Do many birders use a 5DMKII ?

[Jim Dahl]

Do many birders use a 5DMKII ?

[arash_hazeghi]

I sometimes use it for perched birds but it is not my primary birding camera. I use 7D for birding 95% of the time.

[Jim Dahl]

Hello Arash, is a cropped sensor an advantage because of the extra reach?

[Van Hilliard]

I often carry it with shorter lenses while carrying another camera with either the 600 or 800mm lens attached. If I need reach but not as much as I get with the 1D Mark IV and one of the longer lenses, I'll put the long lens on the 5D MII. I've taken quite a few bird pix that way in the last few months.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hello Arash, is a cropped sensor an advantage because of the extra reach?

Hi Jim,

It is the pixel size rather than "crop factor" that determines resolution or telephoto reach, this issue has been discussed many times on this forum. Generally a higher resolution sensor like the 7D does offer better reach meaning more pixels on the subject from a fixed distance, but you need to have sharp optics plus perfect focus and good light (keeping the ISO below 1000) to take advantage of these small pixels. I could actually perfectly live with 5DMKII's reach, its higher IQ and immense sharpness could make up for lower pixel density for my work. The reason I don't use 5DMKII for birding is its slow and primitive AF compared to 7D, slow shooting speed (3.9fps vs 8fps) and long shutter lag plus mirror black out time which makes it very difficult (for me) to capture peak of the action moment.

It works fine for perched birds though, search the Avian forum and Fabs has some really nice GBH photos :)

[Pao Dolina]

Hello Arash, is a cropped sensor an advantage because of the extra reach?

I use the 5D2 and love it to bits. ISO noise is well controlled and IQ is amazing.

What you get from cropped cameras is increased pixel density. So say you take a photo of a duck an inch of it's feathers would have double the details (c/o of more pixels) than a full frame camera.

Problem with cropped cameras is that they packed in so many pixels that IQ & ISO noise suffers.

[LouBuonomo]

I know a few who do and love it but it is not a camera to catch action.. Unless you are really good you may miss the moment.

[Alfred Forns]

I have been impressed with the AF performance, been told it was not all that good but have not found it to be the case. Fabs has made some amazing images with this camera. Down side is reach and slow.

[Jim Dahl]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[Roger Clark]

I generally carry a 1D Mark II and 5D Mark II. I first seriously used the 5D2 January of last year in Tanzania. It became clear after only 3 days that the 5D2 had much higher image quality for both action as well as static scenes. My 1DII became the backup camera. Since then I have tested both numerous times in numerous conditions and each time I find the 5D2 to be better. I skipped the 1D3 because I felt the jump from 8 to 10 mpixels was not worth it then heard of the focus problems. I will upgrade to a 1D4 this year (assuming no problems like the focus issue is found), but will still use the 5D2.

Regarding 5D2 AF tracking, I have not found it to be a problem, at least on large birds. For example, all the wildlife and moon images on my NEW page: http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.NEW
are with the 5D2, including the birds in flight.

I don't miss the frames per second most of the time (slow fps teaches one to wait for the peak action). But I do miss the 45 AF points, and the ability to AF with a 2x TC. I also miss the weather sealing so I have to be more careful, but still use the 5D2 in all kinds of weather conditions.

Roger

[Grady Weed]

I don't miss the frames per second most of the time (slow fps teaches one to wait for the peak action). Roger

Roger, Patience is more than a virtue, is an aquired quality. I could not have said beter myself. For years I used my 5D for birding. I cant begin to express how much better it made me as a photographer. Way to many people rely on a fast frame rate rather than skill. I still use my 5D along with my MK2N for birds.

Thanks for your well thought out reply to this thread.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

I put my MKIII and 7D aside for three weeks and used only the 5DMKII for birding.

It took me a week to finally come to grips with its foibles but by week three I had acquired the patience, technique and learned the art of careful observance of my subjects, the result, more keepers and of a much higher quality that the other two cameras.

It took me back to my film camera days when the expense of photography made me think carefully before I took the photograph and the impatience bought by having 10/8 FPS left me and it is now my primary weapon of choice and the others are my backups.

Now I eagerly await the 5DMKIII.

[Fabs Forns]

The 5d2 has been my main camera body since mid-January. I have more keepers (in flight) than I did with the 7d and IQ is superior by far. I will get a 1d4, but will probably use both according to the reach I need.

[Jim Dahl]

I have a 50D as well, but I don't feel the IQ is anywhere near my 5DMKII.
Glad to read that birders are happy using their 5DMKII's

[arash_hazeghi]

The 5d2 has been my main camera body since mid-January. I have more keepers (in flight) than I did with the 7d and IQ is superior by far. I will get a 1d4, but will probably use both according to the reach I need.

Hey Fabs, did you give up on 7D then?

[Fabs Forns]

Hey Fabs, did you give up on 7D then?

Mine malfunctioned and was returned, then when I tried Al's 1d4, I decided to get one. I didn't have too many complaints about it though, pretty nice AF and cleaner ISO than 50D. For the price, it's a fine camera.

[arash_hazeghi]

Mine malfunctioned and was returned, then when I tried Al's 1d4, I decided to get one. I didn't have too many complaints about it though, pretty nice AF and cleaner ISO than 50D. For the price, it's a fine camera.

Oh so you're going for MKIV that makes sense now :)

[Roger Clark]

This is good to hear. I thought I was alone with the 5D2 and birds.

Roger

[Jim Dahl]

I do like my 5DMKII very much.

I'm getting a real kick out of bird photography lately.

Happy to have found this forum.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

This is good to hear. I thought I was alone with the 5D2 and birds.

Roger

I shoot a few Kite Boarders (they pay well) and used to use my 7D and MKIII but now I use the MKII and 300 f/4 and 400 f/5.6 for 80% of the photos and the 70-200 on the 7D for wide shots.

They love the 21MP images as the love to make posters of their "sky work" and I now have to refuse any more boarders, many photos are sought by Board Makers of images with their product name on the base of the boards when their riders are doing high aerial work.

This camera is a blast and I recently bought a second body just for film work and I am now looking at pro audio systems to go with the Camera.

[Richard Bledsoe]

I'm glad to see fellow 5D2 bird shooters. I prefer mine over my 1D2 for birds in flight.
Lots of BIF shots in my web album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/RichardLeeBledsoe

Richard Bledsoe

[arash_hazeghi]

I tried 5D MKII with my new 500 last weekend-Thanks Fabs for comments :) This time I also enabled the invisible assist points, previously the AF was somewhat slow with 400 f/5.6L but with 500 it was much faster even with the TC attached. It is surprising but it seemed to be more consistent than 7D when tracking birds against variable BG, I have shots where the AF sensor is slightly off the bird but the bird is still in crisp focus showing that the assist points work well with 500 f/4. The drawback is shutter lag and slow firing rate, there were times when I pushed the shutter at the peak moment but due to shutter lag photo was taken when the pose was not right or bird was off frame. The overall quality is much better than 7D.

Any ways, here is a sample photo that shows the DR and sharpness of 5DMKII sensor at ISO 800 with little post processing:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=56783

[Jim Dahl]

Just re-read this thread and glad I asked the original question. Thanks to all who replied.