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standard sensitivity, ISO 100, the Canon
scored 2820 lines of resolution; the Nikon,
2350 lines; and the Sony 3230.
Reduced to ISO 50 for longer exposures
and bright-light work, the Canon’s
resolution was 2830 lines, matching the
$6,680 (street) 21.1MP Canon EOS 1-Ds
Mark III (see, the 5D Mark II is a steal).
Neither the Nikon nor Sony offers ISO 50.
And even when the ISO is cranked up
to 25,600, the Canon edges out the Nikon
with 2400 lines of resolution. Put simply, in
our tests, even at its worst, the resolution
of the Canon beats the Nikon’s best. That’s
the power of 21.1 versus 12.1MP.
Of course, at such a high ISO, both the
Canon and Nikon are in Unacceptable
territory in our noise tests (4.9 for Canon,
4.6 for Nikon). At 6400, the Sony scored
3.5, while the Canon and Nikon hit 2.0. Any
reading above 3.0 is Unacceptable.
These numbers suggest low-light
shooting like you’ve never seen before.
We took the Canon out at sunset in New
York’s Central Park and photographed a
rollerblader, capturing the scene with a
shutter speed of 1/20 sec and aperture of
f/11. At ISO 6400, there was no more than
a light dusting of noise. Compared to the
grain you’d see with 6400-speed fi lm, this
is the stuff of revelation.
Such high resolution and ISOs will
change your photography. You’ll use the
5D Mark II in settings where you wouldn’t
have opened your camera bag before. And
you can leave your auxiliary fl ash at home
(though think twice, because this camera
doesn’t have a pop-up).
One benefi t of the camera’s 14-bit
capture (up from 12-bit), with help from
the camera’s processing engine, is
Canon’s Highlight Tone Priority setting.
When enabled, it limits your ISO range to
200–6400, but also captures a little more
detail in highlights. The effect is subtle and,
according to Canon, may add a little noise
to the shadows. If you’re shooting
a wedding dress, though, you’ll
likely be glad you have it.
But this low-light performance
isn’t glitch-free. As have
commenters on the web, we
noticed tiny black blotches next
to areas of blown-out highlights,
such as the streetlights in our
image of the skater. We found
it hard to predict what images
these spots would turn up
in—sometimes we’d fi nd them,
sometimes we wouldn’t. Canon
is aware of the problem, and our
tON THE TOP: Two more
custom shooting modes were
added to the mode dial. And the
status LCD grew slightly, while
the button to illuminate it moved
to a more convenient spot.
POP PHOTO FEBRUARY 2009 71
CERTIFIED
TEST RESULTS
IMAGE QUALITY (ISO 50–3200)
EXCELLENT
POOR EXCELLENT E
IMAGE QUALITY (6400)
POOR EXCELLENT E
RESOLUTION (ISO 100)
EXCELLENT 2820
1500 2000 2500
HIGH
EXTREMELY HIGH
3000
COLOR ACCURACY (AVG. DELTA D E)
EXCELLENT 6.3
14 12 10
8 6
HIGH EXCELLENT E
NOISE AT A ISO
HIGHLIGHT/SHADOW DETAIL
HIGH
3500 4000
EXCELLENT
0.7 EXTREMELY LOW 50
0.9 EXTREMELY LOW 100
1.1 1 EXTREMELY LOW 200
1.0 EXTREMELY LOW 400
1.2 VERY LOW 800
1.3 1 VERY LOW
1600
1.3 1 VERY LOW
3200
2.0 MODERATELY LOW 6400
t3.1 UNACCEPTABLE 12,800
t4.9 UNACCEPTABLE 25,600
3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5
UNACCEPTABLE EXTREMELY LOW
LOW EXT. XT HIGH
CONTRAST (AT DEFAULT SETTING) N
SLIGHTLY HIGH
LOW HIGH
EXT. SLOW TIME (SECONDS) EXT. FAST
AF SPEED
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
.51
.56 56 .56 56
.64
.75
EV AT IISO
100
75
.81.89
.89 8
1.47 47
1.15
1.73 1
2.0
12 9 6 3 0 –3 3
BRIGHT LIGHT LEVEL DIM