Canon 5D Mark II reviews, manual, best lenses and essential accessories

Canon 5D Mark II is the upgrade of the popular full frame Camera Canon 5D. Canon 5D Mark II is the only full frame digital SLR with 1080p HD video recording function. The key features of Canon 5D Mark II is as follows:

• 21.1 Megapixel Full-frame CMOS sensor, 14-bit A/D conversion (16,384 colors/each of 3 primary color), wide range ISO setting of 100-6400 (expandable L: 50, H1: 12800 and H2: 25600)
• HD Video capture at 1920 x 1080 resolution for up to 4GB per clip with HDMI output for HD viewing of stills and video.
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor for faster processing of fine detail and color reproduction as well as reduced image noise.
• 3.9 fps continuous shooting, new shutter with a durability of 150,000 cycles and improved weather-resistant body.
• 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) monitor with anti-reflective and scratch-resistant coatings for improved viewing and smudge protection.
• Updated EOS Integrated Cleaning System

Canon 5D Mark II manual and software can be found here.

It received great reviews on dpreview, popphoto. To help the folks who want to buy Canon 5D mark II, the following is a list of best lenses, essential accessories: The best place to buy Canon 5D Mark II: for US residents is amazon ($2699 free shipping), for international buyers, B&H $2699 free shipping.

Best lenses for Canon 5D mark II:

Best walk around lenses:

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM is one of the best walk around lenses available. It is very sharp with top building quality. This lens focuses quite and very fast, with full time manual focus. Canon 24-70mm is also weather sealed. However, this lens does not have IS, which makes it not so great at low light conditions such as in door.

This is why I prefer Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM for small sensor Canon DSLRs.
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM is the kit lens of Canon 5D Mark II. It is one of the most popular and best walk around lenses for both small sensor and full frame Canon digital SLRs. The lens has very quite and fast focus with full time manual focus. Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS features a 3-stop image stabilization. This makes it a great travel lens which is especially handy when no tripod is available. The only downsides are pronounced barrel distortions and higher than expected CAs at the wide-end of the zoom range.

Best telephoto lens:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is one of the most useful lenses and it is also a good portrait lens, sports lens, and walk around lens as well. It is a must-have for Canon 5D Mark II owners. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM features excellent image quality, fast and quite focus, top building quality, large aperture, and 3-stop image stabilization.

A new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM will be available in Feb 2010. The new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM features one fluorite and five UD elements for increased optical quality and reduced chromatic aberration. It has a minimum focusing distance of 1.2m/3.9 ft. at all zoom settings. The most significant improvement over the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is the 4 stops of image stabilization instead of three.

Best portrait lenses:

Canon 85mm f/1.2 L II USM

Canon EF 135 mm f/2L USM

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Alert: 5D Mark II firmware 1.1.0 available to download. This update enables the manual control when shooting video.
Related posts:

Best Canon lenses

Best wildlife lenses

Best Canon sports lenses

Best Canon wedding lenses

Canon 5D Mark II essential accessories

• Canon battery grip BG-E6



• The best price on the the battery $80 at MacMall

• Digital SLR bags: many people like the photo backpack: Canon Deluxe photo backpack 200EG.
  
  
  

  If you like a compact bag, Lowpro Rezo 170AW is an excellent one.

• Filters: circular polarizer is one of the most useful filters read here. For best polarizer filters, read here. For UV filters and where to buy, read here.

• CF cards: You need at least two memory cards with at least 8G each in case one is fail. The recommend brands are lexar, SanDisk or Kingston.

• External flash: Canon 580EX II

• Tripod: Gitzo GT-1541T Traveler 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs ($519 from B&H) with a good ball head: such as Kirk BH-1 ($355 from B&H).

• Macro-Ring-Lite, MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX,

• Remote control with N3 type contact, Wireless Controller LC-5, Remote Controller RC-1, Remote Controller RC-5

• Software: Adobe photoshop lightroom 2.

Related posts:

1. Best landscape lenses for Canon 5D Mark II
2. Best Canon digital SLR for wedding photography-Canon 5D mark II and lenses
3. Should you upgrade to Canon 5D Mark II? What you need to know
4. Canon EOS 5D Mark II firmware update with manual video exposure controls available
5. Canon EOS 5D Mark II reviews