My love/hate relationship with the Canon Eos 5D

I have had my Canon EOS 5D for over two years now and in that time I have learned to both love and hate what was promised as the first affordable full frame sensor camera. I have battled with my emotions over this camera trying to decide if I liked it or not. I have gone from deep admiration to outright loathing and back again. For a working Pro many of these problems can easily be over come and the camera does offer incredible image quality, but the 5D is being pitched at serious hobbyists as well as pros, and for that segment of the market, you might be better off looking else where. What follows is a very personal account of using the 5D for quite some time now, and in particular addressing the Myth that you “must have” a full frame sensor to get the best pictures. There are many reports online praising the 5D as the second coming and this is not one of those reports. Instead it offers some perspective on a camera that can produce stunning, fantastic images, but can also be demanding and incredibly problematic.

I have heard and read many discussions about the advantages of a full frame sensor. Canon broke the mould when they first released the 5D because it brought the advantages of full frame down to a price serious enthusiasts could afford. In brief, the benefits of a full frame sensor (i.e. one that is the same size as a 35mm negative frame) are as follows: They offer a wider angle of view making them more suitable for use with wide angle lenses, they offer less noise because fewer pixels are crammed into a larger space, and they offer a brighter bigger viewfinder. Until Canon released the 5D the only full frame sensor cameras were Canon’s high end Eos 1DS range, which cost in excess of €8000. The 5D on the other hand entered the market at just over €3000. Enthusiasts immediately rushed to grab the 5D because they believed that the full frame sensor would magically enhance their photographing abilities, but in all the marketing and hype someone forgot to mention that there were some pretty big disadvantages to owning a full frame DSLR too.

The Full Frame Disadvantage.

The first thing you need to consider when moving to a full frame sensor is that most of your lenses may no longer be good enough. Because most consumer digital cameras offer cropped sensors, they are less subjective to the common problem with most lenses in that the quality drops off at the edges. The 5D and its bigger cousin, the 1DS on the other hand reveal every artifact in an otherwise good lens. While you could see this as an advantage, for the amateur, this means that the have to spend another investment in high quality lenses. Suddenly the €3000 of your hard earned cash is just the beginning of your investment. To get acceptable quality you need to splash out on canon’s L series lenses, which themselves can be €1000 a piece. Are you getting fantastic results from this package? Absolutely, but the problem is, in normal conditions, you’ll get practically the same quality with a cropped sensor camera and a less expensive lens. Although the good lenses are definitely sharper over all, you are especially paying for edge to edge quality.

For some people, this might not be that much of an issue, but if you are a normal person with an average job and are not making money from your photography, having to splash out on €1000 lenses just to get reasonable results from your new camera can be something of a setback. All those people who are crying out for Canon or Nikon to release a cheap(er) full frame camera need to realize, that the camera will just be the beginning of their investment. Be prepared to replace what you thought were good lenses too.

Another issue with full frame sensors and lenses is that of vignetting. Because of the nature of digital cameras, light needs to fall at a perpendicular angle on the sensor to get the most from the camera. Unfortunately this is not always possible depending on the focal length of the lens and the aperture being used. The problem is accentuated with lenses using a wider aperture but can be visible all the way to f11 with some lenses. This can result in moderate to severe vignetting on the 5D. While in some cases a vignette can be a pleasing result, some of the vignetting reported on full frame sensors is particularly severe with testing reported to have given a 4 stop reduction in exposure at the edge of the frame. Ironically, the steps advised by some experts to avoid this problem is to shoot with the intent to crop the image later, which pretty much negates having a full frame sensor in the first place.

Gathering Dust

The bigger issue with the 5D though is that of dust. All DSLR’s are subject to dust getting into the sensor chamber and onto the sensor. Every time you change lenses you let some dust into the camera. When the shutter opens some of this invariably gets onto the sensor. Unlike film cameras where the dust would settle on the film and go with it when you wind onto the next frame, on a digital camera, when dust lands on the sensor it stays there and is on every frame from then on. If you primarily take pictures with your aperture wide open you may never notice. However if you shoot at F11 or above dust will appear as soft black spots on your image. If you want to shoot landscapes and are using F22 then you will see it as sharp black dots. Like I said this problem has plagued all DSLRs but the 5D seems to act like a dust magnet.

Before I got my 5D I had a 300D for several years. This never experienced as much dust in its entire life that my 5D did in the first month I had it. I think part of the problem is that the bigger sensor offers a higher static attraction to dust particles. Also, because the sensor pretty much fills the chamber there isn’t really anywhere else for the dust to go but onto the sensor. With a cropped sensor, the sensor sits in the middle of the chamber and there is area all around it where the dust can go too. The 5D seems to suffer this worse than any other camera on the market, at least that is the impression I get both from my experience and the numerous forums dedicated to the issue. Then again, some 5D owners report no issue at all. There has been a lot of discussion about this online, and It seems as some models seem to suffer the problem worse than others. My 5D is particularly bad, and I can get dust on the sensor whether or not I’ve changed lenses so I suspect the seal between the body and the lens is not up to scratch.

Cleaning the camera is an issue too. There are a number of ways to clean a sensor on a DSLR. There is the brush method and the swab method. Both of these have been around for a while and work reasonably well. Except that is for the 5D (and the 1DS too apparently) The problem with these cameras is that canon uses oil in the mirror mechanism and when you go to clean the sensor oil can get on the brush or swab and then end up on the sensor. Of course this problem wasn’t figured out for some time and the main company selling the numerous cleaning products now has instructions for properly cleaning the 5D sensor, which involves buying numerous other products to clean the chamber of oil first. A complete cleaning solution can cost several hundred euro, again an issue if you are just a hobbyist.

