Last Saturday I wend to the SWPP Convention for a training course and while I was there I checked out the trade stalls.
My plan was to visit the photography stalls to check prices for a Canon 5D Mk2 to see if there were any good deals. I had bought a photography magazine a few days earlier to check the going rate, so I could be sure I was getting a bargain. My first photographic stall was Calumet who predominantly deal with the professional photographic industry.
Great news! They were selling the camera around £100 less than the best magazine deal and were not adding VAT – Gordon Brown eat your heart out.
With a saving like that, I had to get one!
The Canon 5D Mk2 has a full frame sensor (same as 35mm film) and a whopping 21MP resolution, which is about double my existing cameras. The camera’s resolution was not a key selling point to me for wedding photography as my existing cameras already have enough resolution to create larger prints than any wedding couple has requested to date. However that does allow for much greater cropping of an image without affected the quality of any print you’re likely to order.
The key features for weddings for me are the much higher ISO ratings, meaning it can easily take pictures in much darker environments, and even better than that is the automatic ISO selection. Dramatic changes in lighting is one of the biggest challenges in wedding photography as the difference in light between inside and outside can be five times or more. This means it is necessary to change the ISO settings when moving between environments, which means stopping proceedings for a few seconds to adjust the ISO settings. With this new feature the 5D will automatically adjust the ISO to give me the correct exposure and best quality image possible taking in consideration the other parameters set by me.
I had a play with the camera the other evening and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to set up and control given its many new features. Thankfully being in the EOS family of cameras it’s main control functions remain consistent with previous cameras and all the other EOS cameras that I own. Speaking of which, one of my older cameras will have to go to make room for the new 5D. The choice is between my 1Ds and 5D. My gut instinct is to keep the older 1Ds and let the 5D Mk1 go. Image quality wise there is nothing to choose between them but I love the feel of the 1Ds, which is solid like a house brick; I also had a new shutter mechanism fitted a couple of years ago so it probably has more life left it it than the 5D.
The 5D Mk2 also has a HDTV resolution video feature
At first I was not keen on the video function but soon changed my mind after finding out how easy it is to operate.
Video could be a great addition for recording your wedding ceremony from the side of the alter. Although this could not be seen as a replacement for a videographer if having your wedding videoed is important to you.
There was still over an hour before my superclass with Bjorn Thomassen so I had time to visit my print processor and check out their latest products. They never fail to impress me, as all their products are absolutely outstanding. The prints contain an amazing amount of detail, crisp sharpness and vivid colours that really make them stand out.
They now produce fabulous story books, which could be great new product to introduce storybook albums at a lower price band for you than the exclusive magazine style album.
Watch out for more news on these new products soon. And I’ll be getting some samples in due course.
Pat
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