Crops but sizes to the same FullHD, so there is a difference

I do agree that the APS-C size is likely to become a standard. While a still photog can take multiple exposure to get correct focus with very thin DOF, a videographer usually doesn't have that option. For my taste the most common elegant way to use DOF control with people is to soften the background while still maintaining a sense of place.
I find lack of 25p truly bizarre. I thought Japan was PAL? How an large, international company decides to exclude the standard for a large part of the world is very strange.

Too true, thx.

Yea Don its strange how they left it out of the 5d in the first place. That cam would have sold like hotcakes around here. I would have bought one in a flash. It has been so annoying watching all this lovely footage on the net coming from the states and not being able to be a part of it.

That's a great way to define an appropriate use of depth of field. A "sense of place" helps establish the shot location for example. Very shallow depth of field can be useful when it's appropriate to completely obscure a distracting or ugly background but can be out of place if there isn't a clear reason for using it.

Nope. Japan is primarily a 60 Hz country.

No difference in exposure at all. But a difference in field of view.

And, in theory, the 5D will have lower noise, since each pixel is based on light from a larger area. Then again, this is just theory. The 7D could have a next gen sensor and next gen noise reduction algorithms. We really need somebody to do side by side tests to know more.

In practice, I don't expect that I'd kick the 7D out of my bag for noise though...

I look at 5d footage against (the limited) currently available 7d stuff...it looks great but is it just me or do the skintones look better on 5d?..i can look at 5d footage and say .."thats 5d and its really nice"...7d i look at and say"nice...that adapter looks good in low light"

I would buy a 5d over 7d tomorrow if only it shot 25p for europe

While they do use NTSC-J (PAL black and blanking, different channel stepping, but otherwise NTSC) across the entire country, the mains frequency in Japan is not consistent:

Nope...they are indistinguishable from one another.

I own the 5D mk2 that i have just upgraded to v2.03 and now shoots 24,25,30. this makes it almost perfect. i have been using the clients 7D which that did over heat, i would only purchase a 7D if i needed 50p, the 5D has such low noise and a cracking picture even at iso of 2500, do this with the 7D and your results would be seriously degraded.

Yes David, it is so nice to at last have that 25P! Madness that we all had to wait so long for it to begin to show up on DSLR cameras...

I know this is reviving a very old thread but I'm wondering if anyone things there is any hope at all to ever get 60 fps on the 5d MK II via firmware? Or is the hardware just not capable?

Also what makes the 7d "easier to focus"?

In answer to the question "What makes the 7D easier to focus?"

It's simply that (ALL other things being equal - same lens/F stop etc.) the 7D, with it's smaller "cropped" sensor exhibits a slightly deeper depth of field compared to the depth of field that the Canon 5DMkII's full frame sensor would give. Bottom line = more tolerance/room for error by the user trying to focus on that tiny LCD on the back.

That's physics at work!

The autofocus system in the 7D is significantly better than the one in the 5D, but that is only helpful for stills - does not help at all with manual focusing for video.