With the launch and subsequent light leak fix of the 5D Mark III, some of you may want to get in on the full frame camera scene since the 5D3 is supposed to be beyond awesome and also because the price drop on the 5D2 makes it a heck of a deal.
After reading alot of reviews, all of which held the camera high above the rest, and the only “negative” being the slow sometimes inaccurate AF. I bought the 5D2 to complement my 7D. I chose the 5D2 over the 5D3 because I didn’t know if there were going to be any issues on the 5D3 since it just came out but the main reason I chose the 5D2 over the 5D3 is the pricing. Instead of buying the 5D3, I bought the 5D2 + the 100-400 L (a lens that’s been on my want list for years but never pulled the trigger until now) for a few hundred over the 5D3. I got what I needed / wanted. The 5D2’s speed and AF would be negated by my 7D so I’m a happy camper.
So here’s what none of the reviews (at least the ones that I read) tell you:
1) There’s flare in the viewfinder from the the top AF point (when camera is in landscape orientation). Doesn’t affect picture quality, luckily.
If you google it you’ll find lots or info. Some have it some don’t, some worse than others. The only “fixes” that I’ve read (I’m not even convinced that it will work) is to change the focus screen but that will darken your viewfinder if using your lens(es) max aperture is greater than f4. The other fix is to NOT use the top AF point.
2) The mirror/shutter sound is LOUD! Mirror slap makes me cringe everytime I hear it, the buzz/whir afterwards sounds like it’s gonna short circuit soon. When I heard this on my 7D, I took mine in to Canon. They recognized it to be a problem and fixed it. With the 5D2, they said it’s normal, I disagreed and they took it in to service. I got a call 2 days later and they said they needed to change the whole mirror box, free of charge. When I got it back, it sounded worse but they refused to fix it again saying it’s “within specs.” More details of this episode, in my rant about Canon Singapore’s service HERE.
In case you’re wondering, I’m only using the center focus point to bypass the highly irritating flare and trying to shoot in live view mode to bypass the mirror slap and buzz when possible. So Since my unit is still under warranty, I’ll just keep shooting and hopefully, I’m wrong or it breaks within warranty period.
I’m happy with the images I’m getting, I guess that’s the bottom line.