Tag: digital single lens reflexes

DPReview: Video: Venerable Canon 5D Mark II has nearly 2.3 million shutter actuations – Commentary

https://www.dpreview.com/news/3819211519/video-venerable-canon-5d-mark-ii-has-nearly-2-3-million-shutter-actuations

“The Canon 5D Mark II is an extremely popular camera that many photographers still use today….

FoxTailWhipz purchased a camera with 2,269,757 total shutter actuations, far exceeding Canon’s shutter rating of 150,000 actuations….

The Canon 5D Mark II was originally announced in mid-September 2008 and then released in late November.”

The camera that accidentally changed everything. Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM kit zoom lens. Image courtesy of Canon.
Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip for Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Image courtesy of Canon.
Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip for Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Image courtesy of Canon.
Motion9 cage for Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Image courtesy of Motion9.
Panasonic Lumix GH5 with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro telephoto zoom, Lumix G0 with Panasonic Leica DG 200mm f/2.8 Power OIS telephoto prime and Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with Canon EF 400mm f/4.0 DO IS II USM telephoto lens. Image courtesy of Compact Camera Meter.
You either love it or loathe it. Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM zoom lens, prone to the all-too-common aperture control ribbon cable failure that can apparently cost a fortune to have fixed in Australia. Otherwise a remarkably popular lens with videographers using it natively and adapted on a wide range of cameras and sensor sizes.

Commentary

That “2,269,757 total shutter actuations” that exceeds “Canon’s shutter rating of 150,000 actuations” is amazing and an impressive achievement for Canon’s designers, engineers and factory workers.

On the advice of my partner here at Unititled.Net who was working in Canon’s global research and development division at the time, I bought a Canon EOS 5D Mark II kit with kit lens, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM, along with a Canon Speedlite 580EX II, a collection of portable flash unit light modifiers and assorted other hardware with a small legacy left by my late Uncle Brian.

Despite the acclaim in the press for the 5D Mark II and the 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM kit zoom lens at the time, however, I never really took to the heavy, oversized and frankly clunky DSLR and its problematic bundled zoom lens, the 5D’s mirror slap and shutter shake and other large and small annoyances including the lens’ tromboning when tilted downwards on a tripod or monopod.

I’d never been a dedicated SLR camera user during the analog film camera era, preferring for much of my work view cameras using sheet film and 120 roll-film, 120 roll-film rangefinder hand cameras, Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex cameras and even a Hasselblad or a Mamiya RZ67 when their use was specifically required by a client.

On the other hand, when Fujifilm released the Finepix X100 I was ecstatic as it harked back to the Leica M System cameras and lenses I carried all the time and that supplemented the larger sheet and roll-film cameras I used for my commissioned projects and magazine assignments.

Later I encountered Panasonic’s GH4 and bought one and a GX8 when I needed to make videos for a human rights charity and then added a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and some Fujinon fast prime lenses after finding that camera delivered on the promise of the X100 and the X-Pro1.

If only I’d known about the Lumix GH1 & GH2 instead of the 5D Mark II

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/4.0-5.8 Aspheric Mega OIS zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Global.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Mega OIS zoom lens, now updated to the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Mega OIS zoom lens, now updated to the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.

If I’d been lucky enough to have encountered a Panasonic Lumix GH1 or better yet the hackable GH2 I would have taken a very different direction in my work, I suspect, given their incredible video capabilities for the time and especially their size and weight compared to the Canon DSLR.

Meanwhile the Canon 5D Mark II, Speedlite 580EX II and the 24-105mm f/4.0 kit lens languished in storage after the lens suddenly failed just after its warranty expired and I learned it would cost a fortune to have it repaired locally.

My 5D Mark II’s usage fell far short of the “2,269,757 total shutter actuations” and “Canon’s shutter rating of 150,000 actuations”.

Now I’m wondering whether I should finally sell all my original Canon gear and flash light shapers.

I suspect I won’t get much for them despite their lack of use and low, low shutter actuations but if any of you are interested then please let me know.

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