When 5DII came out last fall, everyone and their grandma wanted one - me included ! But there seems to be little glitches with the latest...I mean, there's always glitches but there seems to be more this time around. First there was those black-dots and vertical banding that shows up on some bodies. Canon released a patch for it back in Jan. Then I hear that Canon is offering to replace for free any bodies with mirror-detach problems.
Now today I'm reading on an two week Antarctica photo expedition on Luminous Landscape site. There was 77 photographers and instructors and 26 had the new Canon 5D Mark II. Michael Reichmann reports that out of the 26 cameras, 6 failed at one time or another. That's about 25% failure rate !
The largest group of failures through were among the Canon 5D MKIIs. Of the 26 samples of this camera onboard, one quarter (six) failed at one time or another, and while three recovered, the other three never did. In all cases it appeared to be water or humidity damage. Of particular concern were two cameras which stopped working while completely protected within Kata rain covers during a light rain ashore. They came back to life the following day though and were mostly fine for the rest of the trip, but one died permenently just before the end of our voyage.
I should note that the 5D MKII's are not rated as weather resistant, but then neither are the Sony A900's. I deliberately allowed both of my A900 bodies be exposed to the rain for two days ashore to see how they would stand up. There were no operational difficulties. I also have used the Sonys back here in Toronto in snow storms, (unprotected), both before and after the Antarctic trip, with no ill effects. Though also not claimed as weather sealed, they appear to be as well protected as any other camera I've ever used.
Well, y'all are up north, I mean, it probably would be more extreme than normal usage but then I got to Michael's final paragraph.
I don't know what conclusions should be drawn from this high percentage of 5D MKII failures. All I can do is report on the facts of the matter. As for the weather during which most of the failures happened, it was no worse than a drizzly day in winter in New York or Berlin. Nothing Antarctic about it at all.
Also at The Online Photographer, he reports that NY fashion photographer Ron Purdy has given up on the 5DII.
In the end, when the stakes are high (as they are whenever I am shooting a job) using a camera which I am not sure is focusing correctly, or which I am afraid may fail if there is moisture in the air, etc. is not my idea of a good time. There are plenty of things to worry about on a shoot. I don’t think my camera should be one of them.
I cringe every time I remember this scenario: I was shooting advertising with the 5D2 with models, hair, makeup, stylists, etc waiting on me. As I was shooting tethered, the art director was standing next to me looking at the monitor and saying “they are soft!”, and I was there thinking, yeah, I can see that, but I don’t know what the f*ck to do about it. This is after hours or working with the AF microadjustments, etc., etc
I know, I know, there's always glitches with a new product but again, it feels like there's more this time around. I'm sure some works like TNT but others crap out. Now I'm curious if folks out there have any problems with the new bodies ? Comment below, thanks !
As for the antartica, that same trip had a worse failure rate with one series cameras a few years ago. (Someone posted on the LL forum the actual text from their last trip, all whining about one series).
ReplyDeleteMy guess is these guys heard "5d2 is now weather sealed" and were dunking them in the water (internet sarcasm).
As for Ron Purdy selling his, that was not good news. I shot my first job with it this weekend, I will not be selling my 5d2, it does what it should...still relied on my one series for the critical stuff, but 5d2 was surprisingly good...I also shot 5d2 in the rain last week, still works.