5D Mk 3?

[Bill Hamell]

Every company has a golden rule, don't compete with yourself, Canon will update the 5D when one of two things happen, Sales delcine or one of the other camera makers trumps the 5D with thier product. They may update firmware or make minor changes to correct a problem, but that;s it. Bad for us, good for them...

[Jon Fairhurst]

Maybe the trick is to watch Nikon. After Nikon releases a camera with superior video, Canon will likely respond in kind.

[Bruce Watson]

Originally Posted by Danny Winn

Ok, so I'm two days away from dropping around $5000 for the 5D mk2 and all the accesories but I'm worried that a month after I purchase it Canon will come out with the new Mark 3 that is sure to be released some day (most likely with better audio options and possibly 60P capabilities).

Oh, this is easy. Really it is. It's just two steps.

1) Research the market and know what your best fit is. Then, when you have to have it, buy the biggest bang-for-your-buck that you can.

2) After you're committed, DON'T LOOK BACK! Don't watch the market; stop researching. Stop it -- cold turkey if you have to, but stop it. Instead, put your energy toward climbing the learning for what you did buy so you can get the most you can out of it.

It's really that simple. And it's the only way to keep your sanity in a rapidly changing market like the current DSLR / EVIL market.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Danny Winn

Yeah low light and extreme DOF are two of my biggest factors. I am dead set on the 5D, I'm just worried about the release of the Mark 3 shortly after I purchase. Doh!

The rule of thumb I try to apply when buying electronics is; if I can wait, I'll wait.
(Besides, I think it's more likely that Nikon will show up with a "5Dmk3" before Canon, but who knows...)

-- peer

[Danny Winn]

So what do you think the chances are that Canon will do a firmware update that would allow 60p shooting and turn the A/V jack into a headphone jack like Magic Lantern does???

Anyone, Anyone;)

[Chris Barcellos]

I don't think there is the apparatus on board to do decent headphone monitoring. I think a properly set up amp isn't there for it. I may be wrong. Magic Lantern version has its issues. Assuming I am right, I don't think Canon would want to tarnish its image by adding a less than clean monitoring system.

As to 60p, again, this may be a hardware issue, and just not available on board the 5D II set up. Certainly not 1080 at least.

[Mike Watson]

Originally Posted by Danny Winn

So what do you think the chances are that Canon will do a firmware update that would allow 60p shooting and turn the A/V jack into a headphone jack like Magic Lantern does???

Anyone, Anyone;)

On the 5D, basically 0%.

[Jon Fairhurst]

I agree. Aside from fixing blatant bugs, don't expect any more feature enhancements from Canon on the 5D2. It was really out of character for them to add major features after the camera was shipping - and I'm grateful that they did it!

The main things I'd like to see from the next gen are less jello, less aliasing, and 1080 monitoring.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

I agree. Aside from fixing blatant bugs, don't expect any more feature enhancements from Canon on the 5D2. It was really out of character for them to add major features after the camera was shipping - and I'm grateful that they did it!

I think it demonstrates how long a product cycle they were expecting from the 5D2. It they had been planning on replacing the 5D2 early they would not have done it, they would have waited for the next model.

I too am glad Canon did what they did because I bought two 5D2 bodies 'because' they gave me 25p. Without it I would not have bought them, just like I'm not buying a GH2 (missing the 25p).

[Ben Denham]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

The main things I'd like to see from the next gen are less jello, less aliasing, and 1080 monitoring.

I totally agree. Although will add that to me "less aliasing" implies much better downscaling or "binning" which will (hopefully) give this camera something much closer to true HD resolution. I really hope Canon realise the importance of making these simple things the focus of their development efforts when it comes to the video function of DSLRs and that they are not distracted by spec-sheet-chest-thumping.

Prolost - Blog - Ha ha very funny Canon now get back towork

[John Wiley]

Keep in mind that with DSLR's you are buying into a system. You can update to a new body as required and maybe only lose a few hundred dollars - used prices for the 5dmkII in Aus are not much lower than brand new, despite the fact many people think it's product cycle is almost finished.

The 5dmkII is a great camera and, even if something newer is announced, people (mainly photographers, not videographers) will still buy it second hand for not much less than you pay for it.

If you have quality glass and an investment in a system, you will be prepared for any future camera bodies that come out, and can upgrade with minimal extra investment.

Also, someone made a good point about the new camera having inflated prices for 6 months or so after release. The money you lose on selling the 5dmkII may even be less than the difference between the initial price of the new camera and the eventual street price after a few months. So for the same total outlay you can start shooting now, and have the better camera later.

[Floris van Eck]

Both the Nikon D5100, Nikon D400 and Nikon D800 (if they continue their product lines) are overdue, as well as the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 1Ds. Nikon is also rumored to launch a EVIL (mirrorless) system in april, as they have bought huge advertising blocks.

I know Nikon uses Sony sensors in most of their camera designs, and Sony is making radical changes to their product technology (meaning they will likely slip into 2012). So that might also cause problems for Nikon. I agree with Jon, it's all about competition. I won't buy a 5D mark II anymore at this moment, I would rather buy a 550D for cheap, buy some nice lenses (full-frame) and wait for the 5D Mark III to arrive. I think the next iterations of Canon's and Nikon's are going to be beasts. But don't forget that Canon is also in the video business and they won't have the 5D Mark III compete with like the Canon XL-H2 ($9,000).

[Brian Drysdale]

I would've thought that the Canon XF 305 is the "XL-H2". That's a different market to one that demands the large sensor, if they decide to put a large sensor into a XF 305 to create a specialised video camera is another matter.

I suspect the DSLRs that have HD will be a bit of a compromise for the latter in order to meet a number conflicting requirements. Stills photographers will want full resolution, while video needs a OLPF to avoid moire, however, the larger market is stills and that creates the production volumes that keep the prices low.

To make a leap they have to come up with a low cost method that doesn't involve binning.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Still cameras need (and have) an OLPF to avoid moire too, it's just at too high a frequency. If a future model has a fast enough sensor and processor to capture all the photo sites and do proper digital filtering, we could get true 1080 resolution and little or no aliasing.

That's pretty much what you do with a RED cam - capture at 3K, 4K, or 5K. Only the filtering and downsampling to 1080 is done in post.

Someday, I expect still cams to be able to output a properly filtered 1080 resolution. Hopefully, it's well under a decade away. I'm hopeful that the next generation of Canon DSLRs will reduce the amount of aliasing, though I expect that they won't have enough horsepower to fully solve it. The 5D3 will probably also make a compromise between resolution, aliasing, sensor speed, and processing - and I hope that it will be an improvement over the 5D2.

[Brian Drysdale]

RED does also push the Epic as being suitable for stills, although it's design is more centred towards capturing motion rather than stills, it does both.