Canon 5DIV - first shoot

Just this week I received my Canon 5DIV. Today I had a brief window to get out for an hour or so and use it.
I went down to York Cemetary, as its an interesting old, predominantly Victorian, cemetary that is interesting to photograph and very quiet.

I took all my L lenses and a tripod so I could see how the touch screen worked and also test the Canon Connect App on my iPhone.

I'm pleased to say that everything worked as I hoped. The 5DIV proved to be much faster than my 5DII had been and the touch screen was an absolute joy, both for menu and for image taking. It is possible to have choice of either touch focus or touch focus and shutter release. Its easy to switch between the two.
The Canon Connect App gives all the functionality of the camera touch screen but on your mobile device. I found that this more than compensates for the lack of an articulated screen, I was stood several meters from the camera and was still able to operate the camera.

Using the camera hand held proved very familiar, the ergonomics are not a radical departure from the 5DII. What struck me most though was the AF system, it has more AF points, to be expected really, but I found selecting my AF point quick and easy with the stubby joystick on the back, and also now the battery grip, of the 5DIV. This makes the camera much faster to use.

Looking at the images in Lr CC back in the studio the focus was accurate and the detail from the 30mp files certainly a step up from the already excellent 5DII.

So far the 5DIV is everything I'd hoped it to be.

Weather proofing given a brief test

Canon 5DIV - very first impressions straight out the box

So, the 5DII have been sold, and a 5DIV bought to replace them.

First impressions as I unboxed it were that the 5DIV is better built than the 5DII, Canon have really upped the fit and finish, this is definitely the best constructed camera I've ever handled. It feels better made than both a Leica M240 and Hasselblad H5D both of which I have considerable experience.

The touch screen is an absolute joy to use, and the whole camera is very responsive to touch. The ergonomics of the 5DII were very good but Canon has refined this further with the Mk4 and every button falls neatly into place under a digit.  I also bought the battery grip which matches the camera body perfectly in fit, finish, and functionality.

Nice to see is the locking PASM control, I often found the 5DII PASM control has moved whilst being put in and out of the camera bag.

All my lenses focus faster than they did with the 5DII and the Yongnuo ETTL flash triggers work perfectly as well. I've only shot a few images indoors under mixed light sources but the images up to ISO12800 look useable if required.

Up until very recently I was satisfied with my pair of 5DII, the image quality was more than good enough, but then I bought an Olympus OM-D M5 as a second system and this terrific little camera together with the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens was so nice to use with its fast and accurate AF, and OLED touch screen that I found myself using in preference to the 5DII more and more. However, I still loved the quality of the Canon L glass, good though the M.Zuiko is it can't compete with my 70-200m f2.8 L for portraits but finding the 5DII so slow to use it wasn't getting the use it should have been. 

Time for change I thought; do I get rid of the Canon system all together and get all the M.Zuiko PRO lenses and another OM-D M5 body? or replace the 5DII bodies? Going down the Olympus route would be cheaper, but at the end of the day good though the mFT system is I really like a full frame sensor for some work. And those L lenses are so hard to beat.

So a new 5D4 it was, I could only afford a single body, but my shoulders will thank me for that in the long run.

Early days yet, but keep an eye out over the next few weeks as I get to know the 5D4 a bit more.

Winner - ePhotozine August Photo of the Month

Success at last!

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