I got an email from Canon USA today. The email was requesting I post a review of my new purchase, in this case, my 5D mk II. The email included a link to the Canon web site and ultimately I navigated to the 5D mk II page and clicked on the Write a Review link.

I entered the following review:


Great Camera... Needs Manual Control During Video Date: February 13, 2009

Pros: Superior build quality, Excellent image quality, Bright LCD, Simple controls/menu, Nice features/settings, Quick Start-up time, Solid Operation, Easy to use, Lightweight/Portable, Good battery life
Cons: no manual control in video mode


The 5D mk II is an amazing stills camera which also shoots 1080p hi-def video. The stills side of the camera has everything a photographer could dream of and produces excellent results. Canon advertises some very professionally produced videos to demonstrate the camera's hi-def video capabilities. Unfortunately, Canon has crippled the camera's video capabilities by not giving the operator full manual control of the camera while shooting video. Instead, the camera choses the shutter speed, aperture and ISO, making consistant results between shots almost impossible and more often than not the choices made by the camera produce undesirable effects. Every film-maker knows that you have to be able to chose the shutter speed and aperature (at a minimum) on your camera. To get more control, most people who use this camera for shooting video buy competitor's lenses which allow the operator to manually select the aperture, which gives some control over the depth of field. Even then, the camera still choses the ISO and shutter speed however. On the whole, this is a great camera and I can highly recommend it. Hopefully Canon will update the firmware to allow manual control in video mode, then we'll all buy Canon lenses and the camera will be perfect.

May I suggest everyone who has a 5D mk II add their own review? All the submissions are
vetted (read the guidelines, they include instructions not to mention competitors by name!) so we know they'll hear about the lack of manual control issue if enough of us write about it.

Julian

One from me too, let's see if they publish all those reviews regarding video mode.
As I see that for three months there are only 65 reviews published, makes me suspicious.

Please report here if you have written a review on the Canon site so we can see why or how will those be published.

My main concern is that motion cadence due to shutter speed difference will not allow sequences to be edited together because the movements tend to be different when inconsistent shutter speeds are used for the same motion in scene. And disabling aperture control in any photographycal application is quite questionable.

T

I read all the reviews, and several mentioned the lack of manual control in video mode, so my advise would be to continue to post that type of review.

Julian

Hi Julian
Please publish the link you used so we can all write to them.
Cheers
Mark

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR Camera (http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=17662)

I would not put a Nikon lens on the 5DMII the auto-focus with canon lenses is so spot on every time that I'd miss that too much. After you figure out to lock it wide open it's quick to shoot at the ISO of your choice. I over expose two stops, put my hand in front of the lens to open the IRIS and lock it, I remove my hand, press the lock button again and the ISO comes down from 3200 to 2000, press lock again, 1000, again 500 then because I'm over exposed by two stops I just turn the big wheel until my image is perfectly exposed, usually at 100 ISO.

I do want full manual control though and a light meter.

Hi Julian
Please publish the link you used so we can all write to them.
Cheers
Mark

This link is even more direct...

Canon USA Consumer Products (http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=StandardDisplayAct&fcategoryid=2533&keycode=bv_page&__BVSUBMISSIONPARAMETERS__&bvdisplaycode=3798&bvproductid=17662&bvpage=http%3A%2F%2Freviews.usa.canon.com%2F3798%2F17662%2Faction.htm%3Fformat%3Dembedded%26action%3 DAddReview%26user%3D__ALLOWANONYMOUS__%26userdisplayname%3D__USERDISPLAYNAME__%26return%3Dhttp%253A% 252F%252Fwww.usa.canon.com%252Fconsumer%252Fcontroller%253Fact%253DModelInfoAct%2526fcategoryid%253D 139%2526modelid%253D17662%26campaignid%3DBV_RATING_SUMMARY&bvcontenttype=REVIEW_SUBMISSION&bvauthenticateuser=false)

I've noticed that my review has still not yet appeared on the page, though they say it can take up to 72 hours before it's vetted and published.

Sent mine in. A very praising review that points out the camera's one serious flaw (we all know what that is).

Mine was published today despite being long and critical.

Interestingly enough, Canon did NOT publish my review (above). I'm guessing they don't like the part about buying a competitor's lenses!

I'll resubmit it and see what happens!

Julian

They took down my review as well. For the same reason most likely. (buying competitors glass)

What a crock. I gave a fair review, but stated that there is really no choice for consumers needing manual control other then to go to Nikon lenses are other tricks.

I raved about the camera, but titled the review "lack of manual control of video" and mentioned quickly that their marketing material said I would be able to control depth-of-field. I put high scores for all pros and the only con I added was "lack of manual video control".

As of 1836 hrs, Pacific, my (modified) review has still not been published on their web site! I guess they really are vetting the reviews and taking all (seemingly-)negative comments quite seriously.

Julian

Just to keep this thread going in the minds of DVI users... none of my attempts at posting a very positive 5D mk II review, and mentioning the lack of manual controls in movie mode, have made it onto the Canon site!

I would encourage those of you who have not yet submitted a review, do so. There was a report in another thread that an "urgent request" has gone to Canon Japan to find a solution for these complaints and that Canon is well aware that 5D mk II owners are buying Nikon glass.

Julian

There are reports a rumor of a firmware update in April that adds "one feature" though what it is (25p? manual aperture?) or if it's true, who knows.

Meanwhile Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-G1 with 1080p (24fps) and continues focus and manual settings....hmmmm....: Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-GH1 does 1080p video in a Micro Four Thirds form factor (http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/03/panasonics-new-lumix-dmc-gh1-does-1080p-video-in-a-micro-four-t/)

Now its getting more exciting.

a rumor of a firmware update in April that adds "one feature" though what it is (25p? manual aperture?) or if it's true, who knows.Let's hope it's not a "feature" that disables all video operation if a lens adapter is detected! ;)

Let's hope it's not a "feature" that disables all video operation if a lens adapter is detected! ;)

Don't be surprised if that is exactly what happens.

Don't be surprised if that is exactly what happens.

This has obviously wandered into the territory of "Conjecture", but a company updating a product to remove a feature is unusual. I've certainly never heard of that happening.

The closest example I can come up with were the early satellite dishes that gave free HBO, etc., but that was a technological issue, not a marketing one.

Apple does it all the time.

However, I would agree that Canon most likely will not disable anything further. But it wouldn't surprise if they did.