areas. The three shots show images taken at ISO 100, ISO 200, and ISO 3,200. Photo used with permission.
(Credit: Stephan Hoerold)The company also said it's looking into vertical banding noise that can show when shooting files in the sRAW1 mode, which produces a smaller file size than regular raw images.... Read more
Adobe Systems released Lightroom 2.2 on Monday night, catching up the photography software's support for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and several other newer cameras, building in the camera profiles feature, and mashing a number of bugs.
The update (downloads available for Mac OS X and Windows) is the second half of Adobe's one-two punch for supporting the "raw" image files produced by several higher-end cameras. The first half came in late November when Adobe updated Photoshop's raw-conversion software.
Canon's 5D Mark II full-frame SLR
(Credit: Canon)Raw files provide more editing flexibility than camera-produced JPEGs, but they also require manual processing. Software such as Lightroom and Apple's Aperture can handle this processing, along with cataloging, labeling, and printing. With the constant parade of new cameras, the software must be frequently updated.
Another change in version 2.2 is built-in camera profiles, which give photographers various options for tone and color for their images. I've been strongly recommending them since their release on Adobe Labs; I apply the "camera faithful" profile when importing my images to give what I feel is a more natural look. However, Lightroom profiles aren't available for all cameras.
Since Canon started shipping the 5D Mark II in late November, photographers have been avidly blogging about the arrival of their new $2,700, 21-megapixel, full-frame SLRs--or not-so-avidly about them being backordered. One refrain notes the absence of Lightroom support; Adobe and Apple write their own raw conversion software, which must be updated for each new camera's proprietary raw file format.
... Read more
Chuck Westfall
(Credit: Canon)Some photographers have been frustrated with Canon's silence on the "black dot" issue that's afflicting its new EOS 5D Mark II camera, but the company plans to speak soon.
"Watch for an official Canon comment on this issue in the very near future," said Canon USA technical adviser Chuck Westfall in a Wednesday response to a question posted on his monthly question-and-answer column at The Digital Journalist.
The black spots appear to the right of very bright spots in some occasions, and many are wondering whether the issue is an unavoidable consequence of the sensor or something that can be altered with the camera's more mutable firmware.
Judging by Canon's earlier statements about issues such as the EOS-1D Mark III autofocus saga, though, it wouldn't be wise to count on a terribly revealing statement. This could well be at the stage of just acknowledging the issue still.
These magnified close-ups that Stephan Hoerold took with his Canon 5D Mark II show lights on a building at night. The dark spots appear to the right of the very bright areas. The three shots show images taken at ISO 100, ISO 200, and ISO 3,200. Photo used with permission.
(Credit: Stephan Hoerold)
The Canon 5D Mark II is the new fourth-place member of DxO Labs' test of image sensor scores.
(Credit: DxO Labs)One verdict is in on Canon's EOS 5D Mark II: its sensor ranks very high on DxO Labs' test of sensor performance.
The black-spot issue notwithstanding, Canon's new full-frame SLR came in at fourth place with a score of 79.0, bumping Sony's 78.9-scoring Alpha A900 down a peg but still trailing Canon's top-end EOS-1Ds Mark III at 80.3. Nikon's D700, the closest rival to the 5D Mark II, is a notch ahead at 80.5.
More relevant for the potential upgrade market, new Canon SLR's score is significantly better from that of its predecessor, the 5D, whose score is 70.9. On a pixel-by-pixel basis, the 12.8-megapixel 5D's sensor actually has a lower signal-to-noise ratio, but when measured over an entire 8x10 print, the 5D Mark II's higher 21.1-megapixel resolution wins on that measurement.
The DxOMark Sensor test measures how well a camera's sensor fares when it comes to dynamic range, color depth, and low-light performance. The test doesn't measure any number of other camera issues such as autofocus, value, or image processing. But it's still useful given DxO Labs' engineering rigor and the central role a sensor plays in the abilities of a camera.
Pixel-peepers have been devouring DxO's new statistics; the curious can try this link to a comparison of the 5D Mark II, Nikon D700, and Sony A900. However, it should be noted, DxO Labs considers that scores must be at least of 5 points apart to be significant.
There's been much discussion about whether the $2,700 5D Mark II performs better than the $6,500 1Ds Mark III, which has the same resolution. The DxOMark tests give the edge to the top-end model based on its better color and dynamic range--the ability to capture both bright and dark regions--but the 5D Mark II wins out in low-light performance. Digging deeper into the charts, though, the 5D Mark II fares better in dynamic range at higher ISOs.
The sensor on Canon's 5D Mark II fares significantly better than that on the 5D. (Click to enlarge.)
(Credit: DxO Labs)All these cameras perform better than the common herd by virtue of full-frame sensors measuring 36x24mm, the size of a full frame of 35mm film. Most digital SLRs have a smaller sensor that can't capture as much information overall, but those models are vastly more affordable.
... Read more
Canon's EOS 5D Mark II
(Credit: Canon)Some users have reported that photos taken with Canon's new $2,700 EOS 5D Mark II camera can be blemished with dark spots near areas with very bright highlights.
I first heard about the issue on the DP Review forums on Friday, but now one pixel-peeping user has come up with a fix spotlighted by Photography Bay: Disable for highlight tone priority, lighting optimizer, and noise reduction, according to commenter f_stops.
"No black dots," the photographer and new 5D Mark II owner reported on the posting, supplying before-and-after shots as proof.
Canon is checking into the issue. "We have been made aware of this and are looking into it," a Canon representative said Monday.
The spots appear on the right edge of some shots with very bright highlights.
One forum poster spotted a dark patch on a 5D Mark II video; it appears fleetingly at about 1:04 into the video.