The alternative solution is to send your camera to canon for cleaning but this is expensive too, costing €100 here in Ireland. This is fine once or twice, but the rate at which dust accumulates on the sensor can lead you to having to do this every month or so, especially if you change lenses a lot.

Personality

A camera in many ways is a personal thing. What works for one might not work for another. How a camera feels and reacts to the user can in some ways be as important to a photographer as image quality. I have been a keen amateur photographer for as long as I can remember. My first camera was an old fully manual Yashica FXD. A fantastic film camera that I loved very much. From there I moved to a Canon Eos 5 Film camera. This was a great camera too and it had a great system called eye controlled focussing where an infra red sensor in the viewfinder could tell where your eye was looking and select the corresponding focal point. I had many great years out of that camera and was reluctant to give up film for digital, but in the end the cost of film and processing had become so expensive here in Ireland it was no longer wise to keep with film, especially at the rate I was going through it. Finding a reputable lab was another major issue. I would regularly get film returned to me heavily scratched and damaged, from quite a number of labs.

My first digital camera was naturally a canon. I had spent some money on lenses for my Eos 5 so a Canon was an obvious choice. I initially went with the 300D (The Digital Rebel in the USA) While it took a bit of getting used to I eventually found my rhythm with the camera as it were. I became used to it’s quirks and enjoyed going out taking pictures with it. When the technology progressed to the stage where a 6 megapixel camera was getting on a bit I longed for something more. I occasionally still used my film camera and loved the bright viewfinder and feel of the bigger camera. So when the 5D was announced it seemed only natural that it would be my next purchase.

I expected to love the 5D. I had loved its analogue forefather so surely I would love its new digital cousin. Except I didn’t. Certainly it was a great camera, and I have taken some great Images with it, but there was something about it that I never truly liked. I found it frustrating to get good results from initially, and then the dust issue started to creep in. I could certainly get good images from the 5D but I found it just never felt right, certainly not the way the 300D or my old Eos 5 did. I know this might sound silly but like I said the feel of a camera can be a personal thing. I feel that aspects of the 5D have taken some of the joy out of photography for me. Perhaps it is the weight and balance, perhaps it’s the frustration with the dust. Either way I get so annoyed with it that sometimes I just want to sell it and start again.

Yet the 5D can produce some amazing imagery. The camera has a fantastic dynamic range. When shooting RAW you can often pull nearly two stops of over exposure back into a useable range. I have taken some great photos with this camera, despite my criticism of it. Like I said, it is a love / hate relationship.

Future Shock

If you look at the so called advantages of full frame cameras, most have been negated by improvements in technology. The noise issue is all but gone on modern CMOS sensors. The 40D and D300 from Nikon have similar noise at higher ISO’s to the 5D. The 5D might still have the edge but it is marginal. The wide angle lens issue too is negated by newer lenses from both Canon and Nikon that give the equivalent of traditional wide angle lenses on cropped sensor cameras.

At the moment I am seriously considering selling my Canon gear and getting a Nikon D300. For someone who has been a canon user for well over 10 years this is quite a statement. I have become somewhat disenchanted with the directions Canon has taken lately. I think the company has become more focussed on both rolling out features into its digital rebel line and an unnecessary megapixel race in its pro line than listening to what Photographers really want. Consider the new 1DS Mark III. Why on earth would you want to put a 29 megapixel sensor into a 35mm camera body? It is doubtful that even the best of the current EOS lenses could even resolve that level of detail. They put a 3” screen on the 40D but with a shamefully low resolution, especially compared to the screen on the Nikon D300. Since I bought my 5D on the low end of Canon’s DSLR range there has been a 350D, a 400D and a 450D, and yet the 5D remains unchanged. There is talk of Canon replacing it this year, but in all that time they were churning out Digital Rebels would it have been too much trouble to put an anti dust system in the 5D? I suspect too that the 5D mark II will cram in the megapixels too and probably be as expensive as the 5D or more so. I guess time will tell.

Nikon on the other hand seem to be offering truly useful features on it’s new models. The improved colour accuracy and performance on its 300D, the auto ISO feature or the high resolution screen and HDMI out. These are just some examples. If you consider the price difference between the D300 and the 5D and can see past the myth of the full frame sensor then in my opinion the 300D is a much better camera for the money, and that comes from the experience of owning a 5D.

Even if canon do replace the 5D this year and add a desperately needed anti dust system, I am reluctant though to spend that much money on a Camera agin though especially as it is, for now just a hobby. In the end the Nikon D300 is looking like my best bet, as Canon offers nothing comparable for that price range. It will mean selling my lenses but In a way I would welcome the challenge of a new start.

Im sure this article has offended a lot of people. The 5D is a fine camera capable of some great results, but I also think the myth of the full frame sensor has propagated on the internet to the extent that people think that having full frame sensor camera will automatically make them a better photographer. It won’t. Unless your needs are very specialized or you are a professional there is nothing extra to be gained from a full frame camera and there are a lot of downsides people don’t seem to realize. The 5D has certainly been a hit with many people so again it is in many ways a personal issue. If you are a happy 5D owner then I wish you well, If you are a frustrated and saddened owner, then I hope these humble words let you know you are not alone. If you are considering a camera purchase at the moment then I simply can not recommend the 5D. Newer technology has drastically outpaced the 5D and even if you are to wait for the 5D’s replacement then it will be worth it, if only for the dust issue.

I know the Nikon / Canon issue gets a lot of people worked up but at the end of the day a camera is just a tool for the eye, the art and the passion of a photographer. I hope no one takes too strong an offense to this article, but I think brand loyalty should only go so far. Like many artists a photographer’s tools can be a very personal choice and to be truly great at your chosen art you must be comfortable with your chosen tool. If you find something doesn’t work for you then change it and find something that does.

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